Clinton admits talking policy with Riady<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (Reuter): President Bill Clinton said he twice
\ndiscussed policy about Indonesia and China with James Riady, the
\nIndonesian financier at the center of inquiries into foreign
\nfunding of the Democrats election campaign, the New York Times
\nsaid on Saturday.<\/p>\n
In an interview with the Times, Clinton said Riady, a longtime
\nfriend, had never influenced policy decisions. He said it had
\nbeen a mistake for the Democratic National Committee to send John
\nHuang, a former employee of Riady, to Taiwan to raise money for
\nthe 1996 campaign.<\/p>\n
The Times noted that Huang's travel to Taiwan took place two
\nmonths after Clinton sent warships to protect Taiwan from Chinese
\nmilitary harassment earlier this year, and there has been
\nspeculation that Huang sought to capitalize on Clinton's actions
\nto protect Taiwan.<\/p>\n
"I would have counseled against that," Clinton said of the
\ntrip, adding that he did not know about Huang's travels before
\nthey took place, according to the newspaper.<\/p>\n
The last two weeks of the presidential election campaign were
\nfilled with accusations of influence peddling and improper
\ncampaign contributions from foreign sources.<\/p>\n
The White House acknowledged that at one meeting between
\nClinton, Riady and Huang in September 1995, Huang said he could
\nbetter serve the President by leaving the mid-level Commerce
\nDepartment post he then held for one with the Democratic National
\nCommittee.<\/p>\n
After making that move he solicited several donations the
\nDemocrats have since had to return because of suspicions they
\ncame from foreign sources.<\/p>\n
Clinton met Riady when the latter moved to Arkansas over a
\ndecade ago. Riady's family runs the Lippo Group, which has
\nbanking, energy and real estate interests in Indonesia, China and
\nthe United States.<\/p>\n
At one Oval Office visit shortly after he took office, Clinton
\nsaid Riady was among those "who encouraged me to see President
\nSoeharto" of Indonesia at a Tokyo summit meeting in 1993.<\/p>\n
The Times said the summit ushered in warmer relations between
\nthe two countries.<\/p>\n
Clinton told the Times that at another Oval Office meeting two
\nmonths ago, Riady congratulated him for his policy toward China
\nthat included separating China's trading privileges from human
\nrights concerns.<\/p>\n
Clinton said he never used his friend as a liaison to the
\nIndonesian or the Chinese governments, but acknowledged that if
\nhe said to Riady, "my objective is to engage China, not to
\nisolate it, which is something I have said to many people," it
\nwas with the expectation that Riady might relate the discussion
\nto Chinese leaders.<\/p>\n
"I mean, a lot of times I do that deliberately knowing that it
\nwould be communicated," he said. "But that's not any different
\nthan I've done with scores of other people in similar situations
\ninvolving other countries.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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