chi@VLSI.WATERLOO.EDU (02/26/90)
| +---------I __L__ ___- i \ ------I +----+----+ | ___\_\_ | \./ | | -----+- | | | | | __ \/ | --+-- |--- | |---| | I----+----I | I__J/\ | __|__ | | | |---| | | | _____ \ | /| \ | | | L__-| | I I---------J / J \/ | | V | _/ * C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t * (News General) -- Feb. 24 (I), 1990 Table of Contents # of Lines 1. Zhao Ziyang Faces 'Final Fall' at NPC Session ..................... 86 2. Beijing Moves to End Dissent at Convention ......................... 82 3. 88 Percent Of Chinese Women Practice Birth Control ................. 37 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Zhao Ziyang Faces 'Final Fall' at NPC Session ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: kwchan@hkucs.UUCP (Chan Ki Wa) Newsgroup: soc.culture.china Source: South China Morning Post By Willy Wo-lap Lam Date: 22 Feb 90 Disgraced party chief, Mr Zhao Ziyang, is likely to suffer more humiliation at the third session of the National People's Congress (NPC), due to open on March 20. Chinese sources say that Mr Zhao will likely be removed from his remaining non-party posts, including that of first vice-chairman of the State Central Military Comission (SCMC) and membership of the NPC. At the fourth Party Plenum last June, Mr Zhao had already been stripped of all Communist Party positions, including Poliburo membership and first vice-chairmanship of the party's Central Military Commission (cCMC). Even though the State Military Commission is largely a ceremonial organisation, party hard-liners have been anxious that the "rene- gade leader" be removed. Since taking over the position of secretary-general of the party's CMC last November, the Chief Political Commissar, General Yang Baibing, brother of the President, Mr Yang Shangkun, a pol- itical foe of Mr Zhao, has stepped up anti-Zhao propaganda within military ranks. Chinese newspaapers yesterday carried a report by an NPC official that "since the second session of the NPC (in April 1989), elec- toral units have ousted five people, including Liang Xiang, former governor of Hainan province" from NPC membership. Mr Liang, a protege of Mr Zhao, was sacked from his Hainan post last September. Chinese analysts say it is likely that Mr Zhao, a member of the NPC delegation from the city of Beijing will have his membership revoked when the municipal people's contgress meets before the NPC. "The NPC position carries no clout, but it is symbolically impor- tant stince all major leaders are deputies," a Western diplomat said. Aside from Mr Zhao, analysts say that another Zhao ally, Mr Hu Qili, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee who sided with the students during the pro-democracy movement, may also be kicked out of the NPC. Mr Hu's party position had also been nullified last June. Chinese sources say, as a sign of further disgrace, Mr Zhao had recently been obliged to move out of Zhongnanhai, the gigantic compound in the heart of Beijing where leaders live and work. One source said that Mr Zhao and his family are now staying in the same house as that of the late party chief Mr Hu Yaobang, which is situated in an exclusive alley not far from Zhongnanhai. One of Mr Zhao's distant relatives recently confirmed to his overseas friends the move of the Zhao family out of Zhongnanhai. Since last June, Mr Zhao has been under house arrest and his role in the "counter-revolutionary rebellion" is still being investi- gated by party disciplinary officials. In infomal briefings last weekend, NPC officials had said that there would be no major personnel changes at the NPC. However, Chinese sources say that the leadership of the SCMC will be reshuffled. SCMC chairman Mr Deng Xiaoping who had retired from the party CMC last November, is expected to step down. The party General Secretary, Mr Jiang Zemin, who was made chair- man of the party military commission last November, is likely to get the chairmanship of the SCMC. Other personnel changes will probably include posts of up to vice-premier's level, Chinese sources say. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Beijing Moves to End Dissent at Convention ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: kwchan@hkucs.UUCP (Chan Ki Wa) Newsgroups: soc.culture.china Source : South China Morning Post By Willy Wo-lap Lam Date: 23 Feb 90 The Communist Party is taking steps to ensure that its authority will not be challenged at the convention of two legislative and consultative bodies in mid-March. The National People's Congress (NPC) is scheduled to open in Beijing on March 20 and the advisory Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) one day earlier. While trying to make the two bodies a showcase of democracy, Beijing is anxious to make sure that there will be no "open rebellion". Chinese sources say that Beijing has issued instructions to NPC and CPPCC deputies who are party line during the upcoming confer- ences. The instructions include not raising proposals and draft legisla- tions that are not sanctioned by the party - and voting en masse to support party motions. "The party organisation within the NPC and CPPCC has been beefed up since the pro-democracy movement last spring, when a few dozen NPC deputies tried to convene an emergency session to remove Premier Li Peng," a Chinese political source said. Earlier, reformists within the CCP suggested that the party organisation in the NPC and CPPCC be abolished in the interest of democratisation. Analysts estimate that over 65 per cent of NPC deputies - and 35 per cent of CPPCC deputies - are Communist Party members. According to NPC authorities, the agenda of the forthcoming ses- sion includes such relatively non-controversial items as passage of the various government work reports, the Hongkong Basic Law, and a law on joint ventures. However, analysts say that relatively independent NPC deputies could raise a ruckus over such issues as the hiking of the mili- tary budget. Many deputies are also expected to cast negative votes for the nominees for positions including vice-premiers. To highlight the CCP's commmitment to the system of "multi-party co-operation under CCP leadership," the CCP will likely allow CPPCC deputies who are members of China's eight "democratic" par- ties to introduce motions in the name of their political organi- sations. This innovation has been tried by the on-going session of the Beijing branch of the CPPCC. So far, members of the China democratic league and the AlL-China Federation of Induatry and Commerce have introduced policy propo- sals in the name of their parties. According to Mr Guan Shixiong, spokesman for the Beijing CPPCC, "the right of CPPCC members to raise criticism and to express different opinions will be guaranteed." Mr Guan added that the number of discussion sessions has been increased and that members of the Beijing CPPCC will have oppor- tunities to talk face to face with the party and government leaders of the municipality. Analysts say, however, that the recent reform introduced in the CPPCC is merely a gesture to show world opinion that China has made a limited reponse to liberalisation movements in the East Bloc. Chinese sources say that in the forthcoming CPPCC, the permission of party units must be sought before motions can be raised. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. 88 Percent Of Chinese Women Practice Birth Control ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Fangzhen Lin <lin@Neon.Stanford.EDU> Source: AP news 23 Feb 90 BEIJING (AP) - Birth control is practiced by 88 percent of Chinese married women of child-bearing age, but poor-quality con- traceptives lead to a high rate of unplanned pregnancies, a State Family Planning Commission official said. Zhu Yaohua said 46 percent of the 164 million women practic- ing contraception used intra-uterine devices, the China Daily reported Friday. Female sterilization, or tubal ligation, and vasectomies were the next two most common forms of preventing births, she said. Figures on other methods were not listed. State Planning Com- mission figures for 1988 showed IUDs accounted for 41.1 percent of contraception, female sterilization for 36.1 percent and male sterilization for 11.4 percent. Oral pills, at 5.8 percent, and condoms, at 4 percent, were far less popular. Zhu said structural faults in the Chinese-made IUDs and insertion problems resulted in a high number of unplanned preg- nancies. U.N. Population Fund officials in Beijing have said there is a 10 percent failure rate for the IUDs, a major reason why there were 12.68 million abortions in China in 1988, more than one for every two live births. China adheres to a strict one-child-per-family policy, and women who become pregnant outside the state plan are often pres- sured to have abortions. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Subscription: (Xinmeng Liao) xliao@ccm.umanitoba.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Executive Editor: (Bo Chi) chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.edu | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Sat Feb 24 16:16:13 EST 1990