- After the 9-11 attacks, Russian President Vladimir Putin
yanked its lease on Cubaís Lourdes Electronic Surveillance Station,
costing Fidel Castro more than $200 million a year in much-needed hard
currency. Filling the vacuum, China has now built its own version of Lourdes,
a signals intelligence complex in Bejucal, Cuba that reportedly operates
under the cover of Radio China and has the electronic clout to interfere
with vital U.S. communications.
-
- The new Chinese base is part of what the London Economist
has styled as Chinaís "worrying friendshipsî with rogue
nations such as North Korea, Iran, Libya and Iraq.
-
- According to the Economist, these new and building relationships
represent a "flaw" that could undermine the alliance against
international terrorism.
-
- Backing up the volatile actions with matching rhetoric,
Chinese President Jiang Zemin recently criticized the current Middle East
crisis as just so much "Israeli killings." And last month Chinese
vice-president and heir-apparent Hu Jintao remarked that in Asia, China
would oppose the "bullying superpower," referring, of course,
to the U.S.
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- Joining 'Axis of Evil'
-
- The American Foreign Policy Council has warned that Zeminís
recent visits to Libya and Iran, classic foes of the U.S., indicated that
it is joining forces with the "'axis of evil' to counter U.S. dominance
in global affairs through global anti-terrorism."
-
- In a recent editorial, the Iran Daily concluded that
Zeminís visit to Iran symbolized the stand of "Beijing opposing
the new world order recently advocated by the United States."
-
- Last month, the Chinese Foreign Ministryís spokesman
Kong Quan rejected Bush's label of "axis of evil" against Iran,
adding that China believes that no country has the right to exercise bullying
tactics against other states in the world.
-
- But there is more than ideology involved. Iran is Chinaís
prime petroleum supplier, and trade volume between the two countries has
doubled in the last three years, reaching $350 million annually.
-
- And they are rooting for the Gipper on the sidelines,
the Tehran Times encouraging China "to expeditiously take measures
to prevent the United States from acquiring a foothold in the Middle East.î
-
- In the meantime as China embraces rogue nations with
bad reps for supporting terrorists, it joined May 23, four other member
states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, rounding condemning all
forms of terrorism, separatism and extremism and agreeing to take joint
measures to quell such activities.
-
- At a regular meeting of the organization in the Kazakh
capital of Astana, officials from China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
and Tajikistan discussed strengthening cooperation in fighting terrorism,
as well as weapons and drugs smuggling.
-
- The officials reaffirmed that their countries will not
allow their territories to be used for activities that would endanger the
security of other countries, agreeing on a draft plan for the establishment
of a regional anti-terrorism mechanism.
-
- The draft will be submitted to leaders of the organizationís
member states for final approval at a summit scheduled for June in St Petersburg,
Russia.
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- http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/5/26/171851.shtml
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