THE "LIBERAL" MEDIA, CLINTON, CHINA AND ROCKETS

Once in a while I come across a wingnut post that accuses former President Clinton of selling top-secret missile technology to China. The core accusation is treason and is sometimes mixed in with the claim that Clinton sold the technology in return for campaign contributions from the Chinese.

Now, who broke the story? The Washington Times, The Weekly Standard, WorldNet Daily? No, it was the mother-of-all-liberal-media, the New York Times. The rest of the liberal media, instead of bemoaning the report as a witch hunt, decided that the story was so good it deserved a Pulitzer Prize.

Here are the relevant highlights:

Companies Are Investigated For Aid to China on Rockets
by Jeff Gerth, with Raymond Bonner
New York Times
April 4, 1998

WASHINGTON -- A Federal grand jury is investigating whether two American companies illegally gave China space expertise that significantly advanced Beijing's ballistic missile program, according to Administration officials. But the officials said the criminal inquiry was dealt a serious blow two months ago when President Clinton quietly approved the export to China of similar technology by one of the companies under investigation.

Under investigation, the officials said, are Loral Space and Communications of Manhattan and Hughes Electronics, a Los Angeles-based division of the General Motors Corporation.

The Federal inquiry stems from a 1996 incident in which a Chinese rocket carrying aloft a satellite built by Loral exploded shortly after liftoff. The two companies took part in an independent review of the failure, and reported to the Chinese on what went wrong. Those exchanges, officials believe, may have gone beyond the sharing of information that the companies had been permitted, giving the Chinese crucial assistance in improving the guidance systems of their rockets.


In February, with the investigation of this incident well under way, Mr. Clinton gave Loral permission to launch another satellite on a Chinese rocket and provide the Chinese with the same expertise that is at issue in the criminal case, officials said. A senior official said the Administration recognized the sensitivity of the decision, but approved the launching because the investigation had reached no conclusions and because Loral had properly handled subsequent launchings.

Michael D. McCurry, the White House spokesman, said the launching that President Clinton approved in February "will not contribute to Chinese military capabilities" because Loral has agreed to "stringent safeguards" to prevent the unauthorized transfer of technology.

Administration officials said the inquiry is focused on the events following the Feb. 15, 1996, explosion of a Chinese rocket carrying a $200 million Loral satellite seconds after liftoff at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province, in southern China. After the explosion, the Chinese asked two American companies to help conduct an independent study of what went wrong. The team was led by Loral and included two experts from Hughes, according to Hughes. According to Administration officials, the American experts provided crucial data and information to the Chinese to prevent future accidents. Later, Loral gave a copy of the written report to the State Department, which licenses the export of defense-related items. Government officials immediately began to assess whether there had been a security breach. Last year, a criminal inquiry was begun by the United States Customs Service and the Department of Justice, officials said.


The Times continued working on the story and these can be found at the Pulitzer site:

Democrat Fund-Raiser Said to Name China Tie
May 15, 1998

How China Won Rights to Launch Satellites for U.S.
May 17, 1998

U.S. Knew China Military Used Civilian Satellites, Reports Show
June 13, 1998

Administration Rethinking $650 Million China Satellite Deal
June 18, 1998

Chinese Said to Reap Gains in U.S. Export Policy Shift
October 19, 1998

Pentagon Inquiry Faults Missile Maker's China Aid
December 9, 1998

Evidence of China Plan to Buy Entree to U.S. Technology
December 15, 1998

C.I.A. Ignored Report of Payments To Chinese for Satellite Contracts
December 24, 1998

House Panel Says Chinese Obtained U.S. Arms Secrets
December 31, 1998


The Times didn't forget the story after the 2000 elections and had these reports in 2003 (from Lexis-Nexis). Note that there is no mention that Clinton was guilty of selling secrets but that's all the wingnuts took away from this story.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
January 1, 2003 Wednesday
Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Column 1; Foreign Desk; Pg. 6
LENGTH: 892 words
HEADLINE: U.S. Says 2 Companies Gave Data to China
BYLINE: By JEFF GERTH


The State Department has accused two leading American aerospace companies of 123 violations of export laws in connection with the transfer of satellite and rocket data to China during the 1990's.

The Boeing Company and Hughes Electronics Corporation, a unit of General Motors, were notified of the accusations last week. The letter outlining the accusations was made public earlier this week by the Office of Defense Trade Controls, the State Department unit that regulates defense-related trade.

The letter provides new details of how American companies competed for Chinese business by offering to transfer aerospace data in connection with launchings of their satellites. The information included responses to inquiries by the Chinese and others about failures of the rockets carrying those satellites.

The United States stopped permitting the use of American satellites for Chinese aerospace ventures in 1999. At the time, the Clinton administration had concerns over China's aid to missile programs in North Korea and Pakistan.

One year ago, Loral Space and Communications agreed to pay $20 million, a record fine in a case involving one of several satellite issues in the case against Boeing and Hughes. In addition to the Loral case, the Lockheed Martin Corporation agreed to pay $13 million in fines in 2000 in connection with allegations that it provided technical aid and space-related information to a Hong Kong-based company with ties to Beijing.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
March 6, 2003 Thursday
Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Column 1; Foreign Desk; Pg. 9
LENGTH: 767 words
HEADLINE: 2 Companies Pay Penalties For Improving China Rockets
BYLINE: By JEFF GERTH
DATELINE: WASHINGTON March 5

Two leading American aerospace companies have agreed to pay a record $32 million in penalties to settle civil charges that they unlawfully transferred rocket and satellite data to China in the 1990's.

The agreement, which was completed on Tuesday and released today, comes two months after the State Department accused the companies, Hughes Electronics Corporation, a unit of General Motors, and Boeing Satellite Systems of 123 violations of export laws in connection with the Chinese data transfers. In a joint statement the companies said they "express regret for not having obtained licenses that should have been obtained" in the 1990's by a Hughes unit, the Hughes Space and Communications Company, which was acquired in 2000 by Boeing.

In 1998 a Congressional panel criticized satellite manufacturers for sometimes subordinating national security to the financial considerations and concluded that their "illegally transmitted" information had improved the reliability of China's civilian and military rockets.
The next year the United States stopped permitting the launch of American satellites on Chinese rockets as concerns rose about Chinese aid to missile programs in North Korea and Pakistan.

The settlement ends a five-year federal investigation into how American satellite and aerospace companies aided China as they competed to have their satellites launched aboard Chinese rockets. The assistance went to Chinese individuals as well as Chinese-related companies and organizations, some private and some governmental.

The heads of the 1998 Congressional committee that investigated the data transfers to China, Representative Christopher Cox, a California Republican, and Representative Norm Dicks, a Democrat from Washington, issued a statement today praising the penalty as well as the corporate pledges of remedial action.