Selling America to Communist China

By Cliff Kincaid

In remarks on July 20 to a Freedom 21 conference in Dallas, Texas, conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly declared that the Chinese communists intend to exploit development of a North American Union in order to bring more cheap goods into the U.S. and destroy more American jobs.

The Freedom 21 conference, organized by Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center and Cathie Adams of Eagle Forum of Texas, was devoted to highlighting the erosion of American sovereignty through an ongoing process that aims to economically and politically integrate the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Schlafly, president of Eagle Forum, highlighted the role of Democratic Party foreign policy specialist Robert Pastor in the unfolding plan. Pastor helped lead the campaign to surrender U.S. control of the Panama Canal through the Panama Canal Treaty, a development that has taken on added significance in view of the fact that a Chinese firm, Hutchison Whampoa, now controls not only the ports at both ends of the Panama Canal but ports and terminals in Mexico. The company has close ties to the Chinese regime.

Speaking at the same conference, Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican presidential candidate, said unfair Chinese trade was decimating America's industrial base and that the communist regime was using "crisp new American trade dollars" to build up its war machine.

Schlafly came close to endorsing Hunter for president, declaring, "Wouldn't it be wonderful to have him in the White House?" She said he was "right on every issue" and "he's the only one of all the candidates who talks about the jobs issue, and I think that is the coming big issue in the next election." Her remarks followed Hunter's speech.

New Book Highlights Threat

She strongly recommended Jerome Corsi's new book, The Late Great USA, which argues that a North American Union would provide China another "economic advantage" over the U.S., with ominous national security implications.

Indeed, Corsi comes close to arguing that China is the ultimate power broker behind the scheme, saying that "In order to solidify its economic superiority over North America, Red China is working to restructure the North American transportation infrastructure."

It also turns out, according to information presented at the conference by Oklahoma activist Amanda Teegarden, as well as Corsi's book, that a Hutchison Whampoa subsidiary is a major investor in a firm, Savi Networks, that has developed a radio technology to track and manage cargo shipments. Hutchison Whampoa owns 49 percent of the firm, with 51 percent owned by U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin. In 2006, Lockheed Martin was the top contributor among military contractors to candidates for federal office and national political parties. Fifty-eight percent of its money went to Republicans.

Schlafly also attacked so-called "patent reform," now moving through Congress, which she said would benefit China by forcing Americans to put information about their inventions on the Internet where it could be stolen. And she warned against President Bush's plan to "to put all the illegal aliens in Social Security," a scheme called "totalization," which would "break the bank."

Several speakers at the Freedom 21 conference were activists from Texas and Oklahoma opposed to the building of corridors or "NAFTA highways" through their states to bring goods from Mexico to the U.S. Organizations represented at the conference included Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, Corridor Watch, and Texans Uniting for Reform & Freedom.

"The purpose is to bring in cheap goods from China," Schlafly declared. "The plan is to bring the cheap Chinese goods and the containers across the Pacific and then dock at the Mexican Pacific port Lazaro Cardenas and then bring them up on the railroad that's already in place, put them in the Mexican trucks and bring them up the NAFTA highway. And they will never be inspected until they get to Kansas City."

Schlafly said that we are witnessing the unfolding of a plan that is based on a series of steps, including passage of "free trade" agreements, creation of a common market and a monetary and economic union, the establishment of international trade tribunals to govern trade and other disputes between the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and the use of a single currency for North America.

"Their model is the European Union," she said.

North American Institutions

Accuracy in Media has confirmed this, having reported on a Washington conference on development of a North American legal system where participants were told of proposals to create North American institutions, including a "North American Court of Justice" with the power to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court. Robert Pastor, who claims to be in favor of a North American "community," not a union, presided over the conference.

Robert Pastor, who also runs the Center for North American Studies at American University, helps facilitate model "North American Parliament" meetings where students play the role of delegates to a trilateral legislature. One of his students, Marlon Brown, has written about Pastor's personal vision and plans for a "North American Parliament."

The White House, which claims the North American Union is a myth, has announced that Bush will travel to Montebello, Quebec, Canada to meet with Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada and President Felipe Calderon of Mexico at the "North American Leaders' Summit" on August 20-21. "The leaders will review progress and continued cooperation under the Security and Prosperity Partnership, as well as discuss hemispheric and global issues," the White House says.

The Security and Prosperity Partnership is seen by critics as a key part of the North American Union (NAU) plan. The SPP, an executive branch initiative, has never been approved by Congress but has nevertheless resulted in the creation of dozens of working groups involving officials from the U.S., Canada and Mexico meeting to "harmonize" the laws and regulations of the three countries. The public interest law firm Judicial Watch has been forced to go through the Freedom of Information Act to get information about the activities of these groups.

Opposition Developing

In the House, Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.) has introduced House Concurrent Resolution 40 opposing the NAU. No formal opposition has yet surfaced in the U.S. Senate.

Conservative Caucus chairman Howard Phillips has announced that opponents of the NAU will hold a press conference on August 20 in Ottawa, Canada, on the occasion of the upcoming SPP meeting. The press conference will be held at the Marriott Ottawa from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Schlafly was the first national commentator to write about the prospect of a North American Union, noting in a July 13, 2005 column that the influential Council on Foreign Relations had just issued a report urging an "integrated North American Community."

Schlafly, who almost single-handedly stopped passage of the so-called Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, urged participants in the Freedom 21 conference to vigorously oppose the North American Union, which she noted has received little media coverage, save for Lou Dobbs of CNN. She also noted that some members of Congress claim not to know anything about it or dismiss it as a conspiracy theory.

However, Schlafly said, there are certain facts that "cannot be disputed," and that when you "connect the dots," people will get the big picture.

She said some of the key dates in this process were:

April 2001. President Bush endorses the "Declaration of Quebec City," featuring a commitment to "hemispheric integration."

March, 2005. Bush and the leaders of Canada and Mexico announce the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

May 2005. The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) issues its report endorsing creation by 2010 of a North American economic and security "community" with a common security "perimeter," open borders to facilitate the movement of trade, capital and people, and a North American "tribunal" to resolve trade disputes.

June 2005. Former Carter Administration official Robert Pastor presents the plan to a sympathetic session of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, then-headed by Senator Richard Lugar.

March 2006. Bush and the leaders of Mexico and Canada hold another meeting, calling it the "first anniversary" of the SPP.

May 2006. Bush gives speech calling for "comprehensive immigration reform."

2007. The Senate immigration bill is introduced, with a provision calling for the acceleration of the SPP.

Schlafly said the only explanation for the determination by the White House and congressional liberals to pass immigration "reform" is that the "powers that be" want the economic integration of North America. She identified them as belonging to powerful organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations, whose membership once included top State Department official and communist spy Alger Hiss.

Speaking to the assembled activists and concerned citizens, Schlafly said, "Something terrible is happening to our country and it's up to people like you to stop it before it's too late."