China ce

REVELATIONS con-
cerning the connections
Prime Minister Jean
Chretien has to CITIC,
the investment arm of
the Chinese People’s
Liberation Army
(PLA), seems to have
stirred up the emotions
of a great many of you.

Good. That is as it should
be.

But there’s oh, so much
more than what was reported
in this space nvo weeks ago.

Chretien’s son-in-law,
Andre Desmarais runs the
huge Quebec-based Power
Corp. He also holds a seat on
the board of CITIC,
described as the investment
arm of the PLA and, through
its subsidiaries, one of the
largest, if not the largest,
manufacturers of weaponry
and armaments in the world.

- Need weapons for a small war
to crush the democratically
elected government, Burma?
No problem, call CITIC.
Pakistan devetoping nuclear
weapons? No sweat, CITIC’s

‘right there to help out. Hey
Saddam, how’ve ya been?

Also on the board is Li
Ka-Shing, one of the world’s
wealthiest men and men-
tioned in both Canadian and
American intelligence reports
as connected vo the Triads in
Hong Kong and the govern-
ment of the People’s Republic

of China (PRC). Classified
RCMP intelligence reports

~ described and alleged Li to be
one of the most powerful

“gangsters in the werld in the
late 1980s. In fact, the Royal
Hong Kong Police asked
CSIS to investigate Li here in

; Canada in 1988 and the
request was officially denied.

“Now, why do you suppose

- that happened?

: Indeed, U.S. Congressman
Dana Rohrabacher said, “The
U.S. Bureau of Export

“Affairs, the U.S. Embassy in

“Beijing and the Rand

~ Corporation ... have identified
Li Ka-Shing and Hutchison *

mailbox
Hang onto
hot city spud

Dear Editor:

“Subject:. Olympian hot
‘potaio.

Of -3,002* citizens. who
voted in the last ‘municipal
election, the . last“ rvo : have
started the mob chant “refer-
endum,” in that the duly clect-
éd_- councillors of the city are”
incapable of. acting on our
behalf, when it comes to the
“topic. of Preliminary Capital
Prioritization, 2001.

The word “referendum”
didn’t leap from a chorus of
lips. of 3,000. nay-saying plac-
ard-waving concerned citizens
up in the gallery, it came from

‘couple of councillors, that we

fected. The allocation of limit-
ed finds, to any one group,
must be done in a sound and ,
prudent manner, based on the
best professional advice that is
currently available to our city
government...

For’ councillors . who: take .
their politics seriously, passing

a flaming hot potato issue to -

crime and
| punishment

Whampoa (Li's primary busi-
ness) as financing or serving
as a conduit for Communist
China’s military for them to
acquire sensitive technologies
and other equipment.”

You'll also recall from the
discussion two weeks ago,
that Li owns Gordon
Securities, the company
Chretien worked for during
his brief sojourn from potitics
while John Turner was Jeader
of the federal Liberals. A time
period during which the PM
made himself a tidy little for-
tune.

Desmarais was appointed
to the board of CITIC in
1997 and this past spring
secured 4% of the Chinese
company.

I should also tell you at
this point, that Li was
involved in initially setting up
CITIC back in the late 1970s.

Li and Macao gambling
tycoon, Stanley Ho, (he of
the palatial monstrosity at the
entrance to Staniey Park)
Were (Wo primary targets in
the now abandoned joint
CSIS/RCMP project
Sidewinder.

The closure of the
Sidewinder project has result-
ed in accusations of political
interference from the Prime
Minister’s Office, which are
now supposedly being investi-
gated by the CSIS civilian
watchdog agency SIRC. Their
report, initially due this
month, has now been deiaved
until some time late in the
year at best.

Investigators with the
RCMP are suggesting this is
due to the upcoming trade
mission to the PRC by
Chretien and sponsored by a
Chinese/Canadian business

organization that Desmarais
also has a hand in. Chretien is
scheduled to be the keynote
speaker to the group while in
the PRC in November.

As a side note, this trade
mission, not to be confused
with just another junket, is
the seventh such trip in as
many vears by Chretien.
Despite all the ballyhoo
whenever these trips are done,
all the phony contract sign-
ings depicted as though they
are the direct result of the
hard work done on these jun-
kets, uhh, trade missions, the
trade imbalance between the
two countries is still huge. In
fact, the trade deficit benween
Canada and the PRC stands
ata whopping
$6,260,967,000.

Back to the SIRC report.
One of the members of SIRC
and responsible for determin-
ing whether the PMO inter-
fered in Project Sidewinder, is
former Ontario premier, Bob
Rae. You know the guy who
single-handedly destroyed the
economy of the industrial
heartland of Canada. No easy
feat either. The same Bob
Rae, who has recently been in
the news for mediating, so to
speak, the lobster dispute in
Burnt Church. Just can't
seem to keep his snout out of
the government trough.

Bob’s brother may be the
source of some of the govern-
ment largesse he receives. You
see, Bob’s brother John, is
the campaign manager and
senior adviser to none other
than Jean Chretien. He is also
a senior executive in Power
Corp.

He is a very powerful back
room boy with the federal
Liberals and part of a small
circle of people who really
run this country.

Now Bab Rae, while he
occupied the office of the
Premier of Ontario, is
believed to have met Li and
Ho.

In fact, he and his party is
believed to have benefited
from political donations ema-
nating from Canadian compa-

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nies controlled by both Li
and Ho, the very thing
Sidewinder was investigating.

Now follow me here:

Project Sidewinder was
investigating political corrup-
tion and influence peddling
by Asian gangsters and busi-
nessmen acting as agents of
the government of the PRC.
Sidewinder was shut down
prematurely and all associated
documentation was ordered
shredded. Investigators
screamed political interference
by the PMO.

A sanitized version of
Sidewinder is produced under
the code name “Echo.” The
real version was not all
destroyed as it was ordered to
be. Li and Ho were primary
targets. Li sits with PM's
son-in-law on the board of
CITIC, Li employed the PM
prior to his election to that
office.

Public reports on the
Sidewinder scandal force
SIRC to announce a review.
One of the people responsible
for the review is directly con-
nected to the PM’s close cir-
cle. He also may have benefit-
ed from the very type of
influence peddling and cor-
ruption Sidewinder was about
while in office. He also direct-
ly represents the government
on issues like Burnt Church.

The SIRC report is inex-
plicably delayed just while the
PM is planning another wade
mission to, China set up by his
son-in-law.

There's a whole lot more
tnan this space allows. So
excuse me while I go and
check the legal definition of
“contlict of interest” and
“breach of trust.”

— lknight@direct.ca

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