GOP Seesaw on Satellite Exports

Re “Satellite Exports Getting Review,” June 4: Is selling satellites to the Chinese so they can be launched on their rockets a threat to our national security or not? That is a question for which the answer can change in a blink of a partisan eye.

When former President Clinton approved the export of satellites to China, Republicans declared satellites should be reclassified as military items, thus putting them under the tight rules of the State Department’s munitions list in order to protect our national security. But now George W. Bush is president, and Republican critics of Clinton, like Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), have changed their tune and want satellites to be reclassified as commercial items under the control of the Department of Commerce. Now Rohrabacher is proclaiming: “If we can trade with Communist China in a way that doesn’t put our country and our national security at risk, that’s fine.”

So, in the final analysis, the problem with selling satellites to Red China isn’t so much a matter of national security as one of free trade. I am looking forward to some future article about Sen. Jesse Helms’ (R-N.C.) thoughts on this new Republican direction.

Ula Pendleton

Los Angeles