U.S. Bombs Chinese Network in Afghanistan
Back to the Terrorist's Supporters Page
Reprinted from NewsMax.com
Charles R. Smith
Saturday, Oct. 20, 2001PRC Sold Taliban Advanced Air Defense System
The first target in Afghanistan for U.S. airpower was the Taliban air defense system. B-2 bombers and F-14 Tomcats dropped precision guided weapons on surface-to-air missile sites, radars and a Chinese-made fiber-optic military communications network.
Although China officially denied that it installed the fiber-optic air defense network inside Afghanistan, the Pentagon is certain that China sold the military system to the Taliban.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao said in Beijing, that China did not assist the Taliban in building a fiber-optic communications network. Zhu's comments directly contradict overwhelming evidence that China has been improving the Taliban military over the last year. The U.S. evidence comes directly from the Taliban.
In September 2000, a Chinese military delegation arrived in Kabul. According to Kabul Radio Voice of Shari'ah in Pashto, the Taliban minister of communications, Mowlawi Yar Mohammad Rahimi, received a technical and electronics delegation from China.
The meeting, which was also attended by Taliban Deputy Minister of Communications Aladad Tabeb, engaged in a "detailed discussion of the preparatory work to implement a project to install a 12,000-line telephone exchange and to lay a fiber-optic cable."
The Chinese delegation included authorized representatives of China's export trade and electronics industry and a number of engineers who briefed the Taliban minister of communications. The Chinese officials promised they would immediately begin work on the fiber-optic cable system and prepare sites for the installation of newly purchased units.
In December 2000, the Kabul Bakhtar News Agency announced that Chinese equipment for a fiber-optic communications system had arrived under a contract with the Chinese company CEIEC, the China National Electronic Import-Export Corporation.
According to the official Taliban news outlet, "the Ministry of Communications signed a contract with the CEIEC to buy digital equipment for a telephone station, which can operate 12,000 lines. The equipment arrived in Kabul today. Afghan and Chinese engineers have begun to assemble and install it."
The official voice of Afghanistan also announced that the Taliban Ministry of Communications had signed a contract with the same Chinese company to deliver additional equipment for another digital telephone station capable of serving 5,400 lines to the eastern Niagara Province.
Chinese System in Iraq
"A fiber optic based 'phone' system can do a lot more than carry commercial traffic," noted one U.S. defense analyst who requested that he not be identified.
"The Iraqi PRC-made fiber optic network is credited with allowing the Iraqis to better target and shoot down two U.S. Predator drones in recent weeks."
The military command network in Afghanistan is described by Pentagon analysts as similar to the fiber-optic air defense system installed in Iraq by China. The Iraqi fiber-optic network, NATO code-named "Tiger Song," has been repeatedly attacked by allied aircraft over the past two years.
The largest allied strikes against the Iraqi air defense system took place in March 2001. The late-night U.S. and U.K. air raids were timed to minimize casualties on the ground, blasting the Iraqi system when Chinese army engineers were not working on the air defense network.
After the March air strikes, Secretary of State Colin Powell aimed strong words at Beijing, noting that the U.N. embargo on weapons for Baghdad is still in effect. Powell stated that the public and private protests over Beijing's illegal supply of weaponry to Iraq would continue.
Chinese Company Linked to PLA Espionage
The fiber-optic network in Afghanistan has more than just a common thread with the Iraqi air defense system. The Chinese company CEIEC that built and installed the new system for the Taliban is also a known arms manufacturer, owned and operated by the People's Liberation Army.
According to an official Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) document, CEIEC is the prime maker of electronics for the Chinese army. The DIA documents state that virtually all CEIEC products are military in nature, including "cryptographic system," "mine detection equipment," "fiber and laser optics," "communications technology" and "radars."
U.S. intelligence officials are also certain that CEIEC is directly involved in illegal operations for the Chinese military. In 1996, CEIEC assisted the Chinese air force in an espionage operation involving a commercial jet airliner with a live missile in the cargo hold.
Dragonair, an airline then part-owned by the Chinese government and Moctar Riady of the LIPPO Group, was fined in 1996 for carrying a live air-to-air missile in the cargo hold of a L-1011 passenger airliner. The shipping company -- CEIEC -- mislabeled the missile as machine parts. The missile was discovered by Singapore officials who inspected the Dragonair L-1011 cargo hold by accident.
The advanced Chinese copy of a Russian infrared homing "Archer" air-to-air missile was reportedly fully active and armed with an explosive warhead. U.S. intelligence officials stated openly in Aviation Week and Space Technology that they suspected the weapon was to be covertly upgraded in Israel using stolen U.S. missile technology.
U.S. High-tech Exported by Clinton Administration
U.S. officials are convinced that the Taliban's fiber-optic air defense system was constructed using U.S. parts exported to China. Ironically, the Iraqi air defense system is also composed mainly of U.S. and French-made fiber-optic parts purchased under commercial contracts by the Chinese army.
The Bush administration is painfully aware that the original Tiger Song fiber-optic air defense network was shipped directly to the Chinese army in 1994 after being approved by then Clinton Defense Secretary, William Perry.
Dr. John Lewis, a paid personal consultant to Perry, ran the 1994 U.S. export to the Chinese army. Defense Department documents show that the Clinton administration was aware that Dr. Lewis was on the Pentagon payroll at the same time he was working for the Chinese army to arrange the advanced technology sale.
The documents also show that Secretary Perry and Dr. Lewis traveled to Beijing in August 1994 to meet with the same top Chinese army generals who purchased the advanced network system. In addition, Perry reportedly wrote a personal letter to the National Security Agency (NSA) seeking approval for the export to the Chinese army.
Both Dr. Lewis and former Defense Secretary Perry have repeatedly refused to comment on the advanced technology sale to the Chinese army.
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
China/Taiwan
Clinton Scandals
A product that might interest you:
Get NewsMax.com`s new book Bitter Legacy FREE