Although Congress has killed a deal to lease the abandoned Long Beach Naval Station to a Chinese shipping company, the Port of Long Beach vowed Friday to find new tenants for the controversial base and to make other accommodations to keep the China Ocean Shipping Co. from leaving the harbor.
John W. Hancock, president of the Board of Harbor Commissioners, said the port will begin talks as soon as possible with three or four major shipping lines that are interested in acquiring more terminal space. The companies, which Hancock declined to identify, already hold leases in the Port of Long Beach.
Port officials said they would try to find a new site for China Ocean Shipping if other shipping lines in the harbor move onto naval station grounds. Cosco, which is one of the largest shipping lines in the world, has operated in the port since 1981.
"Congress has thrown two years of effort out the window due to a ridiculous political climate," Hancock said. "Our plans are to go forward posthaste with development of the base. There is time to get new tenants."
The embattled Cosco deal came to an end Thursday night, when congressional conferees submitted to Congress the 1998-1999 defense authorization bill.
The legislation's final language effectively prohibits the Chinese company from leasing any part of the Long Beach Naval Station after it is converted into a cargo terminal. Officials said there is virtually no chance of amending the bill.
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Leading the effort to block Cosco from the facility were Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Reps. Duncan Hunter and Randy "Duke" Cunningham, both San Diego-area Republicans.
They and their conservative colleagues assert that Chinese Communists could use the former base for military purposes and intelligence-gathering.
Port officials and Cosco supporters said that two recent Department of Defense reports show that the shipping line does not present a national security threat to the United States.
No one was concerned about Cosco when the naval base was open, harbor officials pointed out. But now that it is closed, the company has been transformed without justification into a military threat.
The pro-Cosco forces lost ground in the debate because of controversies surrounding the export of U.S. satellites to China and alleged Chinese political contributions to President Clinton and the Democratic Party.
