US National Security Fail, 2006

Chinese Warlords 1, Bush 0

Charles R. Smith
Thursday, March 23, 2006

China Defeats U.S. National Security

The upcoming visit by Chinese President Hu Jintao has sparked a "forgive and forget" attitude not seen before inside the White House and halls of Congress. Accordingly, the Bush administration quietly announced its first concession to China, to celebrate the visit.

The quiet publication of a waiver in the Federal Register notes that China will not be held responsible for its continued proliferation of weapons. These weapons include sales of advanced Chinese cruise missile and ballistic missile technology to the mullahs of Iran.

The move by the Bush administration removes the required punishment against Beijing. The communist leaders in Beijing have promised on a monthly basis since 1990 to stop selling nuclear, chemical and missile technology to rabid world leaders hell bent on starting World War III. For some unexplained reason, George Bush now believes them.

The economic reality for the waiver of sanctions against the Chinese warlords is that America can continue to sell Boeing jet liners to Beijing. This does have a positive effect in the aerospace industry but goes against the law.

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China has already demonstrated that it can convert these civilian airliners into military planes without fear of sanctions – whether law requires the punishment or not.

The Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has already converted a used Boeing 737 into a flying military command post for the warlords to use in case of battle.

The conversion of a U.S. airliner is a direct and flagrant violation of export law. The required action is to demand the plane be dismantled and returned to its civilian status or face sanctions.

The reality is that any ban on selling U.S. Boeing airliners to Beijing will mean a horde of French salesmen will descend on China faster than you can say champagne lunch. The general perception is that to ban U.S. airliner sales to Beijing will result in a great windfall profit for Paris because the Airbus consortium will sell jets without question to the warlords in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

Of course, a "manly" President could relay to Paris that any attempt to take advantage of a U.S. ban against Beijing would result in similar sanctions against French jet sales here in America.

3,000 Chinese Army Companies Inside America

Yet this example is just a minor tiff in comparison to other issues with Chinese policy that the White House wishes would simply go away. The recent flap over the Dubai Ports company is a tempest in a teapot in comparison to the some 3,000 Chinese army companies operating inside the U.S.

The Dubai Ports company has no documented links to terrorism, crime or violations of U.S. national security. The same cannot be said of the thousands of PLA-owned companies operating here inside the U.S.

These Chinese army-owned firms engage in a wide range of criminal activities including espionage, theft, illegal exports, extortion, tax evasion, computer hacking and even violence. Many of the firms participate in illegal arms sales, and several have been caught trying to sell weapons to terrorists.

Other PLA-owned firms spy on America and export military technology back to the Chinese army. One such firm recently cited by the Commerce Department exported a special metals-processing furnace directly to a PLA-owned company in China. The resulting prosecution and sanctions applied to that single firm.

Thus, the Bush administration is plinking at each Chinese army firm that it finds in violation – one at a time – instead of attacking the root problem to begin with – the Chinese leadership.

I am not the only one who is aware of this vast army of spies, terrorists, thieves and criminals operating inside America. The FBI has repeatedly cited a growing number of Chinese army companies inside the U.S. operating as conduits for espionage and illegal activities. These firms – ALL OF THEM – need to be shut down.

At the very least, according to federal law, the Bush administration should be publishing a list of the known PLA-owned firms each year. Instead, just as the Clinton administration did before George Bush, the current White House ignores the law and refuses to release the list of known offenders.

The solution is to confront the Chinese leadership and inform them that this activity will no longer be tolerated. The policy needs to be backed up by the teeth of real sanctions that reach into the bank accounts of the warlords inside Beijing and penalize them heavily.

Red Money Laundering

In addition, China has engaged in a financial war against America with its freely operating banking system that allowed North Korea to launder hundreds of millions of dollars in counterfeit currency. The effort to siphon fake $100 bills into America was led by the Bank of China (BOC), a financial entity controlled by the communist government.

Bank of China is currently seeking U.S. financing and wants to be added to our stock market. Its biggest financial supporters – the PLA, billionaire Li Ka-Shing and Goldman Sachs – back this effort.

Bank of China has also been filled with corruption, illegal loans and bad money. The Chinese government attempted to crack down on BOC operations with several high-profile cases, including one conviction for fraud that carried the death penalty.

The Bush administration has pulled its punches on the Chinese banks and money laundering. The Bush administration applied tough sanctions against North Korea for printing fake $100 bills. However, no such sanctions have been applied to any Chinese financial institution or entity for fear of angering the boys in Beijing.

Even Li Ka-Shing has acquired newfound pals inside the Bush administration. The Chinese billionaire was turned down by the Bush administration in his multibillion-dollar bid to take over the defunct communications firm Global Crossing. The reason for the denial was that Li and his companies posed a threat to U.S. national security.

Today, however, the Bush administration sees Mr. Li in a different light, under pressure from Beijing. Li now proudly owns a port security company that has won a no-bid, multimillion-dollar contract to run and operate sophisticated cargo inspection equipment designed to detect nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

The inspections will take place using the new U.S.-made equipment at the Li Ka-Shing-owned ports in the Bahamas.

Don't worry that the CIA, DIA, Defense Department, Commerce Department, the Rand Corporation and the State Department document Mr. Li. as being directly linked to the Chinese military. Never mind the fact that the PLA provided the Taliban and its al-Qaida companions with most of their weaponry.

Don't lose any sleep over the fact that PLA is likely to inspect the new WMD detection equipment in detail and find out exactly how to defeat it. And we all know that the Chinese generals would never leap at the chance to earn a few million by selling the exact details on how to defeat our advanced technology to someone like Kim Jong Il of North Korea or Osama bin Laden.

All this leaves one to wonder who is in charge here ... George Bush or Hu Jintao? Clearly, Mr. Hu has more control over U.S. national security, unless the president would like to step up to the task of defending America from the Chinese warlords.