2/22/99 article. U.S. Satellite Makers Fear Clinton Ban on Pending Hughes Sale to China
chinaonline.com
(2/22/1999) The Clinton administration is close to rejecting a
Hughes Electronics satellite sale to China in order to stop the
spread of key military technology, according to London's
Financial Times.
The final decision will form a crucial plank in the
administration's evolving policy of engagement with China. If a
decision was made against the sale it would certainly
jeopardize many U.S. satellite deals already in China's launch
agenda, as well as jeopardize the interests of U.S. satellite
manufactures, who already have a 45% share of the global
market.
The world's satellites are manufactured by a select group of
U.S. and European companies. However, these
manufacturers, under contract by telecommunications
companies, must also find a way to launch the satellite after it
is produced.
Currently there are five principal satellite launching rockets in
operation, Delta II, Atlas, Proton (all launched from Florida),
Ariane (launched from French Guyana), Zenit (launched from
Kazakhstan), and China's Long March. China's Long March
represents one of the least expensive alternatives, and with
the shortest waiting period to launch, according to the
information provided by the Aerospace Industries Association.
China is forecast to service 11% of the space launch market
from 1997-2006 with its Long March rocket, and currently
there is a two-year waiting period for any new satellite launch
in China, according to information provided by the Aerospace
Industries Association.
China currently has a backlog of U.S. satellites scheduled for
launch on its Long March rocket, and U.S. companies have
booked options for 10 additional launches, according to the
association.
Jeanette Clonan, vice president of corporate relations for Loral
Space & Communications, a major US satellite
communications company, declined to comment on the
reported possible rejection of the Hughes deal, but added that
the tough stance of the administration, "put U.S. companies
at a disadvantage."
A Loral subsidiary, Globalstar, has concluded substantial
business deals in China, including the launch last year of a
satellite-based mobile communications network in partnership
with China's state run telecom giant, China Telecom.
On February 9, Globalstar launched four satellites to bring its
total number of global satellites to 12. Eventually, the
company hopes to have a network of 48 satellites governing
its low orbit communications network. If China is prohibited
from launching U.S. satellites, the company will have to turn
to other rockets, although almost certainly for a higher price
than China's Long March. [This doesn't make sense.]
Joe Tedinot, head of corporate relations for ICO Global
Communications, which also has network communications
interests in China, said that ICO has contracts with Hughes to
launch three satellites in the next eighteen months using
US-based rockets (two to be launched from Florida, and the
third launched from a new Boeing platform in the Pacific
Ocean).
The effort to prevent China from acquiring more advanced
launch technology, which critics fear would strengthen the
country's military missile guidance systems, would open the
door for other global competitors to step into the Chinese
market, since the satellite customer selects the launch
vehicle. The Chinese telecommunication industry would turn
to other satellite providers if the US companies were not
allowed to use Chinese rockets to put their satellites in orbit.
© ChinaOnline 1998.
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