- The Chinese army is coming to an automotive dealer near
you.
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- Chinese SUV maker Chang Feng appeared at the 2007 Detroit
Auto Show with its latest entry in the sport four-wheel-drive market -
the Liebao.
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- The Chinese automaker expects to enter the U.S. market
before the end of the decade with its line of four-wheel-drive sport vehicles
and trucks.
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- Cheng Feng Liebao is China's No. 1 SUV producer with
a third of the Chinese market, and total group production of about 100,000
vehicles last year. Chang Feng exports reach around the world with sales
in Europe, the Middle East, South America and Africa.
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- However, underneath the Swiss-cheese-like symbol of Chang
Feng lies the real roots behind the Liebao.
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- Chang Feng publicly states that it is a "state-owned"
company, run and controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. What Chang
Feng does not like to publish is that it is a Chinese army-owned company,
formerly known as the No. 7319 Factory of the "Chinese People's Liberation
Army Chang Feng (Group) Co.,Ltd."
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- Despite its civilian sales, PLA Chang Feng still sells
vehicles and parts to the military. In fact, the company recently donated
a fully equipped Liebao SUV to the PLA war museum, decked out in green
paint and sporting a large cannon mounted on the back.
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- While America may look upon the PLA Chang Feng group
with minor interest, after all they employ their autoworkers at a raging
wage scale of $1.25 an hour, there are others who react violently when
they see a Liebao on the road nearby.
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- PLA Chang Feng boasts that it also sells fleets of the
SUV to police and guard units. For example, on Jan. 18 2005, the Tibet
branch of PLA Chang Feng delivered 38 Liebao guard cars to Tibet Autonomous
Region police force.
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- The Tibet police - also known as the Autonomous Region
procuratorate - recently shot to death two unarmed nuns who were trying
to flee over the border. The incident was recorded by a Romanian tourist
on video and distributed on the Internet.
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- The video showed that the Chinese troopers killed the
nuns by shooting them in the back as the where running away.
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- How to Defeat A Violent Attacker TWICE Your Size Wow!
Ladies Are Totally In Love With These Guys!! Border Patrol Agents Thrown
in Jail Are Pheromones a Secret Weapon for Dating?
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- PLA Chang Feng is so closely aligned with the Chinese
Communist Party that Mr. Li JianXin, chairman of company, was elected the
10th deputy to the Communist National People's Congress in 2003. Li's company
video proudly announces that the auto firm was founded virtually in the
hometown of Chairman Mao. "Mao Tse-Tung, the Chinese great leader,
was born here," states the company promo-video.
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- While classic Cold War bragging points for Mao may go
over big at home, Mao is not so loved in the West where history and the
truth are far less forgiving.
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- Mao is known for slaughtering millions in the name of
a communist state. Still, the PLA Chang Feng Web site does put on a fine
show describing their current boss in stilted and poorly written English.
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- "Mr.Li Jianxin Li, male, the Han nationality, borned
in October of 1953, the Party member of the CPC, Master degree, senior
engineer, President of Changfeng (Group ) Co., Ltd. (former 7319 factory
of the Chinese People's Liberation Army), deputy to the National People's
Congress," states the official PLA Chang Feng Web page.
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- Another portion of the Web site describes PLA Chang Feng's
latest addition to the SUV family - the Pajero. "The PAJERO is energic
though being quiet.controlling it can be full of pleasant sensation,"
states the Web page.
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- "Let's wake PAJERO up, wake the impulse that you
take risks up again. To experiences humanized driving environment really.
You feel soft and friendly in spacial room," notes the PLA Chang Feng
marketing.
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- The PLA Chang Feng Web site, much like its vehicles,
clearly needs some extra work. Don't worry about the PLA folks. I am sure
they will obtain the contract of a sharp Western marketing firm and slick
up their ads - dumping the bragging points about Mao.
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- Take for example, the PLA made Rodedawg SUV. The Rodedawg
is the brainchild of Luis Pallais, the commercial attaché to the
Nicaraguan Consul General's office in San Francisco. Of course, Luis has
some help from pals inside Beijing.
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- The Rodedawg is made by Beijing Jeep Automotive Works
and is known to the People's Liberation Army as the BJ5022XZHE, a variation
on the BJ2020 series. The BJ2020 series is used by the Chinese army as
an armed troop carrier, several versions carry missiles and machine guns.
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- The BJ5022 or Rodedawg looks like a Spanish Galleon on
wheels. To say it's an ugly duck is an insult to ducks. The vehicle is
downright hideous. In addition, the performance on land and water is both
unspectacular and potentially dangerous to the inexperienced driver.
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- Still, its military roots and bad looks are a minor problem
to marketing folks. The real problem is making the amphib-auto cool to
own in America. For that the Chinese army turned to Hollywood.
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- "Rodedawg International Industries Inc., the corporation
which holds the rights to distribute and market this Chinese military vehicle
that has turned into the hottest, newest off-road contender announced the
signing of Ice T, hip-hop music pioneer and accomplished actor-star in
the award-winning series Law & Order SVU, to a major spokesperson agreement
to represent the Rodedawg," states the official press release from
Rodedawg.
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- Clearly, with the triple-threat combination of a Hollywood
TV/Hip- Hop star, the commercial attaché to the Nicaraguan Consul
General and the People's Liberation Army, the Rodedawg is a guaranteed
success story.
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- That is until the U.S. public understands exactly who
BJC is and why a Chinese military vehicle is now on sale in America.
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- Chrysler found out exactly how reliable the Beijing Jeep
Corporation is when it comes to commercial deals. According to the Commerce
Dept. report, in 1995 Chrysler had an exclusive deal with the Chinese Army
company making Jeep Cherokee 4-wheel drive vehicles at a People's Liberation
Army (PLA) owned auto-plant.
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- "Despite almost a decade of relative success in
producing both the Jeep Cherokee and a wholly locally produced military
style jeep (the BJ2020 series), by 1995 Chrysler had pulled out of its
bid to build a new minivan joint venture in Shanghai out of complete frustration,"
states a January 1999 U.S. Commerce Dept. report on technology transfers
to China.
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- "Chrysler executives were expressly concerned over
licit and illicit technology transfers," noted the 1999 Commerce report.
"Chrysler's concerns were amplified when Chrysler CEO Robert Eton
was made aware that knock-offs of Chrysler's Jeep Cherokee had been seen
on the streets of Beijing. When complaining about this to Chinese officials,
he reportedly was told that this (the ability to copy Chrysler's Jeep Cherokee)
was a good sign of progress in China's auto industry, about which he should
be pleased. Apparently, he was not, and Chrysler soon canceled plans to
go ahead with the Shanghai plant," states the report.
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- Chrysler was at that time the maker of the U.S. Army
M-1 tank. Chrysler officials quickly realized the advanced assembly and
manufacturing technology demanded by the Chinese was far more applicable
to making armored vehicles than vans for soccer moms. "Chinese officials
were demanding more advanced technology than seemed appropriate or necessary
to Chrysler," concluded the Commerce report.
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- "According to interviews conducted for this study,
given the experience in Beijing, Chrysler executives were made even more
wary of the technology transfers, proposed licensing deal and export quotas
being requested as part of the Shanghai deal and decided that the risk
was simply too great when it came to what was for Chrysler a relatively
new (the minivan) and, therefore, advanced technology. Chrysler currently
has no plans to expand its investment ventures in China," stated the
Commerce Dept. report.
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- What lessons will be learned from the new Rodedawg and
Chang Feng's Liebao? Will Ice-T support a vehicle used by Chinese ally
Sudan to raid African villages in Dafur? Will Americans purchase a vehicle
that brags it is the SUV of choice for murderous border guards in Tibet?
Will U.S. labor and liberals stay silent in the face of slave wages being
paid to raid the U.S. auto market? Will America fund the Chinese Army with
purchases from PLA owned companies?
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- The answer is coming to a dealer near you.
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- http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/1/17/103906.shtml
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