China Denies Pilfering Technology

The Chinese government on Thursday sharply denied allegations that it has mounted a “serious and sustained” effort over the last 20 years to obtain militarily useful U.S. technology.

“The allegation is groundless and irresponsible,” said Zhu Bangzao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman. “We express our strong resentment over this.”

Zhu’s statement came a day after a U.S. congressional panel released a long-awaited report accusing China of a persistent campaign to acquire technology that could be used to bolster its military strength. Beijing’s methods, the bipartisan panel alleged, included overt means--such as knowledge-sharing between Chinese and U.S. aerospace firms--and covert means, such as espionage.

The issue is likely to further chill the two countries’ increasingly cool relations, which have deteriorated since Sino-U.S. ties hit a high with President Clinton’s visit here in June.

Beijing has consistently maintained that it has no ill designs on U.S. technology, although it has enviously eyed American military capabilities for years.

China’s armed forces, under the umbrella of the mammoth People’s Liberation Army, are among the most backward and ill-equipped among major nations. The government has pledged to overhaul the PLA into a modern fighting force.

Although much of the U.S. report remained classified, members of the congressional investigating committee said that national security had been compromised through transfers of technology that were not ostensibly related to military use, but that could have military applications.

In particular, the report singled out information from two U.S. companies, Hughes Space & Communications and Loral Space & Communications, that could help China enhance its weapons capabilities.

The original purpose of the information from the two companies was to explain why Chinese rockets had failed in their efforts to launch U.S.-made satellites in 1995--satellites to be used for civilian purposes--but the data could also be applied toward China’s long-range ballistic missile systems.

Ever since the U.S. government cut back on its satellite-launching capacity after the 1986 Challenger shuttle disaster, China has become an attractive venue for such launches, because of its comparatively low-cost rockets. Just two weeks ago, the New China News Agency announced that two U.S.-made communications satellites had been launched by Chinese rockets out of northern China’s Shanxi province.

In Wednesday’s report, the congressional panel made 38 recommendations to prevent sharing of sensitive technology--including tighter export controls, which could hurt Sino-U.S. trade.

Zhu said that the normal exchange of trade and technology “is in the interests of both sides,” and urged the United States to continue such cooperative efforts.

Despite his appeals, however, relations between the world’s most populous nation and the globe’s most powerful country have come under increasing strain lately, partly because of issues Beijing considers to be important matters of internal and external security.

Washington has protested the decision by Chinese courts to imprison three dissidents after the men tried to set up an opposition party. Human rights groups and other critics cited the actions as evidence that the Clinton administration’s approach of “engagement” with China is failing to produce tangible improvements.

Also, Tokyo’s recent announcement that it would participate with the U.S. in developing a “theater missile defense” system--basically a shield from potential offensive threats--was met with skepticism and hostility in Beijing. The Chinese government, already rankled by U.S. military sales to Taiwan, has harbored deep suspicion of Japan ever since World War II, and opposes U.S. “hegemonism” in the Asia-Pacific region.