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To: donss who wrote (3363)	5/26/1998 1:55:00 AM
From: donss	Respond to of 10852

China Renews Denials It Made Political Donations [From WSJ-IE 5/25] BEIJING (AP)--China has accused members of the U.S. Congress of seeking to undermine Chinese-U.S. relations weeks before President Clinton is to hold a summit meeting in Beijing. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao, in a statement carried today in the Communist Party's leading newspaper, the People's Daily, renewed denials that China donated money to U.S. political campaigns and used its commercial satellite- launching program to gain sensitive technology. Zhu also criticized recent amendments passed by the House of Representatives that would prohibit U.S. satellite makers from using China's launch program and outlaw or limit transfers of nuclear and other sensitive technologies. "Disregarding the norms of international relations, some members of Congress have advanced several anti-China resolutions and crudely interfered in China's internal affairs," Zhu said. "The Chinese side expresses strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition." Zhu said anti-China diehards in the U.S. are unwilling to see relations improve. "They have ulterior motives and have tried by every means to obstruct and undermine better relations, even adopting fabrications and slanderous and despicable methods," Zhu said. Zhu called on the Clinton administration to make sure the amendments do not become law. If the Senate also approves the amendments, the president could veto them. The Chinese government wants nothing to mar Clinton's late June visit, the first by an American president since Chinese troops crushed the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in 1989. Chinese leaders hope the visit will raise their international stature and expunge any taint left from the crackdown. In recent weeks, allegations that China tried to buy influence in Washington gained momentum after a Democratic Party fund-raiser told investigators he received $300,000 from a Chinese aerospace executive. Congressional critics have also focused on Clinton's decision to allow U.S. satellite maker Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (LOR) to use China's launch program despite misgivings in the Pentagon that some technology might help China improve its ballistic missiles. Both the aerospace executive and the state-run companies involved have denied the allegations.

To: donss who wrote (3363)	5/26/1998 1:58:00 AM
From: donss	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10852

Republicans Press White House On China Satellite Decision [From WSJ-IE 5/25] WASHINGTON (AP)--Saying this could be the most significant scandal of the Clinton administration, Republicans are pushing for answers as to why a major Democratic donor, whose company was under a Justice Department investigation, got a waiver for a satellite deal with the Chinese. The donor, Loral Space & Communications Ltd. (LOR) chief executive Bernard Schwartz, on Sunday strongly denied trying to buy influence or pass sensitive technology to the Chinese. White House National Security Adviser Sandy Berger agreed that politics played no part in the administration decisions. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, interviewed by CNN's "Late Edition," acknowledged there was "clearly no hard evidence at this stage" to prove Clinton was swayed by campaign donations or economic interests to make risky national policy decisions. But he said Clinton had set "a very, very bad precedent" by agreeing to the satellite licenses earlier this year when the Justice Department was investigating possible illegal transfers of missile technology in 1996. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said on "Fox News Sunday" that "these transfers are made at a time exactly when these enormous contributions were being made and at a time when these decisions were being considered. That doesn't necessarily raise an inference of bribery, but it raises a very substantial question." Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif., named by Gingrich to head an eight-member House investigation, promised to cooperate with Democrats on what he said would be a discrete bipartisan investigation. "It won't be political theater in the form of splashy congressional hearings," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press," an apparent reference to the divisive campaign finance hearings led by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. Cox said that with the recent revelations that a Chinese military officer may have funneled money to the Democratic Party through fund-raiser Johnny Chung, "I'm concerned that we may have stumbled onto a rather significant intelligence problem" that his panel may not have time to fully investigate. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on ABC that "these are the most serious allegations that I've heard on any administration in the last eight, 10, 12 years, maybe longer." But both the White House and Schwartz insisted there was no improper activity. Schwartz, on ABC's "This Week with Sam Donaldson and Cokie Roberts," said Loral experts did nothing more than confirm Chinese findings about the cause of a 1996 explosion of a Chinese rocket carrying a Loral satellite. The Justice investigation centers on whether Loral provided the Chinese with secrets that could be used to improve the accuracy of their ballistic missiles.