US okayed deals to create jobs

Democratic Party by the chairman of Loral, a US company that benefited from the China contract, although the first such deals occurred during the George Bush presidency.

Some GOP leaders have also said allowing China to launch satellites involved technology transfer that enabled Beijing to improve missiletechnology, a development that is considered detrimental to US defences.

Just how much sordid money-grubbing is involved in the deal is hard to fathom from the new documents, but it is evident the Clinton administration definitely winked repeatedly at China’s proliferation record using a variety of excuses.

Excuse No. 1: Allowing China to launch US satellites will create jobs in America

Excuse No. 2: Such carrots will please China and make it more sensitive to US proliferation concerns

Excuse No. 3: The US still does not have incontrovertible evidence of Chinas M-11 supply to Pakistan

Excuse No. 4: It is a cheaper alternative to launching satellites in the US or Europe

In one revealing July 1993 memo, Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin and then National Security Advisor Anthony Lake said we must balance US competitiveness concerns against a strong but not yet conclusive case for sanctioning China based on existing evidence of missile sales to Pakistan.

According to thedocuments, National Security Council staff members noted that the State Department was concerned about granting waivers because of evidence China had sold M-11 components to Pakistan. Spies on the ground had reported such a transaction. But the famed US satellites did not find the irrefutable proof that the administration demanded to block the China deals.

Indian officials have always maintained that the M-11s were supplied and stored in crates at an airbase in Sargodha. They say the US administration often used the specious excuse that the missiles had not been unpacked from the crates to circumvent domestic sanction law. A pity their satellites could not see through the crates, an Indian official had told this correspondent some months back.

As it turned out, the administration did impose sanctions briefly in 1993 because of the M-11 sales but the ban was lifted in 1994.Republicans say this was because of the political contributions US companies who benefit from the lucrative deals make to theDemocratic Party, but records show such approval of the China contracts began under the Bush administration. Clinton just carried on with the policy. Clinton administration officials are arguing that there is no difference between the Bush and Clinton policies and both have tried to use satellite commerce with China to provide Beijing with incentives to honour their proliferation commitments under treaties like the Missile Technology Control Regimes.

China is not a signatory to MTCR but has agreed to abide by its major provisions. Indian officials say by the same token, the administration ought to have rewarded New Delhi for its non-proliferation record, for its undeclared 24-year moratorium on nuclear testing. There has always been a double standard when it comes to China. Washington did not once recognise or reward our restraint over 24 years (in not following up the first nuclear test), an Indian diplomat here said.

Republicans have also scheduled a raft of China hearings — on satellite deals, humanrights, abortions and organ sales — in a bid to embarrass Clinton on the eve of his scheduled June 25 visit to China. Clinton himself is expected to respond to some of the criticism about his China policy in speech on Thursday. But US big business is already wielding the stick against antsy Republicans, saying they will be forced to choke campaign contributions to the GOP if it messed up lucrative business deals with Beijing. Mid-terms elections to the Congress are due later this year when all 425 seats to the House of Representatives will be up for grabs.