Letter: China gains foothold in West

Thursday, Jan. 10, 2002 | 8:50 a.m.

Ah, the Bahamas! Beautiful, romantic beaches, palm trees, azure skies, the People's Liberation Army. Yes, the PLA. Communist China's military-industrial-espionage complex has invaded paradise in a big way.

The huge, recently completed container facility at Freeport operated by Hutchison Whampoa, Ltd., should be considered a Chinese forward base -- only 60 miles from West Palm Beach, Fla.

Hutchison Whampoa is the shipping behemoth run by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing, whose close ties to the PLA and China's top communist leadership have long been public knowledge.

During the Clinton administration, there had been warnings of his role in establishing PLA beachheads at the world's strategic shipping ports. Hutchison Whampoa had gained control, for instance, over ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.

Hutchison's containerized shipping facilities in the Panama Canal, as well as the Bahamas, could provide a conduit for illegal shipments of technology and prohibited items from the West to the PRC. They could facilitate the movements of arms and other prohibited items into the Americas.

The Bush administration does not appear to be any more concerned about this growing danger in the Caribbean than was the Clinton administration.

CHARLES A. DELZOTTI