CHINA SUES US FOR NO BID TORTURE CONTRACTS

Images courtesy Beijing Chamber of Commerce, (c)2005

Washington, (WPI) - Claiming violations of the Free Trade Agreement and federal regulations on open bidding the government of China filed a $3 billion dollar lawsuit in federal court in Washington today.

The suit stems from the report released yesterday by the Council of Europe which stated that the US operated secret prisons in Europe and outsourced torture to other countries.

“America complains about the balance of trade with China, yet here is an example where we were not even invited to bid. We are America’s largest export partner,” said Woo Zhall Zhang, Director of Capitalist Fiance, “We have always sought to bring equilibrium to our trading but we cannot when there are secret bidding practices which bar us from competing.
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Europe has long complained about illegal “dumping” of torture services onto nations of the EU. Eastern countries, notably those of the former Soviet Union, have been especially vocal about the allegations.

In a complaint filed with the World Court in 2004 Latvia charged that it lost numerous torture contracts from Saudi Arabia, Yeman and the Phillippines to China.

China denies the allegations.

“We have our own methods which have been perfected for over 5000 years,” said Zhou Zhoud Dy, China’s Minister of Interrogation, “There is no need for us to dump our product, it is far superior to what the Europeans can offer.”

The Council of Europe report said that the US may have transferred more than 100 terror suspects in recent years to countries where they underwent torture. It launched its probe after allegations surfaced in November that U.S. agents interrogated key al-Qaida suspects at clandestine prisons in eastern Europe and transported some suspects to other countries passing through Europe.

May B. Ouekillzem, EU Minister of the Trade, reacted with reserve to the report and lawsuit.

“Perhaps some such service was provided, we do not know. However, all members of the European Union have the innate right to compete in the global marketplace without limitation. We take the allegations made by China with great seriousness.”

Scott McEllen, White House Press Secretary, did not immediately return calls for a comment.