Editor's note: This column was co-authored by Larry Klayman and Chris Farrell.

What does an inspection of the Bahamas, your online stock portfolio investment service, half the electricity production and distribution in Australia, Canadian oil, trans-Pacific fiber-optics, the Panama Canal, and William Shatner's horrible "singing" commercial endorsements of Priceline.com have in common?

Li Ka-shing.

Careful examination of the Chinese tycoon's growing empire and his cozy relationship with the Communist Chinese government reveals the potential for an insidious manipulation of Western ports, markets, utilities and telecommunications that could apply crippling pressure to the United States and her few remaining allies. Indeed, through Li Ka-shing's empire -- a front for Communist Chinese expansion -- the Mainland does not need to invade Western democracies or launch missile attacks against them to flex its muscle. It can simply threaten to shut down public utilities and key industries which it now controls -- throwing Western markets into complete turmoil, if not disaster.

The frightening story begins in 1979, when Li Ka-shing purchased what became the controlling interest in one of the oldest, 19th century British trading houses, or "hongs" of Hong Kong, known as Hutchison-Whampoa. Already a millionaire from real estate and property management investments, Li launched a diversification program through HW that involved trading, cargo and container operations, logistics, warehousing, engineering and even retail sales. Today Li Ka-shing's net worth is estimated at a whopping $13 billion.

Li expanded into the utility and energy fields in 1985 by acquiring a 33 percent interest in Hong Kong Electric Holdings Ltd. Two years later in 1987, Li expanded overseas again, this time by taking a 43 percent interest in Husky Oil, an oil and gas company based in Canada. Since then, Husky Oil ownership has shifted to 46 percent ownership by Li and his family, 49 percent-owned by HW and 5 percent by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. Husky ranks among Canada's top producers of crude oil, natural gas and recovered sulfur.

The 1990s brought continued diversification and expansion to Li's holdings. In 1993, Li became involved in a bidding war over Hong Kong's Miramar Hotel & Investment Company. Interestingly, Li's partner in the bid was CITIC Pacific, the Hong Kong-listed arm of the China International Trust and Investment Corporation that is controlled by the Communist Chinese government. His "opponent" (to whom he "lost") in the Miramar bidding was Mr. Lee Shau-kee -- Li's partner in many other joint ventures. Li's partnerships with CITIC and Lee in various investment and development initiatives are frequent and diverse. Mr. Li's interest in hotels continued through 1994 when Hutchison International Hotels entered into joint ventures with the Beijing government over two of the oldest hotels in the capitol. The Chinese tycoon has also formed a subsidiary called Cheung Kong Infrastructure, as a diversified infrastructure company committed to the fast-growing Asian infrastructure market, especially mainland China. CKI divisions include:

1. CKI Materials, which is one of Asia's most successful cement, concrete, asphalt and aggregates operators.

2. CKI Energy, which has interests in power plants in four provinces in China, including Guangdong, Henan, Liaoning and Jilin.

3. CKI Transportation, the portfolio of which comprises a variety of road transportation systems, ranging from a section of the National Trunk Highway System to city roads and ring roads.

Then there is the arguably largest "public works" project in the world -- the Panama Canal. Under the terms of the Carter-Torrijos Treaty of 1977, the United States was due to relinquish control of the canal and associated port facilities in a time-phased process culminating in a complete turn over to the Panamanian government on Dec. 31, 1999. In 1996, the Panamanian government of President Ernesto Balladares opened bidding on the port terminal concessions at both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances of the canal. Under bidding practices and circumstances that were reportedly fraudulent, HW won the bidding. HW subsidiaries Hutchison Port Holdings and the Panama Ports Company now effectively control the Panama Canal.

HW has done well as the operator of Hong Kong International Terminals, the world's largest independently owned container terminal, and, profits from HW port and related services totaled $3,097 million in Hong Kong dollars. As the world's biggest independent port operator, Hutchison Port Holdings has invested in 17 ports, operates 79 berths and handles about 10 percent of global container traffic. Operating ports include Shanghai in China; Felixstowe, Thamesport, Harwich in the UK; Freeport Container Port on Grand Bahama Island; and a 50 percent interest in the Grand Bahama Airport Company, which comprises an 11,000-foot long runway capable of handling the world's biggest aircraft. This investment also includes a 780-acre tract of land between the airport and container port. Plans are being prepared to develop this into an industrial park, which will also contain a sea/air business center. Other investments in the Bahamas include three hotels and two golf courses.

Not satisfied with controlling Britain's three principal seaports and the Panama Canal, Li's European expansion includes a $357 million plan to acquire the continent's largest container handler, Europe Combined Terminals in Rotterdam, Holland. The European Commission launched a four-month investigation into the proposed deal, ending with a determination to allow HW to negotiate a 35 percent stake in ECT.

In further bids to "diversify," Li has purchased all of South Australia's electricity distribution and retail assets, also pledging to acquire a 25 percent stake in the Bangkok Transit Systems Company's "Skytrain" project -- costing Mr. Li between $100 and 200 million.

Following in his father's footsteps, Richard Li, at 35 years old, the second son of the patriarch, has made his own mark in the business world, wheeling and dealing with the likes of the ubiquitous Intel Corporation and telecommunications giant Global Crossing. Richard Li has an affinity for high-tech ventures and has expanded the family's business accordingly. He launched, developed, and then sold the Asia-wide StarTV satellite television network, thanks to mutually supportive network infrastructure contracts let by his father's HW conglomerate.

However, Richard Li's high-tech corporate incubator is the Pacific Century Group, a company which has been granted a seaside "campus" on scarce Hong Kong real estate by the Beijing government, valued at $775 million to create "Cyperport." The $1.74 billion project is backed by campus tenants Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Softbank and Pacific Convergence Corporation (a joint venture between Pacific Century Group and Intel). Interestingly, a similar high-tech campus called "The City of Knowledge" has been proposed by Panama's quasi-governmental "Inter-oceanic Regional Authority" (ARI) for the former U.S. Southern Command's Fort Clayton. ARI representatives suggest that "Chinese entities" conceived of and are interested in bidding on the project this summer.

Richard Li's subsequent acquisition of the telecommunications firm Tricom Holdings Ltd. has been rolled into the Pacific Century Group operation to create Pacific Century CyberWorks PCCW. In an effort to bring high-speed Internet access to Asia, Intel has invested an additional $50 million into Richard Li's PCCW, giving the American firm a 13 percent stake. In a bit of seemingly "circular promotion," PCCW's participation in Cyberport is being touted as a reason for additional outside investors to join the project.

The Li family's continued business conquest of shipping, utilities and communications infrastructure recently continued with yet another acquisition. In a move that some say highlights the wholly integrated relationship between the Li family and Communist China, Richard Li's nine-month-old PCCW strangely outbid communications leviathan Singapore Telecommunications to acquire Cable and Wireless HKT. This acquisition represents Asia's largest-ever takeover bid. The Hong Kong government denies any involvement in the transaction, but it does appear to have intervened on behalf of its Mainland Chinese benefactors -- as it would have been unlikely that Li's young company would have prevailed.

Long-term rivalries between the two historically powerful Asian economic powerhouses made the idea of the Singapore government having partial ownership of the local phone company "unacceptable" on a number of levels. Interestingly, after the deal was announced, the share value of PCCW plummeted, since investors likely sensed the company itself did not have the assets to complete the deal. It is therefore likely that Beijing is the source of the cash to finance the transaction.

Meanwhile, the elder Li has joined with U.S. telecom company Global Crossing in a $1.2 billion dollar joint venture to link Hong Kong to the United States by submarine fiber-optic cable to offer high-speed trans-Pacific network service for corporations. Within the last two weeks, Li announced the formation of a 50-50 joint venture with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Inc. ("DLJdirect") to launch and manage an online investment service. He has also forged a new alliance with Web travel discounter Priceline.com.

We have only been able to sketch a fraction of the Li family holdings in this article. In a future article we will expand our analysis to detail the Communist Chinese penetration of our capital markets. But for now, we hope the reader gains an awareness and understanding of the Li family's enormous wealth and control of critical utilities, industries and telecommunications technologies around the globe, within the context of the Li's relationship to Beijing as a "successful commercial agent" of the Communist Chinese government.

If reports that Li Ka-shing is a de facto ministry-level official of the Communist Chinese government are true, it would explain much of China's aggressive posturing on the world stage and provide a stark warning to a seemingly complacent American public -- the same Americans who yawned at Chinese arms dealers buying access to President Clinton and seem willing to accept candidate Gore's iced tea-sodden claims of "no controlling legal authority" concerning his relationship with convicted felon Maria Hsia.

Will Americans continue to stand by idly as their sovereignty, and the public infrastructure of their allies, is sold to the highest Communist Chinese bidder?