LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic Universe-Document

LEXIS-NEXIS® Academic

July 2, 1999, Friday, Home Edition

SECTION: Part A; Page 4; National Desk

LENGTH: 627 words

HEADLINE: U.S. COMPUTER CURBS ON CHINA MAY EASE;
TECHNOLOGY: POWERFUL MACHINES ARE AVAILABLE TO BEIJING FROM ELSEWHERE, WHITE HOUSE REASONS. LIMITS WOULD BE LOOSENED FOR OTHER NATIONS AS WELL.

BYLINE: PETER G. GOSSELIN, TIMES STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:
Despite controversy over China's alleged theft of American nuclear weapon designs and other high-tech secrets, the Clinton administration proposed Thursday easing limits on U.S. computer sales to China and other politically sensitive nations.

Senior administration officials strongly hinted that further easing is on the way, possibly including complete abandonment of an especially tight limit on sales to China's military. The current limit requires companies to get permission before selling anything more powerful than a souped-up desktop computer to the Chinese military. The new limit would allow sales of substantial business computer systems without government approval. Administration officials portrayed their decision as partly a bow to the reality that powerful machines are readily available for purchase around the world--making U.S. export restrictions no longer effective--and partly a rousing defense of the U.S. computer industry.

"With no change to current controls, we estimate that the U.S. could lose nearly $ 4 billion in sales over the next four years," White House Chief of Staff John Podesta said in unveiling the proposal. "That would weaken our computer industry, it would weaken our economy and it would do so without any benefit to our national security."

Key congressional Republicans gave the White House plan a surprisingly warm welcome, given the recent GOP-led investigation of alleged Chinese spying at U.S. weapon labs and misappropriation of American technology.

A congressional aide said that the battle likely will not come over the looser limits themselves but over how quickly the administration puts them into effect. Under current law, Congress has six months to decide whether to accept or reject the most stringent of the limits. The White House and the computer industry said that the new rules need to be in place within a month.

The new proposal represents the third time that the Clinton administration has sought to loosen export limits since 1993. Both the Ronald Reagan and George Bush administrations loosened some limits.

The U.S. ranks computers based on their speed, which it measures in millions of theoretical operations per second, or MTOPS. It sets MTOPS limits above which computer makers must obtain licenses before selling abroad. The limits differ depending on whether a buying country is considered an ally, trading partner or potential rival of the United States.

Under the administration plan:

* The military limit for countries like China would be raised from 2,000 MTOPS, or about half again as powerful as a typical desktop computer's 1,500 MTOPS, to 6,500 MTOPS. The civilian limit would be raised from 7,000 MTOPS to 12,300 MTOPS.

* The limit for more than 100 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe would be immediately raised from 10,000 to 20,000 MTOPS. Administration officials said that the limit is likely to be raised within six months to between 32,000 and 36,000 MTOPS.

White House officials said that they will try to convince the GOP-controlled Congress to change a 1997 measure that requires the administration to wait six months before loosening export limits on countries like China to give lawmakers a chance to block such actions. The White House wants the waiting period reduced to one month.

Despite praise for the measure from some GOP lawmakers, the plan is virtually certain to fuel further controversy over China, and over Clinton's leadership.

"The idea that the president would liberalize the export of supercomputers that are being used by the communist Chinese to develop nuclear weapons, some of which are being aimed at the U.S., makes no sense to me," said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon).

LOAD-DATE: July 2, 1999