House Votes to Restrict China Technology Deals

Seizing an issue they consider part national security threat and part political scandal, Republicans on Wednesday rammed measures through the House that would end the export of sensitive missile and satellite technology to China.

The new restrictions, approved overwhelmingly as amendments to a defense spending bill, are part of a concerted effort by GOP lawmakers to capitalize on allegations that Democratic campaign contributions were a factor in the Clinton administration’s decision to grant waivers allowing the export of civilian U.S. satellite technology to China. A final vote on the bill is expected today.

After Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square, the Bush administration barred China from launching American satellites. But about a year later, President Bush granted the first of two waivers allowing a satellite transfer to proceed.

Clinton eventually granted nine waivers. The 11 waivers granted by the two administrations facilitated the transfer of roughly twice that number of satellites.

Clinton’s decision to take the satellites off the so-called “munitions list” of sensitive military technology has prompted a barrage of questions.

Chief among them is whether the Clinton policy prompted the transfer of sensitive missile technology from U.S. companies to the Chinese military. Fueling the controversy are the hefty campaign contributions received by the Democratic Party from U.S. aerospace executives--and perhaps from a Chinese executive.

“Was it treason?” asked Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), referring to Clinton’s decision. “I hope not. I believe it was not. Was it incompetence? Was it greed? Yes.”

Such talk infuriated House Democrats, who went along with the Republican measures but took issue with GOP lawmakers’ frequent jabs at Clinton.

“Never would I dare question the patriotism and the devotion to this country of the speaker or any member of this Congress,” said Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.). “But in the last months we have seen extraordinary allegations leveled against Clinton.”

The House initiatives, if endorsed by the Senate and signed into law, would prohibit U.S. firms from contracting with China to launch American satellites into space, bar exports of missile technology and urge Clinton not to enter into any agreements involving missile technology during his upcoming visit to Beijing. The key vote, on the measure sponsored by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon) that would end missile exports to China, passed on a 364-54 vote.

A group of GOP senators joined House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) in urging that Clinton scrap the China trip.

“Until these allegations are resolved and until the nature of your administration’s relationship with officials of the Chinese government and military are more clearly understood, a proposed ‘U.S.-China summit’ would be both unwise and untimely,” nine senators wrote in a letter to Clinton.

The White House portrayed the GOP reaction as overblown. Campaign contributions did not sway Clinton’s decisions, White House officials said. The China trip, they added, will go on as planned.

“The national security of the United States has in no way been compromised or endangered,” White House Counsel Charles F.C. Ruff said in a letter to Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.).

Setting GOP lawmakers in motion were last week’s disclosures that Torrance entrepreneur Johnny Chien Chuen Chung had told federal prosecutors that China’s People’s Liberation Army had provided some of the $100,000 that Chung donated to the Democrats just before the 1996 election.

Chung has reportedly said the funds came through Liu Chao-ying, an executive of China Aerospace Corp. and daughter of a top Chinese military commander. Many lawmakers suspect that Liu was seeking to influence a White House decision, which was pending at the time, to allow U.S.-made civilian satellites to be carried on Chinese rockets.

Chung contributed $366,000 to the Democrats, all of which was later returned.

Earlier this week, Gingrich called for the creation of a special committee headed by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) to look into the allegations. That would take the politically dicey issue out of the hands of Burton, who has run a much-criticized investigation as chairman of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

During President Clinton’s first year in office, satellite company executives began urging his administration to loosen the export restrictions and to shift oversight responsibility from the State Department to the Commerce Department. Then in 1995, when an interagency review of satellite export policy prompted recommendations from the Pentagon and intelligence agencies for continued State Department control, the Commerce Department appealed to the White House.

In early 1996, Clinton approved launches of four U.S. satellites on Chinese rockets. By the end of that election year he had shifted satellite policy to Commerce.

Two U.S. companies that benefited from the White House decision are also the subject of scrutiny. A federal grand jury and congressional investigators are looking into whether Loral Space and Communications Ltd. and Hughes Electronics Corp. helped the Chinese improve their rocket technology after a rocket carrying a costly Loral satellite blew up.

Bernard L. Schwartz, the chief executive officer of Loral, gave $632,000 to the Democrats, making him the party’s single largest donor in the 1996 election cycle. Officials at the White House and Loral have denied any connection between the president’s decision and the campaign cash.

American corporations eager to launch satellites for commercial purposes have found Chinese rockets cheaper and more available than domestic launches. But China holds a relatively modest share of the market, according to analysts.

“Chinese rockets are participants but not preeminent ones,” said one defense analyst. “I’d put them somewhere around 10% of the market.

But every launch is critical to the aerospace companies loading up satellites, which can cost hundreds of millions of dollars each.

“Business interests must not be placed above national security interests,” Hunter declared. “Every American would agree with that.”