$2.00 DESIGNATED AREAS HIGHER ©2017WSCE MONDAY,AUGUST 7, 2017 latimes.com Pence shuts down 2020 speculation

potential obstacles: VP falls in line with a He was 70 when he took office, the oldest first-term White House that’s president to be inaugurated, touchy at any hint has since turned 71, and would be the oldest second- that Trump might not term chief executive were he be the GOP nominee. to run again and win the 2020 election. If age is not enough of an By Laura King issue, his approval ratings are at a low that is unprece- WASHINGTON — For dented at this point in a months, President Trump’s presidential term. White House has been prone Moreover, an increas- to veering off message, ingly complex special coun- sometimes wildly so. But it sel investigation, looking at was crystal clear on one whether Trump’s campaign point Sunday: No one except cooperated with Kremlin Irfan Khan Los Angeles Times Trump should put up a hand [See Pence, A7] STEVE LOWE of Eagle Crest Energy Co. wants to build a $2-billion hydropower project in a former mine for the 2020 GOP presi- next to Joshua Tree National Park. Supporters and foes are debating whether it’s good for the environment. dential nod. Vice President Mike Pence denied that he was considering a run for the presidency the next time around, issuing a statement, the vehemence of which underscored how sensitive A decades-old land the White House is to any questioning of whether Trump will seek a second term. In what appeared to be a coordinated message, the White House also hit back Francine Orr Los Angeles Times battle flares anew Sunday at a report in the THE OLYMPIC torch at New York Times that de- the Los Angeles Memori- scribed steps Pence and al Coliseum. The fabled some GOP lawmakers have stadium opened in 1923. What happens when a national monument loses federal taken that could position themfor presidential bids. ANALYSIS protections? An ugly example is in the California desert Pence went so far as to call the newspaper’s report “disgraceful and offensive.” BY BETTINA BOXALL the gaping mine pits died in 2013 after perintendent who is retired from the “The American people Shaping years of court battles. Now, a private National Park Service. know that I could not be DESERT CENTER, Calif. — Just company wants to use the pits for a $2- In 1936, President Franklin D. more honored to be working beyond the southeast corner of billion hydropower project. Roosevelt established Joshua Tree side by side with a president Joshua Tree National Park, rows of The plant, proponents say, would National Monument on roughly who is making America up L.A. boarded-up houses, gouged moun- help boost renewable energy use in 825,000 acres of federal and railroad great again,” the vice presi- tainsides and concrete ruins are an Southern California and lower green- holdings northeast of Palm Springs, dent said, invoking Trump’s ugly reminder of the never-ending bat- house gas emissions. But park offi- capping a hard-fought campaign to 2016 campaign slogan. tle over the West’s public lands. cials fear the hydropower project conserve a singular desert landscape “Whatever fake news may for the This scarred piece of California could draw down local groundwater of Joshua trees, massive boulders and come our way,” he said, re- desert is what’s left of one of the coun- levels and harm wildlife. spectacular vistas. peating another favored try’s largest open-pit mining opera- The Eagle Mountain tract, shaped But the monument’s ban on new presidential phrase, “my en- tions and the little company town that like a handgun aimed at the park’s in- mining claims infuriated gold and sil- tire team will continue to fo- Games Kaiser Steel Corp. built after World terior, offers a lesson in what can hap- ver prospectors who’d long mined the cus all our efforts to advance War II. More than three decades after pen when federal monument protec- area. In the 1940s, Kaiser Steel bought the president’s agenda and the Eagle Mountain iron mine closed, tions are stripped from public lands — old patented claims to iron deposits in see him reelected in 2020.” As it did when it it still haunts the park that borders it as President Trump’s administration the Eagle Mountains and started dig- Trump began fundrais- on three sides. is considering doing at a number of na- ging them up. ing for a 2020 campaign hosted in 1932 and ’84, Plans to turn the site into a huge tional monuments in the West. In 19 50, Congress shrank the mon- almost immediately upon the city can use 2028 landfill and dump as much as 20,000 “It’s been a sordid history,” said ument by more than a third, chopping taking office, but a reelec- tons a day of Southland garbage into Mark Butler, a former Joshua Tree su- [See Mountain, A9] tion bid would face several as a civic barometer.

By Thomas Curwen

CHINA IN AFRICA When asked to explain the secret of Los Angeles on the eve of the 1984 Summer Olympics, the late poet, nov- elist and fantasist Ray Brad- Beaming into bury broke it down, captur- ing the ingenuous advan- tage the city enjoyed as it was coming of age. “L.A. is a conglomerate of Kenya homes small towns striving toward immensity and never mak- ing it, thank God,” he wrote. “We have no kings, queens, A Beijing satellite TV company or courts, no real pecking or- der, no hierarchies to pre- gets the Chinese message across vent those of us who care to lean into creativity from run- Chinese documentaryabout ning loose in the big yard.” By Jonathan Kaiman Japan’s wartime atrocities, With that creativity and most dubbed into English. freedom, he continued, “we KAJIADO, Kenya — It Gitonga was elated. His have conquered the world took the StarTimes satellite new digital TV package gave and don’t have enough sense TV salesman about 30 min- him better reception than to know it. Maybe it’s just as utes to install a pipeline for he’d once thought possible well. With such knowledge Chinese propaganda into in Kajiado, a small town on Gina Ferazzi Los Angeles Times comes arrogance. We are not Francis Gitonga’s squat, the savannah where Masai JERRY YOUNG, 68, inspects a blue sapphire at Inta Gems & Diamonds. His shop arrogant yet, although I de- cinder-block home here in tribesmen wander past rick- is the first to be owned by Cambodians in the jewelry district of downtown L.A. tect signs of it.” southern Kenya, near Afri- ety storefronts and goats More than 30 years later, ca’s Great Rift Valley. cluster in the shade. it is hard to imagine what First, he climbed onto Gi- “I didn’t know about Bradbury would make of tonga’s roof, drilled a satel- China before,” he said. “I can last week’s announcement lite dish onto the chimney, say it’s good. They have A legacy of Cambodian that Los Angeles will host and dangled some wires changed this country in a big the Olympics in 2028. The through the door frame. He way, very fast.” city today is approaching plugged it all into a Star- Although StarTimes — a the immensity that he Times set-top box, and privately owned, Beijing- genocide: Jewelry shops seemed wary of. turned it on. based media and tele- Downtown, once stag- Gitonga, 43, flipped communications firm — is nant and overlooked, is through the channels, and virtually unknown in the rides to the border of Thai- bodian descent, the largest thriving, its skyline ever- Chinese programs filled the West, it has been sweeping Precious gems helped land, where he waited days such population outside the evolving. The Dodgers and screen: an old kung fu movie, across Africa since 2002, before reuniting with his Southeast Asian nation. Dudamel are on a roll. aChinese news broadcast, a [See Kenya, A4] refugees build family in a camp. The stores are one of the George Lucas is breaking Southland businesses, “I was so scared. I ran,” legacies of the Cambodian ground on a museum in Ex- said Young, 68. “I was so genocide and the economic position Park. Two football but it’s not all glitter. lucky.” upheaval that came with it. teams compete in the city’s When they moved to the About two dozen stores backyard, and a subway sys- Transgender girl Kenya braces for U.S., those jewels — a few cut are packed into a Chinatown tem is tunneling its way sues school election violence By Frank Shyong rubies and sapphires — be- strip mall, and about 30 toward the sea. The case of 8-year-old As a presidential vote came the seed funding for a more crowd the downtown What once was a blank Nikki Brar could change looms, memories of past On a spring day in1975, as business that has become jewelry district. Cambodian slate is now crowded with — the way gender identity bloodshed set an omi- Khmer Rouge forces common in Cambodian jewelry stores line Anaheim if not inhibited by — expec- launched a coup that would American communities: the Street of Long Beach’s Cam- tations. is addressed in the class- nous tone. WORLD, A3 unleash four years of geno- jewelry store. bodia town, cluster in a Ful- Add the Olympics to the room. CALIFORNIA, B1 cide in Cambodia, Jerry There are now hundreds lerton strip mall and dot Or- mix, and it is perhaps under- Weather Young grabbed a fistful of of Cambodian-owned jew- ange County’s Little Saigon. standable that the reaction Low clouds, then sun. jewels from his store and fled elry stores across Southern Cambodian jewelers has been slightly fuzzy. Los L.A. Basin: 83/67. B6 for his life. California, home to more have become well known in Angeles is no longer pow- He walked and hitched than 50,000 people of Cam- [See Jewelers, A12] [See Games, A10] A4 MONDAY,AUGUST 7, 2017 LATIMES.COM Better TV signal, clearly from China

[Kenya, from A1] Eastern African region as a overhauling the continent’s whole,” reported CGTN in broadcast infrastructure September. and beaming Chinese con- Kevin Otiende, a former tent into millions of homes. employee in CGTN’s Nairobi It has subsidiaries in 30 Afri- bureau, said that its Kenyan can countries, including journalists had little say over such war-torn states as the what ultimately went on air. Democratic Republic of “I felt personally, there was Congo and the Central Afri- no freedom of expression,” can Republic. he said. “Everything had to “Our aim is to enable ev- be nice. And anything that ery African household to af- was not perceived to be cor- ford digital TV, watch good rect was immediately digital TV and enjoy the dig- killed.” ital life,” StarTimes Vice Chinese business advo- Chairman Guo Ziqi told Chi- cates paint Beijing’s media na’s official New China News investments as a win-win for Agency in December. Chinese investors and Afri- But there’s a catch. Star- can consumers — and an im- Times has substantial back- portant prerequisite to Chi- ing from the Chinese state — na’s ongoing ambitions on and an explicit political the continent. mandate. Huang Hongxiang, the China’s relationship with Nairobi-based founder of Africa — for decades defined China House Kenya, which by resource-for-infrastruc- provides consulting services ture deals — is evolving, as to Chinese companies in the Africa becomes wealthier country, said that if China and China’s foreign policy does not take steps to im- objectives grow more ambi- prove its image in Africa, tious. “there will be conflicts Beijing has invested bil- sooner or later resulting lions of dollars into “soft from misunderstandings.” power” campaigns aimed at “Why would China want convincing the world that to do the railway? Of course China is a cultural and politi- it’s because it’s beneficial to cal success story. Yet beyond China’s economy and Chi- China’s borders, its heavily Immanuel Muasya For The Times nese companies, and to censored state media broad- DAVID MUGITA sells StarTimes satellite TV service in Kajiado, Kenya. StarTimes, a privately owned, Bei- China-Africa relations,” he casts go mostly unwatched; jing-based firm, has been sweeping across Africa since 2002, beaming Chinese content into millions of homes. said. “Between China and its newspapers go unread; Africa you have a lot of mate- and outsiders often contin- In late May, a Kenyan del- to ports could improve trade rial exchange — the railway, ue to associate China with About this series egation signed a $2-billion and open markets. and so on. But people-to- pollution, opacity and re- deal with a Chinese firm for a But critics in Kenya say people exchange really isn’t This is the second in a series of reports on a massive pro- pression. 1,050-megawatt coal-fired the railway is overpriced, enough.” gram of Chinese investment that is reshaping Africa. Times StarTimes signals a power plant about 13 miles costing a fifth of the national How much impact China staff writer Jonathan Kaiman and visual journalist Noah change in tack, one that north of Lamu Old Town, a budget, and could put Kenya is achieving through its me- Fowler traveled to Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Ghana highlights the depth and UNESCO World Heritage in debt for generations — dia investments remains un- with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. complexity of Beijing’s ef- site and the oldest Swahili 90% of the project was clear. Experts questioned More online, including 360-degree videos, at latimes.com/ forts to win hearts and settlement in East Africa. funded through loans from whether Kenya’s StarTimes chinainafrica minds — with much of that Critics say the project could the Export-Import Bank of subscribers, while benefit- effort now being directed at pollute the air, damage fish- China, often known simply ing from StarTimes’ signal Africa, one of the world’s ports” about China in the sorship, traveled to Kajiado ing grounds and push hun- as China ExIm Bank. quality, were actually watch- great emerging media mar- Western media. for the inaugural celebra- dreds of residents off their Some of the deliber- ing Chinese shows. kets. “There’s a mindfulness tion. land. Locals were outraged ations with government offi- Linus Kaikai, chairman As a digital infrastruc- among China’s leadership By January, StarTimes that the Chinese company, cials over the project hap- of the Kenya Editors Guild ture provider, StarTimes is that China doesn’t get fair was everywhere in town — China Power Global, would pened behind closed doors, and a manager at the Nai- helping African states tran- treatment overseas, and bright orange StarTimes ad- import 40% of workers on drawing accusations of cor- robi-based National Media sition from analog television something needs to be done vertisements glowed on the project from China. ruption — though no one has Group, said Kenyan audi- —atechnology akin to FM about it,” Madrid-Morales schoolhouse walls, and Star- Lamu residents have offered much beyond suspi- ences have been shifting radio, rife with snow, static said. Times satellite dishes staged silent protests, cion. away from foreign content and dropped signals — to StarTimes established sprouted like carnations marching through the town “In my opinion, the [rail] for years, as local shows digital, which ensures high- its Kenyan subsidiary in from corrugated sheet- bearing anti-coal placards, project is one of the biggest grow more popular. To most quality image and sound. As 2012; now, it has 1.4 million metal roofs. and though the Kenya Na- scandals ever witnessed in Kenyans, he added, Chinese apay-TV company, it is subscribers, accounting for The Kajiado project “is tional Environment Man- Kenya,” Kenyan politician culture carries little cachet. stacking its networks with nearly half of Kenya’s pay- being subsidized by the Chi- agement Authority signed Joshua Odongo Onono “Kenyans have been pro-China broadcasts. TV subscriptions. Its cheap- nese government,” Mark off on the project last year, wrote in a commentary last separating and placing — if I As both, it is materially est package, called “Novo,” Lisboa, StarTimes Kenya’s the plant’s fate remains un- year. “May God have mercy can put it this way — a Chi- improving the lives of count- costs about $4 per month. vice president of marketing, decided. on us.” nese wall between infra- less Africans, then making Novo features a mix of Ken- acknowledged, without giv- To get a sense of what’s at Environmentalists have structure and culture,” he China’s role in those im- yan and Chinese channels, ing an amount. stake for China in Kenya, vis- raised a loud alarm about said. “Kenyans don’t see provements impossible to including several belonging The company “embarked it Nairobi National Park, a the rail line’s effect on wild- [China] as a model in the ignore. to the Chinese state-run on a massive sales drive” fol- pristine nature preserve in life. The flurry of initial con- space of democratic or polit- “There’s a huge ideolog- broadcaster, the China lowing Kenya’s switch to dig- the capital city’s shadow, struction is thought to have ical processes. But they see ical element” to StarTimes’ Global Television Network, ital TV infrastructure in 2014 , where zebras graze against a led to the deaths of 10 ele- it as a very, very good model African operations, said or CGTN. he said; it now employs 1,10 0 backdrop of skyscrapers. phants. Several lions es- when it comes to economic Dani Madrid-Morales, a Access to other interna- people, most of them Ken- China provided most of caped from the park — one growth.” doctoral fellow at the City tional channels, such as Al yan. He added that Star- the funding, in loans and in- of which died — and some David Mwangi, owner of a University of Hong Kong Jazeera, France 24 and BBC Times will begin building an vestment, for a $3.8-billion have blamed that, too, on small shop in Kajiado, said who has researched the —which are more inclined to Africa headquarters, a dub- railway joining Nairobi and the construction activity, he has learned to appreciate company. “It’s a huge effort portray China in a negative bing center and production the Kenyan port city Mom- though that’s less clear. Chinese news reports. “BBC to get Africans to under- light — costs more than facilities within the year. basa, 380 miles away — part Protesters gathered out- is shallow. But [CGTN] has stand China. Even the selec- most Kenyans can afford. “This is just the beginning, of which will cut through the side the Chinese Embassy in more, a lot of African stuff,” tion of TV shows is very care- In December 2016, Star- I’ll put it that way,” he said. park. The line opened in Nairobi, chanting, “ExIm he said. “I thought China fully done. It’s very specific Times launched a “pilot pro- China’s footprint across June; its high concrete pil- China, respect our laws!” was a small country, but now shows that showcase an ur- gram” in Kajiado “as part of Kenya spreads far beyond lars rise like a mirage from “It’s heartbreaking,” said Iknow it’s a big country with ban China, a growing China, its long-term agenda” to access to the airwaves. As in the dry, yellow savannah. Paula Kahumbu, the Nai- alot of technology and infra- anoncontroversial view of bring digital television to ru- the rest of Africa, China has The new train will travel robi-based CEO of the con- structure. China.” ral Kenyans, according to been investing heavily in in- at an average of 74 mph, cut- servationist organization “China is improving a Pang Xinxing, Star- the state-run China Daily. frastructure. But as China’s ting transportation time be- WildlifeDirect. “We’re con- lot,” he continued, glancing Times’ chief executive, who The company gave free Star- impact deepens, Kenyans tween the two cities from cerned that if they can get at his TV. He paused, briefly. could not be reached for Times set-top boxes and have often reacted with sus- about 10 hours to five; it will away with this in the capital “China has conquered comment, has told Chinese subscriptions to 120 house- picion. They blame China for transport 22 million tons of city, God knows what could Kenya,” he said. state media that he ex- holds. Sun Zhijun, a Chinese stealing local jobs. They fear cargo per year. Ultimately, it happen elsewhere.” panded to Africa to counter vice minister overseeing that China — Kenya’s larg- could anchor a Chinese- The controversies were jonathan.kaiman “exaggerated and biased re- propaganda and media cen- est creditor — is saddling the backed rail network stretch- barely reported by Chinese @latimes.com country with unmanageable ing into South Sudan, news outlets in Kenya. Twitter: @JRKaiman debt, and that Chinese infra- Uganda, Rwanda and Bu- Those reports have structure projects are en- rundi, where transportation tended to focus on the rail dangering the country’s networks are now rudimen- line’s efficiency, economic This story was reported How to contact us pristine national parks, tary, consisting mainly of di- benefits and ambition. “The with a grant from the (800) LA TIMES some of the world’s most bio- lapidated roads and remote line is expected to speed up Pulitzer Center on diverse. airstrips. 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