Time: Sat Mar 15 12:23:15 1997
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Date: Sat, 15 Mar 1997 12:20:37 -0800
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: SNET: Residents say NO to China in Long Beach (fwd)
<snip>
>RESIDENTS WORRY ABOUT SECURITY
>WITH CHINESE SHIPPERS AT OLD BASE SITE
>
>By Scott Lindlaw
> Associated Press Writer
>
>March 13, 1997
>
>
>LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) - Worried about drug and gun smuggling,
>residents came out in force to oppose the city's plan to lease a
>closed Navy base here to a Chinese shipping company.
>
>Mage Fixler of Ventura said authorities only check one in 80
>containers passing through the port.
>
>"Who knows what they could bring in," she said. "More AK-47s?
>Drugs? ... Chemical weapons?"
>
>More than 800 people filled the City Council Chamber and overflow
>rooms Wednesday night to oppose the plan to lease the base to COSCO,
>the China Ocean Shipping Co., which has operated at the adjacent port
>of Long Beach for 15 years.
>
>Some opponents carried signs that read: "Not one square foot of
>American soil for China" and "Just say No red China."
>
>The shipping company "is directly connected to the national
>defense force of China. We don't know if they intend any hostile
>actions in the future or not," said Aaron Johnson of Torrance.
>
>"I beg you to stop this. You are endangering American citizens,"
>he added.
>
>The Long Beach Naval Station was shut down in 1994. The Long Beach
>Board of Harbor Commissioners and the Navy have approved the plan to
>turn the base over to COSCO.
>
>But last week, a Superior Court judge ordered harbor commissioners
>to hold more hearings to reconsider the project. Port of Long Beach
>spokeswoman Yvonne Avila said a decision could come as early as March
>24.
>
>COSCO ships have been involved in several recent controversies,
>including being investigated for arms smuggling and safety violations,
>and one of the ships crashed into a crowded boardwalk in New Orleans
>in December.
>
>An Associated Press story Sunday on the base's future followed a
>report that at least six members of Congress received a classified
>FBI briefing last year warning that China might try to gain influence
>in Washington by giving money to politicians, possibly through
>intermediaries.
>
>The AP also reported earlier this week that President Clinton met
>twice with Long Beach officials to push the plan forward. Among those
>at one of the meetings was Carmen Perez, a harbor commissioner and a
>former vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. Perez
>listened to speakers at Wednesday's hearing but did not comment.
>
>Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer said Tuesday they wanted
>National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger and Defense Secretary
>William Cohen to review the plan.
>
>The AP reported that the White House assisted in the plan,
>apparently without seeking a national security review.
>
>The Long Beach Press-Telegram reported today that city officials
>obtained national security clearances in 1981, when COSCO first
>started using the port.
>
>"We cleared that with the State Department,' said James H.
>McJunkin, a former port executive director. McJunkin is now a
>maritime consultant whose clients include COSCO.
>
>Under the terms of the clearance, Chinese crews were banned from
>going more than about 2 miles inland, McJunkin said. Initially, at
>least, the agreement also barred the Chinese consul general in Los
>Angeles from visiting COSCO ships, he said.
>
>COSCO is part of the Chinese ministry of transportation, he said.
>
>"I don't think they're part of the (Chinese) military," McJunkin
>said. "But their military might use the transportation companies,
>just as our military might use our merchant fleet" in a national
>emergency, he said.
>
>While the overwhelming majority of those who spoke Wednesday
>condemned the plan, a handful were in favor of it.
>
>Among them was Tom Bussa, chairman of the Long Beach Area Chamber
>of Commerce, who said he was disturbed by the attitudes toward China.
>
>Bussa urged the board: "Do what is right - jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs."
>
>That line was ridiculed repeatedly by opponents of the project who
>spoke afterward.
>
>"This jobs, jobs, jobs city fellow, he's just full of it," said Jim Yates.
>
>"Communist China? What's the matter with these people? Where are
>they going to spend their dollars when they come over here and nuke
>us," said Yates, whose comments were greeted with hearty applause.
>
>Opposition to the COSCO plan was vigorous in the months leading to
>its approval and an array of interest groups aired concerns at the
>hearing. Among them were preservationists and several who want the
>facility converted to an educational and job training site.
>
>
><<End of Forwarded message >>
>
>
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