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.