The US Senate is likely to approve legislation relaxing rules for computer exports, one of the measure's leading critics said.
Senator Fred Thompson, a Republican from Tennessee, signaled he expects to lose as fellow senators criticized his proposal for lengthening the period that federal agencies would have to review export licenses.
"I can count votes," Thompson said as the Senate began several days of debate on revising the Export Administration Act.
"I just hope that history does not prove that this is an even more unwise decision than I fear that it might be."
The export-easing bill opposed by Thompson is supported by US computer and chip producers such as Unisys Corp, Intel Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc, which stand to gain billions of dollars in sales to countries including China and other countries considered potential security risks to the US.
The Senate measure, endorsed by the White House, would update a 1979 version of the Export Administration Act by giving the president wider discretion in deciding what high-technology products could be sold to which countries.
Chief among the changes is allowing the president to eliminate the system of Mtops, or millions of theoretical operations per second, for measuring the performance of computers and thereby limiting their export.
A key market for growth among US manufacturers is China, which this year will purchase US$18 billion in computer hardware and US$3 billion in software and services, said analyst Juan Orozco at IDC, a computer industry research firm in Massachusetts.
Industry advocates of the Export Administration Act reform suffered a setback last month when the House International Relations Committee approved a series of amendments toughening language in the Senate version.
Thompson began the floor debate hoping for the same success in the Senate, proposing an amendment that would give federal agencies an additional 60 days to block export licenses if they consider the export application potentially damaging to national security.
The bill's main sponsor, Senator Mike Enzi, a Republican of Wyoming, said he received assurances from the White House that the administration is satisfied with the protections in the existing bill.
"The bill already provides for several ways to stop the clock" on pending export licenses for high-technology products, Enzi said.
Computer companies have argued that such delays hobble their ability to compete with foreign suppliers of computer equipment, and unnecessary since the technology is often already available on the world market.
Thompson has no more than 30 votes supporting his position in the 100-member Senate, said Rhett Dawson, co-chairman of the Computer Coalition for Responsible Exports, an industry association that sought a relaxation of controls.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
COUNTERINTELLIGENCE TRAINING: The ministry said 87.5 percent of the apprehended Chinese agents were reported by service members they tried to lure into becoming spies Taiwanese organized crime, illegal money lenders, temples and civic groups are complicit in Beijing’s infiltration of the armed forces, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a report yesterday. Retired service members who had been turned to Beijing’s cause mainly relied on those channels to infiltrate the Taiwanese military, according to the report to be submitted to lawmakers ahead of tomorrow’s hearing on Chinese espionage in the military. Chinese intelligence typically used blackmail, Internet-based communications, bribery or debts to loan sharks to leverage active service personnel to do its bidding, it said. China’s main goals are to collect intelligence, and develop a
RSS