chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (02/21/90)
| +---------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. 21 (I), 1990 Table of Contents # of Lines News Brief ............................................................ 64 1. Soviet Politburo Members Stripped Of Plush Estates .................. 48 2. Letter From Reader: Fang Lizhi's Book Published in US ............... 27 3. Li Peng Asks Vigilance Against Ethnic Strife ....................... 21 4. China Fails Stop Student Leader Address U.N. Commission ............. 46 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- News Brief ----------------------------------------------------------------- (1) From: simone@nyspi. (J. Yang) By Chen, Chongzhong Source: World Journal, Beijing, 1/20/90 --------------------------------------- Chinese Communist Party chief Jiang Zeming quoted poems and English during the interview with members of 'China United Alli- ence' of Taiwan. Mr. Jiang's major points were: (i) Jiang did not promise to give up the engagement of armed force on Taiwan, but efforts would be made to solve the problem peacefully; (ii) As to the changes in Soviet and East Europe, Jiang said it was not realist- tic to say that these changes made no influence on Chinese Communist Party, but it was not true that these changes affected CCP tremandously; (3) Would take moderate policy on students abroad and 'welcome home'. Students involved in 'June 4' were not rebellions; Jiang also said that the reason of not announcing the list of those who died last year was because the family members were against it. (2) From: simone@nyspi. (J. Yang) Source: AP, Beijing, 2/18/90 ----------------------------- Chinese State Council official denied the saying that Premier Li Peng would resign in the coming State Council representative meeting, saying that it was completely a rumor. Uncomfirmed report says that senior leaders will force Li Peng to resign becau- se he is related to last year's bloody crackdown. Western diplomats tend not to believe it because that will admit that the brutal crackdown is wrong. (3) From: simone@nyspi. (J. Yang) Source: The New York Times, Beijing, 2/17/90 -------------------------------------------- Chinese Communist Party will start its 'Reregistration', for some party members it means a series of meetings and self analyses in the coming few months, and the possibilty of being purged. The central and local government, factories and universities are ordered to fo- llow the guiding principle to process the reregis- tration. It does not cause a lot of concerns for most of the peo- ple, even for those who were involved in last year's pro- democracy movement, the report says. (4) From: "Jian Ding" <IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU> Source: BEIJING (UPI) February 19, 1990 ----------------------------------------- The roof of a meeting hall collapsed onto about 270 people at a factory in a northeast China city, killing at least 30 people and injuring at least 130 others, the semi-official China News Service said Monday. The accident occurred Friday at a heavy machinery fac- tory in the northeast coastal city of Dalian in Liaoning Pro- vince, the news service said. ... The accident was under investigation, CNS said. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Soviet Politburo Members Stripped Of Plush Estates ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: (Yagui Wei) yawei@ucs.indiana.edu Source: (AP) NEWS 2/20/90 MOSCOW - Mikhail Gorbachev's new perestroika-without-perks policy is opening up a harsh new world for Politburo members. Most members will have to do without their plush country homes, or dachas. The government has decided that the country's leaders are no longer entitled to privileges such as the dachas, and they've been ordered out. The only exceptions are for Gorbachev and Premier Nikolai Ryzhkov. Valery A. Sidorov, an aide to the chairman of the Soviet legislature's Commission on Privileges, said the dachas have become a ''mass insult'' and their occupants will just have to get used to a ''normal lifestyle.'' Where once the Soviet high and mighty played and sipped vodka, children will roam. Sidorov said the country homes are being turned over to the Soviet Health Ministry for use as rest homes and kindergartens. As if losing the dachas wasn't enough of a blow, retired members of the Communist Party's long-ruling Politburo will also have to do without the three household workers and black Volga cars the government has been providing them virtually free of charge, Sidorov said. They also will lose the right to order food from special government stocks. The changes are part of a general attack on the perks of the Soviet elite. In a country where shortages of housing, food and consumer goods are a major source of discontent, the network of special stores, private airports, sleek black limousines, fancy homes and high-quality medical care for the government and party elite have generated massive public fury. Maverick Communist Boris Yeltsin built a parliamentary elec- tion campaign on the issue last year, and became wildly popular because of it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Letter From Reader: Fang Lizhi's Book Published in US ----------------------------------------------------------------- Dear Editor: The latest issue of `Physics Today' published a book review by Dr. David N. Schramm, U. of Chicago, on the English translation of the book written by Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian. The book is entitled as "Creation of the Universe". This is an English edi- tion of the author's popular 1987 Chinese book. Dr. Schramm quoted Prof. Fang as "one of the first scientists to recognize the excitement at the interface of cosmology and particle phy- sics" and a "China's leading cosmologist". It is a big honor to have a scientific book in foreign language translated into English and recommended to "general audience". The American Astronomical Society has decided to send "Astro- physical Journal" and its other publications to Prof. Fang and encouraged all the members of AAS to send him pre-prints and reprints, while Fang stays in the Embassy of the U. S. in Beij- ing. Dr. Cheng-Yue Zhang Dept. of Physics and Astronomy The University of Calgary ----------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Chinese Premier Asks Vigilance Against Ethnic Strife ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Fangzhen Lin <lin@Neon.Stanford.EDU> Source: (AP) news 19 Feb 90 BEIJING (AP) - Premier Li Peng, apparently concerned about ethnic separatism in the neighboring Soviet Union, ordered that any such movements in China be wiped out immediately, an official report said Monday. ''A tiny number of separatists, under the mantle of national- ism and religion, oppose socialism and sabotage the unity of all Chinese nationalities,'' Xinhua News Agency quoted Li as telling officials in charge of minority affairs. ''We must not relax our vigilance. We should wipe out all separatist activities while they are still in the embryonic stage.'' Li spoke last Thursday, Xinhua said. The release of speeches is often delayed in China. ... ----------------------------------------------------------------- 4. China Fails Stop Student Leader Address U.N. Commission ----------------------------------------------------------------- From: Fangzhen Lin <lin@Neon.Stanford.EDU> Source: (AP) news 20 Feb 90 GENEVA (AP) - An exiled leader of last June's pro-democracy movement went before the U.N. Human Rights Commission on Tuesday and condemned Beijing for continued repression in a speech that a Chinese delegate failed to stop. Wu'er Kaixi told the 43-nation panel that ''systematic viola- tions of human rights'' continue in his native country and urged the international community to keep a close watch on the situa- tion there. Wu'er, who is continuing his studies in the United States, said underground resistance networks are still trying to organize in major Chinese cities. ''We believe that the measures taken in Beijing after the lifting of the martial law are nothing but an attempt to disman- tle and eradicate this type of organization,'' he said. ''At the same time, the massive campaign of arbitrary arrests and executions launched in June - most of them secret - has not yet ceased,'' he added. Wu'er, 22, spoke as a member of the delegation of the Paris- based International Federation of Human Rights, one of more than 100 non-governmental organizations that have been granted a con- sultative status with the U.N. body and are allowed to address the session. As soon as Wu'er began speaking, the Chinese delegate to the commission, given the floor on a point of order, protested his presence. ''This speaker is a criminal wanted by the Chinese security organs,'' said the delegate, Shiqiu Chen. ''He is here as a tool of certain anti-Chinese elements abroad who engage in slanderous attacks on China.'' He repeated his attack in a brief exchange with the president of the commission, Purificacion Quisumbing of the Philippines. She then asked Wu'er to continue after telling Shiqiu that Wu'er was a ''duly accredited member of a duly accredited organiza- tion.'' --------------------------------------------------------------------------- +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Subscription (Xinmeng Liao): xliao@ccm.umanitoba.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Executive Editor: (Bo Chi) chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Wed Feb 21 12:15:33 EST 1990