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THOMPSON REQUESTS TEXT OF
U.S.-CHINA AGREEMENT ON POST-SHIPMENT EXPORT VERIFICATION
WASHINGTON — Senate
Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson (R-TN) today
released a letter that he sent to President Bill Clinton requesting a copy
of the undisclosed agreement between the United States and the People's
Republic of China (PRC) regarding post-shipment verifications for all
exports, particularly high performance computers (HPC).
Chairman Thompson requested a
copy of the agreement following Governmental Affairs Committee hearings
last month into export control implementation issues with respect to HPCs.
One of the findings of this hearing was that export controls and
post-shipment verification for HPCs are inadequate. This is particularly
critical given a 1999 report issued by the House Select Committee on U.S.
Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of
China (the Cox Committee), which stated that HPCs are essential to the
PRC's nuclear weapons, ballistic missile, intelligence collection and
other military programs.
"There are a number of factors
at play here that point to the inadequacy of the Administration's export
policies and procedures," Thompson said. "The Cox Committee report shows
that, from the Administration's relaxation of export controls to
Intelligence Community reports regarding the PRC's ongoing proliferation,
we are not taking these threats seriously enough."
Thompson has repeatedly
expressed his concern about the continued proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction and the means to deliver them by the PRC and recently
introduced legislation to address this issue. S. 2645, "The China
Nonproliferation Act," which will be considered by the Senate as either
"parallel legislation" or as an amendment to the bill granting Permanent
Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to China, would set up an annual review
mechanism, mandatory penalties, and an escalating scale of responses to
Chinese proliferation.
A copy of the June 21 letter
is attached.
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