Another Port Deal: Mexico, Red China, Wal-Mart
by William F. Jasper
March 11, 2006

The Hong Kong-based shipping company Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. and retail giant Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are partners in a new $300 million expansion of Mexico's Pacific port of Lazaro Cardeñas, according to a February 12 report from Reuters news service.

Since U.S. west coast ports are becoming clogged with container ships filled with made-in-China goods, Wal-Mart and its Chinese suppliers are looking for new ports to bring their wares into the United States. The expansion project, reportedly, would increase Lazaro Cardeñas’ current annual handling capacity of 100,000 containers to 700,000 containers over the next couple years, with possible expansion to two million containers.

Hutchison Whampoa Ltd. is run by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing, whose business empire is intertwined with companies that front for the communist intelligence and military arms of the People’s Republic of China, such as the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), China Telecom, and the China International Trust and Investment Corporation (CITIC). Li Ka-shing, a key agent in China’s global agenda, controls key ports around the world, including the ports at both ends of the Panama Canal.