Reno, Chinese Counterpart Discuss Campaign Probe

WASHINGTON —  Atty. Gen. Janet Reno met behind closed doors Monday with her Chinese counterpart, Justice Minister Xiao Yang, but aides said that they could report no progress on the department’s campaign fund-raising investigation.

Referring to evidence that the Chinese government sought last year to buy political influence in the United States with secret campaign contributions, Reno said in a statement that she made it “very clear to Minister Xiao that we are seeking the full cooperation of the Chinese government.”

A Justice Department source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Xiao did not offer such cooperation.

Senior Chinese officials repeatedly have denied that they made any effort to illegally direct money into U.S. political campaigns or improperly influence political events through other means.

In an effort to put the meeting in its best light, Reno’s statement said that the two officials and their deputies “discussed a wide range of legal and law enforcement issues” and that the session marked “a productive first step.”

She added: “We agreed that our departments should meet again and continue to work together on law enforcement issues.”

The fund-raising allegations involving China are so sensitive that Reno raised them directly with Xiao before a full complement of other U.S. and Chinese justice officials joined them for a larger meeting.

Based largely on intelligence culled from electronic surveillance conducted by the FBI and other U.S. agencies during the last six years, U.S. prosecutors so far have been unable to determine how much of the alleged Chinese plot actually was carried out, or by what means. As one official put it, “the trail has grown cold.”

But based on what they heard in the intercepted transmissions, U.S. officials said that Beijing decided to funnel at least $2 million into congressional races and other political campaigns in 1996.

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Besides Reno, those meeting with Xiao included deputy assistant attorneys general Mark Richard, who has supervisory authority over the fund-raising probe, and Fran Fragos Townsend, who heads the department’s office of international affairs.

Reno said both sides agreed that they will open reciprocal law enforcement offices in each nation’s capital, but no time-frame was announced. Both the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration would be represented in Beijing.

“Crime does not respect international borders,” Reno said. “This is a very positive development that will enable American law enforcement to work more closely with Chinese officials to help fight the flow of overseas drugs into the United States.”