By Nancy Thomson
We are thankful the US airmen are being returned from China. Time will tell whether the 24 crewman are free to divulge what happened before, after and during their captivity.
The Navy airmen are from a different generation and they may not be aware what took place in other instances such as the USS Liberty, her sister ship the Pueblo, and the prisoners as well as missing military in Vietnam.
Military involved in surveillance are often under the direction of the National Security Agency. Such was the case with the Liberty and Pueblo. Promises of help were given to both of these commanders if their ships encountered enemy action. Twice American planes took off to come to the aid of the Liberty and each time the rescue was called off.
Pueblo’s Commander Bucher was assured help was coming even while the North Koreans were advancing in his direction. His orders to the crew were predicated on this. The aid never came so the ship and men were captured. After 11 terrible months in captivity, the US prisoners were returned home. Military officials wanted to court martial Commander Bucher because he didn’t scuttle his ship. North Korea still has the Pueblo. It is used as a propaganda tourist attraction against the US.
Larry Klayman’s Judicial Watch is asking for a Freedom of Information Act access to all the Pentagon and State Department papers on the negotiations involved in the release of the naval personnel. People wouldn’t be so suspicious if our government had been truthful about the other confrontations.
Our plane and crew brought down in China are ripples on the surface catching media attention
The real war with China is not being defined and has been going on for a long time. Media pundits keep warning we can’t let the plane incident interfere with trade relations.
Do they mean that our $80 billion dollar trade deficit with China is so advantageous that we must continue to make it even higher? Our workers and producers will always be on the losing end because they can’t compete with slave labor. No country can maintain a high standard of living by importing more than they export. We have a $300 billion trade deficit overall and this is starting to affect our whole economy.
While the President has some authority over foreign relations with China, it is the economics of trade that sets the policies. Former government officials (who never relinquished their seat of power) are managing our foreign relations through their business connections.
This includes Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, George Schultz (all former Secretaries of State) Lawrence Eagleburger, and ex- national Security Advisor, Brent Scowcroft. Their fortunes are dependent on China’s continued economic health.
Kissinger and Haig lobby congress for the Chinese government.
Companies with extensive investment (and some who act as lobbyists for China) are Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, Loral, Hughes, Lockheed, Lucent Technologies, Ford and Chrysler, General Motors, Proctor and Gamble, Amway, McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Motorola, AT&T, General Electric, IBM, Allied Signal, and Pfizer.
In 1997 Senate hearings were held by Senator Thompson to decide whether China should receive the Most Favored Nation status. Thompson’s committee became derailed. Big Business wanted to sell their technology to China, and the legislators wanted foreign money from China. Mark Schweig of Lucent Technologies, "We don’t take sides politically. Our judgements are based upon business objectives. In China, we have all kinds of partners."[1] Lucent deals in high-speed technology that has military applications. This is an advantageous deal for Lucent since it brings in large amounts of money. The PLA (People’s Liberation Army) get things they can’t make themselves and can’t buy elsewhere.
MFN has turned into PNTR—Permanent "Normal"(substitute name for favored) Trade Status. This allows congress to by pass a yearly vote for Chinese special trade relations. This affirmative vote was sometimes embarrassing due to China’s human rights violations.
A Defense Department official said Chinese agents ship US Technology form California to front companies located in Vancouver, British Columbia. There, the technology is re-exported to China under Canada’s more lax controls. [2]
California is known as China’s 22 province because of all the Chinese students, businessmen, "visiting tourists" and officials who gain economic as well as military information from this state’s multi -industries. Federal agents in California arrested a Chinese citizen and charged him with trying to obtain a component vital in missile systems.[3] The FBI has given warnings that China often uses ethnic Chinese, and less super agents than the soviets. From the beginning science and technology have always been the main targets for espionage. Even the CIA had a Chinese spy infiltrator named Chin. He had been sending documents back to China for 3 decades.[4]
Environmental groups have prevented California and other US states from building nuclear plants for energy. Thus US nuclear reactor companies are taking their business elsewhere. China plans to build 20 new reactors in coming years
But there is another trade going on-------the US bond market!
China is issuing dollar-denominational bond offerings on the US Stock market. Beijing has secured billions of dollars, borrowed from sources such as credits for weapons sales. These funds go into the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) modernization program. Chinese government controlled bonds floated in the US and international markets amounted to $6.75 billion dollars. The PLA is selling bonds in the US and Goldman Sachs is their bond dealer.
The US stock market lists Chinese companies. China’s financial and trade battle with the US enables them to build up their military machine. Their agenda is to eliminate the US as a power and then dominate the world.
The question is why are we helping them?
References:
[1] Spotlight Aug 18, 1997 – Tribune Media Service 1997
[2] The Mindszenty Report May 1994
[3] Orange County Register July 1, 1999
[4] Los Angeles Times March 14, 1999