E2128 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks October 30, 1997 the facts and deny certification to China as a international nonproliferation community (3) China must follow through with its responsible member of the international non- before the agreement could go into effect. No promise to implement an export controls proliferation community. U.S. president, not Regan, not Bush and system, but it must be proved to be effective. until now not Clinton, has made such a cer- This can be accomplished only through the The Central Intelligence Agency released its tification. A glance at the record quickly passage of time. With such a long legacy of biannual report to Congress this past summer shows why. transgressions and broken promises, we need and listed China as one of the two biggest na- Communist China’s nuclear, chemical, bio- to see evidence of true reform before moving tions to export nuclear materials to Iran and logical and missile proliferation has made it forward with certification. Pakistan. Now, less than 4 months later, the Wal-Mart of international nuclear com- President Clinton has an opportunity, as China is pledging to limit its exports to Iran merce. Consider the following list of only the well as an obligation, to require that the and end nuclear cooperation with the rogue worst and most recent of China’s non- People’s Republic of China demonstrate its nation. This agreement arrives at the dawn of proliferation violations: compliance with global nonproliferation In February 1996 the People’s Republic of norms (as opposed to mere promises) by re- ``new and improved'' United States-China rela- China was discovered to have sold 5,000 ring sisting pressure from the Chinese govern- tionship. As a nuclear weapons state and magnets to Pakistan for use in Pakistan’s ment (and the American nuclear industry). party to the Nonproliferation Treaty, China is secret uranium enrichment facility, though But if the president certifies China as a obligated to promote ``the fullest possible ex- it publicly denied doing so. nonproliferator, despite the record we have change of equipment, materials and scientific In May 1997 the State Department cited outlined and without a demonstrated change and technological information for the peaceful seven Chinese entities for exporting chemi- of behavior on the part of Beijing, he will uses of nuclear energy.'' If China can break its cal weapons technology to Iran. have eviscerated U.S. nonproliferation policy In June 1997 Time magazine reported that and compromised U.S. national security. pledge made in an international treaty, it cer- China had not only transferred nuclear-capa- tainly has the capability of breaking its pledge ble missiles to Pakistan but was also helping f made to the Clinton administration. What evi- Pakistan build missiles of its own. PERSONALIZING SOCIAL SECURITY dence does the United States have that China In July 1997 the CIA identified China as will keep its promise to curb sales of nuclear being ‘‘the most significant supplier of materials to its largest consumers? Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)-related HON. NICK SMITH goods and technology to foreign countries.’’ OF MICHIGAN None. China's Government has denied ac- In August 1997 Israeli intelligence reports cusations of selling nuclear technology and confirmed that China is supplying long-range IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES material to rogue nations. It has been barred nuclear missile technologies to Iran. Wednesday, October 29, 1997 from receiving United States technology for In September 1997 the U.S. Navy reported Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, once over 10 years for these transactions and now that China is the most active supplier of in a while, a speech is made that really makes we're supposed to believe that China will re- Iran’s nuclear, chemical and biological weap- sense for America. Recently Jim Martin, presi- verse its current policy. I hope the Clinton ad- ons programs. This record speaks for itself. China has dent, 60 Plus Association, made one of these ministration doesn't expect Congress to buy continually assure the United States that it speeches. On Social Security's 62d anniver- this bogus change of heart. The administration would stop providing technologies for weap- sary, Jim talked about the importance of per- has delinked human rights from trade and now ons of mass destruction to countries such as sonalizing Social Security. it wants to ignore its own intelligence reports Iran and Pakistan. China has continually Jim notes that the likely alternative to per- on nuclear proliferation. If the United States failed to live up to its promises. Before im- sonalizing Social Security is a tax increase. agrees to sell nuclear technology to China, it plementing the 1985 agreement, we need to Since 1971, there have been 36 Social Secu- will open up the nuclear arms market to Iran be certain that this time the promises are rity tax increases. A Social Security tax in- and Pakistan. This is irresponsible, unaccept- for real. The 1985 agreement requires the president crease does not make economic sense and able, and goes beyond a policy of engage- to certify that China has made sufficient more importantly it is not fair to working Amer- ment. progress in halting proliferation. President icans. China has not given any substantive signs Clinton, however, seems to believe that Chi- Jim Martin, representing seniors all over of changing its current nuclear sales to Iran, na’s past proliferation record is irrelevant, America, supports the introduction of my So- yet the administration acquiesces on all re- and that we should blindly trust the vague cial Security Solvency Act, personalizing So- quests for cooperation. China's leader, Jiang and untested promises China has made to cial Security by offering each worker his or her Zemin, insisted upon a fanfare welcome from implement its own export controls and regu- lations. China has yet to make a tangible own personal retirement savings account. the United States and his request was grant- demonstration of its commitment to cease Thank you, Jim, for your thoughtful remarks. ed. However, compliance of the warm wel- its sales of WMD technologies. Implementa- PERSONALIZING SOCIAL SECURITY: come should not set the tone for the upcoming tion of the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement UNPLUGGING THE THIRD RAIL discussions between the two leaders. Presi- is profoundly ill advised, at least until the dent Clinton must send a clear, firm message following criteria are met: (By James L. Martin) regarding U.S. nuclear nonproliferation policy. (1) China must join the Nuclear Suppliers’ When I came to Washington as a newspaper The United States must lead by example and Group (NSG). The NSG members have agreed reporter in 1962, John F. Kennedy was in the show ChinaÐand the worldÐthat we are not not to sell nuclear technologies to any coun- White House, Neal Armstrong had not yet try that does not allow international inspec- walked on the moon, Strom Thurmond was a open to sending nuclear technology to Iran via tions of all of its nuclear facilities all of the Democrat and the problems with Social Se- China. time, a criterion known as ‘‘full-scope safe- curity were perceived by few, other than The following article appeared in today's guards.’’ A 1993 statement by then Secretary Barry Goldwater. Washington Post: of State Warren Christopher calls the NSG So, today, August 14, 1997, on the 62d anni- ‘‘a fundamental component of the inter- versary of Social Security, the 60 Plus Asso- CHINA AND NUCLEAR TRAFFICKING national nonproliferation regime,’’ and says ciation becomes the first seniors group to (By Edward J. Markey, Benjamin A. Gilman that ‘‘the United States has been a strong publicly go on record to overhaul the sys- and Christopher Cox) proponent of requiring full-scope Inter- tem, releasing a paper it commissioned by During Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s national Atomic Energy Agency safeguards economist Richard A. Hart, entitled ‘‘Per- visit this week, President Clinton is expected as a condition for significant new nuclear sonalizing Social Security: Unplugging the to activate a 1985 Nuclear Cooperation supply commitments.’’ Christopher’s first Third Rail.’’ Why did a senior citizens group Agreement with China. American companies statement remains true, but the Clinton ad- decide to tackle the issue of Social Security would then be authorized to start selling nu- ministration is considering reversing itself reform? Let me answer by citing a question clear reactors and fuel to a country that has on the second. Why should countries such as I’m asked often about the program signed been identified by the CIA as ‘‘a key supplier Canada and Switzerland, both NSG members, into law by President Franklin Delano Roo- of most destructive arms technology’’ to be held to a higher nonproliferation standard sevelt on August 14, 1935. rogue regimes such as Iran’s. We believe that than Communist China? The question is always the same, ‘‘Jim, providing access to American technologies (2) China must cease all proliferation of why get involved?’’ After all, the theory that could end up assisting Iran’s nuclear weapons of mass destruction, including mis- goes, even if the current system is going weapons programs would constitute an intol- siles and chemical and biological weapons. A bankrupt, ‘‘your seniors are protected, so erable risk to U.S. national security. promise to cease nuclear proliferation with- why bother with the uncertain future of this When the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement out similar assurances to cease the prolifera- politically volatile issue?’’ was finalized in 1985, Congress placed condi- tion of other mass destruction technologies Believe me, it would be easy to take a tions on the resolution approving it that re- is a lot like an alcoholic’s swearing off head-in-the-sand approach as so many do, in- quired the president to certify that China scotch without bothering to stop drinking cluding, I’m sorry to say, other senior citi- had become a responsible member of the beer or wine. zens groups. Unfortunately, this attitude October 30, 1997 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E2129 leads to a false impression that seniors are died at about age 64, or as Mr. Hart so deli- ther from the truth. There are a lot of work- ‘‘greedy old geezers,’’ a ‘gimme, gimme, cately phrases it, most workers were conven- ers in Chile who can’t play the stock market gimme’’ mentality which I hope to dispel. iently dead and buried before they could col- but who proudly walk around with a pass- Seniors who built this country, in Depres- lect their benefits at age 65. As 60 Plus Hon- port-sized book with their name on it, keep- sion and war time, through their blood, orary Chairman, former Indiana Congress- ing track of their investments. That is one of sweat and tears, deserve better. man Roger Zion puts it, at a vigorous and ro- the reasons we use the word ‘‘personalize’’ To help dispel that erroneous image, I bust 75, he has been ‘‘statistically dead’’ for because the system would allow each and harken back to some of the advice one par- 11 years. Now that seniors are living longer, every individual to take personal control of ticular senior citizen has given me, and still that places further financial strains on the his or her own financial destiny. does—my favorite senior—my mom, my system. Clearly, a day of reckoning has Since 60 Plus is nonpartisan, we credit leg- sainted mother, if you will, Mary L. Martin, come. The old fix of just raising taxes, some islators from both parties for coming up with who, in her eighties, still works part-time! 51 times in 62 years, cannot continue. innovative ideas. One is Democratic Sen. Bob Her advice is that seniors’ most valued as- There’s a limit. Kerrey of Nebraska, from whom we borrowed sets are not their social security, their re- There have been half-hearted attempts in the word ‘‘personalize.’’ Another suggestion, tirement income or their pensions—although the past to address the problem, half-hearted by one of the Generation-X’ers, is to ‘‘mod- these are certainly near the top of their because not many politicians want to be ac- ernize’’ the system. Many others on Capitol list—but in her opinion, seniors’ most valu- cused of touching the so-called third rail. Hill deserve credit, including Republican able assets are their children, their grand- You know the old song—Social Security is Congressman Jim Kolbe of Arizona and children and their great grandchildren. the third rail of politics, touch it and you Democratic Congressman Charlie Stenholm So that’s why I decided to involve 60 Plus, die. of Texas, co-chairs of a public pension re- seniors group responsibly trying to find a so- Politicians have gotten away with this form caucus which now numbers more than lution to the problem, for the sake of our third rail scare tactic for too long, scaring 70 members of Congress, equally represented children and our grandchildren. seniors for political gain. Some of us recall by both parties. Michigan Congressman Nick To put it bluntly, Heritage Foundation the 1964 Barry Goldwater-Lyndon Johnson Smith has introduced legislation to address economist Dan Mitchell said, or perhaps it Presidential campaign when there was a TV the problem, as have Reps. Mark Sanford of was another often quoted economist, Ameri- commercial showing a giant pair of scissors South Carolina, David McIntosh of Indiana, cans for Tax Reform’s Peter Ferrara, who cutting a Social Security card with a voice- Mark Neumann of Wisconsin and John Por- said: over solemnly intoning that this would be ter of Illinois. Others safeguarding Social Se- ‘‘Security was a Ponzi scheme then. It’s a the result if you voted for Goldwater. An- curity include House Ways and Means Com- Ponzi scheme now.’’ But even a Ponzi other 1964 TV commercial also stated that a mittee Chairman Bill Archer of Texas and scheme—borrowing from Peter to pay Paul— vote for Goldwater could result in U.S. sol- Subcommittee Chairmen, Reps. Bill Thomas worked well in the beginning, not only for diers being sent to fight and die in southeast of California, Dennis Hastert of Illinois and Carols Ponzi but for others, just as the so- Asia. Well, as one political wag put it, he Jim Bunning of Kentucky. Surely, the lat- called Social Security Ponzi scheme worked ‘‘voted for Barry and sure enough, U.S. sol- ter, Jim Bunning, the big, burly Hall of well for seniors. But there looms now a ‘‘run diers were soon sent to fight and die in Viet- Fame baseball pitcher—known as a fierce on the Ponzi bank’’ as the Baby Boomers nam.’’ competitor in his playing days and now the prepare to retire. So, I would like to put politicians, regard- father of nine and grandfather of 31 (at last As Mr. Hart states in his paper, ‘‘the Social less of party, on notice that seniors are tired count)—would be a formidable opponent for Security retirement train is a collision of falsely being told their Social Security is those who try to demagogue Social Security course with demographics. Social Security’s going to be taken away. It’s more likely that as they did in the 1980s when some Members pay-as-you-go system, where the taxes of to- a meteorite will fall on the Social Security of Congress courageously talked about re- day’s workers are transferred to today’s re- Administration building in Baltimore before form in order to save it. tirees, leaves it particularly vulnerable to a politician, of either party, would propose More than two dozen countries in South demographic trends. As Baby Boomers age, taking away Social Security. America, Europe and Asia, have adopted, or life expectancy is rising and birth rates are Let me point out how 60 Plus became en- are in the process of adopting, a Chilean- falling. As the Social Security train heads gaged on this issue. A few years ago the style system. Even socialist Sweden is going straight into a demographic wall,’’ Mr. Hart Third Millennium, Generation X’ers in the that route. And here, workers in three Texas continues, ‘‘more and more Americans an- 18–34 age group, announced the startling counties, before a loophole in the law was ticipate the oncoming wreck.’’ Mr. Hart is news that most X’ers believed more in UFOs closed, opted for privatization and their rate right. More and more of us recognize the (unidentified flying objects) than that the of return is making for a lot of serious dis- looming crisis. system would be around when they retired. I cussion as they prepare for retirement. A recant poll said that a majority of responded on a radio talk show that seniors Moreover, a resolution recently passed both Democrats, for the first time, acknowledged are also aware that the system is headed for the House and Senate in Oregon asking the not only that there is a problem with the bankruptcy. Then I added, somewhat flip- state to opt out of the Social Security sys- system, but a majority of Democrats now pantly, perhaps, that seniors believe more in tem and create a separate retirement system even favor privatization as a solution. Every- the second coming (has it been 20 years this for state workers. body universally agrees there’s a problem. week?) of Elvis Presley than in the system’s So the slight spark across the sky of the But a solution remains elusive. future solvency and that seniors might also Chilean experiment has become a bright con- For example, President Clinton’s Social prefer changes. After a few call-ins and fur- stellation. It’s a success story that I believe, Security Advisory Council has issued its ther discussion of UFOs and Elvis, I decided with all my heart and soul, can be a guide long awaited report. This 13-member panel of to poll senior citizens. Our poll to approxi- for our own troubled system. experts readily agreed there is a problem but mately 100,000 seniors found that, by a sur- Incidentally, in the old days, the father of did they agree on a solution? Well, yes and prising 3-to-1 margin, seniors preferred a the Chilean plan, Dr. Jose Pinera, literally no. They offered three solutions. It’s not an privatized system. We then commissioned a visited Washington in the dead of night be- exaggeration to say they split three ways survey by pollster Frank Luntz, an excerpt cause his untested plan was so controversial. from Sunday, six endorsing one solution, five of which is in the study we’ve released. The But a few years ago, the Cato Institute gave another and two yet a third. Significantly, Luntz poll confirmed our 3-to-1 ratio. a dinner in his honor and a number of Mem- all three directly, or indirectly, advocated We were called by Insight Magazine, and bers of Congress allowed their names to be privatization. In 1983, President Reagan’s So- we debated, in print, our counterpart at the placed on the host committee. What a cial Security Reform Commission came forth American Association of Retired Persons, change in attitude. Of course, it was not lost with its solution to keep the system solvent Horace Deets, in dueling 2000-word essays. If on them that this former minister of labor for, it said, at least another 75 years, well I could sum up each essay in one word, it was elected to office himself, with a major into the next century. would be: AARP—taxation, 60 Plus—privat- plank in his platform, his plan to privatize That begs the question, why another Com- ization. AARP favors the same old solution, social security. mission so soon in the 1990’s, after the 1983 tax increases, while 60 Plus looks for new so- Having read an article years ago by Ed Commission? The answer is that the system lutions. Crane, President of the Cato Institute, about is in more trouble than previously thought. Will privatization work? The privatization the social security problem, we started The problem is twofold. One: The good news role model is the Chilean system. During the searching for solutions. We kept being re- is that we seniors are living longer, due to 1983 Social Security study, when Chile was ferred back to the Cato Institute itself, medical advances and our own better health mentioned as a solution, the status quo seek- which has taken a pioneering road on this habits. Two: The bad news is that you young- ers dismissed their system as a new and issue for more than a dozen years. One name er generations have to pay. unproven experiment. But, fast forward 15 kept coming up, time and again. That name Of course, that’s the way the system has years later and Chile now has an amazing was Michael Tanner, Cato’s Director of always worked. But before there were more track record of success. Now the status quo Health and Welfare Studies, and the author than 20 workers, not three, paying into the seekers try to demonize the word ‘‘pri- of several books on health and welfare re- system for each beneficiary. One other fact vatize,’’ implying that you have to be a form. Mr. Tanner has worked on the Social that bears noting is that when first enacted, stock market expert or the big boys on Wall Security issue extensively, to say the least. according to the actuarial tables, seniors Street will fleece you. Nothing could be fur- Spoken on it. Written on it. Debated on it, E2130 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks October 30, 1997 around the world often with Dr. Pinera at his [From the Wall Street Journal, Oct. 29, 1997] with no track record, little disclosure and side. That’s why 60 Plus, particularly Roger HONG KONG’S MARKET STOPS BELIEVING IN managements that operate under an uncer- Zion and I, are so pleased that Mr. Tanner ‘MIRACLES’ tain set of incentives. has not only eloquently embraced this new (By Holman W. Jenkins Jr.) That’s a strange way to sell stock, because plan Mr. Hart proposes, but has joined us at underlying it is an invitation to believe that today’s official release of the proposal, along Apropos of the turmoil that began in Hong you’re in bed with some Chinese muckety- with an equally strong endorsement by to- Kong last week and spread through the muck, who’s going to use his connections for day’s other featured speaker, Fund for a New world’s stock markets, we have to admit to his own quick enrichment, and therefore Generation’s Adam Dubitsky. missing Zhou Beifang just a little. yours. Yet small investors aren’t the only Richard A. Hart takes up the challenge to Though he happens to be serving a life sen- ones who’ve fallen for this. Britain’s Cable & find a solution in an insightful paper show- tence in a Chinese prison these days, back in Wireless earlier in the year sold the Chinese ing how Personal Retirement Accounts the early 1990s he was feted by Hong Kong’s ministry a chunk of Hongkong Telecom at a (PRAs) can assure both dignity and comfort business elite as the ‘‘king of backdoor list- substantial discount, in return for the prom- for future generations of senior citizens. This ings.’’ ise of special access to the mainland phone paper, a variation on a theme advanced by His story had an improbably epic quality: market, in the form of C&W getting a piece others, should continue the dialogue on a Growing up wild on the streets of Beijing of the China Telecom flotation. system which urgently needs reform. during the Cultural Revolution, when his fa- C&W last week didn’t get any of China ther, an old military comrade of Deng To those who fear Social Security’s ruin, Telecom. Instead, it was the usual suspects Ziaoping, was in disgrace; landing with a among China’s cronies in the Hong Kong ty- wise seniors know that there is no Social Se- splash in Hong Kong in his early 40s, as head curity Trust Fund. 60 Plus calls it the Social coon class who got discounted allocations of of the offshore arm of China’s giant the new issue. Security Bust Fund as surpluses are used for Shougang steel works, now led by his reha- So many dreams end this way. Morgan other government programs. As Democratic bilitated father. Senator Ernest Hollings of South Carolina Stanley, the most China-exuberant of U.S. The younger Zhou embodied all the yuppie banks, put up $35 million to capitalize has said, ‘‘There is no trust. There is no striving of a generation robbed of education fund.’’ We need to alert people to keep at Beijing’s first joint-venture investment and privilege by Mao’s class war. Soon every- bank. In due course, it found itself squeezed arm’s length those politicians who spread thing he touched turned to gold for the Hong fear among seniors, as we stand at a cross- out of a lead role in the China Telecom flota- Kong investors who followed him. His trick tion by its inexperienced creation, and then roads to which direction Social Security re- was to take over moribund companies on the form should go. last month learned that its offspring was local stock exchange, and make their shares coming to Hong Kong to compete with Mor- In the 60 Plus Association’s opinion, some jump as he loaded them with mainland as- form of ‘‘personalization’’ remains the best gan Stanley there, rather than opening the sets on preferential terms. In a very short door so Morgan Stanley could become a play- and most feasible option. We must guarantee time his empire was worth $1.4 billion. present retirees their benefits as part of a er on the mainland, as it had feverently ‘‘We don’t know whether these trans- hoped. government promise to them, but we must actions were approved by some authority in Over lunch a few years ago, the local Chi- also safeguard current generations paying Beijing, or what it would mean if they nese head of a Western investment firm ex- into Social Security system so that the ben- were,’’ an editorial in The Asian Wall Street plained that the mainland deals he was then efits will be there when they retire. Journal ruefully wondered at the time. Six busily underwriting were destined for fund months later Mr. Zhou had been recalled to On August 14, 1935, President Roosevelt managers in the U.S. who felt a indiscrimi- Beijing and arrested. signed into law the Social Security Act. On nate need for ‘‘China exposure.’’ May 2, 1997, the FDR Memorial was opened It shouldn’t be surprising that Asia turned Asked if he owned any himself, he made a here in Washington, D.C. The Social Secu- out to be the knock that finally set the glob- face that said: ‘‘Are you on drugs?’’ rity system helped seniors escape poverty, al bull market on its ear. Those who mistake but we now know there are major problems chronology for explanation have tried to Yet he quickly warmed to a favorite topic, facing future generations. What more lasting trace the dominoes back to the Thai baht. how to make all this actually work for commemoration to FDR can we embrace But the problem goes deeper. China. His idea: Give Chinese managers than the adoption of a system which will For the Asian ‘‘miracle’’ had two solid pil- stock options that vest only after a time, so save it for a new age, a new era, and a new lars—the high savings and low wages of its they might at least be tempted to use their population. workers—and a third illusory one: the sup- positions to grow real earnings rather than posed omni-competence of its elites. to launder assets offshore. Let us further note that much of the opti- In the wake of crashing markets all around f mism embedded in the global share prices the globe, the words ‘‘accountability’’ and was, on some level, specifically China opti- ‘‘transparency’’ are suddenly getting a work- CHINA mism. It was always obvious that bringing out by Western analysts in Hong Kong—al- China aboard the global economy was the though earlier in the year several had quiet- game at hand. To hear Boeing, Coca-Cola and ly been dismissed for voicing skepticism HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON Procter & Gamble tell it, China underlay about Chinese offerings. As it happened, the Red Chip bonfire of OF NEW YORK their every hope of earnings as far as the eye can see. last summer was accompanied by insider IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES In Hong Kong, where Western finance wheeling and dealing and ramping of a type not seen since the Hong Kong market Wednesday, October 29, 1997 meets Chinese reality, the experts are belat- edly now trying to sort out the fundamentals cleaned up its act in the late 1980s, with the Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, for my entire from the Zhou Beifangism in the China formation of an anti-corruption task force. story. Western bankers, letting their standards career as a Congressman, I have been ex- drop in their eagerness to cultivate a big new tremely concerned about the capabilities and Consider the deal Goldman Sachs and a bevy of lesser banks brought to market into client, have been the quiescent instruments intentions of the People's Republic of China. I the teeth of last week’s mayhem. The offer- of these shenanigans. see a totalitarian dictatorship with nuclear ing consisted of government-owned cellular Well, ‘‘when in Rome’’ and all that. But weapons and the intent to provide weapons of operators in two provinces cobbled into a still, these institutions are global brand- mass destruction to terrorist nations. Of equal package that gave a mere minority stake to names now, with retail investors at home concern is the People's Republic of China's private investors for $3 billion. looking to them as guarantors of their re- actions and desire to wage economic warfare Amid much bickering between the Chinese tirement security. That ought to be reason against America by engaging in economic es- and their bankers, the price was actually enough for bankers to begin drawing more sharply the question of whether these deals pionage. But even worse is their potential to raised half-way through the offering, to a multiple far richer than what other Asian are really financing China’s development or improperly infiltrate and illegally manipulate telecom giants are selling for. And then to merely financing capital flight. capital markets through fraudulent market of- stir up sagging demand the head of the Chi- Anyhow, now comes the moment when we ferings. We cannot afford to let our guard nese telecom ministry hinted at juicy asset find out whether all the billions China has down and allow them to hold hostage Ameri- injections while talking to the press in been absorbing went to build skyscrapers ca's future growth and security by jeopardizing Shenzhen. ‘‘The listing of China Telecom without tenants and factories without cus- American retirement and pension funds. will be the first course of a big banquet and tomers. bigger courses will be served later,’’ he prom- Hong Kong remains Asia’s best-disciplined For that reason, I commend to you the at- ised. economy, with its most professional class of tached article from the Wall Street Journal and Those are the kind of Zhouesque expecta- managers outside of Tokyo. The current announce my intent to introduce legislation tions that had small investors in Hong Kong mess will work out for the best only if it that will protect us from this latest form of as- lining up around the block this past summer leaves everyone in the region with a stronger sault on our national security. for new offerings by mainland companies taste for these qualities.