Editorials
Monday, May 18, 1998

Evidence of campaign
finance violations

WHEN Fred Thompson opened Senate hearings on 1996 campaign-finance practices last July, he charged that China had plotted to influence the election by making illegal donations to the Clinton campaign. The Tennessee Republican said Chinese officials had "crafted a plan to increase China's influence over the U.S. political process" in the wake of the 1995 visit by Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui to the United States.

Thompson halted the Senate hearings last October, insisting that his charges of a Chinese plan were accurate, but evidence of the plan never emerged. Three figures central to the allegations either invoked the Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination or had left the country.

Now, however, one of the three, Johnny Chung, a former fund-raiser for the Democratic National Committee, has told federal investigators he funneled tens of thousands of dollars from a Chinese military officer to the Democrats during the 1996 campaign. Chung told investigators that a large part of the nearly $100,000 he gave to Democratic causes in 1996 came from the People's Liberation Army through a Chinese lieutenant colonel and aerospace executive whose father, Gen. Liu Huaquing, was China's top military commander and a member of the Communist Party leadership.

When Thompson made his accusations, he said they were based on classified intelligence reports. Intelligence agents had intercepted telephone conversations suggesting that Beijing had considered covertly influencing U.S. elections. But with the committee's failure to obtain confirmation of the charges, they were generally discounted.

Chung's admission to Justice Department investigators appears to be a breakthrough in the search for confirmation of a link to the Chinese government. Although the amount described is only a small part of the $194 million the Democrats raised, the information could lead to further disclosures.

Thompson looked a bit foolish when his committee hearings ended. Now it appears that he will be vindicated. Campaign contributions by foreign governments are a violation of U.S. law. There are of course legal ways for foreign governments to attempt to influence American politics, for example, through registered lobbyists.

The Clinton campaign made a special effort to solicit contributions from Asian Americans, which was legal, but neglected to ensure that foreign contributions weren't accepted, which was illegal. As a result of these disclosures, future campaigns may be more careful about who they accept money from.

Dec. 7 commanders

SEVEN senators, among them Hawaii's Daniel Inouye, have asked Defense Secretary William Cohen to help reinstate the higher ranks of the Army and Navy commanders in Hawaii at the time of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack. This is a worthy cause.

Gen. Walter Short and Adm. Husband Kimmel were made scapegoats for the disaster. They were relieved of command and later retired at lower rank. Both are dead. Although Kimmel and Short were absolved of blame, they were never restored to their higher ranks. Their families believe that the lower ranks reflect unfairly on the officers' records.

In a letter to Cohen, the senators noted that the intelligence made available to the Hawaii commanders was not sufficient to justify a higher level of vigilance than what was maintained. They maintain that the credibility of past and present Departments of Defense, Army and Navy and the military honor of the United States are at stake.

Kimmel and Short suffered great, and apparently unwarranted, humiliation. The fault for the fact that the armed forces were caught by surprise by the Japanese attack probably belonged more in Washington than in Hawaii. This action would be a small gesture to set the record straight.

Cyprus negotiations

RICHARD Holbrooke, who brokered the Dayton accords that brought a tenuous peace to Bosnia, has taken on another tough diplomatic assignment -- Cyprus. The special envoy of Secretary of State Madeleine Albright tried to revive peace talks between Greeks and Turks over the Mediterranean island but has been stymied.

Holbrooke's mission was intended to head off a potentially explosive confrontation. Turkey has threatened military action to prevent the Greek Cypriot government from deploying Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles. Greece says it will intervene if Turkey acts, which could mean war.

Although Athens and Ankara are theoretically allies in NATO, relations between them have long been unfriendly.

A Turkish invasion in 1974 resulted in the establishment of a Turkish Cypriot government in northern Cyprus, which is protected by 35,000 Turkish troops. Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash insisted on recognition of his regime as a condition for resuming peace talks.

Another issue involves the European Union, which has excluded Turkey but invited the Greek Cypriot government. Denktash demanded that the EU withdraw that invitation.

Holbrooke said the EU's failure to treat Turkey equally with 11 other applicant nations "was a mistake (that) contributed substantially to the impasse on Cyprus."

In the case of Bosnia, then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Holbrooke got the leaders of the warring factions to thrash out their differences in the seclusion of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, under strong U.S. pressure. Cyprus, where emotions are equally intense and the issues equally thorny, could require similar treatment.

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A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor