Thread: Chinese regime's opposition to U.S. goes beyond oil

Chinese Regime Talks Peace but Supports Terror
Terrorists and rogue states find friend in Chinese regime
By Ben Kaminsky
Epoch Times Israel Staff Sep 07, 2006


An Iranian Noor missile is launched during military manoeuvres at Jask peninsula in the Gulf. (-/AFP/Getty Images) Is China a possible partner in the war against terror, as it depicts itself? Or is it on the other side of this war?

In a meeting between President Bush and the former head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Jiang Zemin in February 2002, Jiang made a clear point of being against terror, and assisting the global efforts against terror. In a meeting in April 2006 between President Bush and the current head of the CCP, Hu Jintao, Hu made similar statements. However, a look at the CCP's actions offers a different picture.

Made in China

It is widely known that Hezbollah's Fajr, Zelzal, and C-802/Noor missiles came from Iran. However, many of the ballistic and cruise missiles Iran has are either Chinese or were developed with the assistance of the Chinese regime.

The C-802 (or Noor) missile, which was launched by Hezbollah and hit the Israeli ship "Hanit" and an Egyptian ship in the recent Lebanon war, is known to be provided to Hezbollah by Iran. "C-802" is actually the export name of the Chinese Ying Ji 82. [1] Following the Gulf War in 1991, Iran imported the 120km range turbojet-propelled C-802 antiship cruise missile from China. According to the International Assessment and Strategy Center, in the mid-1990s the Chinese regime began enabling Iran to co-produce the C-802, which Iran code-named Noor.

The Fajr and Zelzal missiles that threatened Israel during the Lebanon War were reportedly developed by Iran with the assistance of Chinese and North Korean regimes, and are based on Chinese technology—e.g., their solid-fuel propellant technology. [2]

According to some reports, the Fajr-5 is in fact a variation of the Chinese WS-1 missile, which Iran imported from China in the late 1980s or early 1990s. [3]

The Chinese regime is also known to support Iran's efforts to upgrade its Scud missiles, [4] which were developed by China's proxy, North Korea. There are also reports of the Chinese regime supplying technical and manufacturing assistance to a number of indigenous Iranian missile programs. According to a CIA report, China and Iran signed a $3 billion deal in August 1996 that included the sale of Chinese ballistic missiles, missile guidance technology and missile production equipment. [5] The CIA's 1997 report to Congress also stated that China continued to help Iran's missile programs.

According to Bates Gill, the director of the East Asian Nonproliferation Project (Monterrey Institute of International Studies), The Chinese arms trade with Iran started in the early 1980s, and involves conventional, missile, nuclear, and chemical weapons. [6]

Stephen Pollard says in an article published in The Times: "It [China] is also Iran's main supplier of unconventional arms and is thought by almost all monitors to be illicitly involved in supplying key elements in Iran's chemical and nuclear weapons programme." [7]

The popular blog China Confidential suggests that the missile that downed the Israeli chopper was possibly made in China. It claims that Iran has supplied its Shiite Lebanese proxy with Chinese Qianwei (QW) missiles, which are very effective shoulder launched surface-to-air missiles (SAM). Experts describe the QW2 as the world's most effective one-man shoulder launched SAM missiles, surpassing the American Stinger and the French Mistral. The Xinshidai Group, a Chinese state-owned arms company which is producing these missiles, was sanctioned by the U.S. for arms sales to Iran. [8]

Hezbollah's 2004 use of Iranian made unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAV) to penetrate Israeli airspace proved shocking to Israelis. In the recent Lebanon war, the Israeli air force shot down a Hezbollah UAV 10km off the coast of Acre, in the north of Israel. Due to the strength of the explosion, it was estimated that it might have contained explosives so that it could be detonated inside Israel.

Ironically, Iran's development of UAV technology may owe much to Israel itself. Israel sold its "Harpy" anti-radar drone to China in the early 1990s. In 2006 Iran revealed a new UAV that is similar to the "Harpy." No official statements confirm that China used Israeli technology to help build the new Iranian drone, but its configuration suggests the possibility. [9]

The explosion of a suicide bomber in Mike's Place in Tel-Aviv in 2003, introduced a new, more advanced and more lethal explosive that the terror organizations had not used before. The Mossad—Israeli intelligence—informed British security officials that the same explosive was apparently used in the explosion in London's metro in 2005. That explosive is known to the Mossad to be manufactured in a Chinese laboratory, not far from Beijing. [10]

Unlike U.S. and other western governments, who view Hamas as a terrorist organization, the Chinese regime was very quick in recognizing the new Palestinian Hamas government and was very prompt in inviting its leaders for an official visit. In addition, according to a Washington Times report, a Chinese intelligence officer is engaged in covertly aiding Hamas. [11]

At a dinner hosted by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Hu Jintao traced the creation of Israel to a "colonialist plot aimed at detaching from the Arab nation a part that is dear to it—Palestine."

There is also evidence of Chinese support of Al-Qaeda. A large amount of Chinese manufactured ammo was found in the Al-Qaeda hideout in the Tora Bora caves.

Moreover, Chinese forces were reportedly sent to aid Al-Qaeda during the war in Afghanistan. For instance,15 Chinese fighters who were reportedly found in Kandahar. DEBKAfile reported long Chinese convoys carrying an estimated 5,000-15,000 Chinese Muslim servicemen through northwest China into Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. [12]

A June 2006 Amnesty International report shows how Chinese weapons have helped sustain brutal conflicts, criminal violence, and other grave human rights violations in countries such as Sudan, Nepal, Myanmar and South Africa. The report branded the CCP as one of the world's biggest, most irresponsible arms exporters.

The 'Chinese Century'

In 1994, Jiang Zemin said that U.S. "hegemony" should be opposed, in part by helping countries such as Iran, which were already fighting that battle. [13]

One reason for opposing U.S. power lies in China's rapidly expanding appetite for oil. The Chinese regime wants to ensure that the U.S. won't be able to interfere with its oil flow, which is why it wants to ally and trade with Iran, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries rich in oil.


The Middle East is now China's fourth largest trading partner. Barry Rubin says in the Middle East Review of International Affairs: "Being so late in entering the region—and having less to offer in economic or technology terms than the United States, Russia, Japan, and Europe—China must go after marginal or risky markets . . . supplying customers no one else will service with goods no one else will sell them."

These services and goods are, of course, arms and support in producing arms. Thus, China became a main arms supplier to Iran, for example.

Another good example is Sudan. The U.N. Security Council and the international community are struggling to end the atrocities taking place there. China, however, in exchange for oil, is supplying Sudan's regime with fighter planes, bombers, helicopters, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenades, which have intensified the atrocities. According to a former Sudan government minister, China is Sudan's largest supplier of arms. [14]

However, the Chinese regime's opposition to the U.S. goes beyond oil.

The leaders of the Chinese regime see the 21st Century as the "Chinese century"—the century in which the CCP will lead the world. This ambition is the centerpiece of the propaganda the CCP uses to arouse the intense patriotism common among educated youth in China today. [15]

This patriotism is essential to the CCP's own survival. The CCP faces multiple crises at home and can no longer base its claim to rule China on ideology. However, it can present itself as the vehicle for vindicating Chinese national pride by becoming the world's dominant power. On those grounds, it can claim to represent China's future.

U.S. power stands squarely in the way of such ambitions.

Taiwan brings the connection between the Chinese regime's patriotism and anti-Americanism into clear focus.

In an interview on the BBC on August 17, 2006, Sha Zukang, China's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said: "The moment Taiwan declares independence, supported by whoever, China will have no choice."

He added: "It's not a matter of how big Taiwan is, but for China, one inch of the territory is more valuable than the life of our people. We will never concede on that."

In July 2005 Professor Zhu Chenghu of China's National Defense University in a press conference organized by the Chinese regime made clear to what extent the CCP is willing to risk "the life of our people" in order to assert its claim to Taiwan. He said that if the U.S. got involved in a war between Taiwan and mainland China, China would be the first to use nuclear weapons and would wipe out hundreds of cities in the U.S., even at the cost of losing every city east of Xi'an. .

In a speech attributed to Chi Haotian, China's former Minster of Defense and vice-chairman of China's Central Military Commission, and published on several websites in mainland China (in China's heavily censored media, such widespread publication suggests endorsement by the CCP), he says: "It is indeed brutal to kill one or two hundred million Americans. But that is the only path that will secure a Chinese century, a century in which the CCP leads the world." In the same speech, Chi also says that the CCP will sacrifice the lives of the Chinese people, if needed, because "the population, even if more than half dies, can be reproduced. But if the Party falls, everything is gone, and forever gone!"

The Chinese Nuclear Club

While the entire world is concerned about the Iranian nuclear threat, not many recognize that without the Chinese Communist regime, Iran wouldn't have such a well-developed nuclear program today.

According to a Radio Free Asia report, when Iran stated a few months ago that it has made a "significant breakthrough" in the extraction technology of enriched uranium, the breakthrough actually consisted of Iran's purchase of high quality processed uranium from China. [16]

In June 2004 the BBC, quoting the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, reported that "Chinese transfers have evolved from sales of complete missile systems to exports of largely dual-use nuclear, chemical, and missile components and technologies." [17]

In other words, the Iranian nuclear threat has come about with the active participation of the Chinese Communist regime.

The Chinese regime's opposition to referring Iran's nuclear program to the U.N. Security Council is further evidence of its stance. Iran has counted on China's support. In November 2004 a senior Iranian official insisted that China was "against referral of the Iranian issue to the Security Council."

On Aug. 10, 2005, the day that Iran broke International Atomic Energy Agency seals at a uranium plant, China's U.N. ambassador, Wang Guangya told reporters, "I think it is up to [the IAEA in] Vienna to come up with a solution. I think it is not up to the Security Council." [18]

In April 2006 Chinese assistant foreign minister Cui Tankai visited Teheran for the ostensible purpose of expressing concern over Iran's announcement that it is enriching uranium, and wanted to show the western world China's a positive effort in assisting the non-proliferation. However, it is more likely that his mission was designed to bolster China's security relationship with Iran. [19]

The Chinese regime supports the Iranian nuclear weapons program because it understands the CCP and the Iran share a common enemy. The Chinese regime supports governments that oppose the U.S. In Iran it seeks an ally who will support the Chinese regime in case of any conflict with the U.S., a conflict that the CCP believes inevitable.

The Chinese regime seeks to help create a block of nuclear powers that can oppose the U.S. When Iran does have nuclear weapons, it will join with North Korea as a nuclear-armed regime hostile to the U.S. and allied with China.

The Chinese regime has talked about opposition to terror, but the record of its actions tells a different story.

As Western nations struggle to cope with terrorists who deploy ever more sophisticated weaponry, they need to ask themselves the following question: When Western nations help the Chinese regime further develop its weapons technology, at whom are these high-tech weapons going to be aimed?




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry

I put this in the wrong discussion area