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SPECIAL REPORT
Mr. Wang Goes to Washington
Mixing Business with Weapons

By David Phinney
ABCNEWS.com

Polytechnologies building (ABCNEWS.com)

Wang Jun simply paid a social visit when he dropped by the White House to sip coffee with President Clinton and a circle of major contributors to the Democratic National Committee—or so he said.
     But when the press discovered the incident, Wang’s visit made headlines.
     Wang serves as chairman of China’s major international weapons broker, the PLA-owned Polytechnologies. Prior to going to the White House, he had a business meeting with someone who had just contributed $50,000 to the DNC.
     Wang’s visit to Washington came at a time when U.S. government officials and law enforcement agencies were reviewing allegations that the firm had sold cruise missiles to Iran, traded weapons for heroin in Burma and brokered a number of other deals with “rogue” nations.
     Polytechnologies also has been repeatedly accused of smuggling small weapons into the United States.

White House Guest Employs Gunrunners
Just months after Wang’s Washington visit, the FBI targeted Polytechnologies in a June 1996 sting operation that caught suspects attempting to smuggle 2,000 Chinese AK-47 assault rifles into the San Francisco Bay Area.

An AK-47 (PNI)

     Five of the 14 suspects were principal U.S. representatives of two major PLA arms suppliers—Norinco as well as Polytechnologies. Many of the suspects disappeared after the bust.
     Both Chinese firms deny involvement in the illegal arms shipment, which has a reported street value of $2 million to $4 million, but law enforcement agencies have repeatedly targeted the firms for similar activity in Los Angeles, Miami and other cities.
     President Clinton has since said Wang’s White House visit in February 1996 was “clearly inappropriate.”

Wall Street Cozies Up to Wang
The son of former Chinese Vice President Wang Zhen, Wang also serves as chairman the $23 billion financial powerhouse, China International Trust and Investment Corp. The organization has raised hundreds of millions of dollars in the U.S. bond market, which some observers claim has been partially funneled to military-run businesses.
     The managing executive with CITIC’s New York office denies that investment money goes to the PLA.
     “That is nonsense,” he responded.
     Other’s aren’t so sure. Roger Robinson, a former economic adviser to the National Security Council under President Bush claims that New York firms have handled more than $800 million in CITIC bonds. He believes that some of that money could very well be going to PLA firms and helping to establish credit operations for China’s international weapons sales.
     “We’re talking about an organization that is intimately connected to the Chinese military commission,” Robinson says.
     Wang made his White House visit during a trip to drum up new business on Wall Street.

Democrats Power Breakfast with the PLA
Just hours before visiting with President Clinton, Wang first met with Ernest Green, an active fund raiser for the Democratic National Committee and a friend of the president. Green, a managing director with the Lehman Brothers investment bank in Washington, was looking to develop business with CITIC, a spokesperson for Lehman later told the press.
     Green’s appointments that day also included delivering a $50,000 check in his wife’s name to the DNC prior to meeting with Wang.
     These series of events later prompted ongoing investigations by the Justice Department and Congress, who are now attempting to determine whether there may be a link between the Chinese government and fund-raising efforts by the Democratic Party.
     Wang, in turn, denies any impropriety. “It is sheer nonsense that some U.S. reports described this meeting as having something to do with the political donations case,” he told the New China News Agency. “These stories deliberately distorted the facts.”
     Wang said he visited the United States to meet with Lehman Brothers and acquaint himself with the U.S. bond market. He also was reported to have met with then-Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.