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Republican leaders promise a fair probe into technology transfers to China

Toning down the rhetoric, Republican leaders promised an even-handed investigation into technology transfers to China, and acknowledged they may never know if administration decisions were influenced by political donations.

Senate intelligence committee chairman Republican Senator Richard Shelby said on Sunday his panel's inquiry into the China transfers was "going to be broad, (and) it's going to be deep.''

But he told Fox News Sunday that in the end, the waiver allowing Loral Corporation to launch a satellite from a Chinese rocket may have resulted from "a lot of bad policy, some bad decisions,'' but not political influences.

Both the Senate and House are investigating whether a Loral report on the 1996 explosion of a Chinese rocket carrying one of its satellites helped the Chinese improve their military missile technology. They also are looking into why, as the justice department was investigating that 1996 incident, President Bill Clinton's administration granted a waiver for another satellite launch.

In the background are that Loral Chief Executive Officer Bernard Schwartz is a major contributor to the Democratic Party and allegations that Chinese government officials illegally funnelled money to the Democratic Party during the 1996 election.

Senator Orrin Hatch, also a Republican and chairman of the senate judiciary committee, said he is willing to give Schwartz the benefit of the doubt on his denial that he ever tried to buy influence with the administration.

UNI

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