Outsourcing U.S. security to China? The Bush administration is granting Hutchison Whampoa, a Hong Kong company with ties to China's military, the right to screen U.S.-bound cargo for nuclear devices.(ON THE HOME FRONT)

The National Nuclear Security Administration in the Bush administration is granting a Hong Kong company, Hutchison Whampoa, the exclusive right to screen U.S.-bound cargo containers for nuclear devices at the Freeport Container Terminal in the Bahamas. A Beijing-friendly billionaire, Li Ka-shing, owns Hutchison. This port security deal shines a bright light upon a pattern of ownership and operation by the People's Republic of China (PRC) of strategic maritime assets inside the U.S.A. and worldwide.

Congress Daily reported, and C-SPAN showed, Clark Kent Ervin, former inspector general of Homeland Security, telling a Senate panel called by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) that Hutchison's ties to China compromise national security. Meanwhile, according to the Wall Street Journal, on April Fools Day, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff was touring a Hutchison port in Hong Kong.

Beijing's Secret Agent Man?

So what is there not to like about Li? He is closely tied to Jiang Zemin, former PRC president and Communist Party boss. Security and technology analyst Charles Smith of SOFTWAR.com answered THE NEW AMERICAN, "Li Ka-Shing [and] Jiang Zemin's son [are] developing real estate in Tiananmen Square. Li is ... a business partner of the Chinese military. Li discourages democracy and is developing ports inside North Korea."

The late Admiral Thomas Moorer, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and commander of the Atlantic and Pacific fleets said, "The Chinese military forces are affiliated with Mr. Li, who ... runs Hutchison." Mr. Li's connection to the Chinese government is well known in intelligence circles. The Defense Intelligence Agency reported: "Li Ka Shing ... is willing ... to further the aims of the Chinese Government."

Civilian sources confirm Li's involvement with China's government. "Li Kashing is to the Chinese army intelligence HQ what Howard Hughes was for the CIA," says William C. Triplett III, co-author of Red Dragon Rising. Industrialist inventor Howard Hughes, although a private businessman, was an extraordinary asset to U.S. intelligence and military agencies.

Australian journalist Peter Zhang explained, "Hutchison Whampoa is an arm of the Chinese government.... Li Ka Shing, is an unofficial government minister.... Just as British imperialism followed trade, Chinese military intelligence always follows Li" and "Not every Chinese civilian company is an instrument of the Ministry of State Security or the PLA [China's People's Liberation Army]. But Li is."