-
- Bahamas - The
same Chinese
company that recently took operational control of the
Panama Canal is currently
completing construction of the largest
container port in the world in Freeport,
Bahamas - just 60 miles from
Florida. View Photos of the Port Several U.S.
military experts say that
the activities of Hutchison Whampoa Limited,
a Hong Kong-based
conglomerate, in both Panama and the Bahamas, pose a
significant risk
to U.S. national security.
-
- Officials for Hutchison Whampoa have heatedly denied
any links with the Red Chinese government, but several established
connections
- including new evidence uncovered by NewsMax.com - suggest
the Chinese
government has a keen interest in the company's
activities.
-
- One port facility that has captured the interest of the
Chinese
government is Hutchison Whampoa's sprawling port facility in the
tourist destination of Freeport on Grand Bahama Island.
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- Strategically Located Near U.S. East Coast
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- According to the
company's Web site, the port is located
at one of the most strategic
spots in the world because "Freeport
is the closest offshore port
to the east coast of the United States, at
the cross-roads of routes
between Europe and the Americas and through the
Panama
Canal."
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- In 1995, Hutchison Whampoa entered into a 50-50 partnership
with the Grand Bahama Development Company, a privately owned Bahamian
company,
to develop and expand the small Freeport facility that had
catered to cruise
ships.
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- Since then, Hutchison has helped dredge and expand the
port, making it capable of handling the largest container ships on the
high seas.
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- According to Michael Powers, Hutchison Whampoa's General
Manager for the Freeport development, the container port is simply a
"dedicated
deep water trans-shipment hub."
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- 'Hub' Port
for Container Shipping
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- Large container ships coming
from several directions
can off-load their container boxes, which can
be re-routed on to other
large or small container ships for delivery.
The port operates, he says,
much like Miami airport might serve as a
"hub" for travelers
going to destinations around the
globe.
-
- Already the port is doing a brisk business in container
shipments, Powers said, and has the capacity to become the world's largest
container port. He said the company also plans to make the port the
world's
largest cruise ship destination port. Already, Disney cruise
lines will
soon make Freeport a port of call.
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- The company has ambitious plans
to create the largest
air cargo facility on land adjacent to the port.
Hutchison has a 50 percent
stake in the Grand Bahama Airport Company,
which owns one of the largest
airport runways in the world - more than
11,000 feet long. According to
Powers, the runway is capable of
handling the world's largest cargo and
military aircraft.
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- On 800 acres of
wooded land adjacent to the airport,
Hutchison plans to create the
Grand Bahama Sea-Air Business Center - a
center that could potentially
allow for 8 million square feet in warehouse
space.
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- Communist
China Ties Disturbing
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- While Hutchison Whampoa has a
sterling reputation as
a commercial enterprise - and has not been
linked to any illegal activities
such as drug or gun smuggling - the
firm's ties to Communist China have
raised concerns.
-
- Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and former
U.S. Defense Secretary Caspar
Weinberger have expressed concerns about
Hutchison's influence over the
Panama Canal.
-
- Lott has described the Hong Kong firm as "an arm
of the
People's Liberation Army."
-
- Hutchison Whampoa's chairman, Li Ka-Shing, is also a
board member of CITIC ñ the China International Trust and
Investment
Corporation. U.S. intelligence sources have described the
firm as a front
for China's governmental State Council.
-
- Congressman Dana
Rohrbacher, R-Calif., has stated that
CITIC has been used as a front
company by China's military to acquire technology
for weapons
development.
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- Closely Tied to Beijing
Rulers
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- A recently declassified report by the United States
Southern
Command's Joint Intelligence Center, prepared in October 1999,
said that
"Hutchison Whampoa's owner, Hong Kong tycoon Li
Ka-Shing, has extensive
business ties in Beijing and has compelling
financial reasons to maintain
a good relationship with China's
leadership."
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- The military intelligence report also warns that "Hutchison
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." View the
Actual Secret
U.S. Military Report
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- John Meredith, the
group-managing director for Hutchison
Port Holdings, told NewsMax.com
that comments made about Hutchison have
often been erroneous and
"outrageous."
-
- He said the firm's involvement at the port in the
Bahamas
is simply a trans-shipment service.
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- Just Cranes, That's
All
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- "We have no pilots. We have no tugs. We have no
boats. We
have no ships. We have no containers. All we have is cranes,"
he
said.
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- Meredith angrily denied any connection between the firm
and the Chinese
government.
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- "We're a public company in Hong Kong. We're not
an arm of
anybody," said Meredith. He pointed out that less than 1
percent
of all Hutchison investors are Chinese.
-
- "I'm British for starters.
I don't even speak the
language. It would be very difficult for someone
to instruct me as to what
to do," he said
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- "We've had the most
outrageous comments made about
what we've got down [in Panama] ñ
missile silos and all sorts of
rubbish. Anybody can come and
investigate," added Meredith.
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- No Chinese on
Payroll
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- According to Powers, Hutchison employs about 500
Bahamians.
Only five managers are not Bahamians, mostly British
nationals. None are
Chinese. Bahamian officials told NewsMax.com they
have noticed no increase
in Chinese nationals at the port or on the
island.
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- Despite the strong claims made by Hutchison that China
has no
interest in their Bahamian port, evidence suggests otherwise.
-
- A review of the
visitor's log by NewsMax.com at the company's
main office in Freeport
shows that Chinese government officials have been
frequent visitors to
the port facility.
-
- According to the log, China's ambassador to the Bahamas,
MA
Shuxue, has visited the port facility at least a half dozen times in
the past few years. He has also accompanied groups of Chinese government
officials. On other occasions Chinese governmental or commercial
representatives
have also paid visits without the presence of
Ambassador Shuxue.
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- Chinese Hold Frequent-Visitor
Record
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- The visitor logbook indicates Chinese officials have
visited the port more often than officials from any other country,
including
the United States. View Photos of Entries by Chinese
Officials in the Visitor
Log
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- The logbook also shows that on
June 2, 1999, the Cuban
ambassador, Lazaro Cabeza, also paid a visit to
the facility. Cuba is a
strong ally of China's.
-
- "If they have no
connection to Hutchison and the
port, if they are not interested in
this company, why is China sending
its ambassador there?" asks
retired Admiral Thomas Moorer. "Why
are other Chinese officials
showing up there? Why is Castro's ambassador
going there?"
-
- Moorer, former
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,
also served as former commander
in chief of the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets.
-
- "Of course the Chinese
military sees the benefit
of having a base, a future base, so close to
the United States," Moorer
said, adding, "What China is
trying to do is get a kind of maritime
position worldwide, and they
need a home base ñ so to speak ñ
in every
ocean."
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- They Even Wanted Long
Beach
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- "Not only are the Chinese in the Bahamas, they're
in
Panama and the Spratly Islands right off the Philippines. They tried
to
get Long Beach," Moorer said.
-
- "There's no question about
the fact in my mind that
the Chinese military forces are affiliated
with Mr. Li, who in turn runs
Hutchison Whampoa," added
Moorer.
-
- Moorer said while the port facilities appear harmless
today,
they could be used as a staging ground by the Chinese at some future
point if hostilities were to arise in the Korean peninsula or over
Taiwan.
-
- The Bahamian government said they are pleased with Hutchison's
activities, however.
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- Bahamians All in Favor
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- Lindy Russell, the
parliamentary secretary in the office
of the prime minister for the
Bahamas, said that Bahamians are excited
about the economic development
the port brings to the island nation.
-
- Besides development of the
port, Hutchison has other
investments on the island including a
370-acre resort in Lucaya, Grand
Bahama, which includes a 49-acre
beachfront site.
-
- Russell said that U.S. officials have expressed concerns
to him
regarding human cargo of Chinese labor possibly coming through the
ports. They had no concerns about the actual operation of the port,
Russell
said.
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- Additional Links:
-
- Go to: http://www.newsmax.com
/articles/?a=2000/1/19/02630
for active links
-
- - View Photos of the
Port
- - View Photos of Entries by Chinese
Officials in the
Visitor Log
- - Read the
Text of the Secret U.S. Military Report on
Hutchison Whampoa
- - View the Actual Secret U.S. Military Report
- - Go to China Hot Topics for More on China
- - Go to Panama Canal Hot Topics for More on the
Canal
- - Free Offer with Vortex ó Get
Audiotape of Admiral
Moorer's Briefing on "The China
Threat"
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