The US State Department has accused two leading US aerospace companies of 123 violations of export laws in connection with the transfer of satellite and rocket data to China during the 1990s.
The Boeing Co and Hughes Electronics Corp, 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 US 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 US stopped permitting the use of US satellites for Chinese aerospace ventures in 1999. At the time, the former president Bill Clinton's administration had concerns over China's aid to missile programs in North Korea and Pakistan. Since the technology used to launch missiles is similar to that used for civilian rockets and satellites, there are tight curbs on exports of aerospace and satellite equipment and services.
The State Department alleges that the companies violated arms export laws and regulations when they failed to obtain State Department approval before transferring information to Chinese-related entities, some private and some governmental. It included data on rocket failures, guidance systems, telemetry and aerodynamics.
The activities at issue relate to work by Hughes during the 1990s. Boeing was cited because it acquired Hughes Space and Communications, a piece of Hughes, in 2000.
The companies have denied wrongdoing. Company spokesmen were not available to comment yesterday. But the letter indicates that lawyers for the companies assert that the activities in question were lawful because the information that was transferred did not fit the definition of a licensable "defense service" or was constitutionally protected as "speech."
The companies face fines of up to US$500,000 for each count -- over $60 million -- as well as losing the ability to obtain future approval for exports, a major part of their business. In the past, bans on exporting have been of limited scope and duration.
The filing is unusual, officials said, since companies typically negotiate a settlement for lesser amounts with the government. One year ago, Loral Space and Communications agreed to pay US$20 million, a record fine in a case involving one of several satellite issues in the case against Boeing and Hughes. If there is no settlement, the case would go before an administrative law judge.
The letter, the civil equivalent of an indictment, was signed by William Lowell, director of the trade controls unit, who is leaving his job.
Friends of Lowell, who asked not to be identified, said his resignation was related to concerns that his office is being reorganized to make it easier for US defense companies to export sensitive technology.
State Department officials have said that the reorganization was meant to improve the defense trade unit's performance.
* The US State Department has accused the two firms of 123 violations of export laws in connection with the transfer of satellite and rocket data to China during the 1990s.
* A letter provides new details of how US companies competed for Chinese business by offering to transfer aerospace data in connection with launchings of their satellites.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last