DOWNSIDE LEGACY AT TWO DEGREES OF PRESIDENT CLINTON
SECTION: CHINA
SUBSECTION: PROLIFERATION
Revised 8/20/99
CHINA PROLIFERATION
China (MFN) v Sales of Nerve Gas chemicals to Iran
To a joint hearing on National Security and International Relations, John D. Holum, acting undersecretary of state for arms control, called U.S. space commerce with China a "carrot" to encourage its leaders to slow or halt their sales of missiles to nations such as Iran and Pakistan. In a 1997 memo by Holum, "There's been no evidence to date that this [trade] policy is having any effect.. Carrots have gotten us nothing." Holum addressed the difference in his position by pointing out that in 1997 he was head of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency but now he is also is an undersecretary of state.
Washington Times 12/7/98 Bill Gertz ".China last month delivered a new shipment of missile technology to Iran, prompting an official U.S. protest during a meeting in Beijing, according to U.S. intelligence and national security officials. The transfer included telemetry equipment that could be used in the testing of medium-range missiles, such as Iran's new Shahab-3 missile that was tested for the first time earlier this year. "We raised with the Chinese specific concerns we have about missile cooperation with Iran," a senior administration official told The Washington Times. The official said those specific concerns involved the sale of telemetry equipment...The transfer could violate repeated pledges made by the Beijing government to abide by the guidelines of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The administration has avoided imposing sanctions on China missile sales to Pakistan that violate U.S. laws aimed at adding teeth to the MTCR agreement. Gen. Xiong, a People's Liberation Army deputy chief of staff, also warned the United States that China would not allow U.S. regional missile-defense systems to provide protection for Taiwan from Chinese missiles, the officials said. He also said that any U.S. sale of missile-defense technology would constitute "missile proliferation" by the United States and would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty."
Center for Nonproliferation Studies 4/98 "…China reportedly began cooperation with Pakistan on possible sales of M-11 missiles and related technology and equipment in the late 1980s, and the contract for the M-11 sale was reportedly signed in 1988. In April 1991, the United States announced that it had discovered the transfer of M-11s had taken place, although China insisted that it had never transferred medium range missiles to Pakistan, but a month later China admitted that it had sold a "small number" of M-11s, but denied that the transfer had yet taken place. In response to this sale, and also to an alleged sale of M-9 missiles to Syria, the Bush administration imposed Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) -related sanctions. In November 1991, Secretary of State James Baker reached an agreement with China in which Beijing gave Washington verbal assurances that it would abide by the guidelines of the MTCR, provided the United States lifted sanctions. After China provided an letter containing such assurances in February 1992, sanctions were lifted, but by December 1992 reports had again surfaced that China had transferred M-11s to Pakistan, in violation of its agreement to abide by the MTCR guidelines. China and Pakistan both denied that the transfer had taken place, but in August 1993 the United States again imposed sanctions on China. China denounced the sanctions, calling the US decision "a wrong judgement based on inaccurate intelligence," and threatened to scrap its promise to abide by the MTCR. The United States and China finally broke the impasse in October 1994, when the two countries issued a joint statement on missile proliferation. The United States agreed to lift sanctions, in return for which China promised not to export ground-to-ground missiles featuring the primary parameters of the MTCR, that is, inherently capable of reaching a range of at least 300 km with a payload of at least 500 kg, which would cover the M-11. Beijing also agreed to the concept of "inherent capability." The sanctions were waived in November 1994. However, in early 1995, reports again surfaced that China had transferred M-11 components and production technology to Pakistan, which would trigger the imposition of new US MTCR sanctions. China and Pakistan again denied that any such transfers had taken place, and China went further, denying that China had ever cooperated with Pakistan on M-11 missiles. Since then, China has repeatedly sought to assure the US and especially India that it is not selling M-11 missiles to Pakistan. To date, the United States has not imposed any new sanctions, despite evidence of Chinese cooperation and trade with Pakistan on M-11 and other ballistic missiles. China has reportedly assisted Pakistan in the development of its indigenous Hatf-1 and Hatf-2 ballistic missiles. The two missiles are similar to the US Honest John systems, but Pakistan relied heavily upon Chinese assistance for modifications allowing the use of conventional warheads and possibly chemical weapons. Pakistan reportedly relied upon Chinese support for the Hatf-3 program, which is reportedly based on China's M-9. (A different source, however, states that the Hatf-3 may be Pakistan's designation for the M-11). China also allegedly sees the Hatf-M program as a way to circumvent its MTCR obligations in order to fulfill agreements made with Pakistan. In a 1997 report by the Director of Central Intelligence, it stated that: "The Chinese provided a tremendous variety of assistance to both Iran's and Pakistan's ballistic missile programs" during the second half of 1996. [Director of Central Intelligence, The Acquisition of Technology Relating to Weapons of Mass Destruction and Advanced Conventional Munitions--July-December 1996, June 1997.] On 6 April 1998, Pakistan successfully tested a new medium-range surface-to-surface "Ghauri" missile with a range of 1,500 kilometers. Washington is examining any role China may have had in the development of the "Ghauri" missile, in violation of China's commitment to abide by the MTCR guidelines. China has denied any involvement. According to Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhu Bangzao, "As for whether China helped Pakistan, I can say that there is no connection whatsoever." He stated further: "As for the United States investigating this issue, I believe that is unreasonable and groundless." ["Beijing Denies Involvement in Pakistan Missile Project," Inside China Today, 7 April 1998.] …"
Washington Post 4/3/99 John Mintz "...One hundred pages of secret and top-secret documents of the NSA, State Department and Pentagon tell the inside story of the Chinese C-802, a little missile that gets around, and in particular its most crucial component, the TRI-60 engine manufactured by the French firm, Microturbo SA. The papers detail how Microturbo developed the engine in the 1980s and sold it to China starting in 1987 for use in the C-802. Later the Chinese sold completed C-802s to Iran. Finally, U.S. intelligence picked up what it considered evidence that the French firm sold the same engines to the government in Tehran last year. Doubts about that conclusion have grown as the French have insisted that Microturbo was sending power generators rather than engines to Iran. But the fact remains, U.S. officials say, that Iran has the missiles and made some of them itself. Weapons experts say U.S. intelligence must monitor the spread not only of missiles such as the C-802 but also their components, especially engines. "Engines are the key element a Third World country must get to develop a cruise missile," said a former Pentagon expert on missile engines. "It's the critical choke point." The papers -- supplied by the National Security News Service, a nonprofit group that has researched the C-802 -- show U.S. intelligence in the mid-1980s started scrutinizing development of the missile, which China called "Ying Ji" or "Strike Eagle." The TRI-60 engine powered the C-802 and its armor-piercing warhead near the speed of sound, making the missile akin to France's highly regarded Exocet. Beijing's missile agency, China Precision Machine Import & Export Corp. (CPMIEC), bought its first shipment of 50 Microturbo engines in 1987. The French sent 50 more engines in 1995, and possibly another 50 in 1996. In 1988 a Chinese laboratory called the 31st Institute began "reverse-engineering" or copying the engines for itself. But the Chinese found this rough going, said a Chinese engineer taped by the NSA. The lab made only 20 new engines after eight years, an NSA report said. Microturbo gave the Chinese key design data on the engine during this research, the papers said. But Microturbo Chairman Jean-Bernard Cocheteux said in a statement to The Washington Post that the firm "never trained any Chinese engineer to design missile engines or reverse-engineer engines for missiles." In 1990 U.S. officials were alarmed to learn China was selling C-802s to Iran, plus the means to build their own C-802 factory. U.S. spy cameras in space snapped away as a Chinese ship delivered the first C-802 to an Iranian port in the fall of 1993. U.S. officials soon asked the Beijing regime to stop selling Iran C-802s or components, to no avail. In late 1996, Chinese President Jiang Zemin told President Clinton in Australia that China wouldn't sell more C-802s to Tehran. But the papers say China continued parts sales until late 1997, when Chinese officials promised Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright that they would end the shipments of C-802s and related technologies....In the end, China delivered 150 or so of the 400 missiles Iran ordered. The Iranians sought to find a new source of C-802s. Like Beijing, Tehran started "reverse-engineering" the weapons to make them itself. But first it needed Microturbo engines and parts. Tehran officials retained a Hong Kong firm, Jetpower Industrial Ltd., to act as a front in purchasing the French engines, components and technical help from both the Chinese and Microturbo, the reports said....."
4/10/97 Gary Milhollin, Dir of Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control 1997 Congressional Hearings Special Weapons Nuclear, Chemical, Biological and Missile…"…I have been asked to respond to two questions: First, how effective is our present ``engagement'' policy toward China; second, is the executive branch implementing the U.S. law concerning sanctions? I think that the evidence is now clear on both questions. The administration's engagement policy has run out of gas--it is no longer achieving anything significant. The process is essentially dead. Since 1994, our ambassadors have gone to China, they have held out engagement rings, and the Chinese have shut the door in their faces….. Nor is the administration complying with the sanctions law. Last fall, the executive branch finished a number of studies on China's missile and chemical exports to Iran and Pakistan. The studies contained the legal and factual analysis necessary to apply sanctions, but they have lain dormant since then. The State Department has chosen not to complete the administrative process because if it did, it would have to apply sanctions and give up its engagement policy. The sanctions law is not achieving either deterrence or punishment, as Congress intended. Today, China's exports are the most serious proliferation threat in the world, and China has held that title for the past decade and a half. Since 1980, China has supplied billions of dollars' worth of nuclear and missile technology to South Asia, South Africa, South America and the Middle East. It has done so in the teeth of U.S. protests, and despite repeated promises to stop. The exports are still going on, and while they do, they make it impossible for the United States and the West to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction-- a trend that endangers everyone….In addition to missiles, China has been selling the means to make poison gas. In 1995 I discovered, and wrote in the New York Times, that the United States had caught China exporting poison gas ingredients to Iran, and that the sales had been going on for at least three years. The State Department sanctioned the front companies that handled the paperwork, but did nothing to the Chinese sellers for fear of hurting U.S. trade relations. China's poison gas shipments have only become worse since then. In 1996, the press reported that China was sending entire factories for making poison gas to Iran, including special glass-lined vessels for mixing precursor chemicals. The shipments also included 400 tons of chemicals useful for making nerve agents. The result is that by now, in 1997, China has been outfitting Iran with ingredients and equipment to make poison gas for at least five years. When I spoke to U.S. officials last week, I asked them whether there was any change in China's export behavior on poison gas. They said that the poison gas sales had continued to the present time, unabated….. To sum up, I think the conclusion has to be that our engagement policy has failed and has been failing for some years. The policy is not producing any change in China's behavior, and is not even producing engagement. The negotiation process is effectively dead. The Chinese are not even talking to us about their exports. We are just watching the shipments go out, without any hope of stopping them. All our present policy has produced is a new missile factory in Pakistan, an upgraded nuclear weapon factory in Pakistan, new chemical weapon plants in Iran, and possibly a nuclear weapon factory in Iran….. "
Washington Times 4/15/99 Bill Gertz "...China is continuing secret transfers of missile and weapons technology to the Middle East and South Asia despite promises to curb such transfers, according to a Pentagon intelligence report. A separate intelligence report found that China has provided North Korea with special steel used in building missile frames, according to Clinton administration officials. "Some steel must have been transferred," said a State Department official. General details about the transfer were presented to the Chinese government in November in a diplomatic protest note. Chinese officials responded by saying their investigation had failed to pinpoint the transfer, a U.S. official said..... "
Washington Times 4/15/99 Bill Gertz "...The classified Pentagon report, produced last month, concludes that "the Chinese are proliferating on a consistent basis without technically breaking agreements with the United States," said a U.S. official familiar with the report. .. One Pentagon official said the Clinton administration has continued to liberalize technology exports to China even after it learned of Beijing's theft of nuclear warhead technology in the early 1990s. "They have not imposed any kind of sanctions, and proliferation [by China] has continued in an array of areas," said the official. "Those transfers are occurring continuously." U.S. intelligence officials said an April 2 intelligence report reveals that China has "revived" negotiations with Iran regarding construction of a graphite production facility. The talks are between the China Non-Metallic Minerals Industrial Import and Export Corp. and the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and involved planned travel to China by a senior Iranian nuclear official this month or in May. If the Chinese build the graphite facility, Iran could produce 200 tons a year of nuclear-grade graphite...."
Washington Times 4/15/99 Bill Gertz "...According to officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity, recent intelligence reports -- some more recent than the Pentagon report -- show China is engaged in large-scale transfers of weapons technology and related goods. They include: -- An agreement to supply Iran with specialty steel, components and materials for weapons of mass destruction programs.... --One of the deliveries involves collaboration with North Korea in supplying a missile manufacturer in Iran with titanium-stabilized duplex steel used in making missiles. --Cooperation with North Korea on space launch activities that U.S. intelligence believes is a ruse to hide Beijing's help in missile development.... --Supplying Iraq with information on chemical weapons protective suits, data that could be used in Iraq's covert chemical arms program. --China Poly Ventures Co.'s transfer of U.S.-manufactured equipment to a missile production facility in Pakistan. The specialized metal-working presses and a special furnace were sent to Pakistan's National Development Center. The shipment was disguised in export documents as "Masada Cookware." --Training of 10 Iranian engineers in China on inertial guidance techniques. --Supplying telemetry equipment -- gear used in sending signals from test missiles in flight --to Iran in November. ...However, the CIA report said the Chinese appeared to be holding to pledges made to the United States to limit nuclear sales to Iran and to tighten up export controls on weapons-related exports, at least during the six-month reporting period. Pentagon officials said recent intelligence reports contradict the CIA's findings...."
ConservativeNews.org 4/21/99 Justin Torres "...Iranian defense officials have privately conceded that China contributed to the development of an Iranian surface-to-air missile, code-named "Sayyad-I," which was successfully tested on April 14, sources have told CNS. According to a diplomatic report out of Iran, a defense ministry official said that the missile's components were built in Iran with Chinese technology. The missiles reportedly can hit a target at an altitude of over 10,000 meters..... A source close to the situation told CNS that Chinese aviation industry minister Zha Yuli was on an official visit to the strategic Iranian town of Qeshm in Bushehr province at the time the missile was fired. The Chinese ambassador to Iran, Wang Shi-jie, also accompanied the minister to the area, according to the source. Chinese officials were not available for comment. A U.S. State Department official, who spoke on the condition their name not be used, told CNS that the United States has "absolutely no evidence" that China had been involved in technology transfers to Iran, or that Chinese officials were present at any Iranian missile launches...."
World Tribune.com 5/10/99 Middle East News Line "...The Clinton administration has acknowledged that despite Beijing's pledges Chinese companies are still helping Iran's intermediate ballistic missile program. The administration -- responding to a congressional report by Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, about Chinese proliferation -- said China continues to help Iran's nuclear program. "We are concerned, in many respects, about certain Chinese entities that may provide technology - especially to Iran and Pakistan," State Department spokesman James Rubin on Friday, "and we have made those concerns made to the Chinese leadership at the highest levels, including most recently in Premier Zhu's visit. We will continue to work with China to bring its policies and practices more and more in line with international norms.".....Rubin also acknowledged U.S. concerns that despite its commitments Beijing is transferring missile technology to North Korea. "We do have concerns that they are seeking certain technology -- materials called "specialty steel" that can be used in their missile program," he said. "We have heard reports to that effect. We're concerned by those reports. We've raised this issue directly with the Chinese and we're going to be following it very closely." Chaired by Shelby, the Senate Intelligence Committee report said Clinton administration officials and certain U.S. aerospace companies joined to allow unlicensed and unauthorized transfers of U.S. technology to China. "We left the door open for the PRC to abscond with a lot of our most advanced space technologies, and we may never know the full extent of what they got," Shelby said on Friday. "All of you probably realize that the PRC [People's Republic of China] is one of the world's worst proliferators of missiles and missile technology to potential U.S. adversaries and to other unstable parts of the world. The committee found that these missiles may now benefit from U.S. technology."..."
Washington Times 5/17/99 Bill Gertz Excerpts from Betrayal "...Clinton administration efforts to defend the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty at all costs led to the death of President Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) -- the revolutionary concept of shifting from reliance on mutual offensive nuclear annihilation to a strategic defense against long-range missiles. For the administration, even theoretical or potential violations of the treaty could not be tolerated. Preserving the pact was more important than building defenses that could defend American troops or cities.....On Sept. 9, 1998, the Senate failed by a single vote to end a Democratic filibuster that blocked legislation calling for deployment of a national missile defense capable of hitting and destroying incoming missiles like the Taepo Dong. .... But all Mr. Biden had done was to revive the Cold War doctrine of mutual assured destruction, a doctrine irrelevant in confronting rogue states like North Korea. Several months after the test launch of the Taepo Dong, the Pentagon was shocked by new intelligence indicating China and its scientists were helping North Korea develop space launchers and satellites. The White House again ignored the danger, signaled by the National Security Agency's interception of communications between China and North Korea about the collaboration. The Pentagon, however, was not fooled. Satellite and space technology is virtually identical to the know-how needed to build long-range missiles and warheads. "I think the Chinese are helping them with the missile program, not just with satellites," a senior Defense Department official said. "The two are so closely intertwined, there is no way you can separate them." About a month before the Taepo Dong test, Iran had test-fired its first medium-range missile, the Shahab-3, which could travel 800 miles. And Pakistan had test-fired a medium-range missile that had come off-the-shelf from North Korea. By the end of 1998, the danger became too great for the president to continue to ignore.......In January, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced that the Pentagon would begin budgeting, but not actually spending, $6.6 billion over six years to deploy a national missile defense. For the first time, the Pentagon admitted it was wrong to think no threat of long-range missiles would emerge until 2010....... In March, Congress endorsed Mr. Weldon's stance when both the House and the Senate passed a bill declaring it U.S. policy to deploy a national missile defense. The bill won wide bipartisan support, so much so that the president could not veto it. Nevertheless, in private the White House remained opposed to deployment. In President Clinton's view, having an agreement limiting arms takes precedence over building systems to defend the nation against long-range missiles --whether from rogue states like North Korea and Iran or from nuclear powers like Russia or China...."
San Diego Union-Tribune 5/16/99 Gary Milhollin Jordan Richie "...*The state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation was allowed to buy equipment useful for uranium prospecting made by International Imaging Systems, a California company. China National Nuclear then helped Iran prospect for uranium that American intelligence officials believe will be used in making nuclear weapons...."
San Diego Union-Tribune 5/16/99 Gary Milhollin Jordan Richie "...*The state-owned China Precision Machinery Import-Export Corporation, which manufactures China's newest anti-ship cruise missiles, was allowed to buy a computer system that is useful for simulating wind effects. Not only did these missiles strengthen the Chinese military, but the company has also exported some to Iran, where, according to the United States naval commander in the Persian Gulf, they threaten our personnel...."
San Diego Union-Tribune 5/16/99 Gary Milhollin Jordan Richie "...*The Chinese Academy of Sciences was allowed to buy equipment from the Convex Computer Corp. (which has since been bought by Hewlett-Packard) for processing data from an experimental fusion reactor. The academy then exported the reactor to Iran, where it is used for training nuclear scientists...."
Washington Times 5/18/99 Bill Gertz "...In a move aimed at keeping the ring-magnets dispute quiet, Mr. Christopher wrote to the Export-Import Bank later in February 1996, asking it to defer loan approvals for American businessmen operating in China. The cutoff would have been worth about $10 billion in new loans if it had been kept in place. But the measure lasted only 30 days and did not affect already-approved loans..... National security interests, Mr. Brown asserted, should not be a higher priority than trade. "I happened to think the best chance for us to have an impact in those other areas is through being engaged with China," he said..... After months of secret U.S.-Chinese talks, State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns issued a carefully worded statement May 10, 1996, saying the secretary of state had cleared China of any culpability. "Of particular significance, the Chinese assured us that China will not provide assistance to unsafeguarded nuclear facilities, and the Chinese will now confirm this in a public statement," Mr. Burns said. Unsafeguarded facilities are nuclear plants and support facilities that are not subject to inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors nuclear facilities around the world under the treaty. "In addition," Mr. Burns declared, "senior Chinese officials have informed us that the government of China was unaware of any transfers of ring magnets by a Chinese entity, and they have confirmed our understanding that China's policy of not assisting unsafeguarded nuclear programs will preclude future transfers of ring magnets to unsafeguarded facilities." There was "not a sufficient basis" to impose sanctions as required by the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Act of 1994..... China's public announcement of the accord said only that "China will not provide assistance to unsafeguarded nuclear facilities." The Clinton administration claimed this was a "significant public commitment." ..."It is outrageous that the administration has now freed the Export-Import Bank to use taxpayer funds for loans to assist the China National Nuclear Corp. -- the very company that sold the ring magnets to Pakistan," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat. "When all is said and done," she added, "the Chinese proliferated nuclear-weapons technology and got away with it, and Pakistan received essential nuclear-weapons technology and was rewarded."..."
MSNBC 5/21/99 Brokaw and Cox "... Brokaw: "Are you more worried about the Chinese building their own weapons or selling their technology and this information to other rogue states, like Iran, for example, and Pakistan?" Cox: "There's no question that the threat that will follow from this espionage which has been successful is not just the development of the People's Liberation Army. But also, the proliferation of this technology down the line. Perhaps not all this week, next month or this year, to states that are far left of the communist government of Beijing. Already, we have seen the CIA, during the Clinton administration, just as recently as last year, identify the People's Republic of China as the number one proliferator of weapons of mass destruction technology in the world. We're going to be looking at these stolen weapons in the hands of uncivil regimes for decades to come." ..."
The Orange County Register 5/24/99 Dena Bunis "...China has begun passing on stolen U.S. nuclear weapon, missile and aircraft secrets to countries hostile to the United States, according to a draft of the House report that will be made public Tuesday. ``Essentially giving this information to the PRC (People's Republic of China) is like putting it into the stream of commerce,'' Rep. Christopher Cox, chairman of the select committee on China, said Monday. ``It will now wind up -- five years, 10 years, 15 years from now -- in the hands of terrorist regimes and rogue states.'' The fact that China has shared this data is another revelation in a more than 700-page report of Cox's committee. The nine-member panel was unanimous in its findings..."
5/25/99 Bill Gertz Washington Times "...The report also states that China is not abiding by its promises to adhere to the 29-nation Missile Technology Control Regime. Beijing is providing assistance to the missile and space programs of Iran, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and other countries. The report also said China supplies assistance to the nuclear weapons programs of Iran and Pakistan. That finding contradicts President Clinton's recent certification to Congress that China was not supplying nuclear weapons-related goods to rogue states...."
CBN News Interview 5/26/99 "...WEBB: I have heard you say that this goes far beyond China. China, now that it has these secrets, may in fact try to sell them to other rogue nations. Is that correct? WELDON: That is exactly the case. In fact, this administration, by its own written documents, has called China the single largest proliferator in the world today. And yet, this technology flowing to China should not just give us reason to be concerned about what China may do with it, but we know China is then transferring it to North Korea, to Iran, to Iraq, to Pakistan, and a whole host of other nations, according to the administration itself by calling China the proliferator that it is. That is the concern we have. It just doesn't stop with China. This is basically a wholesale auction of our technology wherever the right price is being paid around the world by rogue states and rogue groups...."
WorldNetDaily 6/1/99 Charles Smith "... the Cox report noted that in 1996, China had illegally shipped an air-to-air missile as cargo onboard an airliner full of passengers. According to the Cox report, "In 1996, Hong Kong Customs officials intercepted air-to-air missile parts being shipped by (China National Aerotechnology Import and Export Company) CATIC aboard a commercial air carrier, Dragonair. Dragonair is owned by China International Trade and Investment Company (CITIC), the most powerful and visible PRC-controlled conglomerate, and the Civil Aviation Administration of China." What the Cox report left out was that in 1996, only 36 percent of Dragonair was owned by the Chinese government. The remaining 64 percent lion-share of the Hong Kong based carrier was then owned by Indonesian billionaire Mochtar Riady. Dragonair was fined for carrying the Chinese missile in the cargo bay of an L-1011 airliner full of paying passengers. According to Aviation Week & Space Technology (AW&ST), the missile was bound for Israel, enclosed in a mislabeled box, partially dismantled, and only found by accident. Both the volatile solid fuel rocket motor and the deadly explosive warhead were intact and fully operational.... The Dragonair incident may shed light on unexplained civil airline accidents such as TWA-800....."
Washington Times 3/9/97 William Triplett "....* Arms sales to terrorist countries: In the Bush administration Secretary of State James Baker took a hands-on approach to the prevention of weapons of mass destruction proliferation. On Capitol Hill the Democratic leadership, often led by then Sen. Al Gore, passed severe sanctions legislation on foreigners engaged in nuclear, chemical, biological or missile smuggling. Yet, as The Washington Times' Bill Gertz reported over and over in 1996, under President Clinton Chinese proliferation activities have multiplied at an unprecedented rate. The most recent revelation is germ warfare-making equipment secretly shipped to the Iranians. Failure of the Clinton administration to address Chinese proliferation activities is crucial because, as Mr. Baker points out in his memoirs, Chinese arms sales to problem countries represent personal financial gain to the Chinese communist aristocracy controlling the suppliers.
Unclassified Statement for the Record by Special Assistant to the DCI for Nonproliferation John A. Lauder on the Worldwide WMD Threat to the Commission to Assess the Organization of the Federal Government to Combat the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction As Prepared for Delivery on 29 April 1999 … The China story is a mixed picture. China is actively studying membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime, has promulgated controls on dual-use nuclear technology, and tightened chemical export controls. We cannot yet be certain, however, that the new export control mechanisms will be effective, and worrisome contacts continue between Chinese entities and countries of concern. Both the Chinese Government and Chinese firms have long-standing and deep relationships with proliferant countries, and we are not convinced that China's companies fully share the commitments undertaken by senior Chinese leaders. While all aspects of China's proliferation behavior bear continued watching, we see more signs of progress on nuclear and chemical matters than on missile assistance…."
Toronto Sun 6/20/99 Eric Margolis "...U.S. and European intelligence agencies are reporting mounting evidence that Russia and China have massively violated the 1972 Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention and subsequent international and bilateral agreements to control biowarfare weapons. The convention, signed by 169 nations, prohibits the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, transfer or use of chemical and biological weapons. All signatories with biowarfare arsenals pledged to eliminate such weapons over 10 years. While Russia and China appear to have ceased adding to their huge stockpiles of chemical weapons, both are developing new strains of highly lethal biological toxins. According to Ken Alibek, a former deputy director of the top secret Soviet-era biowarfare program, who defected to the West, Moscow never ended its offensive biological warfare research. Alibek claims Russia has stockpiled many hundreds of tons of anthrax and plague, as well as smaller quantities of smallpox, Ebola and Marburg virus, and toxins designed to attack plants and animals. Russia is also developing a new strain of "invisible" biowarfare agents, known as bioregulators, that destroy the body's immune or neurological systems. The highest-ranking defector from Russia's biowarfare program ever to come West also claims that in 1985 former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev secretly authorized a five-year program to develop weaponized germs and viruses, some of which were mounted on multiple warheads of the large SS-18 ICBMs targeted at North America. Alibek also says China, which claims to have abandoned biowarfare production and eliminated stockpiles, is producing haemorrhagic viruses at Lop Nor in Central Asia, and suffered two major accidents in the late 1980s that killed hundreds of people. ....Some of the 60,000 scientists and technicians formerly employed in the Soviet biological warfare establishment have reportedly been employed by Iraq, Israel, Iran, Syria and Serbia - all of which have extensive biowarfare arsenals. India may also have received substantial Russian aid to develop its growing biowarfare capabilities. Alibek testified before the U.S. Congress that he defected after learning that while the West had virtually eliminated its toxic arsenals, Russia was not only continuing Soviet biowarfare programs but accelerating them, with 2,000 scientists alone working on new, genetically engineered strains of anthrax at a top secret island base in the Aral Sea. He claims such toxic agents have little tactical military value and are of use only as mass terror weapons designed to compensate for Russia's and China's relative backwardness in conventional military systems....."
7/20/99 Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES "....The transfers were uncovered several weeks ago by U.S. intelligence agencies, including the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and National Security Agency, and outlined in sensitive reports sent to senior Clinton administration officials late last month.... According to Pentagon intelligence officials, a DIA report said the Chinese technology sold to the North Korean missile program includes accelerometers, gyroscopes and special high-technology machinery. Accelerometers and gyroscopes are key missile-guidance components; the machinery was described by the officials as precision grinding equipment useful for building missiles, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity... One official said the DIA report also identified the origin of the missile technology as coming from China, Russia and the United States. "This could be guidance technology obtained from U.S. companies," the official said....Under U.S. export restrictions, American high-technology with weapons applications cannot be re-exported without U.S. government approval....According to a well-informed U.S. official, one recent Chinese sale to North Korea involved the transfer of specialty steel with applications for North Korea's missile program. Pentagon and White House officials said earlier this year that other intelligence reports showed that China was sharing space technology with North Korea that could boost Pyongyang's missile programs...."
Jane's Defense Weekley 7/20/99 "…North Korea's mystery ship ITS REPUTATION for selling ballistic missiles in return for hard currency and no questions asked is well known and one of its biggest customers in recent years has been Pakistan, the world's newest declared nuclear state. After Pakistan tested its Ghauri missile last year, the experts joked that the only difference between it and North Korea's No-dong missile was that it had a different flag painted on the side…."
http://www.stratfor.com/asia/default.htm?section=2.2 7/20/99 "…South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency published a report on July 20 quoting anonymous military sources who said, "The first-stage propelling rocket in the Taepodong-2 looks similar to that of China’s CSS-3 missile." The report also indicates that the booster stage of the rocket will use a liquid hydrogen-nitrogen mixed fuel identical to what is used by the CSS-3. On the same day, the Washington Times released a report alleging that Chinese state-controlled companies have been supplying critical missile technology to North Korea, particularly since the U.S. bombed China’s embassy in Belgrade….. The reports, taken together, suggest heavy Chinese involvement in North Korea’s missile program, with the Taepodong missile effectively a CSS-3 booster rocket with a North Korean Rodong-1 missile used for the second stage….."
Washington Times 7/21/99 Bill Gertz "...Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright said yesterday that the United States is worried about Chinese transfers of missile technology while a Chinese Embassy official said Beijing's sales do not violate missile export controls..... U.S. intelligence agencies reported last month that Chinese companies have transferred missile technology to North Korea, a senior Clinton administration official told The Times. The technology included accelerometers and gyroscopes used in missile development, as well as specialized machine tools, the official said. The transfers could violate U.S. weapons proliferation laws that call for imposing sanctions on companies or nations that violate the 29-nation Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The export control agreement bars transfers of missiles and related components for systems with ranges greater than 186 miles and warheads heavier than 2,200 pounds. Yu Shining, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy, said yesterday that China has not violated its promise to abide by the MTCR..... A CIA report to Congress released last week said China also supplied missile technology to North Korea during the last half of 1998. Officials said the transfer involved high-strength steel used in missiles...."
Washington Times 8/19/99 BillGertz "…recently signed an $11 million deal to improve Iran's anti-ship missiles, an agreement that again raises questions about Beijing's 1998 promise not to supply Tehran with cruise missiles or technology, The Washington Times has learned. The contract was revealed in intelligence reports sent to senior Clinton administration policy-makers last month. Pentagon officials familiar with the report said the deal will involve transfers of technology to upgrade Iran's FL-10 anti-ship cruise missile. The short-range FL-10s are being modified by the Chinese to be fired from Iranian attack helicopters and fast patrol boats that could threaten U.S. or allied warships, or oil tankers in the Persian Gulf, the officials said. One of the missiles was tested successfully from a helicopter in the Gulf of Oman in March, the officials said. White House National Security Council spokesman David Leavy said he could not comment directly on the issue because it involves intelligence matters. "We are concerned about any Chinese missile sales to Iran, and we have raised our concerns with Beijing," Mr. Leavy said. "We will continue to make the point that military exports to Iran are potentially destabilizing in the Persian Gulf, which is not in China's interest." Iran in the past has bought Chinese C-801 and C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles, and China promised the United States last year that it would halt all future sales and cooperation relating to the missile, including upgrades…."