XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU DEC 05, 2002 16:08:25 ET XXXXX
INTRIGUE SURROUNDS GORE TRIP TO CHINA
Former vice-president Al Gore recently made a visit to China, where he is believed to have been paid to speak at a communist government-linked think-tank and attended a lunch hosted by former ENRON director Ronnie Chan Chi-chung.
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Participants at the China Development Institute-sponsored forum in Shenzhen, at which Gore was a key speaker last month, were offered the chance to have their photo taken with Gore if they paid 50,000 yuan (HK$ 47,000) or 100,000 yuan for conference sponsorship packages, the SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST reported.
The news of his visit, which was said to have been personal, is expected to raise questions about whether he was engaged in fundraising activities following his role in an Asian campaign donation controversy in 1996.
Gore embarked on the China trek on the eve of his current book tour.
"You can't be the leading Democrat candidate for the upcoming elections and come to a communist country, take money from a communist think-tank and declare it a private event," said Mark Simon, vice-chairman in Hong Kong of Republicans Abroad.
Gore attended an informal Sunday lunch on November 18 with about 30 members of the Asia Society, hosted by Hong Kong chairman Mr Chan at the offices of his property company, Hang Lung Development.
Chan was an independent director of bankrupt US energy company ENRON, which triggered a crisis of confidence in American corporate governance when it collapsed last December.
Asked whether Gore was aware of Chan's relationship with ENRON, one source said: "He was . . . because I told him before we went into it the lunch ."
Developing...
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