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It Got Sensitive Technology By Steven Mufson Washington Post Foreign Service Saturday, May 23, 1998; Page A16 BEIJING, May 22—Officials from a Chinese satellite launching company denied tonight that they had received any sensitive technology with military applications from U.S. firms Loral Space & Communications Ltd. or Hughes Electronics Corp. Liu Zhixiong, vice president of the China Great Wall Industry Corp., labeled as "ridiculous and irresponsible" reports that said that the two American companies had provided information that could be used to improve Chinese nuclear missiles capable of hitting the United States. In a news briefing, Liu Zhixiong also said that Liu Chaoying, who is alleged to have given $300,000 to Democratic fund-raiser Johnny Chung for U.S. political purposes, worked directly for China Great Wall as director of public relations until 1994. The United States sanctioned China Great Wall in 1991 and 1993 for exporting missile-related technology to Pakistan. Liu Chaoying, an army lieutenant colonel and daughter of recently retired general Liu Huaqing, now works in Hong Kong for China Aerospace International Holdings Ltd., which is owned by the same state-owned parent company as China Great Wall. Before his retirement last fall, her father had been China's most senior military man and a member of the Communist Party's powerful seven-man standing committee. The relationship between China Great Wall and the American companies Loral and Hughes has come under scrutiny by the Justice Department as well as Congress because of accusations that Loral chairman Bernard L. Schwartz had used generous contributions to the Democratic Party to improperly influence President Clinton's decision to give Loral permission to launch satellites from China. The U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to effectively ban U.S. companies from future Chinese satellite launches. "Great Wall's business is launching commercial satellites," said Liu, who is also general manager of the company's space department. "We don't do things with weapons." Much of the attention on Loral and Hughes has focused on events that followed the crash of one of China Great Wall's "Long March" launch rockets on Feb. 15, 1996. The rocket was insured by a group that included the People's Insurance Company of China, a Chinese state-owned company. Liu said that after the rocket crashed, the Chinese aerospace industry formed its own investigative panel that Liu said ultimately "pinpointed" the cause of the launch failure without foreign help. He said that a separate group of foreign experts was formed to satisfy the concerns of the insurance companies, which initially balked at the idea of paying the steep cost of the destroyed satellite. Liu said that the foreign group -- six people from the United States, Britain and Germany -- was formed to determine the cause of the rocket failure. But Liu maintained that China Great Wall never saw their report because of objections by the U.S. government. He said that decision "nauseated" the insurance companies.
China Great Wall was established in 1980 when China turned its aerospace ministry into a state-owned corporation called China Aerospace Corp. China Great Wall also acts as the main foreign trade and marketing channel for its parent, China Aerospace Corp., and specializes in space technology and the import and export of specialized equipment. China Great Wall has launched 16 satellites on behalf of U.S. firms, Liu said.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company Go to Campaign Finance Report | Go to Politics Section
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