Entrepreneur Formed Ties to China, Then Politicians

The Indonesian entrepreneur being investigated for allegedly working as Beijing’s political operative in the United States had formed lucrative business ties with China before gaining access to President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), records and interviews show.

For years Ted Sioeng, 51, has proclaimed his love and support for the People’s Republic of China. And friends say his business and political connections in Beijing have helped him expand his financial base throughout Asia and to North and Central America.

Now federal authorities are investigating whether Sioeng, a prominent figure in Los Angeles’ Chinese emigre community, tried to acquire influence for China through his family’s political donations, including $250,000 to the Democratic National Committee during last year’s presidential campaign.

Attorneys for Sioeng’s daughter vigorously denied the allegation Friday, saying it was part of a “frenzy of unsubstantiated claims and innuendo directed at Asian Americans who have participated freely in the political process.”

For almost a decade, Sioeng has bridged the Pacific Rim, part of a breed of Asian businessmen that has flourished since China opened its doors to liberalized trade.

Much of Sioeng’s wealth was acquired after the Chinese government granted him the right to export the country’s most popular brand of cigarettes, according to friends and associates. Records show his family now owns hotels, luxury condominiums and other businesses in the Los Angeles area.

His family’s acquisition of a Chinese-language newspaper in Monterey Park provided Sioeng with a vehicle to build his image as an advocate for China. During Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s visit to New York in 1995, Sioeng’s paper ran a front-page photo of them together.

As China’s unofficial emissary, Sioeng has shuttled hundreds of mainland visitors to the United States--from ranking officials to common people. There were so many, sources said, that he created a travel agency to handle arrangements.

When Sioeng put up $200,000 in prizes for the world badminton championships in Orange County, the event drew letters of support from Asia to the White House and the state Capitol.

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He poured many thousands of dollars into scores of associations for people of Chinese descent in Southern California. And these helped provide venues for Chinese government officials to mingle with local communities.

But it was money Sioeng and his family gave to U.S. politicians that has embroiled him in the probes into political contributions from foreign interests.

The Times reported Monday that the investigation of Sioeng stemmed from secret communications between Beijing and China’s embassy in Washington that were intercepted by U.S. intelligence.

The communications allegedly outlined a covert plan to expand China’s influence in the U.S. political process, according to sources.

In addition to an FBI probe, sources say congressional investigators are examining Sioeng, his daughter and business partner Jessica Elnitiarta and their finances, focusing on Sioeng’s “connections overseas and the possibility that he is a conduit for foreign money.”

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In a statement to The Times, attorneys for Elnitiarta said she and her family have been victims of “numerous false and unsupported allegations of wrongdoing associated with political contributions.”

“Ted Sioeng is not, and has not been, a political agent of the Chinese or any other government,” said attorneys Mark J. MacDougall and Steven R. Ross of Washington. “He is a successful international businessman whose children have moved to the United States where they have become permanent legal residents. . . .

“His activities in Southern California, and those of his family, are an effort to support the Asian American community and are not part of any plot by the Chinese government to impact American politics.”

The attorneys noted that Elnitiarta, 30, of Beverly Hills has been “a permanent resident in the U.S. for more than five years and has resided in California for more than 10 years. . . .

“Any political contributions she has made, personally or through her business interests, have been in response to direct solicitations by office-seekers and their fund-raisers. All of her contributions have been lawful and properly documented.”

Until recently Sioeng was mentioned only fleetingly in the donations controversy but he has achieved new importance since reports of the intercepted communications.

Records show that Sioeng, Elnitiarta and their companies have given more than $355,000 in federal, state and local political contributions since 1993. Much of it was donated to the DNC through John Huang, a pivotal figure in the controversy.

Sioeng’s immigration status is unknown.

Sioeng’s activities long had drawn criticism from supporters of Taiwan and the Chinese pro-democracy movement.

Pro-democracy advocate David H. Ma, a former U.S. foreign service officer in Asia, said he believes that Sioeng is an important figure in China’s propaganda war with Taiwan “to control, sway and create” public opinion here.

Sioeng did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

But Katrina Leung, president of the Los Angeles-Guangzhou Sister City Assn., described as “nonsense” reports that Sioeng may be working for China.

“If China needed a good agent, why would it turn to someone who doesn’t know the United States and doesn’t speak English well?” asked Leung, who has worked with Sioeng on numerous community events. She said Sioeng is so wealthy that nobody could afford to hire him.

“If there is one criticism I can make of him, it is that he got himself in the limelight for so long that he attracted . . . rumors and speculation,” she said.

Many people interviewed for this article said they did not want to be named for fear of being dragged into the controversy.

Associates say that except for a Los Angeles stopover for a memorial to Chinese “paramount leader” Deng Xiaoping in February, Sioeng has been out of the United States since October, hoping to ride out the political storm. He is said to be working out of his Hong Kong base, traveling in Asia and conducting his business by phone.

Sioeng has nothing to hide, his associates say, but is apprehensive about facing American investigators because of his limited English and unfamiliarity with the system.

Entree Into Politics Via GOP Activists

Sioeng’s introduction to American politics came half a dozen years ago through Republican activists in Los Angeles, according to Chinese community watchers.

By spring 1995, Sioeng had contributed $50,000 in two checks to state Treasurer Matt Fong’s campaign, followed five months later by $50,000 from one of his family’s companies.

Meanwhile, Fong arranged a July 1995 photo session for Sioeng with Gingrich in Washington. And a week later, Sioeng met with Gingrich again at the Peninsula Beverly Hills hotel along with prominent Chinese American business leaders.

A photo of Gingrich and Sioeng appeared in the July 22, 1995, edition of the pro-Beijing China Press newspaper in Alhambra. The article noted that the meeting came “when Sino-U.S. relations are at a low point.” Weeks earlier, China had lashed out at the Clinton administration for granting a visa to Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui. China recalled its ambassador from Washington.

Less than a year later, Sioeng made contact with the nation’s highest-ranking Democrats.

Records show that Elnitiarta and her father attended a fund-raiser with Vice President Al Gore at a Buddhist temple in Hacienda Heights in April 1996.

The next month, he attended a dinner for Clinton at the Sheraton Carlton Hotel in Washington.

And in July they attended a DNC fund-raiser for Clinton in Century City. The event drew a who’s who of Asian Americans, but occupying the seats of honor alongside Clinton were two non-Americans--Sioeng and Indonesian financier James T. Riady, who now figures in the donations controversy.

It was a crowning moment in a journey that had taken Sioeng from an orphanage to encounters with heads of state.

“How much higher can you get than sit next to the president of the United States?” said a friend.

Sioeng brought nearly 50 guests, including some Asian American Republicans and a dozen visitors from China, according to other attendees. Some had photos taken with Clinton.

While others at a VIP reception hobnobbed with politicians, Sioeng’s guests from China looked ill at ease, attendees said. “They were off to themselves,” recalled prominent Chinese American attorney Anthony Ching.

In recent months, the contributions have come to haunt Sioeng, thrusting him into the political turmoil.

Fong returned $100,000 because of published reports of probes into whether the funds came from China.

The DNC returned or plans to return $1.6 million of the $3.4 million raised through Huang. But the party kept $250,000 from Elnitiarta and her company after determining that she was a legal U.S. resident and had resources.

Such money apparently was no big deal to Sioeng. Like a number of Asians who encounter the political system, friends say he considered access to American politicians relatively inexpensive.

The Chinese Embassy declined comment on Sioeng but earlier denied any covert attempts to gain influence in the United States. The White House also has declined comment. Gingrich’s office said his Beverly Hills meeting with Sioeng lasted less than 20 minutes and that no campaign contributions resulted from it.

Sioeng Described as “Complex Man”

Who is Ted Sioeng?

“A very complex man,” said a friend of many years. “He has many dimensions. There are just certain parts of him I don’t know.”

What emerges from official records and more than 50 interviews is the portrait of a self-made, canny, globe-trotting businessman who inspires loyalty with his warmth and generosity.

He cuts an eye-catching figure, with bushy silver mutton-chop sideburns. In addition to Indonesian, he is said to speak three Chinese dialects and some English.

He has a limited formal education, friends say. But he lists a PhD on his business card, and people refer to him as Dr. Sioeng because he has an honorary doctorate from a small Midwestern college.

He guards parts of his past. However, he has told acquaintances that he does not know who his biological parents were. Although believed to be Indian and Indonesian, he considers himself Chinese because he was raised by an ethnic Chinese couple.

“I don’t have a drop of Chinese blood in me, but I have a Chinese heart,” Sioeng has said.

His devotion to his adoptive parents spread to all of China, he told friends, because he wanted to repay their kindness.

By the time he was in his 30s, Sioeng had done quite well selling foam padding in Indonesia, he related to associates. Then, he said he moved to Hong Kong because he ran into unspecified difficulties with the government.

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From Hong Kong, Sioeng made his way into China, befriending government officials in Yunnan, the tobacco country. As was good business practice, he made gifts to them and helped finance community projects such as schools, sources said. And as Sioeng’s contacts in government rose through the ranks, so too did his fortunes.

In the 1980s, Sioeng won a contract with the Chinese government to sell abroad Hongtashan (Red Pagoda Mountain) cigarettes, according to associates, and later a joint venture with the Chinese government was set up in Singapore.

The sources said Sioeng sells the cigarettes throughout Southeast Asia and the United States.

“He once told me he wanted to make $1 billion in the United States,” said a friend, who noted that Sioeng also has import-export businesses in medical equipment and other goods.

Sioeng Family’s Metropolitan Hotel

Today, Hongtashan cigarettes are touted in red and yellow neon atop the Sioeng family’s gleaming 12-story Metropolitan Hotel on Sunset Boulevard. An identical sign blazes on his Spring Street office building, the tallest in Chinatown.

The cigarettes are distributed here by Loh Sun International Ltd., a company whose name means Los Angeles in Cantonese.

“Ted Sioeng took to the name Loh Sun and really wanted to use it,” said a source familiar with his business affairs.

The owner, Kent La, said the story was true, though not the only reason Sioeng solicited him in 1990 to distribute the cigarettes. “I was already in the business of distributing many other brands of cigarettes,” La said through an interpreter.

Although La is a Republican, a photograph of himself and Clinton hangs in his downtown warehouse. La said his company donated $50,000 to the DNC last year because Clinton granted most-favored-nation trade status to China.

Asian market proprietors said Hongtashan has a following among immigrants from China, but is not a big seller here.

“I think they smoke it when they get homesick,” said one.

If Hongtashan makes money for Sioeng, the International Daily News elevates him in China and here as an important overseas “Chinese” leader, say longtime community watchers.

His family acquired controlling interest in the Monterey Park newspaper in 1995 and established it as pro-China.

In the Chinese community, where the ideological war between Beijing and Taipei factions has persisted for a half-century, the switch prompted speculation that China was behind the purchase. “He did a big favor for China,” said one community leader. “The International Daily News was a real thorn in China’s face.”

The paper, with a reported circulation of about 20,000, is distributed in Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities with large Chinese populations.

The purchase came as China intensified its efforts to win the loyalty of overseas Chinese through higher community exposure of consular officials, visitors and investors from the mainland.

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Former and present employees who spoke on condition of anonymity complained that pro-Beijing stories such as the visit of the Chinese navy in March were played up while Taiwan events were not.

Last June, on the 15th anniversary of the newspaper, Clinton sent Sioeng a letter at his request, praising it for “faithfully” reporting local and international issues.

“Your daily is a wonderful example of the proud American tradition of newspaper publishing,” Clinton wrote.

The paper’s controlling ownership now is in Elnitiarta’s name. Simon Chen, the former owner, did not respond to calls.

Sioeng family holdings also include a 24-unit luxury condominium complex in Beverly Hills, the Metropolitan Hotel and a sparsely occupied shopping center in Hollywood, and a motel complex in a seedy section of Silver Lake.

Some businesses once listed Sioeng as principal officer, but now many are in the names of Sioeng’s wife, Sundari, or three daughters and two sons. All use their mother’s surname: Elnitiarta.

Sioeng’s family also owns a minority stake in Grand National Bank. According to a recent Newsweek report, investigators are examining whether funds from China were transferred to the bank and eventually donated by Sioeng and his family to Fong.

Helped Finance Schools, Events

Until the fund-raising controversy exploded last fall, Sioeng was a ubiquitous figure in Los Angeles. He helped finance Chinese-language schools and many community events.

“His appearance is not Chinese, but he speaks Chinese, he practices Chinese culture and he most certainly has a Chinese heart,” said Daniel Gu, president of the 1,000-member Chinese Students and Scholars Assn. at UCLA.

In 1996, Sioeng donated to a Chinese New Year’s festival, attended by 1,500 people, including top UCLA and Chinese consulate officials.

“Dr. Sioeng is a charming and a very caring, humane person,” said Pearl Warren, consul general of Belize, who remembered Sioeng sent a wreath when her husband died. The Belize consulate is in the Sioengs’ Metropolitan Hotel.

Sioeng carries a passport from Belize, which recognizes dual citizenship. On his business card, Sioeng listed companies in Belize, Hong Kong, Canada and Singapore, as well as in China. Attempts to reach company executives by phone were unsuccessful.

People marvel at Sioeng’s knack for striking up new acquaintances. “I don’t think there is anybody he cannot stand,” said a family friend.

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One story told by Sioeng:

While waiting for the weather to clear at an airport in China last summer, he met a couple who wanted to visit the United States.

Sioeng invited them to Los Angeles, paid their plane tickets, put them up at his hotel--and even brought them to Clinton’s dinner in Century City last July.

Four months later, when Sioeng’s daughter Laureen was married in Hong Kong, one of the 400 guests was Hun Sen, second prime minister of Cambodia.

Hun Sen is a former leader of the radical Maoist Khmer Rouge, which was blamed for the deaths of as many as 2 million Cambodians. He had switched to the Vietnamese-backed Communist Party that succeeded the Khmer Rouge.

Sioeng, whose company sells cigarettes in Cambodia, helped Hun Sen get an honorary doctorate last year from Iowa Wesleyan--the same school that had awarded one to Sioeng three years earlier. Hun Sen did not respond to inquiries.

Robert J. Prins, college president, said Hun Sen was just one of Sioeng’s friends who had been granted an honorary degree at the 444-student school. Prins and Sioeng flew to Phnom Penh together to bestow the honor in a ceremony followed by dinner for 25 people.

Sioeng, Prins noted, is a college trustee who has provided many scholarships to Asian students.

Badminton Championships

For the past two years, Sioeng has showcased his cigarette distributorship, newspaper and political connections at badminton championships in Orange.

The glossy program last year was studded with letters of support from White House aide Doris O. Matsui, on behalf of herself and Clinton. Other letters were received from Gingrich, Fong and Gov. Pete Wilson, as well as Chinese diplomatic officials. Letters from Gingrich and Wilson were reportedly arranged through Fong.

The International Badminton Foundation asked Sioeng to help revive the sport. “Mr. Sioeng is a big fan of badminton, which is a very popular sport throughout Asia,” said Paisan Rangsikitpho, a Long Beach businessman and badminton official.

The next U.S. Open is scheduled for September. Rangsikitpho said the tournament is counting on Sioeng’s financial sponsorship but has not received a firm commitment, although he spoke recently with Elnitiarta.

“It’s been difficult to communicate with them,” he lamented.

Times staff writers Paul Jacobs in Sacramento and Alan C. Miller in Washington contributed to this story.