Bill Clinton issued waivers to Loral Space & Communications to sell satellites to China.
The problem with that is, what-aboutism comes into play
Pres. GHWBush, issued nine waivers between 1989 and 1992 to allow American companies to sell satellites to China.
FWIW https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/05/25/time/china.missles.html
ThankQ for the link to the CNN article. I read it and feel like I need to read it again... What a recap of the events!Names I have not read in decades. Johnny Chung. Sandy Berger, Newt Gingrich, Trent Lott. GHWB. Phew!
Interestingly, John Kerry :( was id'd in the article as also taking illegal contributions from Chung.
As I remember it, CNN was, well, CNN. Even then. Of course they will deny, deny and deflect any wrongdoing not in their interests.
In the end, I see it is a tale of the influence of money on politics.
1996...Clinton, Chung, DNC, Loral
Notable Excerpt (it's hard to believe CNN published this): "Here's where it gets sticky: after Chung passed illegal money to the D.N.C., Clinton approved the transfer of commercial satellite-launch technology to China--technology that might have helped China improve the accuracy of its long-range ballistic missiles THAT THREATEN THE U.S." (caps added for emphasis)
I found the rest of the article to be a most interesting event-by-event, convoluted telling that wound its way to finally excuse Clinton.
Fast forward to 2002...
Excerpt from Wikepedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loral_Corporation):
"Loral was accused of transferring technology to China in 1996. The incident arose as a result of an investigation into the launch failure of Intelsat 708, a Space Systems/Loral-built satellite. In a 2002 agreement with the State Department and Department of Justice the company agreed to pay $20 million in fines to settle the matter and to improve its compliance procedures. In the agreement Loral officials neither admitted nor denied the government's charges; Loral executives acknowledged "the nature and seriousness of the offenses alleged by the department in the draft charging letter, including the risk of harm to the security and foreign policy interests of the United States", and stated that they wished to make amends through the payment of restitution. Schwartz subsequently released a statement accepting "full responsibility for the matter" and portrayed the incident as an error by a single Loral employee."Yeah, right!! Methinks they were taking care of their BOD and stockholders.