Ted Sioeng (pronounced 'shyong'Man In The Middle Of Donorgate
Businessweek, August 10, 1997) (), also known as Xiong Delong and Sioeng San Wong, is an Indonesian businessman with interests in the

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 territorie ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

Indonesian tycoon Sioeng sues business woman for failed deal
, Intellasia, by Thanh Nien, 22 Jan 2007 and other parts of

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, worth around US$500 million.Findings Link Clinton Allies to Chinese Intelligence

Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is an American investigative journalist. He started working for ''The Washington Post'' as a reporter in 1971 and now holds the title of associate editor. While a young reporter for ''The Washingto ...

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

, February 10, 1998

Background

Sioeng grew up in Indonesia. Raised in an ethnically Chinese family, he has a strong affinity for China, which is now the focus of his business interests, while he also admires the United States - he and his family have been based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

since 1987.

Business interests

While in his 20s, Sioeng became successful selling foam rubber padding. In the 1970s, he was quick to recognize that money could be made in emerging China and he built a multimillion-dollar fortune selling the Chinese used factory equipment – such as for

cigarette A cigarette is a narrow cylinder containing a combustible material, typically tobacco, that is rolled into thin paper for smoking. The cigarette is ignited at one end, causing it to smolder; the resulting smoke is orally inhaled via the opp ...

- and toy-manufacturing and in the medical field – and exporting Chinese cigarettes to the West. In China, he goes by the name Xiong Delong. He quickly saw that by donating money to good causes, such as to build schools, hospitals, and roads, he could gain favour with local governments. In

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

, this approach gained him a license to sell the popular

Hongtashan Hongtashan () is a Chinese brand of cigarettes, owned and manufactured by Hongta Group, formerly known as Yuxi Cigarette Factory. The brand was founded as a gift contributing to the 10th anniversary of the Chinese Communists winning the Chinese ...

brand of cigarettes – called 'Red Pagoda Mountain' in the U.S. – outside of China. He now runs the business as a (dollar-based) joint venture. He is owner of the Chinese-language

International Daily News ''International Daily News'' (), also known as ''Guoji Ribao'', is a major Chinese-language newspaper in North America and Indonesia. It is a pro-mainland newspaper, sold in several major Chinatowns. The newspaper was founded and owned by Lee Y ...

, published in the United States and Indonesia.

U.S. campaign finance controversy

Sioeng 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 ...

, notably sitting next to

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...

and

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

at fundraising events after having donated 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 ...

funds allegedly linked to China. In 1997 the

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...

was informed by the U.S. attorney general, and the directors of the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

, and

NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...

that they had credible intelligence information indicating Sioeng was an agent of China.Duffy, Brian, and Woodward, Bob
"Senate Panel Is Briefed on China Probe Figure"
''Washington Post'', September 12, 1997 According to an unclassified final draft of a report by the US Senate committee then investigating campaign finance abuses, half of the $400,000 given to the Democrats by Sioeng and his family was "funded by transfer from overseas accounts," suggesting that the money came from the Chinese government.

Family and personal life

Sioeng, who is ethnically an Dutch-Indo descent, began his life in an orphanage. He was then brought up (in Indonesia) by an

Indonesian Chinese Chinese Indonesians ( id, Orang Tionghoa Indonesia) and colloquially Chindo or just Tionghoa are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese people and their Indonesian descendants have l ...

couple, which led to his interests in China. He is married with five children, including his eldest, daughter

Jessica Elnitiarta Jessica may refer to: Given name * Jessica (given name), includes a list of people and fictional characters with this name * Jessica Folcker, a Swedish singer known by the mononym Jessica * Jessica Jung, a Korean-American singer known by the ...

, who heads the family interests in California and was also involved in the Clinton controversy, having donated $300,000, some of which was alleged to have been Chinese government money. Mr. Ted Sioeng holds a

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

passport but his wife and children are permanent U.S. residents. He is able to speak good English.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sioeng, Ted Year of birth missing (living people) Indonesian people of Chinese descent Living people People from Jakarta Indonesian businesspeople Place of birth missing (living people)