Secret arms shipments from China to Cuba reported

U.S. won't confirm allegations, which cite intelligence officials

BY NANCY SAN MARTIN AND JANE BUSSEY

U.S. officials on Tuesday refused to confirm reports that China has made several secret shipments of arms and explosives to Cuba, but a local expert who has studied the issue said such reports should be taken seriously.

``China is trying to get into the same position that Russia wanted in Latin America and it's using Cuba for that. It's a real threat,'' said Manuel Cereijo, a recently retired professor of electronic engineering at Florida International University who has written several studies on Cuba-China relations. ``They want to be a superpower and have a hand in the Western Hemisphere.''

THREE SHIPMENTS

At least three arms shipments were traced from China to the Cuban port of Mariel during the past several months, according to an article Tuesday in the Washington Times. All the arms were aboard vessels belonging to the state-owned China Ocean Shipping Co., or Cosco, U.S. intelligence officials told the newspaper.

The explosives were said to be ``military-grade'' material, the newspaper said.

U.S. officials said Tuesday that the subject of arms trafficking between China and Cuba is a worrisome one, though they stopped short of confirming the Washington Times account.

``We are very much concerned with this PLA [People's Liberation Army] cooperation and movement of military equipment in Cuba,'' said James Kelly, assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs, when questioned during a hearing of the House International Relations subcommittee.

ECONOMIC SANCTIONS?

State Department spokesman Philip Reeker would not comment on what he called an ``intelligence matter,'' but added: ``I can say we have not made a determination that China has transferred lethal military equipment to Cuba.''

The shipments, if confirmed, could lead to the imposition of economic sanctions on China and Cosco, U.S. officials said.

``There is a U.S. law that prohibits providing various types of assistance to foreign governments that have provided `lethal military equipment' to a country whose government is a state sponsor of terrorism,'' Reeker said. ``We fully and faithfully implement the requirements of U.S. law and would take any actions required by those laws, were we to determine that sanctionable activity had occurred.''

Cuba is among at least seven countries on the State Department's list of nations designated as supporters of global terrorism. Officials from the Cuban government could not be reached for comment.

Cereijo, the electronic engineering professor, said China and Cuba are cooperating on an array of military and intelligence matters.

Cereijo, whose studies are based on interviews with numerous Cuban engineers and scientists who have either visited the United States or defected, said that Chinese personnel have been working out of the Bejucal listening post in Havana province since March 1999. The post is believed to be capable of both eavesdropping and ``cyber-warfare.''

``The United States knows that this is happening,'' Cereijo said.

Cosco, the shipping company, has been linked in the past to illegal smuggling and international arms trafficking.

``The U.S. government has documented a number of weapons proliferation cases where the vehicles were Cosco ships,'' said Al Santoli, a national security aide to Rep. Dana Rorhabacher, R-Calif.

``There is no doubt that Cosco is a self-sustaining merchant marine and business conduit for the People's Liberation Army,'' Santoli said, noting that China has strengthened its military ties with Venezuela and Cuba.

Copyright 2001 the Miami Herald.
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