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Technology Stocks : Loral Space & Communications -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: brian h who wrote (3258)	5/21/1998 10:42:00 AM
From: brian h	Respond to of 10852

All, A fair news report from Total Telecom. China Export Storm Swirls Round Loral By Sheridan Nye Space Systems Loral is at the center of the deepening row about US export of sensitive satellite information to China with House Speaker Newt Gingrich demanding special powers to investigate President Clinton's role. Loral admitted it had passed a report to China on results of a failed Long March launch before consulting the State Department on whether the information should be restricted. But the company denied its advice could be used to increase accuracy of China's ballistic missiles and claimed its actions had not undermined US national security. In a statement, Loral said it "believes that its employees acted in good faith to comply with the strict and complex requirements of the export control laws." Loral and Hughes Electronics were both called in to help the Chinese find the cause of a Long March launch which blew up in February 1996 destroying Loral's Intelsat 708 satellite and killing six people. Loral said it was part of a joint investigation of a Chinese assessment at the behest of the insurers who threatened to withdraw coverage for future Long March launches unless an outside report was produced. Loral is cooperating with the Justice Department in its investigation of whether it and other satellite manufacturers had violated US export laws. But the row has intensified with allegations that a decision in 1996 by President Clinton to relax controls on the export of satellites and knowhow to China was linked to contributions to Democratic Party funds. Loral's chief executive officer, Bernard Schwartz, was the party's largest single donor for the 1996 election. The Justice Department had already embarked on a criminal investigation which the US press claimed was seriously undermined when President Clinton authorized the export of satellite technology. Outrage continued to grow in the US with accusations that the Chinese had sought direct influence on US policy and that the two aerospace companies had deliberately compromised US security. Hughes responded today that it is not a major contributor to either of the US political parties. In a statement, the company said: "All sensitive technology is built into - or embedded in - the satellite itself. From the time it is shipped from the factory in Southern California until it is launched into space, the satellite is under American control and handled only by American hands, all under the supervision of monitors from the Department of Defense." Meanwhile, Gingrich urged Democrats to support a vote in the House to set up a cross-party panel to investigate the President's actions and asked Clinton to postpone his trip to China next month. Brian H.