Hillary Clinton has been playing a dangerous game with China. After over a decade of illegal contributions to the Democratic party and special favors by the Clintons, Hillary has turned on her old Chinese friends and sold them out in a desperate bid to win in 2008. The American dollar and economy have suffered collateral damage in this Clinton double cross with China.
"Chinagate" was the name for numerous illegal campaign contributions from the PRC to the Democrats that helped them to win the 1996 elections. As you may remember back in 1996, the Clinton administration's apparently traded missile secrets to China via Loral in exchange for donations from the PRC.
China recently destroyed a satellite in a technological feat that may not have been possible without the help it received from Loral. [1] Thus our present strategic situation is still suffering from the Clintons' treason.
The primary reason why investigations and criminal charges did not go further is because the Clinton Administration and Janet Reno threw up roadblocks, and virtually all the participants in the scandal either fled the US to China, or took the 5th. In spite of that obstruction 22 people were convicted including John Huang, Johnny Chung, Charlie Trie, Maria Hsia, and James Riady.
Thus when Hillary started her run for president, she was in a position to count on the support of the PRC. Poor residents of Chinatown were making large donations to Hillary. She was getting numerous suspicious donations from Chinese operatives including Norman Hsu and the Paw family on the west coast, and also from numerous suspicious donations from the East coast.
The LA Times reported "Dishwashers, waiters and others whose jobs and dilapidated home addresses seem to make them unpromising targets for political fundraisers are pouring $1,000 and $2,000 contributions into Clinton's campaign treasury. In April, a single fundraiser in an area long known for its gritty urban poverty yielded a whopping $380,000." [2]
This might have continued in a simple repeat of the 1996 election scandal if Hillary had any loyalty to her PRC benefactors. However, the reality was that she had more to gain from selling them out than continuing the game. Consider the benefits to turning on her former friends:
1) By attacking China she could finally distance herself from Chinagate.
2) Any future donations from the PRC might be scrutinized and exposed now that opponents were watchful of the Clinton-China connection.
3) Most importantly, she could change the subject from Iraq, which was finally turning into a success. The Democrats had hoped to turn an Iraq disaster into a Democrat sweep. They needed to draw attention away from their failure in Iraq and toward a new enemy.
4) China could be played up as a new enemy that Bush and the Republicans had failed to defend against.
5) The Republicans and Bush had gotten some of the credit for the good economy. In order to make voters long for the good old 90's stock market boom days of the Clintons, the economy and stock market would have to be destroyed in the year before the election. Picking a fight with China and getting it to dump the dollar and American debt would be a way to do that. Poor people with adjustable rate mortgages would be losing their homes, and that would make great anti-Republican images for the press.
6) Hillary could look tough, presidential, and internationally active as a protector of the US. Making China out to be the enemy would cast her as the tough internationally savvy Senator standing up to the threatening Chinese giant.
Never mind that Duncan Hunter and others have been pointing this threat out for years - this time it would be seized upon by the media. This was her ticket to the White House so Hillary, the former darling of the PRC, set about picking a fight with China.
On February 28th 2007 she started the ball rolling with a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. She followed it up with a speech on the floor of the Senate where she complained about having China as America's banker:
"But if China or Japan made a decision to decrease their massive holdings of U.S. dollars, there could be a currency crisis and the U.S. would have to raise interest rates and invite conditions for a recession. " ... I believe that proposals like these need to be discussed in order to put our economic house in order as we can too easily be held hostage to the economic decisions being made in Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo." [3]
It became clear this was a major issue for Hillary. On the 2nd of March MSNBC stated: "Many voters, pundits and pollsters think Iraq will be the decisive issue in the 2008 election, but increasingly Democratic presidential contender Sen. Hillary Clinton is focusing on another country: China. Clinton is making America's dependence on Chinese investors a central theme of her 2008 message." [4]
She followed this up with numerous public appearances where she bashed China and showed concern for the economy including her remarks on sub-prime lending to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in Washington, D.C. on March 15th. [5] and her letter to the Federal Reserve Board on sub-prime lending on May 17, 2007. [6,7] She also used the situation to bash Bush's Response to the Foreclosure Crisis. [8]
However, the attacks on China were not limited to complaining about their banking role. Hillary was also ready to take advantage of the product safety scares from China. On May 14th, and May 23rd Food and Water Watch (a spinoff from the leftist organization Public Citizen) called for halting all Chinese food imports. On June 28th, the FDA announced it would "detain Chinese seafood at ports until it can be verified through a third-party laboratory report that the shipment is free of drug and chemical residues." [9]
In April the tainted pet food ingredient from China made headlines with heart tugging pictures of unfortunate pets. The FDA started rejecting much more Chinese seafood. [10] Hillary sent a letter to the Consumer Product Safety Commission expressing concern about importing of toys from China containing lead [11] and she presented her plan to ensure the safety of toys for children. [12] She was milking the situation for all it was worth. [13]
Meanwhile numerous Chinese products were exposed as unsafe and were recalled world wide. [14] A worldwide scare was created against Chinese products and Mother Hillary was there to protect the children.
On the same day as the Aug 30 Toys"R"Us crayon and paint recall, China declared that there was a protectionist conspiracy against them. "Mattel has only itself to blame for a huge toy recall that has stoked global alarm about Chinese-made goods, [Chinese] state media said on Thursday, charging that a slew of foreign safety scares had exposed a protectionist agenda." [15] The next day China unveiled a long overdue recall system for unsafe products. [16]
When it came to picking a fight with China, Hillary had other Democrats to help. Remember Dr. Wheeler's article in December of 2006: How Conservatives Are Going To Get in Bed with Nancy Pelosi ? [17] Pelosi was apparently already making plans to scuttle China's relationship with America late last year. Republican congressmen friends of Jack were apparently taken in by her crocodile tears concern for human rights in China, and were not aware that they were being used to help implement a Democrat scheme.
Given the overwhelming evidence that the Democrats have used various sneaky schemes to intentionally damage the victory in Iraq, it is not much of a stretch to believe they would also intentionally damage the American economy.
As if starting a trade war and a collapse of the dollar were not enough, Democrat allies in the Congress helped stick it to the Chinese yet one more way. They awarded the highest congressional civilian honor to the Dalai Lama in mid-October. The White House announced that the U.S. Congress would award Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal on Oct. 17. This really upset the Chinese. [18] It was recently cited as the reason why the carrier Kitty Hawk was denied shore leave in Hong Kong over Thanksgiving. [19]
The award to the Dalai Lama could have been done anytime in the last few decades. Why now? Because it was a very efficient way for the Democrats to poke China in the eye a year before the election. This is similar to the Democrat's Congressional resolution against Turkey for long past genocide. Why now? Because the Democrats were using their control of Congress to pick fights with foreign powers to cause as much damage as possible to Bush's foreign policy and economy. See Jack's Pelosi and the PKK. [20]
Did anyone think that the lead in kid's toys suddenly started showing up this year? Of course not. The Mattel toy recall was retroactive going back a few years. These substandard Chinese products had been sold in the US for years - perhaps even decades. There was no new threat from China. This was a new response to an old and long ignored situation. What was new was the public awareness of it thanks to the Democrats and their operatives.
Having China as a banker was also old news. What was new was the fact that the Clintons could make use of that fact to ruthlessly help them win the 2008 election.
As one financial commentator said on Aug 8th:
"After all, as long as we're heading down this mountain with no brakes on, we're better off having the accident sooner rather than later, even if the collateral damage takes out a few politicians on both sides of the Pacific." [21]
In other words, it did not matter who was hurt - so long as it took out Bush and company. The accident was timed perfectly for a Hillary presidency. Indeed the financial train wreck was caused by willful Democrat sabotage.
So, how did the Chinese feel about being thrown under the bus by Hillary? In Part II of this series, we'll examine the Revenge of the Chinese on Hillary...
Click here for Part 2
References:
1. http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/ea_china_11_29.asp
2. http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-donors19oct19%
2C0%2C4231217.story?coll=la-home-center
3. http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=269895&&s
4. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17403964/
5. http://www.justhillary.com/herwords/community0315.php
6. http://www.justhillary.com/herwords/subprime0517.php
7. http://www.justhillary.com/herwords/subprime0629.php
8. http://www.justhillary.com/herwords/subprime0831.php
9. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/press/releases/ban-on-
farm-raised-fish-from-china-falls-short-article06282007
10. http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/press/releases/
vet-drugs-in-imported-seafood-article05142007 ;
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/05/business/gluten.php
11. http://www.justhillary.com/herwords/chinatoys0816.php
12. http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/48729190_hillary_clinton_hillary_clinton_
hillary_clinton_announces_plan_ensure_toy_safety_children
13. http://www.justhillary.com/herwords/recall0905.php
14. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57245
15. http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSPEK30831320070830?
feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true
16. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-08/31/content_6639019.htm
17. http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/2578/44/
18. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-10/11/content_6865524.htm
19. http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/china_us_navy/2007/11/29/53084.html
20. http://www.tothepointnews.com/content/view/2938/2/
21. http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/chinas-threats-sell-
dollars-may/story.aspx?guid=%7B7FD5B99C%2D9BA0%2D4EC3%2D8EE2
%2D187FB8F9D982%7D&tool=1&dist=bigcharts&
|
