China at Crossroads for War
All Roads Lead to Beijing

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is paying a rare visit to his masters in Beijing. Kim is reported to be traveling on his exclusive train, nicknamed the "Super Thief" by Western sources.

Kim is currently protesting U.S. sanctions against his tiny nation. The U.S. sanctions were imposed against North Korea for printing counterfeit American money and distributing narcotics in Asia.

Of course, Kim and his ruthless cronies feel that any sanctions imposed for selling heroin and running off copies of U.S. $100 bills are unfair since both are leading exports for North Korea.

The other source of "our dear leader" Kim's Swiss bank account deposits is sales of No Dong missile technology to Iran and Pakistan. Both the Iranian Shahab and Pakistani Ghauri missiles are exact duplicates of North Korean No Dong missiles.

NORINCO

Yet Kim is not alone in protesting recent U.S. sanctions. His hosts in Beijing have also been pounding the table over sanctions imposed against China for selling nuclear, chemical and ballistic missile technology to Iran.

The Chinese Foreign ministry has filed several protests with the U.S. State Department for sanctions imposed in December 2005 against several Chinese companies including weapons maker China North Industries, or NORINCO.

NORINCO was caught red-handed by an unnamed intelligence agency peddling missile and nuclear warhead designs to Tehran. NORINCO is, of course, owned and operated by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA).

In short, NORINCO officials get their orders from the top brass in PLA headquarters with the full approval of the Chinese political leaders in the central Communist Party. What this means is that nuclear-tipped missile technology sales to Iran come with the blessing of President Hu Jintao and the PLA general staff.

NORINCO is well known for peddling arms to anyone with the cash to buy them. NORINCO came under investigation in 1998 for selling chemical-weapons materials to Iran for weapons of mass destruction, according to testimony before a Senate governmental subpanel.

Machine Gun Mobsters

According to a 1997 Rand Corporation report, NORINCO was also involved with the PLA arms firm Poly Technologies in a foiled attempt to smuggle fully automatic AK-47 rifles into the U.S.

"Poly's U.S. subsidiaries were abruptly closed in August 1996. Allegedly, Poly's representative, Robert Ma, conspired with China North Industries Corporation's (NORINCO) representative, Richard Chen, and a number of businessmen in California to illegally import 2000 AK-47s into the United States."

"Unfortunately for them," states the Rand report, "their 'customers' turned out to be undercover U.S. Customs and BATF agents, posing as members of a Miami syndicate. Poly's representative, Robert Ma, fled the country one step ahead of federal law enforcement officials who had a warrant for his arrest, and his current whereabouts are unknown."

According to Customs officials, the two large Chinese defense firms thought the ultimate recipients of the machine guns were gangsters in the United States.

The Chinese official also reportedly offered 60 mm mortars, rocket launchers and "Red Parakeet" shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles to undercover agents, who told him that they would be sold to right-wing radicals in the U.S. and terrorists in Ireland and Latin America. During the investigation, the dealer repeated that the "Chinese government knew exactly what was going on."

Department of Justice officials stated that "[t]he shipment of weapons from the Dalian plant of NORINCO involved the active participation of that firm's PRC-based vice president, export manager and other officials."

Serial Proliferator

Assistant Secretary for Verification and Compliance Paula DeSutter described NORINCO as a "serial proliferator" that escapes punishment from Beijing despite the open complaints from Washington.

"For some time, we have been alerting the Chinese Government to our concerns about the activities of NORINCO. Nonetheless, the Chinese government has taken no action to halt Norinco's proliferant behavior," Sutter testified in July 2003.

The close working relationship between NORINCO and the Chinese government is well documented. Ironically, the documents are from the files of convicted "Chinagate" figure John Huang.

According to documents discovered in the Commerce Department, John Huang obtained detailed information about Chinese and American artillery sales to the Middle East.

In 1995, Kuwait allocated $1.3 billion to upgrade its field artillery. Included in this new program was an intense competition between U.S.-based United Defense and NORINCO to win the contract.

The documents in Huang's files note that there was "heavy pressure from the Chinese government" on Kuwait "to select NORINCO."

"China also remains the only member of the U.N. Security Council that has not been awarded a large military contract from Kuwait. It is understood that the Chinese are pressing this issue with the Kuwait Government," notes the Commerce document from Huang's files.

Huang's file on the Kuwaiti howitzer purchase also contains detailed weapon information of great value to the Chinese military.

"The Chinese offer is of particular concern in that its howitzer has been recently modernized and configured to NATO standards for ammunition interoperability," states the Commerce Department document.

NORINCO would later make the sale to Kuwait. John Huang, on the other hand, would plead guilty to passing illegal money to Bill Clinton.

Huang currently holds the unpunished record for citing his Fifth Amendment rights over 2,000 times when asked if he was acting as an agent of the Chinese army.

Today, NORINCO technology sits on top of North Korean-made missiles inside Iran.

This entire affair is a point that should be brought home to Israel. Tel Aviv has previously supplied China with several advanced weapons such as air-to-air missiles, the Harpy anti-radar missile and Lavi jet fighter technology.

There are many inside Israel who support continued sales of advanced weaponry to China. Cash often speaks louder than national security even outside the United States.

If Israel should feel the need to offer Beijing any more advanced weaponry, they should think twice. Beijing is the crossroads for North Korean No Dong missile copies armed with advanced Chinese-designed warhead and re-entry vehicle systems now in the hands of the mullahs in Tehran.