Who wins in China's chicken war?  By Joseph Farah.
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I should tell you, I was warned not to write this column.
The last time I suggested there was something fishy about the U.S.
poultry business, I heard from a top executive at Tyson Foods. I
didn't know what I was talking about, I was told. Contrary to what I
had suggested, Clinton's old Arkansas pals and benefactors haven't
been given the time of day from their man since he became president,
a Tyson official said. In fact, I was told, the company had actually
been squeezed hard by federal regulators and the independent counsel
investigating its role in Department of Agriculture corruption.
There was simply no truth to the notion that Tyson Foods has
benefited in any way from Bill Clinton's ascension to power. In
fact, he said, "It's the worst thing that ever happened to us."
I put all that on the record just in case anything should happen to
me. If I should suddenly come down with the mysterious "bird flu"
virus or contract a fatal case of salmonella poisoning or choke on a
chicken McNugget, maybe someone will ask some tough questions,
demand an autopsy and prevent my remains from being cremated.
Not that I'm making any accusations, mind you. I am not weaving
another conspiracy tale here. All I'm doing is connecting some dots
-- pointing out a few coincidences. Maybe that's all they are --
coincidences. It just seems like there have been too many in the
last five years.
OK, here it is. Without further adieu, let me review some facts.
A few months ago, you may remember, Hudson Foods was hit with an e
coli bacteria scandal. The federal government regulators pounced on
the company -- even sending in a so-called "SWAT team" to shut down
operations. Within hours, the company's value plummeted. Within
weeks, Hudson Foods had been purchased by its major rival, Tyson
Foods, owned by Don Tyson, friend of the president and a long-time
financial supporter of his political campaigns.
Tyson Foods had tried to buy Hudson Foods several times in previous
years, but the offers were spurned. Only after the smaller company
was brought to its knees, at least in part, through a public health
scare and some government brute force was Tyson able to make a deal
Hudson couldn't refuse. Coincidence? Maybe. Or was it a quid pro
quo? Just asking.
Let's also recall that several years earlier, Tyson's general
counsel, James Blair, set up a sweetheart deal for Hillary Clinton
to get into the cattle futures business. She parlayed a $1,000
investment into nearly $100,000 in a year. Good luck? Probably. I'm
sure the Clintons didn't feel indebted to Tyson for the favor any
more than they did for all the campaign cash he threw at them over
the years.
Now for some recent developments: Tyson Foods just copped a plea and
agreed to cooperate with Independent Counsel Donald Smaltz's
investigation of former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy. The company
will pay a $6 million fine ("chicken feed," one might say, to the
multi-billion-dollar enterprise) for attempting to bribe a Cabinet
member.
Coincidentally, the very same day, Hong Kong officials were busy
slaughtering every single chicken in the region. Some people in Hong
Kong are wondering why such a drastic government action was ordered
when only a dozen or so human victims of the deadly "bird flu" virus
carried by chickens have been diagnosed. Maybe it's silly, but
whenever I see government reacting so quickly and with such
overwhelming force, I wonder why. Who's benefiting?
Would you believe a major beneficiary of this disaster -- this
public health scare -- could well be, once again, Tyson Foods?
Now I'm sure what I'm about to tell you is just another coincidence
-- just the luck of the draw. But let's lay our eggs on the table.
Are you sitting down "X-Files" fans? Tyson Foods has struck a major
deal with China to explore the feasibility of developing as many as
10 poultry complexes throughout the country.
That's right. I'm not kidding. On April 30, Tyson Foods, the world's
largest fully integrated producer, processor and marketer of
chicken, announced it had entered into an agreement with Kerry
Holdings Limited, the Hong Kong-based unit of the multinational
conglomerate, the Kuok Group, to expand its operations bigtime in
the People's Republic of China.
What fortuitous timing! Now that every private chicken developer in
the area has been wiped out by a Chinese government blitzkrieg,
Tyson is poised to take over the South China poultry market. Its
major push is expected to come in early 1998. Now, remember, Tyson's
deal is with the very same Chinese government that apparently pumped
massive amounts of illegal cash into Clinton's 1996 presidential
campaign. What's that saying about "birds of a feather"?
I know, I know. I'm just the suspicious type. Perhaps, I am too
cynical. But coincidences like this make me nervous.
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Joseph Farah is editor of the Internet newspaper WorldNetDaily.com
and executive director of the Western Journalism Center an
independent group of investigative reporters.
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