China funding Carville, other anti-impeachment ops in U.S.
Washington Weekly (archive c/o Electric Nevada)
republish of 1997 article
When the People's Republic of China does business in the U.S., it is often represented by the Asian-American law firm of Perkins Coie, which maintains a large office in Taipei, Taiwan and is headquartered in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S.
The company prospectus boasts of ,representing "numerous PRC entities in connection with manufacturing facilities in the United States, numerous PRC entities involved in U.S. corporate, real estate and acquisition matters, as well as numerous PRC state-owned enterprises in U.S. corporate and trade matters, including import-export, shipping, aviation and transportation companies." Moreover, Perkins Coie claims that it maintains "good relationships with PRC governmental authorities at the central, provincial and local levels."
As opposed to John Huang and Maria Hsia, who are known to the FBI as clandestine agents of Communist China, Perkins Coie does not try to hide the fact that it is an agent of the PRC. It comes as a great surprise, then, that Perkins Coie appeared as legal counsel for no less than seven witnesses who appeared before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee to testify about illegal fundraising, focusing on an illegal plan by the government of China to influence U.S. elections. One of those represented by Perkins Coie was none other than Richard Sullivan, the former DNC finance chief responsible for fundraising during the 1996 presidential campaign.
With the shocking revelation by Bob Woodward that the Ministry of State Security in Beijing -- the Chinese equivalent of the CIA -- boasted it had been successful in "thwarting" the congressional inquiry, the Perkins Coieconnection becomes even more troubling. Did Perkins Coie work with Committee Democrats to block the inquiry? The actions of the Senators speak for themselves. When Sullivan was before the Committee for the second time, dissembling and evading his way through the flak put up by Republican Senators, it was Senator Glenn who launched into a filibustering tirade about the "unfairness" of the investigation. When Chairman Thompson had to gavel the filibustered hearing to a close without giving Senator Specter a chance to thoroughly interrogate Sullivan, Glenn reminded Thompson that he would have to give a three-day advance notice if he wanted to continue questioning Sullivan. Sullivan was off the hook.
This event was symptomatic of the manner in which Democrats on the Committee managed to obstruct and delay the progress of the committee until it had to close because of an imposed deadline. It was then that the Chinese CIA took credit. Committee Democrats Levin and Toricelli have both taken money from Chinese agent John Huang, and Senator Glenn has offered to negotiate on behalf of John Huang.
Starr Vs. China
If China thwarted the Congressional inquiry, what is China doing about Kenneth Starr and the other independent counsels investigating the White House? A lot, it seems.
There are two organizations devoted to attacking Starr and getting negative stories about him in the U.S. media. James Carville's Education and Information Project and Lynn Cutler's Back to Business Committee. And who are listed as the incorporators of both committees? None other than Robert Bauer, Judith Corley and Holly Shadler, all of Perkins Coie.
According to an interview of James Carville by the American Spectator, it was none other than Bill Clinton's personal lawyer Robert Barnett of Williams & Connolly, who advised him to seek legal and financial assistance for his Starr attack with Robert Bauer of Perkins Coie.
It comes as no surprise, then, that both Carville and Cutler keep the donor lists for their committees a secret. But a few donations have leaked out anyway. Chinese bag man Johnny Chung has donated $25,000 to the Back to Business Committee. There is reason to assume that the money came directly from the Chinese government, since Johhny Chung has received wire transfers from the Bank of China, a bank owned and operated by the Chinese government. Johnny Chung has pled the Fifth Amendment. Congressional probers have also discovered that the group got funding from an Arkansas firm partly owned by Lippo, where John Huang worked.
Both Carville's and Cutler's organizations have devoted their efforts to campaigns against Kenneth Starr, Dan Burton, and the Internet. The White House "Communication Stream of Conspiracy Commerce" report that linked critics of the White House in a global conspiracy was distributed briefly through the Back to Business web site. And Carville's web site boasts that his anti-Starr campaign "has generated over 450 stories on the Lexis Nexis database of major news sources."
Was this what Senator Thompson referred to when he said intelligence showed Chinese agents "attempting to communicate Beijing's views through media channels in the United States"? One thing is clear. The U.S. mainstream media has uncritically disseminated the propaganda produced by these two organizations.
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