Economic ties in U.S. politics

Re “China enters the race,” April 13

This article on former President Clinton accepting donations and travel expenses from the Chinese Internet company Alibaba shows the success of China’s government in buying friends and influence in the United States. It is disingenuous for a former president to claim ignorance in that he was unaware of Shi Tao’s imprisonment when such a case had been widely reported in the media.

Clinton should follow the example set by Yahoo in its legal settlement with Shi Tao’s family by pressing for the release of his and other Internet writers sentenced to jail for posting articles on the Internet.

Ann Lau

Torrance

Why didn’t this article mention Dick Cheney and the Bush family’s close ties with the Saudi royal family, which is more oppressive than the Chinese government? What about all the oil industry ties that do business with brutal dictators? You really need to be more complete in your coverage. Why is it a conflict of interest for one but not the other? I think being balanced would mean a mention, at least briefly, of the fact that we have people in power who are aligned or do business with bad people already.

Howie Goldfarb

Sherman Oaks