From: Brooks Jackson and Judd Ginsberg/CNN
In: Washington
Posted 7-24-97

Subject: Albright Presses China To Locate Fund-Raiser

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright has asked the Chinese government for help in locating former Democratic fund-raiser Charlie Trie, sought as a witness in a congressional investigation.

A State Department spokesman said Wednesday the United States has not received any response from China regarding it the inquiry

The State Department wrote Rep. Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.) last week to say Secretary of State Madeleine Albright informed China that locating Trie is a high priority. "We informed the Chinese government that this is a high priority in which Secretary Albright is personally interested," Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Larkin said in a letter to Solomon.

The letter was dated July 21, and Solomon released it Wednesday. The letter said the communication with the Beijing government was on July 14.

Solomon has pressed the Clinton Administration to seek Trie's return to the U.S. He is believed to be in China, and has eluded investigators for both the Senate and House, who are trying to question him about the source of more than $1 million that he raised for the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton legal defense fund.

State Department spokesman Jim Foley said Albright has raised the issue of Chinese cooperation with congressional committees on many occasions.

Albright is expected to meet Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, although Foley could not say if Albright would specifically discuss Trie's whereabouts.

Foley pointed out the State Department has said in the past it is fully commited to help congressional committees probing campaign financlng.

For his part, Solomon released a statement saying he was pleased by Albright's action.

"Secretary Albright has shown herself to be head and shoulders above the partisan politics that has swept up too many people involved in these investigation," Solomon said.