President Clinton said today that reported political campaign contributions from China to the Democrats had not influenced his foreign policy, but he welcomed further investigation into decisions that made it easier for China to launch American satellites and possibly obtain sensitive technology.

''The decisions we made, we made because we thought they were in the interests of the American people,'' Mr. Clinton said, responding for the first time to reports that a Democratic Party fund-raiser told Federal investigators of funneling thousands of dollars from a Chinese military officer in the President's 1996 re-election campaign. Mr. Clinton, speaking at the end of an economic meeting in Birmingham, England, said he would determine the substance of the charges before deciding whether they would affect policy toward the Chinese Government.

''In any case, I think the investigation ought to proceed,'' he said, ''and then whatever the facts are, we'll take appropriate action at that time.'' Mr. Clinton is planning to visit China next month.

The Justice Department's campaign finance task force is investigating whether political contributions influenced the Administration's 1996 decision to reverse a State Department policy that had categorized satellites as ''munitions,'' making it more difficult to export them for launching aboard Chinese rockets.