Port says terminal project is not really threat to national security.

Amid growing controversy over plans to convert a former Navy base into a new terminal for a Chinese government-owned shipping company, Port of Long Beach officials last week dismissed concerns that the $200 million project constitutes a potential threat to national security.

The port hopes to demolish the Long Beach Naval Station and build in its place a major new container terminal for the China Ocean Shipping Co., or Cosco - the national shipping line of China and the port's fastest-growing tenant.

The proposed terminal project, which has long drawn the ire of local preservationist and environmental groups, also has sparked fears that the Chinese government would use the facility to smuggle heroin or nuclear warheads into the country.

Port of Long Beach spokeswoman Yvonne Avila denied that Cosco poses any threat to national security.

"This is a company that has operated successfully at the Port of Long Beach since 1981," Avila said. "Cosco is one of many shipping lines that carries Chinese cargo. With or without Cosco, Chinese cargo is going to move into the United States. It occurs daily, through all of our nation's seaports and airports."

U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer last Tuesday sent a letter to the Pentagon asking if the project could have "national security implications."

"(W)e would like to know if you feel there are any security reasons that this planned reuse should not occur," Feinstein and Boxer wrote to U.S. Defense Secretary William S. Cohen.

Their letter was in response to recently published comments by former CIA Director Robert Gates that: "...any time you turn over an American port facility to a foreign-owned company, especially one with significant government connection, then at least it ought to be vetted through national security agencies."

The concerns expressed by federal officials come amid mounting investigations into alleged attempts by Chinese companies and government officials to influence U.S. lawmakers by illegally funneling contributions into political coffers.

Avila said concerns over Cosco being a possible national security threat reflect a basic misunderstanding of how the shipping industry operates.

Cosco, she pointed out, is an ocean carrier, which transports goods sent in containers by importers and exporters. Holding the carrier responsible for its cargo, she said, would be like holding an airline responsible if one of its passengers attempted to smuggle contraband in his suitcase.

The U.S. Customs Service, she said, is responsible for inspecting all goods moving into the country.

"This is turning into a debate of U.S. trade policy," Avila said. "And seaports do not establish U.S. trade policy. The United States government does."

Nonetheless, the senators' concerns which came on the eve of a heated, court-ordered public hearing on the matter last week - cast a new and potentially damaging shadow over the port's efforts to build the Cosco facility, elevating what had been a local conflict to a national, and even international, issue.

Such concerns follow a lengthy battle with Long Beach preservationists, who have mounted a legal challenge to save what they say are historic structures at the 57-year-old shuttered Naval Station facility.

In response to that challenge, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Robert O'Brien last month ruled that the port's approval of the Cosco terminal had been unduly rushed. So O'Brien ordered port officials to "reconsider" those plans, and consider alternative uses for the 145-acre property.

The ruling was a setback for the port, because it already has signed a lease with Cosco and will have to pay millions of dollars in penalties if the proposed terminal isn't completed by mid-1998.

A public hearing on the matter held last Wednesday drew more than 700 people, most of whom decried the port's plans to demolish the Naval Station.

Designed by the prominent African American architect Paul Revere Williams, the complex - which includes office buildings, barracks and recreational facilities - is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, based on its style of architecture and its role in World War II.

"It's a beautiful place," said Peter Devereaux, a spokesman for Long Beach Heritage, a local preservation group.

Devereaux said he would like to see the complex converted into a mixed-use development, which would preserve the Naval Station's extensive recreational facilities for public use, alongside a new, "clean" industrial tenant, such as a biomedical or entertainment operation.

City and port officials, however, scoff at that suggestion, pointing out that the site is located three and a half miles away from the closest residential neighborhood, and is encircled by the nation's two busiest ports, a coal terminal, a recycling plant, rail yards and an oil field. Instead, the port sees the Naval Station as a prime location to accommodate its fastest-growing tenant, Cosco.

Last year, the shipping line moved about 360,000 container units through Long Beach, and is rapidly outgrowing its current facility. Cosco hopes to add six massive new container ships - each with a capacity of more than 5,000 containers - to its fleet by late 1997, and needs the proposed Long Beach shipping terminal to accommodate that growth.

The proposed terminal project, once completed, is expected to generate at least $14.5 million a year in rent for the Port of Long Beach.