[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 70 (Friday, May 14, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E972]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    PREVENT THE EXPORT OF MILITARILY SIGNIFICANT TECHNOLOGY TO CHINA

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                          HON. JOHN E. SWEENEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 14, 1999

  Mr. SWEENEY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I introduced legislation that 
will prohibit the sale of the Cray SV1 supercomputer to Hong Kong, now 
a territory of Communist China. The export of this computer threatens 
our national security, and I urge you to join in cosponsoring this 
bill.
  In February of this year, a contract was awarded to supply the Hong 
Kong Observatory with the fastest computer the territory has ever seen. 
The Cray SV1 supercomputer runs at the speed of 21,000 million 
theoretical operations a second. If the battlefield and simulation 
capability of the system were to fall into the wrong hands, it could 
seriously undermine our national security. This should trigger a ``red 
flag'' for dual-use militarily significant technology transfers.
  To think that China would use this computer for scientific purposes 
only is pure folly. Last month, a Hong Kong company went before local 
courts for allegedly :``selling a supercomputer to a Chinese advanced 
weapons institute.'' A separate Hong Kong company is also facing 
charges that it imported strategic commodities without a license. It 
diverted a dual-use computer to a mainland military research institute.
  Officials from the departments of Defense, Commerce, Energy and State 
have raised objections to the sale of the Cray SV1, yet the export is 
still under consideration by the Clinton Administration. I urge all of 
my colleagues to please join in co-sponsoring my bill by contacting my 
office.

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