The Chinese military's vast commercial presence on the United States mainland was at the centre of the US-Sino trade debate yesterday, as senators were urged to ban its operations from American shores.
In the wake of indictments on officials of two People's Liberation Army (PLA) connected firms for the alleged smuggling of weapons into the US, a hearing was told of how the US Government was ignoring the maze of such businesses across the country.
The details emerged at a meeting of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the same day that its chairman, Jesse Helms, introduced the first congressional motion to revoke China's trading privileges.
'I don't think any member of the House or Senate would say we should support Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for the PLA,' said Jeff Fiedler, an official with the AFL-CIO, America's largest trades union federation.
'This situation has always baffled us. Allowing Chinese military companies to do business in the US is ridiculous . . . it is tantamount to subsidising the modernisation of the Chinese military.
'Simply cutting off MFN for these companies is insufficient. They should be banned from doing business of any sort with US companies, both in and out of China.' But Mr Fielder added: 'I don't think the US Government is interested in sanctioning the PLA - it is fearful of the political consequences.' The AFL-CIO had conducted investigations of PLA-linked companies Poly Technologies and Norinco, and uncovered a web of subsidiary companies dealing in all kinds of imported goods.