Friday, May 22, 1998

Investigation warranted into China bargain

House Speaker Newt Gingrich may well have some political motives in establishing a special panel to investigate whether the White House traded satellite technology to China in 1996 for campaign donations.

But, as the Republican said, this is an issue of national security. No more serious allegation has been raised against the Clinton administration. The investigation is warranted.

The issue was first raised in stories by The New York Times, which reported a charge that a representative of the Chinese army had illegally contributed money to the Democrats during the presidential election two years ago.

It has been reported, too, that the CEO of Loral Space and Communications Ltd., a company wanting to work with the Chinese on launching a satellite, gave $632,000 to the Democrats, making him the year's top contributor.

Despite initial opposition from the State Department, the Pentagon and intelligence agencies, President Clinton signed a waiver allowing the Loral technology to be shared with the Chinese. The fear is that the Chinese could use the technology in nuclear missiles, and the voiced suspicion has been that the policy was a payoff for the campaign money.

Nothing has been proven yet, and there have been endless denials. But the seriousness of the stories' implications is obvious enough, and even if the House panel ended up dismissing the allegations as preposterous, that in itself would be a service. Now that the allegations are public, the public needs to hear an airing of the details. Gingrich is possibly expecting positive returns for the Republicans, but people can do the right thing for wrong reasons. The main thing is for the panel to proceed as thoroughly, fairly and quickly as possible.