Chinese Missiles, The President, and Loral -- The Biggest Republican Lie of Them All!

It's Not Rocket Science ...But It Sounds Good to Newt!

TUESDAY, MAY 26th 1998 -- New York (APJP) -- As the month of May winds down American voters find the White House besieged by problems seemingly so severe that few of us could entertain them, let alone handle them. There's Monica Lewinsky and her "Uncle Walter," waiting in the wings to testify - he about his big gifts to Clinton and she to do the same or join Susan McDougal in chains. There's "the beast," Linda Tripp, who with guidance from Lucianne Goldberg, wired herself and taped her friend Monica's conversations about the 'Creep.' There's the Secret Service, seriously challenging "Judge Norma" and her sense of reality in granting Malibu Ken Starr's pleading that the men protecting the president should also tell him about Bill Clinton's personal life. Paula Jones, sits perky waiting for trial. And let's not forget Jim Guy Tucker, anxious to make anything up that might get him out of prison quicker. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Congressman Chris Cox (R-CA) are trumping up a supposed bi-partisan look at the Chinese rocket technology transfer. Ken Starr has opened new, bigger offices and hired a dozen lawyers to join his witch hunt - complete with a new web site to make it easier to fool the press. The mainstream media - anxious to get huge pay raises for bigger ratings - have joined the GOP to pillory the White House. They, and some Republicans think that the "Chinese Connection" will deliver what sex, drugs and rock and roll have not.

They are wrong.

Instead, the GOP may get just what it does not want: Campaign Finance Reform, so sweeping it will paralyze the Republican National Committee - perhaps forever. For any attempt to prove that Bill Clinton took money from communists or deep-pockets American businessmen in exchange for threatening the lives of most Americans will fall flat.

Examination of the political giving patterns of America's corporations will score big negatives on the American consciousness. While Chris Cox tries to prove a Beijing bonanza (even while saying he isn't) or New York Loral connections for the White House, Democrat strategists, who have done the calculations, and are ready to give up on soft corporate money themselves, are waiting in the wings - ready to launch testimony from hundreds of witnesses proving that big money gets attention - from both sides of the aisle in Washington and that it has perverted the Democracy we learned about in high school civics class... whether it does or not.

The result? An end to big-money politics, and perhaps the end of the Republican Party as a formidable force in American politics. Why? Because Republicans rely on big-business dollars 40% more than do Democrats, and that hefty wallop could cripple them -- especially today, when GOP strategy relies heavily on time-buying, expensive public relations campaigns aimed at discrediting Democrats, and the funding of every right wing kook in America.

Let's take a look at how the "Chinese Connection" might backfire on Gingrich and the GOP.

Last week, Senator Fred Thompson took to the airwaves proudly announcing that he was right all along -- There was a Chinese plot to infect American government. Thompson, naturally forgot to say that the only piece of 'evidence' he had for his resurrection from buffoon to truth-teller was the word of a 'felon looking for a deal' - Johnny Chung - who claims to have been paid $300,000 by a communist woman, Colonel Liu, in order to "pay-off" the Clinton Administration in exchange for being blinded by science.

Hogwash.

Colonel Liu is as much a colonel now as Ken Starr is a "judge."

If Chung was supposed to give $300,000 to Clinton, why didn't he? The answer is simple. He didn't get the money to pass it on to Democrats, he got the money for his bogus company -- a firm designed to fail, but also designed to impress Asian investors. Chung's plot? To use the funds to gain a bigger "insider" position in the White House and thereby impress his mainland Chinese friends with his Washington friends. At the same time he hoped to stumble upon some inside deals while frolicking with the rich and powerful at the White House.

No such luck. But he is able now, in retrospect, to try to take credit for paying off the President in exchange for American technology. Interesting that he's the only man who could prove or disprove his allegations?

Imagine a stealthy Chinese executive searching for a cunning man to move into the White House and provide campaign money to the President for rocket tech. Chung, to everyone who knew him, was repugnant. He was de classe'. He was covered with gold jewelry, spooky, and strangely interested in the First Lady. He would prowl the White House and the DNC, admittedly because he had bought a "pass" from insider fund raisers with nearly $400,000 in donations - money which now is the subject of investigator zeal.

So, where's Chung now? He's lying to investigators in order to cop a plea, make a deal, and ease out of the pen. He says he received $300,000 from Ms. (Colonel) Liu - a chief executive at China Aerospace - a company with deep and formal ties to the Chinese military. Chung told the Justice Department and others that he gave about $35,000 to the DNC - not the $100,000 or $300,000 that Gingrich et al are touting.

But the story doesn't hold water. Documents seen by our sources seem to indicate that Ms. Liu gave Chung the money as an investment in some bogus auto parts company he had parceled together, helter-skelter in California. His passport for Liu's investment -- Clinton White House post cards and pictures of Chung with the POTUS. Even the Chinese, less sophisticated then, fell for the con. Chung was a White House insider. He could be trusted. Let's invest with him. Chung delivered -- supposedly. He brought Liu to a fund raiser with the President in attendance. Of course you could have done that yourself -- all you needed was a check.

Getting things straight is the job for White House lawyers and spin doctors. The messages they have to deliver -- swiftly and tactfully are:

1. There is no evidence whatsoever that anyone in or out of Washington knew Chung was a phony - including the FBI and the CIA.

2. There is no evidence that funds coming from Chung to Democrats or Republicans (and returned in total) came from communist Chinese sources.

3. There is no evidence that Chung lobbied anyone at the DNC or the White House for satellite or rocket technology transfers.

4. There is evidence that Liu had a long history of representing China in sophisticated business deals involving the West. Her mission, if any, was to join the upper echelons of the growing Chinese upper middle class through identifying investments for the Chinese investors. Simply, she was looking for action in Western markets.

5. There is evidence that Liu and Chung met with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington to get the lowdown on having foreign firms listed on U.S. stock exchanges. The meeting was arranged by Senator John Kerry -- Is he a communist sympathizer as well? Liu was not interested in satellites or rockets at the time, only in money -- like most everyone else on the planet playing the mortal game called global economics.

6. There is evidence that Chung lured Liu by inviting her to become a partner in his "company." As a matter of fact, Liu, after forming an investment company with Chung, Marswell Investment, wired $300,000 from Hong Kong to his bank as her share of the initial funding for Marswell. Chung sent some of that money to the DNC. It is not clear whether Chung himself ever deposited his portion of the initial investment in Marswell.

7. There is not now proof, nor will there ever be proof, that the money Liu sent Chung came from the Chinese communists, or the Chinese military.

What Gingrich is counting on is that Americans will believe that it did and came for nefarious purposes -- To sell out the security of the nation for $35,000.00.

Chris Cox, the new chairman on the ChinaGate committee, has already admitted he has no chance to prove any of Chung's allegations.

So, why the committee investigation?

Again, for purely partisan reasons. "Holding up lies and unproven facts as truths" -- The name of a sick Republican game that threatens the very roots of our democracy.

Chairman Cox is no puppet and no idiot sophomore from the ultra-right GOP class of '94. He has already decided not to pursue the China connection, but will instead focus on Bernard Schwartz , Loral, Hughes, Motorola and others as perverters of White House policy. However, other members of his committee will not be so smart and will attempt to trot out the Chinese over and over again. That's what Cox and Gingrich are counting on. Cox can pretend to be wise seeker of facts while other Republicans drive the Chinese connection home to voters.

The truth is that this is America, and - like it or not - America means business - in every sense of the word. George Bush, as far back as 1989 was granting technology waivers that the Chinese might benefit from. It was Senator Al Gore who sponsored legislation to stop U.S. satellites from being launched on Chinese rockets - this as punishment for China's treatment of pro-democracy students at Tiananmen Square. But, Bush, under severe pressure from several U.S. corporations, including Hughes, Loral, Motorola and Lockheed Martin issued nine waivers over three years. Gore called Bush a "patsy." When Bill Clinton was elected, he and Gore came under similar pressure. Clinton began signing waivers too. Two years ago Loral shipped a $200 million satellite to China for launch under a waiver. The rocket carrying it blew up and destroyed the satellite. In examining the disaster for its insurance companies, Loral and Hughes are alleged to have indirectly, mistakenly, or purposely given China some information that may have helped China do better with its guidance systems. But this has been under investigation by Justice for nearly two years and thus far no crime has been uncovered. It's tough to prove what the Chinese did or did not incorporate in its new rocket guidance systems, or if they had the opportunity to do so with American know-how.

The Justice Department, although it was concerned about the impact of another, and later waiver granted by the President, did not -- as Republicans are reporting -- request the President to deny the newer waiver. Although its been reported that his signing of the newer waiver would amount to a "get out of jail free card" for Loral - this is preposterous -- The granting of an additional waiver has no legal impact on the facts of the first case -- good or bad. Loral could still be held accountable if it did pass on U.S. secrets to Beijing.

Now Gingrich and his cohorts are meeting constantly, thinking up ways to embarrass the President - and this country - because Clinton is due to travel to China in June. They have sponsored and passed legislation to stop all satellite launching from China - which will do nothing much more than cost American companies and us, their stockholders, tens of millions of dollars. They are claiming that meeting Chinese leaders in the historical Tiananmen Square is a slap in the face to democracy. In essence, even though they know of no facts and have no any way to prove Chung's allegations true of false, they are going for it, no matter what the cost to Sino-American relations and the long-term impact their accusations will have on our future in one of the worlds largest markets.

Now they'll focus on Loral et al as the culprits and use the Chinese as the sidebar whipping boy. The Republicans will claim that Loral's officers would have gone to jail for what they did originally had the President not signed the newer waiver and "tainted the case." But this is a lie as well. Several American companies have been caught doing much worse than that which Loral is being investigated for. Loral is alleged to have perhaps added to a body of knowledge that the Chinese may or may not have had already. Maybe time will tell. But other American companies have been found actually sending weapons to our enemies and escaped with mere fines. Others have been caught doing things like short-weighting agricultural products shipped by US AID under the U.S. Food for Peace Program and got nothing much more than a hand slap while their officers continued to play golf.

The chance that Bernard Schwartz or other Loral officers are going to jail, or would have ever gone to jail for a breach of security that may be impossible to prove. is and was slight and remains slight today.

How does one prove that the Chinese now have American technology?

Perhaps it's Russian.

To say the President didn't use his common sense is an understatement. Although Clinton's , George Bush's and Ronald Reagan's waivers were normal and customary, the President made one mistake -- he didn't think about the fact that Republicans were out to get him at all costs, and doing anything, anything that might be able to be twisted into a potential for accusing him of treason was just too tempting for Republicans who have shown, without fail, that they have absolutely no sense of decency and will stoop to any accusation - including treason - to get the White House back in the year 2000.

Is the GOP plan working? You bet.

The President's ratings with voters are down, albeit not severely. The Speaker's ratings are up.

But in the end, it will be all politicians who'll pay the price.

Need we say more?

- The Editors