During the Cold War, Western leaders characterized communist China's armed forces as long on manpower and short on military technology. Jan. 11, a perfectly aimed Chinese missile blew an old weather satellite to smithereens, demonstrating that China has potential to wage modern, high-tech war. What happened in the interim is a scandal that makes Watergate, Monicagate and all the other -gates look like spitting-on-the-sidewalk offenses. During the 1996 presidential election campaign, the Democratic National Committee under then-General Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (yes, that Chris Dodd) accepted large, laundered contributions from the Red Chinese and from U.S. industrialists eager to enrich...