CLINTON: acknowledges that Chinese espionage occurred during his watch
[http://cox.house.gov/]
Friday, April 23, 1999
Clinton acknowledges that Chinese espionage occurred during his watch
http://cox.house.gov/html/coverage.cfm?id=284
By Dena Bunis
WASHINGTON -- President Clinton for the first time Thursday
acknowledged that Chinese government espionage occurred during his
watch, a pair of congressmen said after an hour-long meeting with the
president at the White House.
Republican Rep. Christopher Cox, chairman of the House select
committee on China and Rep. Norman Dicks, the senior Democrat on that
panel, said Clinton did not dispute that China has stolen U.S.
military and nuclear secrets for the past two decades, including
during his administration.
As recently as March 19, Clinton said he knew of no instances of the
Chinese stealing weapons and nuclear secrets since 1993, when he took
office.
Cox, R-Newport Beach, said he could not be specific about the issues
discussed at the meeting because his committee's report has still not
been declassified.
But, Cox said, ``there is no disagreement among any of us on the
facts.'' Cox said they talked about Chinese stealing of secrets
``starting in the Carter administration, going all the way up to the
present time.''
Dicks, D-Wash., said that during the meeting Cox ``laid out in great
detail the various problems that have occurred over the years and the
president did not dispute any of that.''
White House officials said the president was not surprised by
Thursday's conversation.
``No one is under any illusions about China or any other country
trying to acquire our sensitive technology and information,'' said
David Leavy, spokesman for the National Security Council. ``What we
need to be is vigilant and determined in a systematic way in
confronting this threat. We've done that in the past and will continue
to do that in the future.''
At his March 19 press conference, Clinton questioned whether it had
been shown that indeed espionage was ongoing during his
administration.
``To the best of my knowledge, no one has said anything to me about
any espionage which occurred by the Chinese against the labs, during
my Presidency,'' Clinton said.
Leavy said Clinton has received ``fuller briefings'' since that press
conference.
Just this week, U.S. intelligence officials said that the nuclear
secrets China has stolen over the years would probably accelerate
China's future weapons program.
Cox's committee drafted 38 recommendations the panel believes are
needed to stop the hemorrhaging of secrets from the nation's labs and
other national security venues.
While the report was issued on Jan. 3, Cox's team and the
administration have spent the past four months negotiating over how
much of the report can be made public.
Cox said about half a dozen points of contention on declassification
remain between the committee and the administration.
Cox and the ranking Democratic member, Dicks, have been trying to see
the president on this matter for the past two months.
``We covered in great detail a number of incidents of espionage of
great consequence to make sure the president heard it from the horse's
mouth,'' Cox said after the meeting.
``The president is going to be more likely to get involved in this in
useful ways as a result of making the time to hear our concerns
directly,'' predicted Cox.
About 10 people were at the White House meeting, including National
Security Advisor Sandy Berger.
As more details of China's spying have been revealed, critics have
questioned whether Berger _ first briefed about Chinese atomic
espionage in April 1996 _ acted quickly enough to counsel the
administration to intensify security at the national labs.
``One of the things that we talked about at great length,'' Cox said,
``was that there is insufficient sharing within the executive branch
of information on these topics. We recommended that the National
Security Council and the National Security Advisor and the Department
of Defense be involved in some decisions that they presently are
not.''
Cox said Clinton was ``very interested and concerned'' about that
recommendation.
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