chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (02/22/90)
| +---------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. 22 (I), 1990 Table of Contents # of Lines 1. Reports of Human Rights in China etc. ............................... 121 2. China's Austerity Policies Taking Hold But Serious Side Effects ..... 19 3. Human Rights Abuses Still Widespread ................................ 80 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Reports of Human Rights in China etc. ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jian Ding" <IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU> BY: SCHWEID, BARRY ; AP Diplomatic Writer Source: WASHINGTON (AP) February 20, 1990 China, Nicaragua and Iraq were sharply criticized by the State Department today in an annual human rights report to Congress that also documents beheadings andamputations in Saudi Arabia and floggings in Iran. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, the report said the human rights situation is "a source of deep con- cern." Palestinian Arabs are in the 27th month of an uprising against Israeli control. From student detentions in Liberia to disappearances in El Salvador, the 1,641-page report catalogues man's inhumanity to man in virtually every conceivable way. In Burma, men forced to walk ahead of army troops in mine-infested fields are blown up. In Iran, prisoners are flogged and suspended from the ceiling, according to eyewitnesses and human rights groups. Pro-democracy demonstrators were gunned down in Beijing's Tiananmen Square June 3-4, and independent observers are cited as challenging the official toll of 20 executions as unrealistically low. The report also finds areas of improvement, most conspicu- ously in the Soviet Union. "Authorities have adopted a more forthcoming approach to foreign criticism of their human rights record," the report says. And yet, though the top leadership no longer fosters anti- Semitism and appears embarrassed by it, "there has been a sharp increase in popular expressions of anti-Semitic attitudes," the report relates. "Jews have been increasingly concerned over the danger of violence." Israel, a democracy, comes in for little criticism out- side of the situation in the occupied territories. A total of 432 Palestinians were reported killed in 1989, 304 by Israeli security forces and settlers and 128 by other Israelis. While the Israeli defense forces engaged in a severe crackdown, the report cites a significant increase in Palestinian violence against Palestinians, spurred by a growing Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement. James Zogby, executive director of the Arab American Insti- tute, called the report a brutal indictment of Israeli occupation, said pro-Israel groups applied pressure to mute the criticism and that Congress should either cut the $3 bil- lion in aid to Israel or make it conditional on an improved record. The Israeli Embassy in Washington issued a statement saying, "Israel's measures have not differed from those applied by other democratic countries when facing violence in the form of riots, armed assaults, murder and terror." Soldiers who violate regulations are punished, the embassy said. Rep. Gus Yatron, D-Pa., chairman of the House human rights subcommittee, complimented the State Department for a report that "pulls no punches in assessing dismal human rights records of such dictatorial regimes as China and Iraq." Yatron challenged the Bush administration to match the rhe- toric with "a policy which places America's commitment to human rights and democratic institutions above offending ruth- less regimes, which the administration is currently seeking to curry favor." His statement reflected congressional criticism of President Bush as imposing only limited sanctions against China after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in which hundreds and possibly thousands were killed. The report found a dramatic deterioration in the human rights climate in China in 1989. Apart from the Beijing massa- cre, the army killed scores of Tibetans in March in Lhasa and reports of torture of persons accused of "counterrevolutionary crimes" are persistent. "Conditions in Chinese prisons are invariably harsh and frequently degrading," Congress was told. Iraq's human rights record is described as "abysmal," with effective opposition to government policy stifled and intelli- gence services engaged in extensive surveillance. "The freedoms of speech and press and of assembly and asso- ciation are virtually nonexistent," the report says. "Other important human rights problems include continuing disappear- ances and arbitrary detentions, lack of fair trial, widespread interference with privacy, excessive use of force against Kurdish civilians and an almost total lack of worker rights." In Jordan, where martial law has been in effect since 1967, intelligence and security agencies have broad surveillance powers and certificates of good conduct are needed for all public jobs and for many in the private sector. In Saudi Arabia, capital punishment is meted out for a wide variety of crimes. Beheading is the usual method of execution and, in some cases, it was followed by public crucifixion. In the first 10 months of 1989, at least 13 thieves had their hands severed, including 11 non-Saudis, the report says. Nicaragua's Sandinista government, which faces national elections on Sunday, is sharply criticized for maintaining "an extensive and repressive internal security apparatus" that includes surveillance and infiltration of the political opposi- tion. "Political and extrajudicial killings are still being reported, the political opposition still suffers consid- erable harassment and intimidation, the government continues to hold political prisoners and the writ of the security forces still runs deep and wide," the report says. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. China's Austerity Policies Taking Hold But Serious Side Effects ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Young Chul KIM, IBRD 473 - 3826 CAFGM at IBRDVM1 Source IMF Press Summary 2/22/90 AP DJ reported from Beijing that China's State Statistics Bureau spokesman Zhang Zhongji told a news conference that China has cooled its overheated economy, but at the cost of rising unem- ployment, budget-crippling subsidies, and increased industrial losses. He said 1989 economic developments were encouraging, citing more manageable growth, a decline in spending, and a drop in infla- tion. But old and new problems make the task of economic rectifi- cation even more difficult. AFP reported from Beijing that Xinhua said natural catastrophes cost China $11B last year. Drought, floods, and earthquakes in particular, cut farm output by at least 30%. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Human Rights Abuses Still Widespread ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Charlie Li <QiangLi@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU> Source: The China World at Florida Atlantic University February 19, 1990 WASHINGTON (FEB. 19) UPI - A survey of human rights around the world shows that the revolution in Eastern Europe has barely moved the needle in terms of the number of people who are living in freedom. In the annual survey by Freedom House, an independent U.S. organization, Executive Director Bruce McColm puts the current world population at 5.2 billion. Of those, according to the survey, 39 percent of the people in the world are now "free," 22 percent are "partly free," and 39 percent are "not free." That is only a slight change from one year earlier, when 39 percent were "free," 20 percent were "partly free," and 41 per- cent were "not free." In the definitions of the survey, the Soviet Union, despite its political changes, remains listed as "not free," since it continues to be a one-party state where citizens do not enjoy the right to elect the head of their state, and civil liberties and a free press remain in question. South Africa, on the other hand, is listed as "partly free," since whites have democratic rights and there is a free press, with the exception of limits on news about racial and security matters. Hungary, as an example of the Eastern European revolution, is listed as "partly free" because its freedoms have not yet been totally codified into law. The State Department is to publish its own survey of human rights around the world on Wednesday. In one section of that report, the State Department is much more critical of China than the White House has been. A human rights report by Asia Watch calls the lifting of mar- tial law in China a sham designed for U.S. consumption. In the report called "Punishment Season," Asia Watch says, "Having bludgeoned the population of Beijing into temporary sub- mission, and having installed a fearsome network of vigilante, police and paramilitary forces throughout the Chinese capital in order to maintain the repression, the authorities can now easily afford to dispense with the formal institution of martial law." Asia Watch said that President Bush, "anxious to be able to show some kind of result from his excessively conciliatory policy toward Beijing," was too uncritical about minor changes by the Chinese government. Asia Watch called the recent release of 573 selected political prisoners "a publicity stunt" to disguise the fact that up to 30,000 political prisoners remain in jail. Freedom House, in its survey, calls 1989 "the most pivotal year of the post-war period" in terms of human rights, but it described the advances as "fragile and still reversible." Looking back over the past 17 years, when the organization began its global survey, there has been a steady trend toward freedom, but it has been statistically slow since both the Soviet Union and China, with a combined population of approximately 25 percent of the world, remain in the "not free" category. In 1973, the survey called 32 percent of the world "free," compared to 39 percent in in 1990. In 1973, Freedom House judged 47 percent of the world "not free," compared to 1990 when the figure was 39 percent. In the last year, the Freedom House survey said that China's crushing of the democratic reform was a major setback, and there were other reverses, including Burma, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Subscription (Xinmeng Liao): xliao@ccm.umanitoba.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Executive Editor: (Bo Chi) chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Thu Feb 22 11:32:22 EST 1990
chi@VLSI.WATERLOO.EDU (02/23/90)
| +---------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. 22 (II), 1990 Table of Contents # of Lines 1. (US) Chinese Students Organize Visiting Delegation .................... 61 2. US State Department Criticizes China Government -- Massacre ........... 91 3. China Law School President Forced to Resign ........................... 82 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. (US) Chinese Students Organize Visiting Delegation ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jian Ding" <IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU> BY: LOCKE, MICHELLE ; Associated Press Writer Source: AMHERST, Mass. (AP) February 21, 1990 An organizer hopes to lead the first announced delegation of Chinese students to return home since the killing of scores of people in Tiananmen Square. "I believe that this is the right cause. We have to open the door to interaction. Without interaction we can do nothing with the movement back home," said Matthew Huang, the leader of the proposed delegation by the Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars in the United States. The federation recently voted to seek permission for a visiting delegation. Letters have been sent to the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., but there has been no response so far. Huang, a student at the University of Massachusetts, said it's possible the government will refuse to allow the students to return. "We do want to go back and we think someone should take the risk," said Shen Tong, one of the leaders in the pro-democracy movement in Beijing who eluded capture and is now studying at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. He said Wednesday he was willing to take that risk. "This kind of open attitude can basically challenge the Chinese government's closed-door policy," he said. "It's also for the American government. We want to show the Bush administration we didn't give up our struggle." The administration, asserting that it is important to maintain a dialogue with China to encourage liberalization, last month vetoed a bill protecting Chinese students against deportation. Bush has twice sent high-level emissaries to China since last summer's bloody suppression. A statement by the student federation said reasons for its visit include investigating what happened to those killed when soldiers moved into Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, as well as seeing "the real China, normal or not." Huang, a 27-year-old biology student, said he's scared about what may happen on a trip home. "We will try our best to go back and maybe we will face some danger," Huang said. "One thing is for certain is we won't trade our principles.' Officials at the Chinese Embassy in Washington did not return a telephone call on Wednesday. The crackdown of the pro-democracy movement was followed by an outcry by Chinese students studying in the United States. Many were colleagues of the students leading the movement in China. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. US State Department Criticizes China Government -- Massacre ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jian Ding" <IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU> BY: ANDERSON, JIM Source: WASHINGTON (UPI) February 21, 1990 The State Department's annual report on human rights sharply criticized the Chinese government Wednesday for the "massa- cre" of hundreds and possibly thousands of pro-democracy pro- testers in Tiananmen Square and the later execution of at least 20 more pro-Democracy activists. The Chinese government has denied the executions and has never officially acknowledged any widespread killings occurred when tanks and troops were called in to crush the pro- democracy movement last June. The harsh words by the State Department Human Rights bureau, in its annual "Country Reports," was in direct con- trast to the much milder language used by the Bush administration in recent comments on the situation in China. "The human rights climate in China deterioriated dramatically in 1989," the State Department report concluded. The account, based on reports from U.S. diplomats and other sources, said "at least several hundred, and possibly thousands, of people were killed in Beijing on June 3-4." "The Beijing massacre," the report said, "was followed by a drastic, country-wide crackdown on participants, support- ers, and sympathizers. Thousands were arrested and about a score are known to have been executed following trials which fell far short of international standards." The State Department placed the blame for the killings squarely at the feet of the Chinese leadership: "Credible evidence indicates that the leadership deliberately ordered the use of lethal force to suppress peaceful demonstra- tions. The excessive force employed resulted in the deaths of many unarmed civilians." Senate Democratic leader George Mitchell said the report "is a devastating indictment of human rights in China. It is an equally devastating indictment of the pol- icies of the Bush administration toward China." Mitchell said the report shows that China pursues a policy of violating the rights of its citizens "in a way that should shock the conscience of the world." "It does shock the conscience of Americans. Unfortunately, it does not shock the executive branch of the American govern- ment," Mitchell said. White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater insisted there was "no inconsistency" between the report's findings and Bush's decision to try to keep open lines of diplomatic communi- cation between Washington and Beijing. And at the House Foreign Affairs Committee's human rights subcommittee, members praised the candid nature of the report by Richard Schifter, assistant secretary of states for human rights, but criticized the administration's position on China. Subcommittee Chairman Gus Yatron, D-Pa., told Schifter that while the report "pulls no punches," that current U.S. policy toward China and also toward Iraq "leaves the impression that the United States has placed human rights on the back burner of American foreign policy." And Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., said, "Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the report are its best pages, the report on China, because the human rights report on China, which I commend and applaud, reflect a schizophrenic approach on the part of this amdinistration to China." But Schifter said that U.S. human rights goals "are not advanced by cutting all ties" with countries that violate human rights. - Elsewhere, the report said 1989 "may well go down in history books as a watershed year regarding the worldwide cause of human rights," particularly in Eastern Europe. Regarding the Soviet Union, the report commented, "Though reformers strengthened their hold on the top echelon of the Soviet government, 'new thinking' has failed to penetrate many parts of the Soviet bureaucracy." ... ... ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. China Law School President Forced to Resign ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jian Ding" <IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU> BY: LUBMAN, SARAH Source: BEIJING (UPI) February 21, 1990 The president of a leading law school was forced to resign for being overly sympathetic to his students during last spring's protest movement, Chinese and Western sources said Wednesday. Jiang Ping, the liberal president of China Politics and Law University in Beijing, was ordered to resign last week. Jiang had originally expressed a wish to quit his post last summer but was persuaded by his students to stay on, the sources said. Conservative ideologues criticized Jiang, 60, for being too lenient with many students who demonstrated in last spring's massive pro-democracy protests, the sources said. Politics and Law University, one of five law schools formed in the 1950s under the Ministry of Justice, played a leading role in the student-led pro-democracy movement. At the height of the protests, young teachers from Poli- tics and Law staged a hunger strike in front of Zhong- nanhai, China's leadership compound. Several teachers from the university were arrested during the crackdown that followed the army's bloody suppression of the protests, and some previously active students say they still undergo occasional police interrogations. Jiang was told to step down by Ministry of Justice officials, but sources said the officials apparently were pressured from higher authorities, possibly the Communist Party's Political and Legal Leading Group headed by ruling Polit- buro member Qiao Shi. The Political and Legal Group has no direct authority over the Ministry of Justice, which is supervised by the State Coun- cil, China's Cabinet. But the party's legal group counts Jus- tice Minister Cai Cheng among its seven members. Students at Politics and Law say they hold Jiang in high regard for trying to protect them during continuing investiga- tions in connection with the protests. Sources said authorities appeared to have timed Jiang's ouster to coincide with the last week of the lunar New Year's academic break so as to avoid campus unrest. "They're being careful about Jiang Ping," said a foreign legal expert. "They don't want any problems with the students." Jiang, who has spoken in favor of legal reform, will retain his positions as standing committee member of the National People's Congress, China's rubber-stamp Parliament, and co-chairman of the NPC's legislative affairs commission. He will also continue to teach graduate and undergraduate classes at Politics and Law, sources said. Jiang, a Communist Party member educated in Moscow, shared the fate of hundreds of thousands of Chinese intellectuals in the late 1950s. Branded a "rightist" in 1957, he spent two years in a labor camp, where he lost a leg. He was fully rehabilitated in 1979 and was later appointed president of Politics and Law University, formerly known as the Beijing Institute of Political Science and Law. Sources say the university has not yet replaced Jiang and the search for a suitable president will probably take "several months." "They can't find the appropriate person. They need someone acceptable to the Ministry of Justice," said a source, who asked not to be identified. A university spokesman contacted by telephone said exe- cutive vice president Chen Guangzhong is temporarily over- seeing day-to-day campus administration. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Subscription: (Xinmeng Liao) xliao@ccm.umanitoba.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Executive Editor: (Bo Chi) chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.edu | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Thu Feb 22 14:48:08 EST 1990