Gore addresses mainland think-tank
Former US vice-president Al Gore recently made a visit to Hong Kong and the mainland, where he is believed to have been paid to speak at a mainland government-linked think-tank and attended a lunch hosted by former Enron director Ronnie Chan Chi-chung.
Mr Gore - who lost the presidential election in a close and controversial vote two years ago and is poised to announce whether he will run in the 2004 race - also held an unannounced meeting with Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa during his mid-November visit.
Participants at the China Development Institute-sponsored forum in Shenzhen, at which Mr Gore was a key speaker, were offered the chance to have their photo taken with Mr Gore if they paid 50,000 yuan (HK$47,000) or 100,000 yuan for conference sponsorship packages.
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. It is also likely to cast a spotlight on the Democrats' China policy ahead of the 2004 campaign.
Republicans have seized on the low-key nature of the visit.
'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.
Mr Gore's participation at the Shenzhen conference was partly organised by conference organisers DnmStrategies.
'This was a personal, private visit. It has nothing to do with the party,' said DnmStrategies chief executive Sam Moon, who described himself as a Democrat. The conference - also sponsored by the Shenzhen Economic Daily (published by the Shenzhen committee of the Communist Party) and Overseas Chinese Town Holdings Company, a state-owned enterprise and developer of the Shenzhen Bay area - examined China's role in the global economy after its entry into the World Trade Organisation.
The China Development Institute, the main organiser, describes itself as a non-governmental think-tank but was established with the State Council's approval and is associated with a number of former officials.
Mr 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, a society source said.
Mr 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 Mr Gore was aware of Mr Chan's relationship with Enron, Mr Moon said: 'He was . . . because I told him before we went into it [the lunch].'
Attempts to seek comment from Mr Chan were unsuccessful.
