``It would be an enormous mistake to cancel the trip,'' Clinton's national security adviser Samuel Berger told the CBS-TV's `Face the nation' programme on Sunday.

Berger was referring to the demand by over 152 Republican representatives to cancel the President's visit in the wake of allegations that the Clinton administration had overruled the US defence and state departments by easing satellite export restrictions to China in 1996.

He insisted that the United States had an important relationship with the Chinese who constitute one-fourth of the world's population.

``In Asia we have a crisis in South Asia; we have a problem in Indonesia; a tense situation in Korea... And the President will discuss theseissues with the Chinese, as well as the areas where he disagrees with the Chinese, such as human rights,'' Berger said.

Asked whether the transfer of technology to China helped the Chinese in their missile technology, Berger said that no national security was breached by the licence approved by Clinton.

As to what technology the US company Loral Communications had transferred and whether it harmed the national security, Berger said he could not comment on that pending the result of the justice department investigation that has been launched.

``Until that investigation is completed I cannot say whether Loral transferred any dual use technology,'' he said and insisted that he did not know about the alleged Chinese Army contribution to Clinton's re-election campaign.

The fact that Loral's chairman was the biggest contributor to the Clinton campaign, he claimed, did not influence the decision to let Loral use a Chinese rocket.

Berger said that the decision to let American communications companies useChinese, Russian and European rockets for their projects was based purely on commercial considerations.

Berger warned that preventing US communications companies from using Chinese rockets to orbit their satellites would have a substantial impact in terms of the American communications satellites industry.

It would also have a substantial impact on US-China relations, he said and insisted that the house of representatives, instead of awaiting the facts and then coming to conclusions, has got it backwards. ``It starts with the remedy and works back to get the facts,'' he said.

As to the charge that the administration is indifferent to human rights in China, Berger said, ``We have made human rights a central pillar of our engagement with China, and it has produced results''.

As to the symbolism of Clinton's arrival in Tiananmen Square, Berger assured the country that the President would raise human rights issues forthrightly with the Chinese.