Hutchison Whampoa & Port Security

A previously declassified US intelligence report has stated “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.” Another report US intelligence report states, "“Li is directly connected to Beijing and is willing to use his business influence to further the aims of the Chinese Government. He has positioned his son, Victor Li, to replace him in certain Cheung Kong Holdings and Hutchison Whampoa operations such as HW’s Hong Kong International Terminals (HIT). ... Li’s interest in the Panama canal is not only strategic, but also as a means for outside financial opportunities for the Chinese government.” (Intelligence report source)

Frank Gaffney, of the Center for Security Policy, has written that Whampoa "is currently hard at work acquiring a presence for China at other strategic 'choke points' around the world, including notably the Caribbean's Bahamas, the Mediterranean's Malta, and the Persian Gulf's Straits of Hormuz. At a moment inconvenient to the United States, such access could translate into physical or other obstacles to our use of such waterways."<1>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutchison_Whampoa



Complaint Requesting an Investigation of Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd.’s Actions To Gain Controlling Interest In Global Crossing Ltd., and Former Defense Secretary William S. Cohen’s Activities As A Director of Global Crossing, Ltd.

Concerns over foreign control and influence, especially by a strategic competitor, of vital national communications links are not abstract, theoretical speculation. Global Crossing's bankruptcy filing prompted the United States Department of Defense to delay the awarding of a $450 million contract for a high-speed data network connecting its laboratories and research centers. Some media outlets report that members of Congress are questioning whether the military can award such a contract to a company controlled by foreign entities. Global Crossing originally won the contract last July under suspicious circumstances, with the apparent assistance of former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, who now, not coincidentally, sits on the Board of Directors of Global Crossing. In a Los Angeles Times article entitled “Global Crossing Hurt By Board’s Cronyism,” published on February 24, 2002, Global Crossing reportedly paid Cohen’s consulting firm, The Cohen Group, $500,000.00 in consulting fees in 2001.

http://www.judicialwatch.org/cases/85/globalwhampoa.htm



Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, owner of the company that now exercises de facto control over the operation of the Panama Canal, is a "minister' of the Communist Chinese government, according to newly released documents from the Commerce Department.

The documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by Judicial Watch, a Washington-based public interest legal watchdog group, also reveal a previously unreported 1994 meeting in Hong Kong between Li Ka-Shing and then-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, along with several figures directly linked to President Clinton's Asian campaign finance scandals.

The meeting with Li, who is currently considered a "threat" by the U.S. Defense Department, was part of a "Presidential Business Development" trade trip to Asia and was personally approved by President Clinton.

http://ads.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17357

I would recommend this book for those inclined. It is a fast read. To say Li is in the pocket of Communist China is a simplification. He in fact plays both sides and his clan was a power behind Chaing Kai Shek's Throne via the so called Green Gang (Triad). One major source of income for the Triads is Opium from the Golden Triangle (Afghanistan). Their profits are said to be ten times that of the Columbian Drug Cartels.
"Lords of the Rim" by Sterling Seagrave (English raised in China)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399140115/002-5867512-5365619?v=glance&n=283155
Seagrave's book the Soong Dynasty is also interesting and important - it goes into the strong links between nationalist and communist China's links to American Christian Fundamentalists - to me an enexpected and astounding relationship.

I believe the book "Taipan" by Clavell is about Hutchinson Whampoa.