Liu Chaoying
Encyclopedia
China Aerospace International Holdings, Ltd. Hong Kong
China Aerospace International Holdings Ltd. or China Aerospace International Holdings, Ltd. is the Hong Kong subsidiary of China's premier satellite developer, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation which is abbreviated as 航天控股 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The...
(中國航天國際控股有限公司) which is the Hong Kong subsidiary of China's premier satellite developer, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground...
(中國航天科技集團公司). She was a Lt. Col. in the People's Liberation Army
People's Liberation Army
The People's Liberation Army is the unified military organization of all land, sea, strategic missile and air forces of the People's Republic of China. The PLA was established on August 1, 1927 — celebrated annually as "PLA Day" — as the military arm of the Communist Party of China...
(PLA) of China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. Liu is the daughter of former PLA General Liu Huaqing
Liu Huaqing
Liu Huaqing was the Commander of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy from 1982 through 1988, and is considered to been responsible for its modernization efforts....
(刘华清). Liu was a major figure in the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy
1996 United States campaign finance controversy
The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, also known as Chinagate, was an alleged effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics during the 1996 federal elections....
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According to the Washington Post, Johnny Chung
Johnny Chung
Johnny Chien Chuen Chung was a major figure in the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy....
(鍾育瀚) met Ms. Liu in June 1996 through mutual business contacts in Hong Kong. Liu was looking for a foothold in Western markets. When she visited the U.S. in July 1996, Chung introduced her to Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
at a Los Angeles fund raiser. She and Chung also paid a call on the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, a meeting arranged by Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, another recipient of Chung's illegal contributions. On the agenda: the procedure for getting a foreign firm listed on American stock exchanges. On Aug. 9, 1996 Liu and Chung formed Marswell Investment, a Los Angeles corporation that issued 50,000 shares of stock—30,000 for Liu, 20,000 for Chung. And within days, Liu wired $300,000 into Chung's account at a Hong Kong bank, a source familiar with the case told Time. Most of it was for their new business venture; some went to the D.N.C. Between 1994 and 1996, Chung donated $366,000 to the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
. Eventually, all of the money was returned. Chung told federal investigators that $35,000 of the money he donated came from China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
's military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
.
The relationship between Liu and Chung became increasingly apparent to officials within the intelligence community, and specifically with regards to U.S. National Security Council
United States National Security Council
The White House National Security Council in the United States is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for considering national security and foreign policy matters with his senior national security advisors and Cabinet officials and is part of the Executive Office of the...
(NSC) aide Robert Suettinger
Robert Suettinger
Robert Suettinger was United States President Bill Clinton's national intelligence officer for East Asia at the National Intelligence Council from 1997-1998. While there, Suettinger oversaw the preparation of national intelligence estimates for the director of the Central Intelligence Agency...
, when Chung befriended former Lt. Col. Liu Chaoying during a Commerce Department trade mission to China.
Johnny Chung later testified under oath to the U.S. House
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
Committee in May 1999 that he was introduced to Chinese Gen. Ji Shengde
Ji Shengde
Ji Shengde was a major-general in charge of military intelligence in the People's Liberation Army of the People's Republic of China until June 1999 when he was removed from his post after being implicated in a smuggling scandal centered on the Fujian port of Xiamen...
, then head of China's military intelligence
Military intelligence
Military intelligence is a military discipline that exploits a number of information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to commanders in support of their decisions....
, by Liu Chaoying. Chung said that Ji told him: "We like your president very much. We would like to see him reelect [sic]. I will give you 300,000 U.S. dollars. You can give it to the president and the Democrat [sic] Party." Both Liu and the Chinese government denied the claims.
Liu Chaoying has encountered, since her departure from the PLA. other funding controversies. According to the Chinese publication Ren Min Bao 人民報 of February 14, 2001, in the lead-story "Liu Chaoying encounters trouble!" (刘超英又遇到了麻烦!), it was reported that "former Chinese Central Military Commission, Liu Huaqing, vice chairman's daughter, Liu Chaoying, together with a business partner, were litigated by The Kwangtung Provincial Bank in January 2001, which filed civil proceedings in the (Guangdong Provincial) High Court, alleging that Liu Chaoying and another unnamed businesswoman were the principals involved in a defaulted HK $10 million loan, as loan guarantor, and it ruled that the two are the responsible parties for the loan's repayment."