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Makes Abortion Acceptable By Bill Berkowitz
"I don't agree with it [China's strict one-child policy], " he said, "but at the same time they've got 1.2 billion people and they don't know what to do. If every family over there was allowed to have three or four children, the population would be completely unsustainable." "They could fall off if the population gets too restive," Robertson added. "So, I think that right now, they're doing what they have to do. I don't agree with forced abortion, but I don't think the United States needs to interfere with what they're doing internally in this regard." During the past several years, Robertson's ideas on China have frequently strayed from his Religious Right brethren. And this time was no exception. In the past Gary Bauer, former head of the Family Research Council, long-time Chinaphobe Phyllis Schlafly, and Beverly LaHaye, leader of Concerned Women for America, have consistently excoriated China, while Robertson often refused to jump on board. This time around, Marshall Whitman, a former employee at Robertson's Christian Coalition and now with the conservative Hudson Institute, was one of the first to play the Christian Coalition is dead card, saying he thought Robertson's remarks signaled the beginning of the end for the organization. Over the past few years, the Christian Coalition has been buried prematurely more times than Spain's Generalisimo Franco--who, after years of erroneous predictions by his opposition, eventually did die.
When I read about Robertson's conversation with Blitzer, I couldn't help wondering why a knowledgeable journalist like Blitzer didn't pursue the matter after Robertson admitted to having business interests in China. While pondering this question, I flashed back to just before the 1996 presidential election; Republican Party candidate Bob Dole had just launched one of his latest "where's the outrage" campaign missiles--this one, accused the Clinton administration of accepting illegal campaign contributions from the Indonesian-based Riady family. I didn't know much about the Riady family and I fully expected Robertson, a Dole supporter, would pick up on the charges and run with it. Instead, on The 700 Club, his nightly television program, Robertson haltingly explained that: "The Riady's are friends of mine - James Riady and his father Mochtar, both born-again Christians. James wanted to be a missionary and a pastor, I think. And I had breakfast with them when I was over there. They had a big picture of Clinton…I don't understand exactly what the flap is all about. Except, apparently a foreign corporation cannot make contributions in the United States, but if it has a subsidiary which earns money in the United States then…it's legal according to the law… But I do believe that was probably, they were, they were law-abiding people, but they just happen to like Bill Clinton because they have Arkansas ties…And, Asians have a right to participate in America." That was one long-assed, surprising and tortured way of saying that about a year earlier, the then Robertson-controlled International Family Entertainment, Inc. had invested $10 million and joined with Riady's Lippo Group and Malayan United Industries Bhd to purchase 80 percent of Chinese Entertainment Broadcast Ltd. Chinese Entertainment Broadcast operates 24-hour satellite services targeted at the 1.25 billion Mandarin-speaking audience in China and throughout the Pacific Rim. Robertson's business and organizing acumen is legendary. A quasi-official biography, posted on the web site of the Washington and Lee University Contact Committee prior to Robertson's February 2001 appearance on campus, revealed: "he is the founder and chairman of The Christian Broadcasting Network, Inc. and the founder of Operation Blessing International Relief and Development Corporation; American Center For Law and Justice; The Christian Coalition; International Family Entertainment; The Flying Hospital, Inc.; PorchLight Entertainment; CENCO Refining; Zhaodaola China Internet; and he is both founder and chancellor of Regent University." In 1997, Robertson sold International Family Entertainment for $1.82 billion --think about that figure the next time you're considering a donation to the Christian Coalition--to a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation (who is also very active in China). Robertson's Family Channel was re-christened the Fox Family Channel and as part of the deal, Robertson's 700 Club was allowed to continue on the air--which it does till this day. In June 2000, Robertson's Zhaodaola China Internet Ltd signed an agreement with Yomi Media, a Finnish company, to co-market, develop, and distribute YM products and services for the Internet and for wireless mobile services in Greater China. Greater China is considered to include Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao. In a Press Release, Yomi CEO Olli Vaatainen said, "Partnering with Zhaodaola is a great opportunity and an important step for us in working with wireless carriers, service providers and portal owners in Greater China. Zhaodaola's strong position as the leading lifestyle portal in China helps us to establish and build presence in the emerging Asian wireless markets." The Press Release called Zhaodaola (which means "I Found It" in Chinese), "one of the fastest growing Internet portals in China… dedicated to building an on-line Chinese community that will enable Chinese Internet users to explore and realize their individual potentials and to improve the quality of their lives." The press release added that the company is "committed to investing in the latest and best technology to better serve its clients and users…[and become] the gateway to the World Wide Web for Chinese Internet users." This glowing assessment was contradicted in a September 2000 Asia Internet News article noting that the company had undergone a series of personnel moves, including the dumping of its chief executive officer. In addition, Robertson's company "has never found a mass audience, failing to place in the top 20 in a recent survey by Interactive Audience Measurement Asia, and placing 58th in China Internet Network Information Center's (CNNIC) rankings in July. The company aborted plans for an initial public offering in the United States or Hong Kong earlier in the year." Parenthetically, during the recent U.S. spy plane/China incident, some of the most heated rhetoric came from China's small, but growing band of Internet users.
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Pat Robertson: Abortion is OK for the Chinese, but not for Americans 
The Rev. Barry Lynn: Keeping on eye on Pat Robertson 
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