LETTERS: A HISTORY OF CHINESE FUND RAISING

To the editor:

Another Clinton donor tied to the Chinese government is Johnny Chung, who recently admitted that he funneled at least $100,000 of the $300,000 he received from Chinese military intelligence to Democrat causes in the summer of 1996. The conduit for the money was Liu Chao-ying, whose father was the head of China's military at the time the donations were made to the DNC. Chung likely achieved his China connections through the Clinton Commerce Department.

According to the Washington Post, investigators have searched through "fragments of data gathered from U.S. intelligence surveillance intercepts and business records" to trace the relationship between Chung and his Chinese military patrons. The documents also trace the history of their partnership, showing how Chung's political donations -- which ultimately totaled $366,000 and were all eventually returned by the Democratic National Committee -- led directly to meetings with Commerce Department officials. They suggested he attend a U.S. trade mission in Beijing, where Chung was introduced to senior Clinton administration officials, as well as the network of Chinese executives that would eventually include Liu.

The same month as his donation to the party, Democratic operatives introduced Chung to then-Deputy Assistant Commerce Secretary Jude Kearney, who in turn suggested that Chung join a Commerce Department trade mission to China, according to Chung's proposed testimony -- or proffer -- to the Senate investigators. (Kearney said through an attorney that he did not recall making that suggestion, but did not dispute Chung's account.) The trip was Chung's first visit to China. Indirectly, it led to Chung's meeting with Liu and, in a previously unreported twist on the campaign finance scandal, to his hooking up with another Democratic fund raiser, Yah Lin "Charlie" Trie, who was indicted earlier this year on charges that he illegally funneled foreign money to the Democrats. Chung made the trip at his own expense and was not listed as a member of the official U.S. delegation, but Kearney met him at the Beijing airport and escorted him to a restaurant where they met Tries wife, Chung's proffer said. Kearney then took Chung to a hotel where they met then-Commerce policy official Melinda Yee, the proffer said. Chung later attended functions where he met with government officials and executives from the United States and China and had his picture taken with Commerce Secretary Ronald H. Brown. Clearly, the Clinton Commerce Department trade mission to China in 1994 was a confluence of illegal fund raising and illicit deal making -- which led eventually to likely breaches of national security, including a massive attempt by a foreign power to subvert the electoral process in the United States. At best, this is serious malfeasance by the Clinton administration. At worst, and more likely, the Clinton administration disinterest in breaches of national security was purposeful so as to allow the campaign fund-raising operation run out of the Clinton White House and Commerce Department to proceed unchecked. It is thus clear that the campaign fund-raising abuses at the Clinton Commerce Department, ordained and then covered up by the Clinton White House, gave rise to likely breaches of national security. CAROL POOLE

Jackson