- WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Chinese tried to influence the outcome of 1996
U.S. elections, but whether they actually did is not clear, a key senator
said Sunday. Sen. Richard Shelby, chairman of the Senate Intelligence
Committee investigating allegations of the illegal transfer of missile
technology to the Chinese, said a CIA report to his committee established
that influence was sought. Asked directly on the television program Fox
News Sunday whether the Chinese did sway the U.S. vote in 1996, Shelby
replied: ``I don't know if they influenced it, but I think they tried to
influence it. I think that's two different things.'' Shelby's committee
heard from CIA director George Tenet last week in the first of numerous
congressional probes of allegations that campaign donations from the chairman
of Loral Space & Communications Ltd.and Johnny Chung played a role
in the Clinton administration's decision-making on allowing U.S. satellites
to be launched from China.
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- The Justice Department is currently investigating
whether Loral illegally gave the Chinese missile technology when they investigated
the failure of a 1996 Chinese satellite launch. Loral president Bernard
Schwartz gave more than $1 million to Democratic political campaigns in
the last election. Chung, a Taiwan-born Los Angeles businessman, pleaded
guilty in March to illegally donating money to the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election
effort.
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- Shelby, an Alabama Republican, said he
planned to call Schwartz to testify before his committee, but did not necessarily
plan to call Chung. In light of the satellite controversy and other points
of friction in Sino-U.S. relations, Shelby said President Clinton should
not attend a welcoming ceremony in Tiananmen Square when he visits China
this month. ``I don't think he should go, but ultimately, that's up to
the president,'' Shelby said. ``Will he be used by the Chinese, or will
he use Tiananmen Square appearance to do something very positive for human
rights? I think that could be the difference.``
-
- Two other senators, including a Democrat
who co-chairs the intelligence committee, suggested that the process used
to authorize Chinese launches of U.S. satellites may be ``loose.'' ``It
looks to me at this stage of the game that the process dating back to 1988
is relatively loose, given the seriousness of this particular (technology)
transfer,'' Sen. Bob Kerrey, a Nebraska Democrat who co-chairs the committee,
said on CBS's ''Face the Nation''.
-
- Kerrey said the Chinese Long March missile,
which failed in 1996 during the attempted launch of a Loral satellite,
can also be used to launch long-range nuclear missiles ``which can reach
every city in the United States. So we're dealing with a very serious threat.''
Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee,
said on ``Face the Nation'' that it was unclear that national security
had been breached in the Loral case.
-
- Asked whether an independent counsel
should be appointed to look into the question of technology transfer and
possible national security problems, Hatch said congressional intelligence
committees could look into the matter.
-
- ``What this really does point up is that
intelligence is set in large measure by policy and it's apparent that our
counter-intelligence efforts have been somewhat loose,'' Hatch said. ``We
haven't done what we should do and I think under this administration they
need to be very much beefed up.'' ``And some people feel that part of the
reason they have been so loose is because of the voracious desire of this
administration to collect political donations, including from wherever
and in this case, maybe without knowing, from Chinese sources who naturally
would like to penetrate our country's security interests,'' Hatch said.
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