Source:
https://scmp.com/article/17932/conflict-interest-claim-against-new-clinton-commerce-nominee

Conflict of interest claim against new Clinton commerce nominee

UNITED States Commerce Secretary Mr Ronald Brown has angrily dismissed charges that the person President Mr Bill Clinton picked to be his deputy is unsuitable because he heads a firm that wants to sell a controversial super-computer to China.

Mr Brown strongly defended Mr Clinton's nomination of Mr John Rollwagen, chairman and chief executive of Cray Research Incorporated, to be deputy Commerce Secretary.

He brushed aside suggestions that Mr Rollwagen would face a conflict of interest over Beijing's bid to buy a super-computer from Cray that opponents say would enhance China's military know-how.

Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press , Mr Brown said he wanted a successful head of a hi-tech firm to be his deputy.

''I couldn't have found a better one than John Rollwagen,'' he said.

Mr Brown said he knew about Mr Rollwagen's role in the proposed computer sale to China but said that should not stop him from dealing with the issue as deputy secretary.

Minneapolis-based Cray, the world's largest manufacturer of high-speed computers, has applied to the Commerce Department for an export licence for the China sale.

Controversy surrounded the computer sale in the last days of President Mr George Bush's tenure when he came under strong pressure to block the transfer.

China has said it wants the computer to improve its weather forecasting but the Defence Department and Central Intelligence Agency fear Beijing will divert the technology to enhance its military capabilities.

Mr Bush ruled one day before leaving office to continue the complex process of selling the computer to China by referring the sale to the Paris-based Co-ordinating Committee on Multilateral Export Controls, a group that must approve hi-tech transfers to countries like China.

The new Clinton administration, which now has the authority to reverse Mr Bush's last-minute decision, has not made clear what it intends to do.

But in defending Mr Rollwagen's nomination, Mr Brown said the Commerce Department's task was to ''promote US exports, to create jobs for the American people''.

The Senate has yet to vote on Mr Rollwagen's nomination.