g the United States -- a disturbing proposition considering the unprecedented groth of the communist country in past years.

The seaway, with its connecting links of smaller canals and passages to the five Great Lakes, provides access to cities in U.S. northern states and Canadian provinces stretching nearly halfway across the North American continent, including such major cities as Toronto, Montreal, Buffalo, Detroit, Milwaukee and Chicago.

The seaway was first used on April 25, 1959. However, it was not officially opened until June 26, 1959, at a cermony presided over by President Dwight D Eisenhower and Queen Elizabeth II. At that time, the seaway was considered the largest engineering feat of its kind, including the Panama Canal and the Suez Canal.

Now, the seaway is badly in need of modernization, with channel depths and limited lock sizes restricting its use by many larger ocean-going ships. Proposals to expand and improve it have been pending since the 1960's but have been rejected as being too costly. The delays due to costs provided an opening for the Chinese to become involved in its operations.

Already, the Chinese have gained control of the Panama Cana and have approached the Egyptians about getting control of the Suez Canal.

Currently, the seaway is ,maintained by a conglomeration of U.S. and Canadian governmental and commercial entitites. However, a "friendship agreement" has been signed by the Chinese, which culminated in a week-long binational trade meeting in Shanghai which involved officials from throughout the Great Lakes St. Lawrence seaway system.

According to a press release put out by the partioes involved, "The agreement aims to establish a cooperative partnership between U.S. and Canadian ports in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System and the Port of Shanghai. The forms of cooperation will include discussion fro expanding marine transportation and trade, communications on ways to improve port management and economic development, exchanges of information and materials to improve inland waterway navigation and vessel standardization, and discussions focusing on the construction of the inland waterway and transportation system. The agreement tales effect immediately.

A highlight of the signing ceremeony was a dinner hosted by the Seaway and which was attended by various Chinese officials, including executives of the China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO), a commercial entity with ties to the Chinese military. COSCO is also linked to the Hong Kong-based Hutchinson-Whampoa Company, which now maintains control over operations of the Panama Canal and has port facilities at both ends of that vital waterway.

COSCO has shipped missile technology and biological warfare components to countries such as North Korea, and its container ships have served as carriers for smuggling operations around the world. In 1996, U.S. Customs agents confiscated more than 2,000 AK-47 rifles aboard COSCO ships [in Oakland, Ca] that were bound for California street gangs.

Members of Congress, including Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.), who represents the area of northern New York adjacent to the seaway, have written to the White House in the past, warning that two Chinese military officers were quoted in a Beijing newspaper saying Panama would be an ideal launching pad for a "no-limits" war against the United States.

The two officers have written a book, Unrestricted War, in which they outline different options on how to attack the United States. Those options, the congressmen warned, range from terrorism and biological warfare to drug trafficking, environmental degradation and computer hacking.

Mike Blair specializes in military affairs and gunowners rights. Blair was cited by Project Censored for having uncovered the top "most censored" story of 1990 -- a scheme to scuttle the Bill of Rights in the name of "fighting crime."