Printed from JudicialWatch.org
Nov 30, 1999
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CLINTON AVOIDS PANAMA CANAL HANDOVER CEREMONIES - A GUILTY CONSCIENCE AT WORK?

Judicial Watch To Intervene In Court to Stop Handover - Panama Canal Treaty is Not Valid

Communist Chinese Interests Setting To Replace United States in Strategic Canal Zone


(Washington, D.C.) Judicial Watch, the public interest law firm that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, will intervene in court with legal allies over the next few weeks to attempt to stop the implementation of the Panama Canal Treaty. Judicial Watch will argue that the Treaty and the Canal transfer are not valid on constitutional and other grounds.

Today's Baltimore Sun reports that Mr. Clinton will skip the transfer ceremony in two weeks because he and his White House have been "spooked" by allegations that the canal transfer will benefit Communist China.

Indeed, a company widely believed to be an "arm" of the Chinese military, Hutchison-Whampoa, was given strategic ports on both ends of the canal by the Panamanian government. Hutchison-Whampoa's head Li Ka-Shing. Li Ka-Shing is a business colleague of Wang Jun, the Communist Chinese arms dealer and "princeling" who met with Clinton in the White House at a fundraiser. Li Ka-Shing's name and Hutchison-Whampoa pop up repeatedly in documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Clinton Commerce Department. (Worldnetdaily.com reported that Mr. Li participated in the infamous Commerce trade mission to China in 1994, planned by alleged Chinese spy John Huang, and which involved late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and Loral's Bernard Schwartz .)

"If the Panama Canal is being lawfully handed over to the Panamanian government, then it would be the right and honorable thing for the President of the United States to preside over the ceremonies. But Bill Clinton won't, which raises questions about the entire process. Are Bill Clinton's reservations based on a guilty conscience that knows the Canal transfer is illegal and is simply one more quid pro quo for his Communist Chinese donors?" stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.


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