Chinese Executive Puts New Spin on White House Visit
A Chinese business executive who attended a controversial White House coffee for political contributors hosted by President Clinton last year said his visit was arranged by the New York-based investment bank Lehman Brothers Inc., which was competing with other American firms to do business with China.
In an interview, Wang Jun, who heads China’s most politically connected financial and industrial conglomerate, as well as a Chinese military-owned arms-trading company under investigation for illegally smuggling assault rifles into the United States, said the main purpose of his U.S. visit was not an effort by the Chinese government to win influence in the United States.
Rather, Wang said, Lehman Brothers invited him to the United States, and he was interested in exploring how receptive American financial markets would be to new debt offerings by Chinese companies and government agencies.
“I didn’t propose this meeting,” Wang said of his Feb. 6, 1996, White House visit. “I said again and again that Clinton was too busy. I had little to talk to him about.”
Wang’s account offers new insight into how he came to be invited to a White House coffee for political fund-raisers. After initial reports of Wang’s attendance focused on his chairmanship of a company called Poly Group--the firm under scrutiny for the alleged illegal arms dealing--Clinton called the meeting “clearly inappropriate.”
But by Wang’s account, his stop at the White House had nothing to do with Poly Group. Instead, he said, it was a brief and unplanned interlude during a U.S. tour with an entirely capitalist purpose: to talk high finance with Wall Street firms on behalf of the mammoth conglomerate he heads, the China International Trust & Investment Corp.
The Democratic National Committee has said previously that Wang’s visit was arranged by Yah Lin “Charlie” Trie, a former Little Rock, Ark., restaurateur and longtime friend of Clinton’s who is one of the principals under scrutiny in a Justice Department investigation into questionable campaign contributions during the 1996 presidential election. The Justice Department has developed evidence that China tried to direct nearly $2 million in illegal campaign contributions to members of Congress and Clinton administration officials, government officials said.
A spokesman for Lehman Brothers confirmed that executives of the firm had met with Wang during his visit to the United States last year, but he said the firm had played no role in arranging the White House visit with Clinton. During the U.S. trip, Wang’s main contact at Lehman Brothers was Ernest G. Green, a managing director of its Washington office. Wang submitted a letter from Green when he applied for his U.S. visa, and Green contacted Lehman Brothers’ New York headquarters to arrange meetings for Wang there.
The day after Wang’s visit, Green contributed $50,000 to the Democratic National Committee. Green has called the timing of the donation a coincidence and said the contribution came from his personal funds. The check was signed by his wife, Phyllis.
Green, a major Democratic Party fund-raiser and longtime friend of Clinton’s and Trie’s, has given differing accounts of his relationship with Wang. The FBI has interviewed Green as part of the Justice Department investigation.
Wang’s account suggests a new wrinkle in the controversy over the use of the White House for fund-raising activities. While the Justice Department inquiry is focused on alleged improper attempts by China to win influence with U.S. politicians, Wang’s version of how he came to meet with Clinton appears to show an attempt by an influential fund-raiser and Clinton friend to use his White House access on behalf of a potential business associate who could help his firm earn large sums of money.
Lehman Brothers is competing against other U.S. investment banks for new chunks of the underwriting business in China for debt and equity securities. This year, the Chinese government has decided to allow about 40 Chinese companies to sell shares in Hong Kong or New York. Several large bond issues are expected as well.
Green did not return a phone call Friday, but in a January interview, he denied having anything to do with arranging Wang’s White House visit.
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