Time: Mon Jul 14 08:44:30 1997
	by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id IAA14186;
	Mon, 14 Jul 1997 08:40:52 -0700 (MST)
	by usr09.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id IAA17184;
	Mon, 14 Jul 1997 08:40:40 -0700 (MST)
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 1997 08:40:23 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: IBD Editorial: Chinagate: A Chronology (fwd)

<snip>
>
>(C) Copyright 1997 Investors Business Daily, Inc.
>
>
>E D I T O R I A L
>Chinagate:
>
>A Chronology As the Senate started its hearings
>yesterday into campaign fund-raising abuses, the 
>probe's chairman, Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., said 
>the evidence will lead all the way to China. That
>nation, he said, sought to influence U.S. elections 
>with illegal funds through a plan that ''our 
>investigation suggests . . . continues today.''
>
>This path to China leads through Little Rock, Ark., 
>and the Clinton White House.
>
>Here's a chronology of the events known so far:
>
>1984
>
>February: China-born Mochtar Riady buys more than 20% of Worthen Banking
>Corp. stock. Little Rock-based Worthen names Mochtar's son, James Riady,
>president. The Riadys befriend Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton.
>
>November: The Riadys' Indonesia-based Lippo Group, backed in part by
>Worthen, buys the Hongkong Chinese Bank Ltd.
>
>1985
>
>March: China-born Jian-Nan (John) Huang, who became a U.S. citizen in 
>1976,
>is named a vice president at both Lippo and Hongkong Chinese Bank. He also
>becomes Worthen's vice president for the Far East.
>
>October: Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton meet Huang on an Arkansas trade
>mission to Taiwan and Hong Kong.
>
>1990
>
>January: Huang is named director of Lippo Group USA and vice chairman of
>Lippo Bank of California.
>
>1992
>
>As part of the Clinton-Gore campaign effort, Huang helps lead Asian-
>American fund raising for the Democratic National Committee in California.
>(James Riady and his wife contribute $200,000 to the DNC.)
>
>November: Clinton wins the White House. China Resources Holding Co. - 
>owned
>by the Chinese government - buys a controlling interest in the Hongkong
>Chinese Bank. The deal puts Lippo in business with the Chinese communists.
>Huang writes to a Clinton transition-team official expressing interest in 
>a
>job in the new administration.
>
>Also in November, Huang lobbies on behalf of fellow Lippo executive 
>Charles
>De Queljoe, who seeks a position with the National Security Council, State
>Department or Commerce Department.
>
>1993
>
>January: James Riady attends President-elect Clinton's economic summit in
>Little Rock. He represents Lippo Bank. On the 20th, the Riadys attend
>Clinton's inauguration along with some 15 other Indonesians. (The Riadys
>helped pay for the inaugural celebration.) That night, Mochtar Riady meets
>privately with Clinton.
>
>March: Mochtar Riady writes Clinton a letter on March 9 asking him to
>normalize trade relations with Vietnam, extend most-favored-nation status 
>to
>China and strengthen trade ties with Indonesia.
>
>April: James Riady and a senior adviser to Indonesian President Gen. 
>Suharto
>visit the White House to persuade Clinton to let Suharto participate in an
>Asia-Pacific summit in November. With Riady, Huang also pays a White House
>visit to Clinton. On the 5th, Clinton officially responds to Mochtar 
>Riady's
>March 9 letter, telling him the letter has been forwarded to National
>Economic Council Director Robert Rubin. On the 12th, James Riady calls
>Associate Attorney General Webster Hubbell. (Hubbell's Rose Law Firm in
>Little Rock represented Lippo.)
>
>On April 13, James Riady calls Hubbell again - this time from the White
>House office of Clinton's most trusted adviser, Bruce Lindsey. (Lindsey's
>Little Rock law firm Wright, Lindsey & Jennings also represented Lippo.) 
>On
>April 16, Yah Ling ''Charlie'' Trie, a China-born Little Rock restaurateur
>and big DNC donor, meets with Clinton in the White House.
>
>June: U.S. trade representative Mickey Kantor ends a review of Indonesian
>labor law standards, allowing Indonesia to retain special low tariffs.
>(Kantor's Los Angeles law firm Manett, Phelps & Phillips also represented
>Lippo.)
>
>August: Lippo opens offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
>
>November: James Riady attends Clinton's Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
>summit in Seattle on the 18th. He shares a breakfast table with White 
>House
>chief of staff Thomas ''Mack'' McLarty. Clinton meets privately with
>Suharto.
>
>December: On the 30th, Clinton appoints Huang deputy assistant secretary 
>for
>international economic policy.
>
>1994
>
>January: Huang gets a top-secret federal security clearance on the 31st -
>six months before he begins his Commerce Department job and without the
>usual full FBI security background check.
>
>February: Clinton lifts U.S. embargo against Vietnam, beginning
>normalization process.
>
>March: Hubbell resigns to face fraud charges filed by Whitewater special
>prosecutor Kenneth Starr.
>
>April: Commerce creates a new general license category, allowing nearly 
>all
>dual-use (civilian or military application) telecommunications items to be
>exported to civilian customers in China without licenses.
>
>May: Clinton renews - unconditionally - China's most-favored-nation 
>trading
>status. On the 12th, Trie again meets with Clinton in the White House.
>
>June: Clinton sets up defense fund to defray legal costs from Whitewater
>probe and Paula Jones sex-harassment suit.
>
>June: Riady meets with Clinton for five straight days. The next week,
>Riady's Lippo pays Hubbell $100,000. Also in June, Entergy Corp. business
>manager Chris Brown meets with Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary Jude
>Kearney, a Clinton appointee, about Entergy's China projects.
>(Louisiana-based Entergy owns Arkansas Power & Light.)
>
>July: Huang collects $878,700 in bonuses from Lippo. On the 18th, he joins
>Commerce payroll. During the month he also calls Little Rock offices of
>Entergy from his Commerce office.
>
>August: Huang again calls the Little Rock offices of Entergy. On the 30th,
>he and Commerce Secretary Ron Brown make trade mission to China with 24 
>U.S.
>executives (15 of whom are heavy DNC contributors). The trip nets $6 
>billion
>in new business contracts, including a $1.3 billion deal between Entergy 
>and
>Lippo to manage and expand a power plant in northern China. (The deal
>wouldn't have been possible without renewal of MFN status a few months
>earlier.)
>
>September: Commerce approves export of machine tools to China. Some are
>shipped to the Nanchang Aircraft Co., which produces fighter aircraft and
>cruise missiles for the Chinese People's Liberation Army.
>
>October: In a phone message, a DNC worker reminds Huang at Commerce about
>the ''campaign for the fall.'' (It's illegal for federal workers to 
>solicit
>campaign gifts). Hubbell flies to Indonesia to visit the Riadys.
>
>November: Republicans win Congress. Clinton and the first lady visit
>Indonesia with Ron Brown and an Arkansas business entourage. The business
>group signs $40 billion in new contracts. Clinton meets with Suharto, as
>well as China's president, Jiang Zemin. He also meets privately with James
>Riady. Also in November, Huang formally recuses himself from Indonesian
>affairs - but only after he sat in on at least two interdepartmental
>meetings to re-examine U.S.-Indonesia policy on trade and human rights
>months earlier.
>
>December: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. orders Lippo Bank of
>California to comply with federal safeguards against money laundering. 
>U.S.
>Trade Rep. Mickey Kantor names Lippo's De Queljoe to the Investment and
>Services Advisory Committee.
>
>1995
>
>March: Huang is briefed by Commerce's intelligence liaison officer, the 
>link
>between the department and the CIA, and sees reports on China. Huang then
>calls Lippo Bank of California in Los Angeles. (Conflict-of-interest laws
>bar federal officials from staying in close contact with former 
>employers.)
>
>May: Huang is again briefed by Commerce intelligence liaison officer. 
>Again,
>he calls Lippo Bank of California in Los Angeles. U.S. District Judge 
>Royce
>Lamberth orders Commerce to turn over more than 30,000 pages of documents 
>on
>trade missions to Judicial Watch. (Commerce withholds about 3,000 pages.)
>
>June: Hubbell is sentenced to 21 months in prison and is fined $135,000.
>Also in June, the DNC kicks off its '96 television advertising campaign -
>the earliest of any presidential race.
>
>July: Huang's California friend, Commerce aide Melinda Yee, becomes a 
>senior
>adviser to Ron Brown. Clinton fully normalizes relations with Vietnam.
>
>Also in July, Huang attends Washington ceremony unveiling Clinton bust 
>given
>in honor of Mochtar Riady.
>
>August: Hubbell enters federal prison.
>
>September: Huang, James Riady and Joseph Giroir, former Rose Law Firm
>managing partner, meet with Clinton and Lindsey in the White House. All
>agree that Huang can better serve the president as a fund- raiser. Huang
>later gets another briefing from Commerce Department's intelligence 
>liaison
>officer. That same day, he phones Lippo Bank of California. Riady meets
>again with Clinton and stresses the importance of renewing China's MFN
>status.
>
>Also in September: Clinton meets with Long Beach, Calif., officials to 
>push
>a plan to lease an old Navy base to Beijing-controlled China Ocean 
>Shipping
>Co. The Pentagon's No. 2 attends the White House meeting.
>
>October: Ron Brown leads another trade mission to China. Brown, Trie,
>Antonio Pan (a former Lippo executive) and Ernest Green (a Clinton 
>Arkansas
>pal) hold a fund-raiser in Hong Kong. The pitch to wealthy dinner guests:
>Make a big donation and meet the president. (It's not known how much, if
>any, money was raised. It's illegal for U.S. candidates and parties to 
>take
>donations from people other than U.S. citizens or permanent residents.)
>Huang attends two meetings at Chinese Embassy. Takes cab from Chinese
>ambassador's residence. Thai businesswoman Pauline Kanchanalak meets with
>Brown as part of an official Thai government delegation.
>
>November: Huang takes big donors to the White House for photo opportunity
>with Vice President Al Gore. Keshi Zhan attends. She works for Trie's
>Daihatsu International trading firm. Trie is informed of his appointment 
>to
>the president's commission on U.S.-Pacific trade and investment policy -
>five months in advance.
>
>December: Lindsey arranges Huang's transfer to DNC to begin fund raising.
>DNC Chairman Don Fowler creates a new position - ''vice chairman for
>finance'' - for Huang. Huang takes unpaid leave from Commerce on the 4th. 
>On
>the 19th, he gives $1,000 to the DNC and lists (on his FEC report) his
>employer as ''Lippo Bank-Lippo Group.''
>
>1996
>
>January: Huang spends his last day on the Commerce payroll (according to 
>the
>Commerce press office). With Clinton aide Doris Matsui, he begins mapping
>out a strategy to raise $7 million from Asian-Americans. In a 33-page 
>memo,
>titled ''National Asian Pacific American Campaign,'' Matsui urges party
>leaders to reward big donors with meetings with the president.
>
>February: Clinton meets with Wang Jun, one of China's top weapons dealers.
>Trie paved way for White House meeting. Huang visits the White House four
>times. (Over the entire month, he makes 21 visits.) Huang organizes DNC
>fund-raiser at Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington. Clinton attends. The event
>raises $1 million from the 150 guests. Among the donors: several Buddhist
>monks ($11,500 total); Keshi Zhan ($12,500 - more than half her
>$22,000-a-year salary); Maryland restaurant worker Yue F. Chu ($20,000).
>
>March: Ron Brown is granted a delay in his scheduled testimony in a civil
>case brought by Judicial Watch. The suit charges that the Clinton
>administration used Commerce as a vehicle for overseas political fund
>raising.
>
>Also in March, Trie delivers $460,000 in hundreds of checks and money 
>orders
>to the Clintons' legal defense fund. Trustees deposit $378,000 and return
>the balance after learning many of the money orders contain identical
>handwriting and sequential numbering.
>
>April: Trie comes back with another $179,000 in gifts for Clintons' legal
>defense fund. Clinton appoints Trie to his commission on U.S.-Pacific 
>trade
>and investment policy.
>
>On April 3, during a trade mission to Bosnia, Brown dies when his Air 
>Force
>Two plane crashes into a Croatian mountain. Huang's boss at Commerce,
>assistant secretary Charles Meissner, also dies. The next day, legal 
>defense
>fund trustees inform Hillary Clinton and top White House aide Harold Ickes
>of Trie's suspicious donations.
>
>On April 29, Gore hosts a fund-raiser at Hsi Lai Buddhist Temple in 
>Hacienda
>Heights, Calif. The event, organized by Huang, nets $140,000 (which the 
>DNC
>later returns). (Temple master Hsing Yun met with Gore in the White House 
>on
>two previous occasions, as well as in Taiwan during an '89 trip with 
>Huang.)
>
>June: Clinton meets with Kanchanalak and Khun Dhanin, the head of 
>Thailand's
>biggest conglomerate, at a White House coffee. Among topics discussed: 
>U.S.
>policy in China. Huang, who arranged the event, attends with other top DNC
>officials. (It's illegal to raise money in the White House.) Kanchanalak, 
>a
>permanent U.S. resident, gives $85,000 to the DNC. Her partner, Duangnet
>Kronenberg, gives $50,000.
>
>July: Kanchanalak gives another $50,000 to the DNC. On July 22, Clinton
>attends Los Angeles fund-raiser with Asian-Americans where he praises
>Huang's ''aggressive efforts.''
>
>August: Huang visits the White House 10 times.
>
>September: Trie joins president's commission on U.S.-Pacific trade and
>investment policy on a two-week junket across East Asia.
>
>October: On the 3rd, Huang makes his last recorded visit to the White 
>House.
>
>November: Shortly after the election, Clinton meets with Dhanin in 
>Thailand.
>His firm, CP Group, has extensive holdings in China. Huang is ''laid off''
>by the DNC. DNC gives back a $427,000 gift Huang solicited from an
>Indonesian couple.
>
>For the third time, Attorney General Janet Reno rejects a written request
>for an independent counsel to probe the widening fund-raising scandal.
>
>December: DNC returns $253,000 given by Kanchanalak after she says the 
>money
>wasn't really hers. (It's illegal to make donations in the name of 
>another.)
>Hubbell goes before a federal grand jury in Little Rock to answer 
>questions
>about the six-figure payment he got from Lippo before going to prison. 
>Yee,
>Brown's close aide who helped arrange his China trade trips, admits 
>throwing
>away notes two months after Judge Lamberth subpoenaed them. She had 
>resisted
>testifying for months.
>
>1997
>
>April: Reno rejects full Senate request to name an independent counsel to
>probe the fund raising scandal.
>
>July: Senate hearings into DNC and White House fund raising begin, chaired
>by Thompson.
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>-
>(C) Copyright 1997 Investors Business Daily, Inc.
>Metadata: E/IBD E/SN1 E/EDIT
>
>TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT
>            (=F4=BF=F4)    Dean Howard Stanton    (=F4=BF=F4)
>mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
>subscribe:		mailto:deanstan@cybertron.com
>home page: 		http://www.cybertron.com/~standean/
>voice email: 		http://www.vocaltec.com
>www pager:		http://wwp.mirabilis.com/127748
>mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
>-------
>To subscribe to c-news, send the message SUBSCRIBE C-NEWS, or the message
>UNSUBSCRIBE C-NEWS to unsubscribe, to majordomo@world.std.com. Contact
>owner-c-news@world.std.com if you have questions.
>
>
>

========================================================================
Paul Andrew Mitchell                 : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA;  M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine

tel:     (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night
email:   [address in tool bar]       : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU
website: http://www.supremelaw.com   : visit the Supreme Law Library now
ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech,  at its best
             Tucson, Arizona state   : state zone,  not the federal zone
             Postal Zone 85719/tdc   : USPS delays first class  w/o this

As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice.  We shall
not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal.
========================================================================
[This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]

      


Return to Table of Contents for

Supreme Law School:   E-mail