It’s a Port--and That’s a Business

The Long Beach Harbor Commission is in the shipping business. It does not set foreign policy, arbitrate international trade disputes, investigate arms smuggling or play election law sleuth. Those are issues--legitimate ones--for the Congress and the Clinton administration to handle. The Harbor Commission deals with moving ship containers in and out of its bustling port. It creates jobs and makes money for the city.

So it was entirely appropriate for the commission on Monday to reaffirm its contract to build and lease a $200-million cargo terminal to Cosco, the state-controlled Chinese shipping company. The company has rented space at existing Long Beach port facilities--as it does at ports throughout the country--since 1981. Now, needing more space to handle expanding business, Cosco would lease a terminal to be built on a portion of the now-vacant Long Beach Naval Station; it would pay $14.5 million a year, and local taxes on the property would bring in an additional $1 million annually.

The deal suddenly came under fire from conservative politicians and others after reports from the FBI that the Chinese government may have tried to influence U.S. elections with clandestine campaign contributions last year. Hyperbole ran amok, with hints being made that the Chinese were engaging in some sort of conspiracy with military overtones. Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) introduced legislation to kill the lease, calling the proposed facility a “Chinese Communist beachhead” in the United States.

His legislation is silly and deserves no consideration. The Pentagon will conduct an appropriate security review. Following that--presuming no problem is discovered--the Navy should give final approval to the new terminal.

Then the Port of Long Beach can get on with what it does so well: moving an ever-growing number of shipping containers as part of a thriving import-export business.