The China Chronicles

The suggestion that the United States should work with Communist China to combat international terrorism is "a badly misguided proposal that merits a hasty burial." So warns Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC), senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and probably the best informed man on foreign policy in office today.

The notion that the United States needs Chinese assistance is based on the false assumption that, since China is a member of the United Nations Security Council, we need China's acquiescence to adopt a resolution approving the use of force against whoever is responsible for the criminal attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Helms says, "Nothing could be more disastrous."

Helms points out that the U.S. has been "down this UN road to disaster before." During Operation Desert Shield, we sought the approval of the UN to use force against Saddam Hussein, but the resolution adopted by the UN "tied the hands of U.S. forces and was one of the justifications used for stopping Operation Desert Storm with Saddam still in power."

Helms advises us, "Now that the forces of international terrorism have struck New York and Washington, the U.S. cannot afford to waste time and energy consulting the United Nations."

The second argument advanced by those who want us to cozy up to the Communist Chinese is the assumption that China and the U.S. share a common interest in fighting terrorism.

Helms calls this "a naive and dangerous fantasy." He charges that "the Communist Chinese government is in bed with every one of the terrorist and terrorist supporting rogue regimes."

Helms presented the evidence to back up his assertions. He says it is "absurd" to expect assistance against terrorism from the same Communist Chinese regime that has "supplied nuclear and missile technology to Pakistan and Iran, chemical weapons materials to Iran, missile technology to Libya, and air defense equipment to help Iraq shoot down U.S. pilots."

Helms also says that the Chinese government is "one of the foremost benefactors of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban" and the largest foreign investor in Afghanistan.

On September 11, Pakistan's Frontier Post reported that the Chinese government and the Taliban signed a new economic and technical cooperation agreement.

China has two goals, Helms says, "both utterly incompatible with ours. Internally, the Chinese government is at war with all of Islam. Externally, China's ultimate goal is to destroy America's status as the sole superpower in the world." Continuing, Helms tells us that, "to the Chinese government, this is a zero sum game; anything that embarrasses, diminishes or bloodies the United States automatically serves China's interest."

Summing it up, Helms warns: "Strategically and morally, the United States cannot and must not assume that China is part of a solution to terrorism. Indeed, Communist China is a very large part of the problem."

Update on Military Threat

India's intelligence agencies claim that China has covertly supplied weapons to Taliban and their supporters in Pakistan, according to the New Delhi Pioneer. China Reform Monitor 409,
10-15-01

Major Gen. Richard Anson, USA (Ret.), former Commander of U.S. Ground Forces in Panama, reports a stunning change of opinion among Panama's elites on the need for U.S. bases in Panama. He said that, on a trip to Panama this year, the questions he heard again and again were: "Why don't you Americans want to be in Panama?" and "How come you don't want to negotiate for the return of U.S. bases?" Report by National Security Center, www.national securitycenter.org

Admiral Thomas Moorer, USN (Ret.) warns: "There is no military force present at the Panama Canal to deter or repulse any act of sabotage aimed at the United States economy or national security capability - both of which were already savagely attacked at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. . . . A terrorist strike to incapacitate the Panama Canal would severely damage our ability to resupply U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines sent abroad; rebuilding or repairing the Canal in time to help our armed forces abroad could be impractical and impossible." www.nationalsecuritycenter.org

Update on Human Rights

The Chinese state-run propaganda agency is selling books, films and video games glorifying the 9/11 strikes on the World Trade Center as a humbling blow against an arrogant U.S. Video disks filled with lurid images and dramatic music (even the theme from Jaws) are flooding Chinese markets. Scenes from the rubble of the twin towers carry the voice of a commentator stating, "This is the America the whole world has wanted to see." Beijing calls this an "educational file" to "meet market demand." Damien McElroy Electronic Telegraph, 4-11-01

After years of denial, an investigation by Population Research Institute has presented evidence that the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) works closely with the Communist Chinese government's Office of Family Planning on coerced abortions and sterilizations. UNFPA receives funding from the U.S. www.pop.org/china

Chinese armed police have forced thousands of Tibetan monks and nuns to leave the Serthar Buddhist Institute in Sichuan Province, destroyed more than 1,000 homes, threatened arrests, and forced clergy to sign papers denouncing the Dalai Lama. China Reform Monitor 405, 8-28-01

The Chinese government has done little to discourage those who cheered the attack on the World Trade Center. Public message boards in China carried such insulting comments as "I'm happy because I hate America." "The United States is arrogant. You deserve your fate." "We've been bullied by America for too long." Washington Post, 10-14-01

Two Chinese state-run telecommunications companies are helping the Taliban militia install a telephone system in Afghanistan's capital, according to U.S. intelligence officials. Washington Times, 9-28-01

Update on Free Trade

The U.S. Dept. of Labor reported that 34,000 jobs, and maybe twice that, many of them higher-wage jobs, moved from the U.S. to China in 2001, as a result of warming U.S.-China relations. According to researcher Stephanie Luce, Ph.D., "the results were surprising" because the figures are higher than job movement to Mexico in the same period. The companies that have moved their production to China still intend to serve a U.S. market: LaCrosse Footwear (winter boots), Lexmark (printers), Motorola (cell phones), Rubber-maid (cookware), Raleigh (bicycles), Cooper Tools (wrenches), Mattel Murray (Barbie doll play-houses), and Samsonite (luggage). Luce concluded: "Contrary to the high expectations that China's 1.2 billion population would provide an ever-expanding market for U.S. goods, by 2000 the value of goods imported to the U.S. from China exceeded the value of U.S. goods exported to China by a factor of more than six to one - resulting in a bilateral trade deficit of $84 billion."  Luce on CNN

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference in Washington, DC: China's strategic missile buildup reflects Beijing's "seriousness of purpose" in becoming a global power. Washington Times, 10-7-01