Clinton slips, says China to run canal / White House declines to correct mistake

Wednesday, December 1, 1999

BY GIL KLEIN Media General News Service

[Posted for Educational/Research purposes only]

WASHINGTON -- President Clinton erroneously told reporters yesterday that the Chinese will soon be running the Panama Canal.

By making the mistake, the president may have bolstered arguments by some Republicans who say that the Communist Chinese government is getting control of the canal.

Asked by a reporter, "You're not worried about the Chinese control- ling the canal?" Clinton responded:

"I think the Chinese will in fact be bending over backwards to make sure that they run it in a competent and fair manner. They will want to demonstrate to a distant part of the world that they can be a responsible partner. And I would be surprised if any adverse consequences flowed from the Chinese running the canal."

But the Chinese will not be running the canal. The United States, which built the canal and has controlled it since its completion in 1914, will turn over operation of the canal and all of its assets to the Panamanians on Dec. 31.

Asked about the president's comments, White House spokesman Barry Toiv declined to clear up the mistake, saying, "The president said what he said. You are fully aware of the circumstances and so is he.''

In recent months, some Republicans have insisted that the Chinese government will be able to control the canal through a Hong Kong-based company, Hutchison-Whampoa Ltd., that has leased port facili- ties at either end of it.

"This administration has been slow to realize the importance of Hutchison-Whampoa and its global maritime network and Beijing's strategic planning," Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., said in a recent Armed Services Committee hearing.

But the White House has dismissed the threat as silly. Defense Department and Panamanian officials have said there is no way that the Chinese could control the canal through Hutchison-Whampoa.

"The ports have nothing to do with operating the canal. The opposite is true. The canal controls who goes in and out of the ports,'' said Joseph Cornelison, deputy administrator of the Panama Canal Commission. No ship must stop at the Hutchison ports to get through the canal, he said, and all ships passing through are under command of Canal Commission pilots.

Gen. Charles E. Wilhelm, commander of the Southern Command, which has responsibility for defending the canal, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that charges that the Chinese would be able to control the canal were false.

In his remarks to reporters, Clinton also said he would not be attending the ceremony Dec. 14 that will mark the transfer of the canal.

Just moments before he said the Chinese are running the canal, Clinton said he has confidence in the ability of the Panamanian government to operate it.

"I think that the new government of Panama is committed to maintaining the canal in an appropriate way and keeping it open and working with us to do so and having good relations," he said.

In Panama, government and diplomatic sources have interpreted Clinton's reluctance to attend the ceremony as a sign that he's trying to protect Vice President Al Gore from being associated with an unpopular treaty that "gave away" the canal.

"We have a lot of things going on in the world now. I have been out of the country a lot. I need to get ready for the new Congress and the new budget,'' Clinton said.

Instead, he said, former President Carter, who negotiated the canal treaty, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will represent the United States.

-- Tommy Rogers (Been there@Just a Thought.com), December 01, 1999

Answers

Clinton really ought to attend, along with Jane Fonda and (if they were still alive) Tokyo Rose, Vidkun Quisling, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, and others with whom he has far more in common than he does with most Americans.

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), December 01, 1999.

Clinton is an idiot...nuf' said.

-- Texas Terri (DeepintheHeart@Texas.com), December 01, 1999.

Hey, MinnisotaSmith, don't forget Benidict Arnould!

-- Crono (Crono@timesend.com), December 01, 1999.

Source is here (http://www.timesdispatch.com/editorials/dc/clint01.shtml).

-- Rob (rob@planet.rob), December 01, 1999.

Eh? I thought this was from The Onion. Is this serious?

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 01, 1999.

clinton is a SWINE!!. A dirty, traitorous swine who has lied, betrayed, and subverted everything the Constitution stand for.

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasan101st@aol.com), December 01, 1999.

Crono, I left out Benedict Arnold intentionally. BA did some good before turning coat, such as helping win the battle of Saratoga (in the U.S. Revolutionary War), which brought us French recognition and aid (which was a big part of why we won at Yorktown, which brought the Treaty of Paris). WJC has done no good except by immoral means that I am aware of, and seems never to have been "of the coat" of a patriotic, nonsocialist, American. He does not belong in BA's company.

www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), December 01, 1999.

This was not a factual mistake, but a slip of the tongue. China will be filling the vacuum in the Canal Zone when Amerikanski leave!

-- Slobby Don (slobbydon@hotmail.com), December 01, 1999.

Slobby Don,

Yes that was a factual mistake. He meant to lie, made a mistake and told the truth.

-- maid upname (noid@ihope.com), December 01, 1999.

A question? If Hutchison Whampoa has the shipyards at each end of the Panama canal whats to prevent Chi-com agents in a future clash from detonating nucs at both sites and completely closing our maritime lifeline? Where is President Monroe when we need him. this surrender By Clinton is the greatest threat to the USA in many years,What could you expect from a military hating Draft doger who has sold out to the Chinese imperalists for political gain.

-- H fats Kissinger (draconionsolutions@uselesseaters .com), December 01, 1999.

maid upname,

Shift Happens.

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 01, 1999.

Dream on, O Ship of State... and in that dream:

China (thru Hutchison-Whampoa) says to Panama: Here's what you're going to do, guys.

And then Panama says No way Jose! ???

But the dream doesn't last forever. At one time I also believed in the tooth fairy. That was then.

China: over 1,246,000,000 people and counting (1999 est.)

Panama: over 2,770,000 people and counting (1999 est.)

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), December 01, 1999.

yeah, you're right Minnisotasmith... he's scum, he's betrayed us and people LOVE him for it! (Talk to some people I know, they think he's a GOD!) I almost think he might be the antichrist!

-- Crono (Crono@timesend.com), December 01, 1999.

People - he's both lying (again) and staying the truth - at the same time.

The two "ports" at either end of the canal are ex-US Navy naval ports - they (these naval ports) are identical in every way to a civilian port -same docks, same control points, same, piers, same cranes, same fences, same oil and supply centers.....gto it?

There is NO DIFFERENCE between a Navy port and a civilian port.

Second: there is no need to nuke the ports, the canal, or the dams or the locks - all you have to do is position TWO destroyers at each end (or planes at the airport, and ONE destroyer, or a couple of truck-mounted rocket launchers at the bases, and then tell ANYBODY who tries to trade with Taiwan that their next ship through the canal will be fined, confiscated (on a technicality or a "document error" or any other excuse), or will simply be denied a pilot......

IMMEDIATELY - they have embargoed Taiwain - without firing a shot.

----

There is NOBODY who can tell you truthfully that any Hong Kong company is NOT controlled from Red China - this is only a distraction, and a very successful one at that......

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), December 01, 1999.

China gets pissed at US (imagine that lol), shuts down the canal...interrupts all kinds of ships from fuel, cargo, and military...we try yo take it back, we go to war with china.

clinton = genius

-- C. Hill (pinionsmachine@hotmail.com), December 01, 1999.

Bold faced treason by the President of the United States! America will rue the day our corrupt Senators failed in their duty to protect and defend the constitution and the republic as per their oaths of office. Yes America oaths DO mean something, everything in fact as the founders well knew. Bill Clinton has corrupted everything and evryone he has touched, and we are stuck with this megalomaniac-degenerate for the Y2k festivities which lie dead ahead. God help us.

-- doktorbob (downsouth@dixie.com), December 01, 1999.