WASHINGTON, June 8: Toning down the rhetoric, Republican leaders promised an evenhanded investigation into technology transfers to China and acknowledged they may never know if administration decisions were influenced by political donations.Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Republican Sen Richardshelby said yesterday his panel's inquiry into the China transfers was going to be ``broad, (and) it's going to be deep.''But he told Fox News Sunday that in the end the waiver allowing Loral Corporation to launch a satellite from a Chinese rocket may have resulted from ``a lot of bad policy, some bad decisions'' but not political influences.Both the Senate and House are investigating whether a Loral report on the 1996 explosion of a Chinese rocket carrying one of its satellites helped the Chinese improve their military missile technology. They also are looking into why, as the Justice Department was investigating that 1996 incident, President Bill Clinton's administration granted a waiver for anothersatellite launch.In the background are that Loral Chief Executive Officer Bernard Schwartz is a major contributor to the Democratic party and allegations that Chinese government officials illegally funneled money to the Democratic party during the 1996 elections.Sen. Orrin Hatch, also a Republican and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he is willing to give Schwartz the benefit of the doubt on his denial that he ever tried to buy influence with the administration.Sino-US joint naval exercise on cardsHONG KONG: China and United States are expected to reach an agreement to stage a joint naval exercise next year, their first operation together since World War II, a report here said today.The proposed coordinated sea rescue operation is set to be agreed during US President Bill Clinton's official visit to China starting June 25, The Hong Kong Standard said. It said the exercise had been included by US and Chinese diplomats in a package of proposals to be discussed by Clintonand Chinese President Jiang Zemin during their Beijing summit. The daily quoted the diplomats as saying the naval exercise would implement and extend the "constructive strategic partnership" announced by Clinton and Jiang during the Chinese President's visit to Washington last October.
