Documents Show China & Gadhafi Regime Discussed Arms Deal in July

Updated at 4 p.m. edt.

An embarrassed Beijing government claims it had no idea Chinese arms dealers met with members of the Gadhafi regime in July, but insists no weapons were sent to Libya.

"We have clarified with the relevant agencies that in July the Gadhafi government sent personnel to China without the knowledge of the Chinese government and they engaged in contact with a handful of people from the companies concerned," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said a press conference in Beijing.

"The Chinese companies did not sign arms-trade contacts, nor did they export military items to Libya," she said. "I believe that the agencies in charge of the arms trade will certainly treat this seriously."

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Moammar Gadhafi left an ugly paper trail that confirms some startling geopolitical realities. 

The latest screaming headline from the Gadhafi regime's secret files: "China offered Gadhafi huge stockpiles of arms: Libyan memos."

The Globe and Mail of Toronto reported that Chinese arms manufacturers were in discussions in late July to sell around $200-million worth of weapons and ammunition to Gadhafi.

The arms deal would have been in violation of United Nations sanctions.

The Canadian newspaper published some of the actual documents regarding China written in Arabic (with English explainer notes added).

There seems to be no limit to the juicy bits of information rolling out the Gadhafi regime's expansive records as human rights groups, rebel leaders, journalists and others rifle through the captured documents.

The first of the blockbuster disclosures from the Gadhafi files late last week revealed that the regime quickly developed relationships with the U.S. and British intelligence agencies after Gadhafi halted his weapons of mass destruction programs and invited inspectors into his country in 2004.

Gadhafi very much viewed Al Qaeda and Islamist militants as his enemy as well, but not lost on the Libyan dictator was the American-led Iraq invasion and toppling of secular oil-state dictator Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi despot had no connection to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks or many of the other charges the Bush administration leveled.

But, if it could happen to Saddam, Gadhafi knew it could happen to him too. Rather than take the chance, Gadhafi played ball with the the Central Intelligence Agency and MI6 through his intelligence chief Musa Kusa, the documents showed.

The man kept extensive records, incuding the creepy find of the week: Gadhafi's clip book filled with photos of former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice.

Ick.

So Gadhafi really believed he could prevail over the rebels, because he certainly had enough time the last sixth months to get rid of some of the more embarrassing and perhaps even incriminating evidence.

Despite all the oil money, the ornate tastes and the fully stocked underground bunker, what Moammar Gadhafi really needed was a paper shredder.