O 130913Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6843
INFO CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 019362 
 
 
DEPT FOR T, ISN, EAP/CM 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/08/2036 
TAGS: PARM ETTC PREL MTCR CH
 
SUBJECT: CUSTOMS' EXPORT CONTROL ENFORCEMENT ROLE IN 
SHANGHAI 
 
Classified By: Political External Unit Chief Edgard D. Kagan.  Reasons 
1.4 (b/d). 
 
¶1. (C) Summary:  The PRC's General Administration of Customs 
(GAC) utilizes a risk management system to identify "certain 
countries and regions" and "certain goods" to be subject to 
physical inspection before export, Customs officials at 
Shanghai's Waigaoqiao Port told Poloff during a September 7 
meeting.  The GAC officers said that they receive information 
on shipments of concern via the U.S. Container Security 
Initiative and from GAC Headquarters in Beijing, noting that 
they would not necessarily know that the source of any 
Beijing-supplied information was the United States.  "Recent 
cases" at the port include discoveries of smuggled aluminum 
alloy rings, graphite, zirconium powder and hydrogen fluoride 
potassium, they said.  The Customs officials could not 
describe what percentage of the goods exported from the port 
are "sensitive goods," saying only that the number is "quite 
high."  The port employs three container scanners.  Poloff 
also attended the opening ceremony of an export control and 
nonproliferation training program at the Shanghai Customs 
College, although the MFA and Ministry of Commerce sessions 
were closed to foreigners.  End Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Poloff traveled to Shanghai September 7 to observe 
an export control and nonproliferation training program for 
Chinese Customs officers and to gain a better understanding 
of the role GAC plays in export control enforcement. 
 
Waigaoqiao Port Operations 
---------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) At Shanghai's Waigaoqiao Port, an all female team of 
GAC officials, including the port's Deputy Director and 
inspection, export control and anti-smuggling chiefs, 
provided Poloff with an overview of the port's operations and 
its export control responsibilities.  The Customs officers 
said that 224 employees are responsible for inspecting and 
clearing cargo at the port's 16 berths that handle 70 percent 
of Shanghai's cargo container traffic, which amounts to 12.7 
million TEU's annually.  Customs officials at the port 
receive 2,500 import and export customs declarations per day, 
of which 1,000 are for shipments transiting Shanghai mostly 
from one Chinese city to another, the GAC officials claimed. 
 
¶4. (C) According to the Customs officers, the Ministry of 
Commerce (MOFCOM) does not pre-notify Customs officers at 
Waigaoqiao Port that an export license has been issued to an 
exporter planning to ship cargo via the port, although GAC 
has computerized access to MOFCOM-issued licenses.  The 
officials told us that GAC "sometimes" phones MOFCOM to 
verify the authenticity of licenses.  Exports at the port are 
cleared electronically.  A GAC official told Poloff 
separately that, aside from China's small, rural Customs 
stations, such as those along the Laos and Burma borders, all 
of China's Customs stations are fully automated and linked by 
computer. 
 
Analyzing Risk 
-------------- 
 
¶5. (C) Customs utilizes a "Risk Management Platform" to 
determine what cargo should be subject to physical 
inspection, the Shanghai Customs officials stated.  "Certain 
countries and regions" and "certain goods" alert officers of 
the need for inspection.  They said GAC officers also compare 
paper documentation filed by the exporter with documentation 
submitted electronically and if inconsistencies are detected, 
the cargo is inspected.  The officers stated that they 
receive information on shipments of concern directly from the 
United States via the U.S. Container Security Initiative and 
from GAC Headquarters in Beijing, noting they would not 
necessarily know that the source of any Beijing-supplied 
information was the United States.  According to the 
officials, "recent cases" at the port include discoveries of 
smuggled aluminum alloy rings, graphite, zirconium powder and 
hydrogen fluoride potassium.  When asked several times what 
percentage of the cargo exported from the port is classified 
as sensitive goods, the Customs officials responded only by 
saying that the number is "quite high."  (Note: A PRC 
official attending a training program at the University of 
Georgia reportedly claimed that GAC maintains records of 
exports based on the product's 10-digit Harmonized Tariff 
classification.  End Note.)  The officers claimed that 
sensitive goods are exported by both sea and air. 
 
¶6. (C) The GAC officers explained that if smuggling is 
suspected at the port, the matter is referred to GAC's 
Anti-Smuggling Unit for further investigation.  The port 
employs three H986 scanners that have been in operation since 
¶2000.  The officers said that 160 containers are scanned 
daily.  They had no data on the number of violations detected 
 
 
other than to state that mis-declarations are discovered 
every day, but most are "not serious." 
 
¶7. (SBU) Waigaoqiao occupies four square kilometers and is 
separated from the main road by an approximately 100-meter 
field of green grass.  A white fence without barbed wire runs 
along the road and along the port boundary, making the field 
a "no-man's land."  Poloff did not see any cameras along the 
fence line, but was only able to observe about a half-mile of 
the port's perimeter.  Access to the port is via several 
manned toll-like booths. 
 
Training China's Future Customs Officers 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) At the export control and nonproliferation training 
program opening ceremony, Customs Commissioner Yu Shen, 
addressing a packed auditorium of GAC officials, noted the 
importance of export controls and China's commitment to 
prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 
MFA Arms Control and Disarmament Missile Division Director Ma 
Shengkun kicked off the training program's first session with 
an overview of China's nonproliferation policies.  However, 
Ma's session and MOFCOM's afternoon session on export control 
licensing procedures were closed to foreign observers. 
Poloff noticed that approximately 30 uniformed GAC cadets, 
who sat together in the upper corner of the auditorium and 
never moved from their seats following the opening ceremony, 
were joined by 20 to 30 casually dressed officials for Ma's 
presentation. 
 
¶9. (SBU) While Ma spoke, Poloff and two export control 
experts from the University of Georgia participating in the 
second day of the training program toured the Shanghai 
Customs College, a diploma-issuing institution with 1,500 
students.  Customs Commissioner Yu, who is also the school's 
dean, explained that 30 percent of GAC's 50,000 active 
officers are graduates of the college, which also provides 
continuing education to GAC officials.  The curriculum 
includes, inter alia, Harmonized Tariff classification, 
customs audits and customs brokerage and logistics.  Yu said 
that he exposes his cadets to China's export control laws and 
regulations and discussed future cooperative ventures with 
the University of Georgia experts. 
 
¶10. (U) According to Yu, students are attracted to the 
university because they believe that a government job offers 
long-term economic security.  However, before starting a 
career with GAC, graduates must pass China's civil service 
exam.  If they fail, Yu said, graduates can "always find jobs 
in business."  The college is undergoing expansion and 
renovation, including construction of new dorms and 
classrooms, as well as a World Customs Organization training 
center for the Asia-Pacific region.  The campus will include 
canals and lakes and, Yu hopes, someday a golf course.  New 
administration buildings, a three-story library with a 
wood-paneled lounge and an athletic center complete with an 
Olympic-size swimming pool and retractable roof have already 
been built.  When asked how a government agency can afford 
these amenities, a Chinese nonproliferation expert stated 
that, because it is a revenue raising agency, the PRC "just 
throws money at Customs." 
RANDT 
 
 
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