The Economics Section - Page A4
October 25, 1996 JOHN HUANG TURNS UP MISSING!
Man Hunt for Key Witness Tied to Bill Clinton Foreign Influence Sellling!by Staff Journalists, The Daily Republican Newspaper
WASHINGTON DESK - The man who knows too much about Clinton White House illegal fund-raising, John Huang, could not be located by the U.S. Marshal's Office, it was disclosed Thursday.
Judicial Watch, in a federal court action named the Clinton administration's Commerce Department as a party defendant in a suit over the secrecy of and failure to release documents about Ron Brown's trade missions with Indonesia, Korea, Taiwan, and many other nations.
The suit alleges a cover-up by the Clinton Administration of Ron Brown's secret function, that of obtaining large political contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign in return for favors in overseas trade agreements with the United States.
The missing link in this scandal of influence peddling by the Clinton White House, John Huang, worked directly with Ron Brown at the Commerce Department and in the Democratic National Committee. Huang's insider connections with the powerful Riady family, an Indonesian based firm that also controlled the Lippo Bank.
Huang's money getting responsibility required the bringing in of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the foreign firm and giving it to the Clinton-Gore campaign. Ron Brown's only job was to get matching favors and contacts for the heavy foreign contributors.
Last week the Clinton-Gore campaign had the word put out that Huang was no longer raising money for the Clinton-Gore campaign, but that Huang was to remain on staff as a paid employee, preparing for an investigation by the Federal Election Commission.
On Thursday, however, a Clinton-Gore campaign worker, Amy Weiss Tobe, was telling the press she did not know where Huang is, or even if he is still in the United States.
One of Huang's foreign clients has dramatically influenced public policy of the United States in exchange for money given to the Clinton-Gore campaign. The Taiwan government pressed for and won sympathetic language in the 1996 Clinton-Gore controlled Democratic Party platform. That happened after a group of Clinton-Gore campaign officials were taken on an all-expenses-paid trip to Taipei.All this was arranged by one John Huang.
Taiwan's influence over the writing of the Democratic Party platform also coincided with an aggressive fund-raising drive by the Clinton-Core campaign among Asian-American donors.
John Huang led the effort until his influence peddling activities were suspended by the party last week following disclosures that contributions he raised were illegal. Most of the $5 million Huang has raised this year for the Clinton-Gore cmpaign have passed through a shadowy facade of Taiwanese fund-raisers and mystery donors.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday Huang's moves to gain favorable platform language for his foreign firms was part of an elaborate scheme that began in June. At that time a delegation of Clinton-Gore campaign officials was flown from Washington to Taipei by an affiliate of the government for a six-day trip.
Next came a lavish party for the Clinton-Gore campaign officials at Twin Oaks, the former Taiwanese ambassadorial residence in Washington,attended by Huang. The Taiwanese then sent a diplomatic delegation to Chicago for the Democratic convention and hosted another party for the Clinton-Gore campaign team.
It is illegal to allow a foreign investor in the Clinton-Gore political campaign to influence the formation of American foreign policy. The platform language that Taiwan contributors to the Clinton-Gore campaign required and received was a declaration applauding the U.S. deployment of two aircraft carriers to the Taiwan Strait area last March to protect Taiwan from an aggressive military maneuver by China.
The final platform wording includes a few sentences about the dispute, including the exact language sought by Taiwan praising 'the deployment of an American naval task force to the Taiwan Straits to ensure that China's military exercises did not imperil the security of the region.'
The Journal report on Thursday states that 'The prospect of getting such language into the platform was raised by a Taiwanese diplomat who accompanied the DNC officials on their trip to Taipei in late June, which was paid for by a private affiliate of the government.'
Public records reveal that the Clinton-Gore campaign group who traveled to Taiwan on the junket included a close fiend of Hillary Clinton, who was also an official of the DNC, Lottie Shackelford. Also in the group was former DNC chairman Ron Brown's aide, and top officials from the state Democrat Parties of Alaska, Ohio and Minnesota. Several Democrat Party lobbyists and consultants also were on the trip.
Two Clinton-Gore campaign officials were in the group but wished to remain anonymous said that David Yao, a Taiwanese official who is based in Washington and accompanied the Democrats to Taipei, brought up the issue of the platform language during a bus ride toward the end of their six-day stay in Taipei.
Yao referred questions to the press attache at the Taiwan office in Washington, who refused to comment. The rest of the trip was spent in meetings with a group of Taiwanese political leaders, including Hansen Chien, deputy secretary general of the central committee of the Kuomintang, a major Taiwanese political party. At the end of the trip, the DNC officials were all given photo albums containing pictures of themselves with the Taiwanese officials they met.
A Taiwan office spokesman denies that the desired platform language was the reason for inviting the DNC officials to Taipei last June. However, only a few days after the Taiwan trip, the Clinton-Gore Campaign held an executive committee meeting with the DNC in Chicago. Even though it is not disputed that the Taiwanese had asked Shakelford to help submit a resolution on Taiwan, the DNC denies any involvement by Shakelford or Huang in the Taiwan language that was eventually incorporated into the final platform.
But, by Aug. 9th, the Democrat Platform had been finalized. The Taiwan office in Washington hosted a party for Clinton-Gore campaign leaders at Twin Oaks. John Huang and some of the Democrat Party officials who had gone on the Taipei trip were invited to attend the party. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the U.S. entertains frequently at the mansion, which is the government's former ambassadorial residence. It is one of the grandest mansions in Washington. A few weeks later in Chicago, Taiwan sent a delegation of about 20 of its officials to the Democrat Party Chicago convention and hosted yet another celebration.
All the while, Mr. Huang was busy fund raising. The DNC has returned three contributions Mr. Huang solicited because they appear to have been illegal. Thursday, a DNC lawyer said John Huang, had disappeared.
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