Johnny Chien Chuen Chung (鍾育瀚;

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: Zhōng Yùhàn) (born 1955) was a major figure in the

1996 United States campaign finance controversy The 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, or uncommonly referred to as Chinagate, was an effort by the People's Republic of China to influence domestic American politics prior to and during the Clinton administration and also inv ...

. Born in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, Chung was the owner of a " blastfaxing" business (an automated system that quickly sends out faxes to thousands of businesses) in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in the early 1990s. Chung eventually found himself in the middle of the

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

elite within a couple weeks of his first donations to the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

.Park, Scott
"FBI transcripts resurrect Clinton-China questions"
, ''

Human Events ''Human Events'' is an American conservative political news and analysis website. Founded in 1944 as a print newspaper, ''Human Events'' became a digital-only publication in 2013. ''Human Events'' takes its name from the first sentence of the U ...

'', September 3, 1999 Between 1994 and 1996, Chung donated $366,000 to the Democratic National Committee. Eventually, all of the money was returned. Chung told federal investigators that $35,000 of the money he donated came from China's

military intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

.Jackson, David and Sun, Lena H.
"Liu's Deals With Chung: An Intercontinental Puzzle"
''Washington Post'', May 24, 1998 Called a "hustler" by a U.S. National Security Council (NSC) aide Robert Suettinger, Chung befriended former Lt. Col. Liu Chaoying during a

Commerce Department The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for busin ...

trade mission to China. In a July 20, 1997 Chicago Tribune article Johnny Chung was quoted as saying, "I see the White House is like a subway: You have to put in coins to open the gates." Chung later testified under oath to the U.S. House Committee in May 1999 that he was introduced to Chinese Gen.

Ji Shengde Ji Shengde (; born 1948) is a former major-general in charge of military intelligence in the People's Liberation Army of China. In June 1999 he was removed from his post after being implicated in the Lai Changxing smuggling scandal centered on ...

, then head of Chinese military intelligence, by Liu Chaoying. Chung said that Ji told him: "We like your president very much. We would like to see him reelect . I will give you 300,000 U.S. dollars. You can give it to the president and the Democrat Party."Johnston, David
"Committee Told Of Beijing Cash For Democrats "
''New York Times'', May 12, 1999 Both Liu and the Chinese government denied the claims. Chung was eventually convicted of bank fraud, tax evasion, and two misdemeanor counts of conspiring to violate election law.
, Department of Justice, press release, January 11, 2001, Retrieved: April 14, 2006 On December 14, 1998, Johnny Chung was sentenced to probation and 3,000 hours.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chung, Johnny 1955 births American political fundraisers China–United States relations Living people Taiwanese emigrants to the United States