Hip Hing Hurrah! -- Thompson Finally Finds Some Beef

HIP HING HURRAH!
Thompson Finally Finds Some Beef

Wednesday, July 16th, 1997 -- Well, it had to happen.

Senator Fred Thompson opened his second week of hearings with a bang. The hearings began with testimony from a hesitant Juliana Utomo, a former employee of Hip Hing Holdings -- a subsidiary of the Lippo Group of Indonesia. Utomo told the Senate panel that Hip Hing received reimbursement from Lippo for a $50 thousand contribution it made to the Democratic National Committee in August of 1992. Thompson also revealed a memo reflecting the request. The transfer was requested by John Huang.

Juliana Utomo The DNC immediately moved to return the money to Hip Hing -- which might allow it to show a profit this year. Hip Hing's only asset is an empty parking lot in Los Angeles according to Utomo and a senate investigator.

But the biggest surprise of the day came from the highly respected Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) who, fresh from an FBI briefing on Monday, publicly agreed with Senator Thompson that the Chinese government planned to influence the 1996 American elections.

"I am here to tell you based on what I heard yesterday, I conclude there was in fact a Chinese government plan to move money into America's congressional elections last year, with the clear intent to affect America's policy towards China… Whether that conclusion can be proven either in the committee hearings or in a court of law remains to be seen. But in fairness to Senator Thompson, based on events I have seen, I wanted to say what I have said now."

Thompson also changed his strategy in handling witnesses after failing to elicit much from Richard Sullivan, the DNC finance director, last week. Instead of relying on rounds of questions from Senators on the Committee, Thompson had Chief Counsel Mike Madigan and Minority Chief Counsel Alan Baron question the witness.

An awkward session in yesterday's testimony occurred when the committee heard from Thomas R. Hampson, president of a business research firm in Chicago. Hampson was unsophisticated in his delivery and confusing in style. His information seemed to come solely from what he termed "on-line" research. Hampson made some pretty silly and dramatic statements. For instance, talking about China Resources -- the main trading arm of China which has nearly 1,000 subsidiary companies and does tens of billions in revenue each year -- Hampson said it (China Resources) was "even bigger than the Lippo Group." Well, the Lippo Group isn't that big and the comparison ridiculous. Hampson also made this statement:

"It is well established in the public record that the government uses China Resources as an agent of espionage… It's kind of like a smiling tiger. It acts friendly but it's very dangerous."

Hampson might be right, but his credibility to make such a statement is wanting. Thompson and other senators seemed disturbed over Hampson's performance and it's clear we won't be seeing him in committee again.

Thompson also showed documents which seemed to suggest that the White House arranged a meeting between British citizen Eric Hotung -- a Hong Kong businessman -- and National Security Advisor Samuel Berger to discuss American policy toward Taiwan in exchange for a $100,000 contribution from Hotung's wife. The White House denied there was a tit-for-tat arrangement even though the meeting was held and Mrs. Hotung contributed the money thereafter.

The most humorous testimony came from Lippo Bank chairman Harold Arthur, who called the charges that John Huang was a spy for China "hogwash." Arthur claimed to be a Republican.

All in all, Thompson scored points yesterday and Lieberman put his own reputation on the line. John Huang may never get his deal for partial immunity from the committee now that the Hip Hing connection has been established. It's more likely he'll have a visit from the Justice Department and the FEC.