Clinton admits talking policy with Riady

Clinton admits talking policy with Riady

WASHINGTON (Reuter): President Bill Clinton said he twice discussed policy about Indonesia and China with James Riady, the Indonesian financier at the center of inquiries into foreign funding of the Democrats election campaign, the New York Times said on Saturday.

In an interview with the Times, Clinton said Riady, a longtime friend, had never influenced policy decisions. He said it had been a mistake for the Democratic National Committee to send John Huang, a former employee of Riady, to Taiwan to raise money for the 1996 campaign.

The Times noted that Huang's travel to Taiwan took place two months after Clinton sent warships to protect Taiwan from Chinese military harassment earlier this year, and there has been speculation that Huang sought to capitalize on Clinton's actions to protect Taiwan.

"I would have counseled against that," Clinton said of the trip, adding that he did not know about Huang's travels before they took place, according to the newspaper.

The last two weeks of the presidential election campaign were filled with accusations of influence peddling and improper campaign contributions from foreign sources.

The White House acknowledged that at one meeting between Clinton, Riady and Huang in September 1995, Huang said he could better serve the President by leaving the mid-level Commerce Department post he then held for one with the Democratic National Committee.

After making that move he solicited several donations the Democrats have since had to return because of suspicions they came from foreign sources.

Clinton met Riady when the latter moved to Arkansas over a decade ago. Riady's family runs the Lippo Group, which has banking, energy and real estate interests in Indonesia, China and the United States.

At one Oval Office visit shortly after he took office, Clinton said Riady was among those "who encouraged me to see President Soeharto" of Indonesia at a Tokyo summit meeting in 1993.

The Times said the summit ushered in warmer relations between the two countries.

Clinton told the Times that at another Oval Office meeting two months ago, Riady congratulated him for his policy toward China that included separating China's trading privileges from human rights concerns.

Clinton said he never used his friend as a liaison to the Indonesian or the Chinese governments, but acknowledged that if he said to Riady, "my objective is to engage China, not to isolate it, which is something I have said to many people," it was with the expectation that Riady might relate the discussion to Chinese leaders.

"I mean, a lot of times I do that deliberately knowing that it would be communicated," he said. "But that's not any different than I've done with scores of other people in similar situations involving other countries.