Update on Trade with China
Communist China is investing heavily in deep-water ports in Mexico and planning to bring an unprecedented volume of goods into the U.S. by using the emerging NAFTA Super Highway.
The plan is to bring in Chinese goods in sealed cargo containers, then ship them by rail (and eventually also by truck) directly to Kansas City, which has been dubbed a port because it is the first stop where these Chinese goods will have a customs inspection.
This would make China the big winner in the plans to develop a North American common market. The giant Hong Kong-based shipping firm Hutchinson Whampoa, which already owns the ports at both ends of the Panama Canal as well as ports, telecom, and energy assets all over the world, is spending heavily to expand its holdings in the Mexican Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas.
The head of Hutchison Whampoa is Li Ka-Shing, who is closely connected to the Chinese Communist government. Human Events, 8-9-06
Update on Chinese Ideology
China’s President Hu Jintao used a nationwide televised address on the eve of the 85th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Chinese Communist Party to proclaim that the key to the Party’s survival is his political concept of maintaining its "advanced nature." He elevated his notion of xianjinxing, which translates literally as "advancedness" or "advanced nature," into official doctrine.
Hu said that an "advanced nature" must be maintained because it is the essence of Marxist thought, and the Chinese Communists’ success in fighting Japan, defeating the Nationalists, and rising to power in 1949 can all be attributed to this idea. Hu claimed that only the "advanced nature" concept can push forward the Party’s interests and "realize the interests of the vast majority of the people."
"Advanced nature" appears to be a purposefully vague and broad concept that gives Hu the leeway to determine policies while punishing people who fail to obey him. President Hu is also the Communist Party’s general secretary. New York Times, 7-1-06
Update on Chinese Espionage
The U.S. Department of Justice has admitted its failure to follow up on numerous warning signs that one of its most highly paid informants was a Chinese spy while she was having a nearly 20-year affair with her FBI handler.
Inspector General Glenn Fine said that Katrina Leung, who was finally exposed as a double agent, was paid more than $1.7 million by the FBI during a longtime affair with her handler, FBI agent James Smith. They were arrested in 2003. Smith pleaded guilty in 2003 to making false statements to the FBI. Leung, a prominent businesswoman in the Southern California Chinese-American community, pleaded guilty last year to lying to the government and filing a false tax return. They both received probation.
The FBI had exercised little oversight because of Smith’s status as a top agent in Los Angeles and Leung’s status as a highly valued informant. Smith exploited the inexperience of his supervisors. Leung couldn’t be tried for more serious offenses because of prosecutorial misconduct. Reuters, 5-24-06
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