Four influential Republican senators have urged President George W. Bush to keep blocking communications satellite exports to China, which are prohibited by sanctions imposed after the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
In a letter to Bush earlier this month, the senators said he would soon be asked to grant waivers for several proposed communications satellite exports to China, but these should be denied for nonproliferation and human rights reasons.
Signatories were senators Jesse Helms, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee; and John Kyl and Fred Thompson, both Senate Intelligence Committee members.
The push to prevent satellite exports comes as the Bush administration tries to stabilize ties with China and prepare the ground for the first summit between Bush and Chinese President Jiang Zemin (
During former President Bill Clinton's administration, the Republican-led US Congress frequently expressed concern that by exporting satellites, US firms provided expertise used by China to enhance its ballistic missile and space programs. Many lawmakers argued Clinton's policies also facilitated transfers of military-related technology to China.
The Bush administration has expressed interest in relaxing and retooling sanctions in general because many are considered ineffective, but it isn't yet known what position it will take on exports.
The US satellite industry is frustrated by the curbs and supports shifting the satellite licensing authority from the State Department to the Commerce Department.
"Everyone feels this is not a proliferation issue anymore; it's pure politics," Greg Lucas, who heads Regulatory Access, a consulting firm in McLean, Virginia, said. "The Chinese are going to get the technology. They have been in partnership with European satellite makers in the past three to four years.
"The satellite manufacturing industry in the United States has been pummeled by the perception that a foreign company will not get its export control license and won't be able to have satellite built by a US manufacturer," he said.
The industry is so concerned that the US Chamber of Commerce has formed a space enterprise council to address the issue and has scheduled a meeting for today to discuss it, he added.
The four senators did not specify which satellite exports the administration will be asked to grant waivers for. But a new report by the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service said pending projects include Chinasat-8 and Apstar5 made by Loral Space Systems; Iridium owned by Motorola Inc and AsiaSat 4 made by Hughes Space and Communications.
The senators argued that when it imposed sanctions after the Chinese military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tianamen Square in 1989, Congress was intent on forcing China to improve its human rights record.
They accused Beijing of "gross violations" of human rights, including causing the death of over 220 practitioners of the Falun Gong movement.
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