[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 63 (Monday, May 18, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4950-S4952]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               NEW EVIDENCE OF PLA MONEY GOING TO THE DNC

  Mr. HUTCHINSON. Mr. President, last week the Senate, by adopting two 
of the remaining eight House-passed China provisions, I believe took an 
important first step in reversing this Nation's failed, flawed and 
counterproductive policy of so-called ``constructive engagement'' with 
the People's Republic of China.
  The first amendment we adopted last week, an amendment to the Defense 
Department authorization bill, requires the Department of Defense to 
monitor enterprises which are owned by the People's Liberation Army and 
gives the President increased authority to take action against these 
companies should circumstances warrant. It does not mandate the 
President to act, but it would give him enhanced authority to act 
should the evidence warrant it.
  The second amendment we adopted gives the U.S. Customs Service 
increased funding and authority to stop the importation of goods 
produced in Chinese slave labor camps. The importation of goods 
produced by slave labor has been prohibited in this country for half a 
century, and yet the practice is continuing, unfortunately, and thus, 
this enhanced monitoring and enhanced authority for the Customs Service 
is essential.
  These were two very, very important amendments, I believe, but there 
are six bills still remaining in the Foreign Relations Committee. I 
believe the Foreign Relations Committee will be taking those bills up 
tomorrow. I hope they will. But the votes that we cast last week could 
not possibly have been more timely. Their importance is best seen by 
new information uncovered last Friday by the New York Times, one day 
after we cast those two important votes on the floor of the U.S. 
Senate.
  That story, covered by the New York Times, and now by every major 
newspaper in the country, revealed that Johnny Chung, the central 
figure in the Justice Department's campaign finance investigation, has 
now told investigators that a large part of the nearly $100,000 that he 
gave to the DNC and to other Democratic causes in the summer of 1996 
came from the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of 
China.
  Let me say that again. A large part of the $100,000--in fact, $80,000 
of it--went to the DNC, and that money came from the Chinese Red army. 
This was the front-page story in the New York Times on Friday, May 15. 
Then inside the newspaper the headline is: ``Fund-raiser is Said to 
Tell of Donations from China Military to Democrats.''
  This is a very, very serious allegation that Mr. Chung has made in 
his cooperation with the Justice Department alleging that this money 
came not just from Chinese sources, but came from the Chinese Red 
military. Worse yet, this was no low-level PLA effort. It wasn't low-
level figures in the People's Liberation Army, but according to Chung, 
these monies were provided by a Chinese lieutenant colonel and 
aerospace executive whose father, General Liu, was at the time China's 
top military commander and a member of the leadership of China's 
Communist Party.
  This reaches to the very top echelon of the Chinese Government and to 
the very top levels of the PLA command system. Their very top 
leadership apparently hatched, planned, and carried out this so-called 
``China plan.''
  Let us not forget, Mr. President, that this whole investigation was 
started after an interception of a telephone communication suggesting 
that the People's Republic of China was considering a covert plan to 
influence United States elections. It would now appear that this so-
called ``China plan'' was actually carried out by the top leadership of 
the PLA and the Communist Party.
  Why would China and the PLA want to influence American elections? 
What motive would they have to pick and choose winners and losers in 
our own Presidential sweepstakes? The answer appears to be given in 
this very same New York Times article:

       At the time (of these payments from the PLA), President 
     Clinton was making it easier for American civilian 
     communications satellites to be launched by Chinese rockets, 
     a key issue for the PLA and for Liu's company, which sells 
     missiles for the military and also has a troubled space 
     subsidiary.

  There was a very, very vested interest by Lieutenant Colonel Liu in 
ensuring that Chinese rockets would be able to launch American 
satellites. Thus, while the DNC and the Democratic Party was being 
flooded with money from the head of the PLA, the head of the Democratic 
Party, President Clinton, was making it easier for the PLA to receive 
advanced technological support for its missile and space programs. The 
only question left to be answered seems to be, was it a quid pro quo?
  To put the harmful effects of this ``missiles for money" trade into 
context, or more appropriate, the ``PLA Gate,'' it is important to note 
that until last year, China lacked the intelligence or technologies 
necessary to manufacture boosters that could reliably strike such long 
distances. This made China a weaker adversary.
  In fact, in a debate that I had on the campus of the University of 
Mississippi at Oxford, a Firing Line debate that was carried nationwide 
by public television, Dr. Kissinger made this statement:


[[Page S4951]]


       I also do not believe that it is possible to argue that 
     China can represent a military threat to the United States 
     for the next 20 years.

  I remember very vividly Secretary Kissinger making that statement. He 
almost ridiculed and disdainfully dismissed those who said that China 
could pose a military threat to the United States at any time in the 
next two decades. That is a direct quote from the Firing Line 
transcript.
  My how time flies, because now we find, less than a year later, that 
all but five of the Chinese nuclear missiles are aimed and directed at 
the United States and, in fact, they do pose a threat. According to 
this article in the Washington Times, China targets nukes at the United 
States, according to a CIA report that was recently released. China now 
appears to pose a very real threat to the United States. This article 
noted that 13 of China's 18 long-range strategic missiles with ranges 
exceeding 8,000 miles and have single nuclear warheads are aimed at the 
United States. These missiles are in addition to China's growing 
arsenal of other weapons that can now reach the United States, many of 
which are mentioned in this article regarding the CIA report.
  How could one of this country's leading China experts and most 
respected foreign policy adviser have been so far off when Secretary 
Kissinger said it would take two decades? Like those of us in the 
Senate, Dr. Kissinger may not have known that two U.S. companies, Loral 
Space and Communications and Hughes Electronic, illegally gave China 
space expertise during cooperation on a commercial satellite launch 
which could be used to develop an accurate launch and guidance system 
for ICBMs.
  I am sure Dr. Kissinger would not have foreseen that this 
administration, in the middle of investigating this illegal transfer, 
would allow Loral to launch another satellite on a Chinese rocket and 
provide them the same expertise at issue in the criminal case. Nor is 
it likely that Dr. Kissinger would know that Motorola, under a waiver 
from this administration, has also been involved in ``upgrading'' 
China's missile capability, this according to the chairman of the House 
Science Subcommittee on Space and Technology.
  The New York Times ran a follow-up article today providing some 
insight into this administration's policy on China and the transfer of 
sensitive technology. According to the article that appeared today in 
the New York Times, United States and China industry groups urged that 
satellite technology be taken off the list of banned exports, known as 
the munitions list.
  The State Department sided with the Defense Department and the 
intelligence agencies, and the President's key advisers and noted that 
satellite technology holds secrets that hold ``significant military and 
intelligence'' information and thus should remain banned for export.
  That was the position of key advisers to the President. That was the 
position of the Department of State and the Defense Department. The 
Clinton administration, though, sided with business groups and 
transferred this decision away from the State Department and left the 
decision up to the Commerce Department, which was then headed by his 
close friend, Ron Brown. In the end, satellite technology was removed 
from the munitions list. China was free to negotiate with U.S. 
businesses to obtain assistance with its space program.
  The People's Liberation Army is engaged in a massive military buildup 
which has involved a doubling since 1992 of announced official figures 
for military spending by the People's Republic of China. This is 
incredible. It is amazing that we would at this time be circumventing 
our own ban on technology transfers and the launching of American 
satellites and the sharing of that valuable, valuable missile 
technology at the very time we see this massive military buildup.
  The PLA is working to coproduce the SU-27 fighter with Russia. It is 
in the process of purchasing several substantial weapons systems from 
the Republic of Russia, including the 633 model of the Kilo-class 
submarine and the SS-N-22 Sunburn missile system specifically designed 
to incapacitate United States aircraft carriers and Aegis cruisers.
  Mr. President, this increasingly aggressive military, the PLA, which 
cracked down on its own citizens in Tiananmen Square, killing over 
2,000 Chinese students, that we are aware of, which held threatening 
war games off the coast of Taiwan, closing two of its largest ports, 
which has taken over disputed islands once claimed by the Philippines, 
which now has all but five of its long-range nuclear missiles pointed 
at the citizens of the United States, is being coddled, pampered and 
pandered to and appeased by this administration.
  The gross irony here is that while the administration continues to 
allow the transfer of technology to China and the PLA, the People's 
Liberation Army, U.S. consumers are unwittingly funding China's 
military by purchasing items sold by PLA-owned enterprises operating in 
the United States.
  The PLA operates literally thousands and thousands of businesses. It 
is unlike any other military in the world. It is not just funded from 
the general revenue of the Chinese budget, the Chinese Government 
budget. It rather is funded partially through enterprises and business 
operations by the military itself. It is estimated that the PLA earns 
between $2 billion and $4 billion annually through the many enterprises 
that it operates that deal in nonmilitary commodities, and that these 
enterprises profit handsomely from their activities right here in the 
United States of America.
  A report released earlier this year indicated that vast quantities of 
goods, as varied as toys, ski gloves, garlic, iron weight sets, men's 
pants, car radiators, glassware, swimsuits, and much more, are being 
sold to U.S. consumers by PLA-owned firms and almost always without the 
knowledge of the American consumer.
  Mr. President, this country was shocked last week by India's 
explosion into the nuclear family. We were all dismayed that a new 
threat to world security loomed on the horizon in India's completed 
nuclear tests. Why? Why would a country suffering from rampant poverty 
and class instability choose to spend its limited and valuable 
resources on a new nuclear weapon's program? The answer, I believe, 
lies in the failed policies of this administration.
  It was just over 35 years ago that China last invaded India in an 
attempt to take over disputed territory. Since that time, there has 
been an uneasy and often hostile relationship between India and China, 
its larger neighbor to the north.
  In addition to China's own military buildup, China was assisting 
other enemies of India in the development of their own nuclear and 
military capabilities, particularly the nation of Pakistan. In fact, 
the People's Liberation Army transferred technology relevant to the 
refinement of weapons-grade nuclear material, including the transfer of 
ring magnets, to the nation of Pakistan.
  Mr. President, as this country moves closer to China, as we continue 
to assist its military machine, as we continue to turn a blind eye to 
China's transfer of technology to Pakistan, why would we be surprised 
that India would move to arm itself with nuclear weapons? Why are we 
surprised that a country that is surrounded by a much larger and better 
armed neighbor, that that nation would develop a defense similar to our 
own policy of ``mutually assured destruction,'' a policy that prevailed 
during the cold war? Mr. President, it was U.S. policy that led to 
these tragic, sad developments in that entire arena in the world.
  With all but five of China's long-range nuclear missiles pointed at 
the citizens of the United States, it is obvious that the increasingly 
aggressive People's Liberation Army views the United States as its most 
serious adversary.
  It is a sad paradox that U.S. consumers are unwittingly funding the 
military that has their hand on the nuclear buttons which threaten our 
very existence and that our leadership is accepting money in return for 
relaxed controls on the transfer of military technology, or at least 
that is the allegation that has been made. That is the source and the 
subject of the investigation that is ongoing.

  Not only is China an increasing threat internationally, but within 
their borders they continue to oppress their own people. The latest 
State Department report on human rights, to which I have referred 
repeatedly, says

[[Page S4952]]

and shows that China is still a major offender of internationally 
recognized human rights. You pick the category, whether it is coerced 
abortion, the so-called one-child policy, whether it is slave labor and 
the refusal to allow international inspection teams to go in and look 
at these slave labor camps, whether it is the repression of all free 
expression or criticism of the Government, or whether it is other forms 
of human rights abuses like the repression of freedom to worship by 
religious minorities in China, you pick the category, and you will find 
that there is an absolute intolerance of freedom and that these ongoing 
abuses show us that they have not made progress under the current 
policy.
  According to a recent report in the Washington Post entitled, ``U.S.-
China Talks Make Little Progress on Summit Agenda,'' we find that the 
United States is getting very few concessions from China relating to 
the inspection of the technology that we share with them. We are 
getting very few concessions on limiting the proliferation of 
technology to third parties like Iran. We are getting very few 
concessions on human rights conditions, particularly in the nation of 
Tibet.
  So as we make our agenda, as we make the plans for the President's 
trip to China, what are we getting? Out of the negotiations that have 
been going on, what kind of concessions do we find from the Chinese 
Government? There have been four major high-profile prisoners who have 
been released. There are thousands that remain incarcerated, thousands 
who remain languishing in Chinese laogai camps, yet we are expected to 
say there is progress in human rights because four high-profile 
individuals have been released.
  So, Mr. President, with your administration currently under 
investigation by your own Justice Department relating to this 
``missiles for money'' transfer, it is inconceivable to me how you can 
go forward with your planned June 24th trip to China. The cloud now 
brewing over your administration's relationship with the leadership of 
the People's Republic of China makes suspect any agreements that may be 
reached or any statements that may be made during this summit.
  Mr. President, until this cloud of criminal and ethical 
investigations has blown over and been resolved, I urge you to delay 
your planned trip in June, and to postpone it. It is imperative that 
this country present a unified foreign policy. It is imperative that we 
be united in our international relationships, and particularly our 
relationship with this, the most populous nation on the globe.
  But in order to have that kind of unity, one that is free of 
partisanship, one that is untainted by allegations of illegal dealing, 
it is imperative that this planned trip in June be postponed. It is 
hard for me to imagine with such a cloud over our relationship with 
China, with such allegations of an organized, planned, if you will, 
conspiracy by the Chinese Government to influence the outcome of 
American elections, how any good could come from this trip to China at 
this stage. The atmosphere surrounding this summit has now been 
polluted.
  Mr. President, here again is what we know. We know that the CIA 
intercepted a call which hinted at a plan by China to influence our 
elections. And may I say, my colleague, Senator Thompson, should feel 
vindicated. And those who ridiculed his allegation in this regard 
should apologize to him personally, I believe. The American people owe 
him a debt of gratitude for his untiring efforts to reveal this 
nefarious plan.
  We know that the CIA intercepted that call. We know that Johnny Chung 
has testified that the PLA, through one of their top leaders, General 
Liu, provided $80,000 to the DNC and $20,000 to other Democratic 
causes.
  We know that at the same time as these moneys were being given to the 
DNC, the same time those contributions were being made, Loral and 
Hughes provided key missile technology to China and the PLA--under a 
waiver granted by the Clinton administration.
  We know that the State Department has said that this technology 
transfer ``harmed our national security.''
  We know this, that an executive at Motorola also claims they are 
assisting China's missile program under a waiver from the Clinton 
administration.
  We further know that the Clinton administration shifted the key 
decisionmaking authority on satellite and missile technology from the 
State Department to the Commerce Department, which was a much more 
China-friendly agency or Department.
  We know this, that China transferred key military nuclear technology 
to Pakistan and to other rogue states like Iran, all without any action 
or denunciation by this administration.
  We know that all but five of China's long-range nuclear missiles are 
pointed at the United States.
  We know that the PLA continues to profit from selling consumer goods 
in the United States. And we know that the PLA continues to profit from 
slave labor.
  We know that human rights continue to be abused in China and that 
this administration has soft-pedaled very serious human rights 
concerns.
  This is an ugly list, detailing a tangled relationship that now 
appears to have forever damaged our national security, a relationship 
that now may have escalated the risk of nuclear war on the Asian 
continent and that will forever make it more difficult to keep the 
nuclear genie in a secure bottle.
  This relationship must be investigated. I believe appropriate Senate 
committees will be doing that investigation. We know that the Justice 
Department is continuing this investigation, but all questions relating 
to how this relationship progressed must be answered, and the President 
should delay and postpone his planned trip to China until those answers 
are forthcoming. The American people deserve to have those answers.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in 
morning business for up to 15 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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