Gingrich Planning Probe of China Donation Claims

House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) said Tuesday that he plans to form a special committee to look into allegations that the White House sent sensitive missile and satellite technology to China in return for illegal 1996 Chinese campaign contributions to the Democrats.

Discounting that the panel might rehash campaign finance abuses, Gingrich told reporters: “This has to do with the national security of the United States and an effort by a foreign military to penetrate our military system, an effort by some people to give the Chinese secrets in violation of American law.”

The speaker’s plan followed the disclosure last week that federal prosecutors have received new information from Southern California fund-raiser Johnny Chien Chuen Chung, who has pleaded guilty to violations of campaign finance laws. Chung, who contributed $366,000 to the Democratic National Committee, reportedly has claimed that a lieutenant colonel in the People’s Liberation Army provided some of the campaign funds and that the money originated in the Chinese military.

The Chinese officer, Liu Chao-ying, is also an executive of China Aerospace Corp., a state-run company, and the daughter of an important general. Some GOP lawmakers have speculated that Liu was seeking to influence a White House decision, pending at the time, to allow U.S.-made civilian satellites to be carried into space on Chinese rockets.

Earlier this year, President Clinton granted a waiver permitting U.S. companies to proceed with such deals with the Chinese.

Through a spokeswoman in Beijing Tuesday, Liu denied any wrongdoing. “No one in China Aerospace has any need to make political donations to America,” the spokeswoman said.

Loral Space and Communications Ltd., the U.S. aerospace firm involved, said the waiver it received for high technology exports to China bore no relationship “of any kind” to Chinese donations or to campaign contributions by its own chief executive officer, Bernard L. Schwartz.

Schwartz, who made $632,000 in soft-money contributions to the Democrats, was the party’s largest single donor in the 1996 election.

Loral and another aerospace firm, Hughes Electronics Corp., exported commercial satellites to China to be launched atop Chinese missiles. After a missile carrying a Loral satellite exploded in 1996, technicians of the two companies allegedly gave the Chinese information that Republicans suggested may have helped China make its long-range missiles more accurate.

Gingrich said the eight-member panel, whose five Republicans and three Democrats would be headed by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), would look into Loral’s dealings and whether the Chinese sought to buy influence with the administration. Formation of the panel would require approval by a majority of House members.

An aide to House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.) said Gephardt believes a special panel “is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money, and that any investigation should be carried out by a regular House committee.” Loral said the waiver it received early this year to export satellite technology was handled in a routine manner and was one of 16 waivers granted to U.S. companies. The White House also has denied any link to campaign donations.

Gingrich and House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) said Clinton should cooperate with Congress on its investigation before he leaves for a scheduled trip to China in late June. Gingrich said the special committee probably would not be formed until about that time.

Chung’s associates have maintained that he was not acting on behalf of the Chinese government. They said the Torrance entrepreneur had legitimate business dealings with Liu.

Times staff writer Janet Hook contributed to this story.