The Manchurian candidate redux

From his earliest days as an ambitious politician in Arkansas, Bill
Clinton has been financed and guided by people with strong Chinese
government connections.

Back in the late 1970s, Mochtar and James Riady, Chinese nationals
with a base of operations in Indonesia, set up shop in Arkansas under
the tutelage of another Clinton sponsor, Jack Stephens. Eventually, in
the 1980s, the trio took control of the Worthen Bank in Little Rock.
Along with international banker John Huang, they got acquainted with
young and promising state Attorney General Bill Clinton.

When Worthen ran afoul of regulators, Riady and Huang took over a
small bank in California and began the Lippo Group and many other
ventures. All of them had one thing in common. They lost money, but
managed to make massive contributions to the Democratic National
Committee in 1992. The Riadys, in fact, were the largest contributor to
the DNC in 1992 — bigger than any union, any Hollywood star or any
political-action committee. Keep in mind, the Riadys are so close to the
Beijing regime that they have been characterized by some as active
intelligence agents for the People’s Liberation Army.

“The committee has learned from recently acquired information that
James and Mochtar Riady have had a long-term relationship with a Chinese
intelligence agency,” said the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
report last year. “The relationship is based on mutual benefit, with the
Riadys receiving assistance in finding business opportunities in
exchange for large sums of money and other help. Although the
relationship appears based on business interests, the committee
understands that the Chinese intelligence agency seeks to locate and
develop relationships with information collectors, particularly persons
with close connections to the U.S. government.”

After the election, John Huang, traveling the country as the Riadys’
principal agent in the United States, began hosting officials of the
People’s Republic of China and introducing them, whenever possible, to
members of the Clinton administration.

On June 25, 1994, James Riady and John Huang went to hear the
president’s Saturday morning radio address. They met privately with
Clinton after the speech. The next business day, Monday, June 27,
Webster Hubbell was retained by the Lippo Group for $100,000 and John
Huang was given his $900,000 severance check from Lippo in anticipation
of joining the administration in the Commerce Department as deputy
assistant secretary for international economic policy with access to
critical information including classified CIA briefings.

James Riady now had what he called “my man in the American
government.”

Riady’s man Huang visited the White House 67 times in that position.
He also spent an inordinate amount of time across the street from the
Commerce Department at Stephens Inc.’s Washington office, receiving
mysterious packages, faxes and phone calls. He also made lots of phone
calls and sent out lots of faxes from a private office. He made at least
232 phone calls to the Lippo Bank, his former employer, during the 18
months he spent with Commerce.

In 1995, it was time to think about protecting the investment. So, in
an Oval Office meeting, Riady, Huang, Bruce Lindsey and President
Clinton decided Huang would move from the Commerce Department to the
Democratic National Committee where he raised more than $3 million —
almost half from illegal foreign sources.

The Riady-Huang-Clinton connection goes back a long way. It was the
perfect conduit for the transfer of large sums of illegal Chinese money
into the Clinton election campaigns — and we know it was used
effectively for that purpose. It was also the perfect conduit for the
transfer of intelligence information to the Chinese government. Though
we don’t know exactly which secrets were traded for cash, it is a safe
assumption that the Riadys’ man in Washington was there for a purpose —
to capitalize on a long-term financial and political investment in Bill
Clinton.

It now seems apparent to anyone willing to look at the facts that the
Chinese have their man — not only in Washington — but in the White
House. Once again, as in the Loral scandal, it appears self-evident that
money changed hands for U.S. secrets. But, more importantly, it is
self-evident that President Clinton is, from a national security
standpoint, compromised. In fact, he always has been. At best, he is a
man of divided loyalties. At worst, he is owned — lock, stock and
barrel — by Beijing.

The only question is: Will anyone be brave enough and independent
enough to stand up and blow the whistle on this gravest of all national
crises?