CHINAGATE
Gore chairman met with spies
Commerce Secretary Daley had confab with Beijing military 'front' company
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chairman, Commerce Secretary William Daley, met in October 1997 with a
firm reported to be “an intelligence-collection front for China.”
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Commerce Secretary William Daley |
The documents show that Daley met with Chinese billionaire Li
Ka-Shing during a closed luncheon sponsored by the powerful investment
firm Goldman Sachs. Li Ka-Shing’s company, Hutchison Whampoa, currently
operates the two ports on the Panama Canal, the Pacific port of Balboa
and the Atlantic port of Cristobal.
The meeting was held onboard Goldman Sachs’ boat, Monkey’s Uncle, as
part of an informal “talk” between Daley, Li and several “influential
business people.” Participants in the meeting included a “Mr. Duo” from
China Resources, a firm reported to be “an agent of espionage –
economic, military, and political — for China.”
One document, an
“Event Brief,” details the program of the 1997 meeting.
According to a 1996 cable from the U.S. Embassy in Panama, China Resources Enterprises put a $400 million investment into Hutchison Whampoa, fulfilling its role as a “front” company controlled by Beijing. Commerce documents describe China Resources as “the investment arm of China’s Foreign Trade ministry.”
“Embassy Panama has received information to the effect that HIT (Hutchison International Terminals) is controlled by mainland Chinese, perhaps through a Macao front which allegedly recently invested $400 million in HIT,” states the cable. “Such control would have security implications and might affect the Panamanian government’s views on awarding the port concessions.”
Inside Capitol Hill, Daley’s 1997 meeting onboard the Monkey’s Uncle raised significant questions about conflicts of interest and the possibility that the Gore 2000 campaign is receiving money from Chinese government sources.
“The DNC and Al Gore must be held accountable,” stated Al Santoli, national security advisor to Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif. “Given Daley’s relationship with Li Ka-Shing and other Chinese tycoons and given Al Gore’s propensity for taking Chinese army money in 1996, we need to be on the alert for Red Chinese money flowing into the Gore 2000 campaign.”
Daley refused to comment on the documents found at the Commerce Department. Commerce Department public affairs officer Joan Bradshaw issued a statement regarding Daley’s status to WorldNetDaily.
“Mr. Daley is no longer Secretary of Commerce,” said Bradshaw, a statement in conflict with the official press release. “Everything is being done through Nashville now.”
Daley, according to previous Commerce Department press announcements, has not resigned his post and is scheduled to lobby the Senate for passage of the China trade bill in July.
Gore 2000 public affairs officials confirmed that the Gore campaign office located in Nashville, Tenn., is now handling all contacts with the commerce secretary. The Gore 2000 public affairs officers, who refused to identify themselves, did not respond to questions about Daley’s meeting in 1997 or his current role at the Commerce Department.
Goldman Sachs’ New York press office also refused to comment on the 1997 meeting onboard the Monkey’s Uncle. The powerful investment firm used to employ former Clinton Cabinet member Robert Rubin. Defense intelligence sources allege that Rubin, while still serving as treasury secretary for President Clinton, also attended the 1997 meeting. Rubin is not listed on official documents as attending.
China Resources Enterprises has been accused previously of illegal campaign donations to the Clinton/Gore 1996 re-election campaign. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., described China Resources Enterprises as “an agent of espionage — economic, military, and political — for China” during the 1997 Senate Governmental Affairs Committee hearings.
WorldNetDaily, through the Freedom of Information Act, forced the
newly released documents from the Clinton administration. The Commerce Department documents show that prior to the meeting, U.S. law enforcement agencies were very concerned about Li Ka-Shing and his connections to international smuggling.
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| Chinese billionaire Li Ka-Shing, who is directly in business with the Chinese army, was recently knighted by the Queen of England. |
A 1995 cable from the American Embassy in Nassau noted that Li Ka-Shing had signed an agreement to build an $88 million container ship terminal in the Grand Bahamas. The U.S. Embassy in Nassau copied the cable to several law-enforcement agencies including the U.S. Customs Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
“Reftel describes U.S. agencies’ security concerns about possible smuggling attempts through the terminal,” states the cable from the American Embassy. “Post will request via septel assistance in addressing these concerns while port development plans are still on the drawing board.”
Documents discovered by
Larry Klayman and Judicial Watch, a
Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, show the U.S. Defense Department focused carefully on Li Ka-Shing and his company, Hutchison Whampoa. According to an October 1999 “Intelligence Assessment” prepared by the U.S. military Southern Command, the Hong Kong billionaire is a potential threat to America.
“Hutchison’s containerized shipping facilities in the Panama Canal, as well as the Bahamas, could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology or prohibited items from the west to the PRC, or facilitate the movement of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas,” concluded the U.S. military intelligence report.
Li Ka-Shing is also part owner of a firm involved in the illegal transfer of missile technology to the Chinese army. The Commerce documents show that Li owns one-third of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings, or AsiaSat. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology, AsiaSat is part-owned by the Chinese army unit COSTIND or the Commission on Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
AsiaSat satellites regularly carry “military communications” traffic for PLA units and Chinese military-owned companies.
Earlier this month, U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin pleaded guilty to 30 counts of illegal missile technology exports to AsiaSat. Lockheed Martin agreed to pay the U.S. government $13 million in fines for the illegal transfer of “kick-motor” technology to AsiaSat in order to avoid export restrictions
Li Ka-Shing’s direct business contacts with the Chinese army were documented in a 1997 Rand Corporation report on the Chinese military industry. According to the report, “Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong, controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, is also negotiating for PLA wireless system contracts, which would build upon his equity interest in Poly-owned Yangpu Land Development Company, which is building infrastructure on China’s Hainan Island.”
The newly released documents also show that Li Ka-Shing is directly in business with the Chinese government through the China Ocean Shipping Company or COSCO. Li also played a major role in the failed attempt to purchase the former Navy port in Long Beach, Calif., for COSCO.
Daley’s meeting on the Monkey’s Uncle included several other firms identified as Chinese army front companies. The participants included Zhu Xizohua, chairman of China Everbright, a firm directly owned by the Chinese army, and Larry Yung, chairman of CITIC Pacific, or the China International Trust and Investment Corporation, a firm alleged to be a front for Chinese arms manufacturer Poly Technologies Corporation. According to the Rand report, Poly Technologies was founded in 1985 as a subsidiary of CITIC.
“Poly Technologies, Ltd., was founded in 1984, ostensibly as a subsidiary of CITIC, although it was later exposed to be the primary commercial arm of the PLA General Staff Department’s Equipment Sub-Department,” states the Rand report. “Throughout the 1980s, Poly sold hundreds of millions of dollars of largely surplus arms around the world, exporting to customers in Thailand, Burma, Iran, Pakistan and the United States.”
In 1996, Poly Technologies was run by international arms dealer Wang Jun and his “princeling” friend, the powerful He Ping, son-in-law of Deng Xiaoping. The Rand Corporation noted that “Wang Jung is both director of CITIC and chairman of Poly Group, the arms trading company of the General Staff Department.”
In 1996, Poly Chairman Wang Jun met with President Clinton inside the White House with convicted Chinagate figure Charlie Trie. Trie donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to the 1996 Clinton/Gore campaign from Chinese sources, much of which was later returned by the Democratic Party. Trie is also alleged to be a member of the “4 Seas” Triad, an organization of underworld lords based inside Hong Kong.
“CITIC does enter into business partnerships with and provide logistical assistance to PLA and defense-industrial companies like Poly,” noted the 1997 Rand report. “Poly’s U.S. subsidiaries were abruptly closed in August 1996. Allegedly, Poly’s representative, Robert Ma, conspired with China North Industries Corporation’s representative, Richard Chen, and a number of businessmen in California to illegally import 2000 AK-47s into the United States.”
“Unfortunately for them,” states the Rand report, “their ‘customers’ turned out to be undercover U.S. Customs and BATF agents, posing as members of a Miami syndicate. Poly’s representative, Robert Ma, fled the country one step ahead of federal law enforcement officials who had a warrant for his arrest, and his current whereabouts are unknown.”
Related stories:
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U.S. knew of China canal threat
China’s growing influence in Panama
Panama company denies China connection
China canal threat real, says Barr
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