U.S. company sells Israel supercomputers used for China radar systems

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration has permitted a U.S. company to sell high-tech equipment to an Israeli company, to improve radar systems bound for China.

The administration has permitted Sun Microsystems to sell high-performance computers to Israel's Elta Electronics Industries Ltd., Ashdod. A leading U.S. arms control critic said the supercomputers will help Elta in its project to supply China with an early-warning airborne system.

"Israel has begun to outfit Chinese planes with a powerful new radar, one reportedly able to see targets and help direct air battles as far as 250 miles away," Gary Milhollin of the Wisconsin Project said in an article for the Washington Post. "The Clinton administration has been trying to stop this deal, but it is facing a formidable barrier: its own desire to promote US exports "This means that is the U.S. ever has to defend Taiwan, U.S. pilots could be targeted by radar built with U.S. equipment."

Milhollin said the administration will also allow Sun Microsystems to sell a high-performance computer to Rafael Israel Armament Development Authority, "which played a major role in developing Israel's largest nuclear-tipped missile."

Until this year, Sun Microsystems was banned from selling the computer to Rafael.

The new relaxation in administration policy is part of President Bill Clinton's Jan. 23 decision to ease restrictions on high-performance computer exports to countries with nuclear capability.

Israeli officials said that defense sales to China do not oppose U.S. interests.

Milhollin said the Weizmann Institute, which "researches high-energy physics and was the birthplace of Israel's nuclear weapons effort" and China's Harbin Institute of Technology and the Nanjing Public Security Bureau seek computers capable of executing from 2-6.5 billion operations per second.

Harbin is said to produce rocket casings and other components for China's long range nuclear missiles and Nanjing is responsible for monitoring political dissidents.