A number of American anti-China politicians, represented by Christopher Cox, dished out a tedious so-called investigation report on May 25, after more than half a year of careful scheming. The report alleges that the sophisticated national defense technology and major scientific and technological achievements related to national economic progress developed independently by China through self-reliance are "stolen'' or illegally "acquired'' from the United States. The Chinese Government and people are strongly indignant over this groundless attack that fabricates facts and confuses black and white.

The Cox Report, however, claims that "the People's Republic of China employs all types of people, organizations, and collection operations to acquire sensitive technology. Threats to national security can come from PRC scientists, students, business people or bureaucrats, in addition to professional civilian and military intelligence operations.'' This is a great slander against the Chinese nation and is typical racial prejudice. China is a large country with a long history of civilization. The Chinese nation is an industrious and ingenious nation. China has always relied on its own efforts to handle its own affairs. Never did China in the past, nor does it at present, nor will it in the future, base its development of the sophisticated national defense technology related to national security and interests on the "theft'' of technology from other countries. China relies on its own forces to independently develop its national defense technology. This is a basic principle China has persisted.

As everybody knows, during the years when the United States imposed an all-round blockade and used nuclear blackmail against China, China relied on its own efforts to develop atom bombs, missiles, satellites and other sophisticated national defense technology. In the 15 years before China and the United States established diplomatic relations, on June 29, 1964, China successfully launched the first domestically developed surface-to-surface missile, and on October 16 the same year, China successfully exploded its first atom bomb. In the 12 years before the establishment of Sino-US diplomatic relations, on June 17, 1967, China exploded its first H-bomb. During the nine years before the establishment of Sino-US diplomatic relations, on April 24, 1970, China successfully launched its own man-made earth satellite. These facts indicate that China has a full capacity to independently develop any sophisticated national defense technology. Cox and other anti-China politicians in the United States, turning a blind eye to these facts, have tried their best to belittle and deny the Chinese people innovative capacity in developing sophisticated national defense technology.

The Cox Report attacks China for extensively "stealing'' various military technologies of the United States over a long period. But, terms of conjecture such as "seemingly'', "presumably'', "if", "perhaps'', "probably'' and "perhaps in the future'', can be found throughout the report while offering no substantive evidence. Without any solid, concrete facts, they even claim China "stole" US sensitive technology in an organized and extensive way that threatens the national security of the United States. This is utterly absurd. This sensational conclusion does not hold water. The Cox Report also brands such normal academic activities as investigating and studying open materials and international academic exchanges as "stealing'' US technological secrets. This is extremely ridiculous. It uses the method of first maintaining that China displays the behavioral pattern of "stealing'', and then fabricating facts subjectively by scraping together deliberately concocted information. By the way, I?d like to tell you a fact that the concept Simulated Nuclear Explosion by Laser used in the Cox Report was developed on the basis of ?ICF??Inertial Confinement Fusion by Laser?, which was originally advanced by Mr. Wang Ganchang of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1964. China has never said that the use of this theory by other countries is a theft of technology.

China has been relying on its own efforts to manufacture and develop its nuclear weapons. China has never, as the Cox Report claims, "stolen'' secrets from the US nuclear weapons laboratory. Performance data on the seven types of nuclear warheads--W56, W62, W70, W76, W78, W87 and W88--have long been openly published in the United States. They are no longer secrets, so there is nothing to "steal''. For instance, the US Nuclear Forces and Capability, the first volume of the Nuclear Weapons Databook, written by Tomas B. Cochran and others in 1984, and US Nuclear Weapons: The Secret History, written by Chuck Hansen in 1988, all make a detailed introduction to the aforementioned nuclear warheads' power, weight, length, diameter, materials, circular error probability and other relevant data, as well as development units, supporting carrier system and the armed services to be equipped. The writers specifically pointed out that all the materials they quoted came from the records of the hearings of the US Congress, the three major nuclear laboratories of the US Department of Energy and the US Department of Defense, in order to emphasize the authority and reliability of the books. Moreover, in recent years, performance data about various types of nuclear warheads, ranging from the early MK-1 to the latest W88, can easily be found on the Internet.

The Cox Report says the United States has conducted about 1,030 nuclear tests, while China has only carried out 45 such tests. But, China has developed advanced thermal nuclear warheads technologically similar to those of the United States. Here, the report, humming and hawing, drops a hint that China has achieved this by "stealing'' US nuclear technology, otherwise, the achievement would be impossible. This kind of logic is quite ridiculous. According to it, any scientific and technological achievements attained by other countries, particularly those developed faster than the United States, come from technology "stolen'' from the United States. This is wildly arrogant. It only took China two years and eight months to go from the explosion of the first atom bomb to that of the first H-bomb. China achieved this under the condition of severe US blockade. This fact, perhaps, cannot be denied by certain anti-China politicians in the United States.

The Cox Report also offers a large number of distortions about China's space undertakings. China began developing its own space program during the period of embargo and blockade by Western countries. China's space sector has developed by totally relying on its own strength. Without any foreign assistance, China has independently developed intermediate and short-range missiles, long-range rockets, submarine-launched solid-propellant rockets, recoverable satellites, the technology to launch multiple satellites atop a single rocket, and geostationary communication satellites. When China announced it would enter into the international commercial satellite launching market, the country already had the experience of 20 successful launches, giving it the ability to launch all kinds of satellites in high, medium and low orbits. China launched the first international commercial satellite in 1990. Launched by the Long March-III carrier rocket, the "Asiasat I'' satellite made by the Hughes Corp. achieved the most accurate orbit insertion precision among the 31 satellites in the same category launched by the company to that date. The aforementioned facts all demonstrate that the space technology of China has already ranked among the world's top level.

Commercial satellite launching represents the peaceful use of space technologies and is a normal commercial activity based on mutual benefit. The Cox Report slanders China by saying it had "acquired'' US missile guidance technology through commercial launches to promote the development of its own missiles. This is a totally deceptive statement that substitutes one thing for another. Although China already had the high-precision missile guidance technology, people with even slight scientific knowledge will know that commercial satellite launches require only an economic and rational guidance system with moderate precision, instead of the high-precision guidance system needed for ballistic missiles. It is understandable if it is a non-professional who is saying that the precision of the missile guidance system can be improved through commercial launches. But it is very surprising that such a statement comes from the so-called investigation report of the Special Committee of the US Congress. The Cox Report uses many pages to exaggerate China's failures in commercial satellite launches in 1995 and 1996. It alleges that because the reasons for the failures were all determined under the guidance of American experts, China could improve its carrier-rocket technology and then apply it to its missiles. It is sheer nonsense. The rocket has been developed by China itself, and the various flight data are kept by the Chinese. The Chinese have been independently developing rockets for more than 30 years, during which time they have experienced numerous successes and failures. Do they still need others' guidance for clearing up any errors? Moreover, the Chinese cannot easily give out the details of their own rocket design. How can the Americans who don't know the ins and outs of the thing give any guidance? Since China has the ability to independently develop the carrier rocket, it certainly has the ability to solve the problems related to its flight technology. China has never, and has no such need to "acquire'' the sensitive technology of the United States through the investigation of errors.

China launches the US satellites strictly in accordance with the agreement between the governments of the two countries. The security of US-made satellites was under the strict 24-hour control of the US side. However, the Cox Report claims, "It would be surprising if the PRC has not exploited security lapses while US-built satellites and associated equipment and documents were in the PRC.'' This is really surprising to wantonly make such a subjective assumption, especially when it is unable to prove that China has stolen sensitive US technology through commercial launches.

The Cox Report not only slanders China "stealing'' US nuclear weapon and missile technology, but also charges that China has applied the advanced US technologies in the areas of high-performance computer, civil aviation and precision machinery for military purposes. And, based on this, it suggests the United States intensify control over the export of dual-purpose commodities and technology to China. It even unreasonably demands China should establish a so-called open and transparent system which enables American nationals designated by the United States to examine on the spot the end-users without advance notice. This is a hegemonic act that disregards China's sovereignty and violates the basic norms governing international relations. China by no means agrees with this.

A short time ago, the US-led NATO used missiles to attack the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia, which has been strongly condemned by the Chinese Government and people and the international community. It seems totally intentional that the Cox Report was published under current circumstances. It is another adverse current against China among the series of anti-China events created by some people in the United States over recent years. Their purpose is to divert public attention, fan anti-China feelings, defame China's image and try to hold back Sino-US relations so as to stop China's development. This attempt is doomed to fail.

China will unswervingly persist in taking economic construction as the central task, adhere to reform and opening, and stick to the independent foreign policies of self-reliance and peace. China is a peace-loving country. China develops its scientific and technological undertakings and its national defense strength for the purpose of safeguarding national security and interests, and maintaining State sovereignty and world peace. China opposes hegemonism, and China will never seek hegemony.