National Security Is No. 1

Increasingly concerned about China’s progress in acquiring advanced military technology, the Clinton administration has decided to reject Hughes Electronic Corp.’s request to sell a $450-million communications satellite to a Chinese consortium with ties to the People’s Liberation Army. While the Commerce Department favors the sale, opposition from the State and Defense departments and the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency has prevailed. The decision, besides being a blow to Hughes, introduces a new irritant in U.S.-China relations, just a week before Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is scheduled to visit Beijing.

The satellite was developed to greatly expand telephonic and other communications over China and much of East Asia. But intelligence agencies and others believe it could also be used to bolster the Chinese military’s command and control systems and to carry out electronic eavesdropping against the United States and its allies. Britain’s Financial Times reports U.S. officials had an even larger concern: launching the satellite aboard a Chinese rocket would have required sharing with Beijing potentially sensitive information of possible use in China’s missile program. The improving accuracy of China’s missiles, some capable of reaching the United States, has drawn particular attention in Washington.

A few months ago a select House committee issued a report, much of which will soon be declassified, calling for tougher security standards in the transfer of satellites and other technology to China. The Senate Intelligence Committee will soon release its own cautionary study. Strengthening economic and other ties with China has been a fairly consistent goal for more than two decades. But that policy must be subordinate to U.S. security interests. Is security being properly considered? It’s time for that question to get a full public airing.