chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (02/06/90)
| +---------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. 6 (I), 1990 Table of Contents # of Lines Headline News ......................................................... 11 1. Gorby Said Multi-party Now ......................................... 41 2. Brief Look At Soviet Central Committee ............................. 55 3. Brief Meeting Report `` On Road to Democracy'' ..................... 42 4. Japanese Bank Joins Loan to China-Backed Firm ...................... 31 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headline News --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I) From ND correspondent in Toronto Wuer Kai Xi Plans to speak at U of Toronto. The title is `` Remembering Beijing''. Two public events are expected on Feb. 6 (in Chinese) and Feb. 9 (in English) in Toronto. II) From: (Yagui Wei) yawei@ucs.indiana.edu Source: (AP) SPECIAL REPORT a. Eight Members of Opposition Join East German Cabinet. b. Ethnic Albanians See No Hope Of Ending Yugoslavian Violence. c. Another Member Resigns From Romanian Salvation Front. d. Walesa Says He Likely Won't Seek Re-Election As Solidarity Boss. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Gorby Said Multi-party Now --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: (AP) News From: (Yagui Wei) yawei@ucs.indiana.edu Gorbachev Urges Party Leaders To End Monopoly On Power --- MOSCOW - Mikhail Gorbachev told the Communist Party leader- ship Monday the time has come to loosen the party's iron grip on power. He said the party should compete for the right to rule the Soviet Union. Gorbachev's landmark speech to the party's Central Committee came a day after perhaps the largest protest in Moscow since the Bolshevik revolution. ... At the opening session of a 2-day Central Committee meeting, Gorbachev made essentially the same proposal. The party ''intends to struggle for the role of ruling party, but do it strictly in the framework of the democratic process, rejecting any kind of legal or political advantage,'' Gorbachev told the policy-making body. ... The party will ''present its own program, put it out for dis- cussion, cooperate with other public-political forces,'' the Soviet leader said in remarks distributed by the Tass news agency. ... The Tass news agency said Gorba- chev urged the party to move up the next party congress to late June. Tass gave no reason for Gorbachev's proposal, but presumably it would be to allow him to choose a new Central Committee and further advance radical reforms in the party. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Brief Look At Soviet Central Committee --------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: (AP) News From: (Yagui Wei) yawei@ucs.indiana.edu --- COMPOSITION: The Central Committee is made up of leading members of the 20 million member Soviet Communist Party, which according to the constitution is the leading and guiding force of Soviet society. In most recent years, the Central Committee has been made up of about 300 members, but last year the number was reduced to 251. Membership includes leading figures of the Soviet Communist Party from regional party organizations, the national government and party organiza- tions, and other prominent figures from the military, arts and sciences. POWERS: The Central Committee is the policy-making body of the party. It is charged with guiding the party's work between the larger party congresses, held every 5 years. Most major policy issues are brought before the Central Committee for a policy directive. Between congresses, the Central Committee alone has the power to change the composition of the Politburo, which is responsible for running the country on a day-to-day basis. It also may change the party leader. SELECTION: The Central Committee is chosen every 5 years by the Commun- ist Party congress. Between congresses, members can be retired and non-voting members can be promoted to voting membership. The last congress was held 4 years ago. The next one is scheduled for fall. WHAT'S AT STAKE: Perhaps the future direction of the nation. This Central Com- mittee meeting is widely expected to become an intense struggle between hard-liners who want to turn back the reforms of leader Mikhail Gorbachev and progressives who want to acclerate them. Gorbachev reportedly will propose a multiparty political sys- tem, which would end the Communists exclusive claim to power for the first time in 7 decades. Gorbachev also is expected to give tacit approval to the con- cept of private property. The meeting may represent the biggest challenge of Gorbachev's 5 years in power. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Brief Meeting Report `` On Road to Democracy'' --------------------------------------------------------------------------- by zgu@ists.ists.ca (Zhiqiang Gu) York Univ. News Correspondence The public discussion on "Road To Democracy", organized by Toronto Association For Democracy In China, was held at Toronto Board of Education, 155 College St. About fifty people attended the meeting. The local Chinese cable "China Vision" sent their journalists and cameramen to the meeting and met the two princi- pal speakers. The Singtao Daily journalist also showed up at the meeting. The first speaker is Dr. Wally Seccombe. Dr.Seccombe is an expert on poltical blowing in the eastern bloc countries, and has a very close link with the people from these countries. His talk emphasized what already took place in the eastern bloc, and focues on the two points: (1) why the change is so astonishing; and (2) how/why these regimes were overthrown. He reviewed the problems and the changes prevailing in these countries, and then summarized several key ways to democracy in the eastern bloc countries including: (1) mass participation; (2) people choose freely and meaningfully between their political alternatives without force etc. His speech showed the view of a westerner on the communist world. The second speaker, Dr. Xin-Min Hua, is from the Ontario's Insti- tute of Space and Terrestrial Science. He shared some other feel- ings that most of the Chinese people have, and made a comparison between the events happenning in China and the eastern bloc coun- tries. His talk revealed an important fact that Chinese people are never alone and never isolated from others in fighting for democracy. The Ceausescu's downfall had the strongest impact on the Chinese people as well as on the current China's leaders. After the two speeches, the meeting was led to a free discussion on related topics such as: how the conditions and elements for democracy in China can be established? what are internal and external conditions and elements for China? how to avoid the repetition of another dictatorship in China? how to re-evaluate the Chinese traditions? etc. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Japanese Bank Joins Loan to China-Backed Firm --------------------------------------------------------------------- From: (Yagui Wei) yawei@ucs.indiana.edu Source: AMBER::CHENH "Huijie" 5-FEB-1990 DJNEWS ON CHINA --- HONG KONG, Feb. 5 Kyodo - An unnamed Japanese bank has joined two European banks in loaning China's private development cor- poration 2 billion Hong Kong dollars to help it buy a 20% stake in Hong Kong Telecommunications, according to the South China Morning Post. The paper said the loan is part of a financing package worth 8 billion Hong Kong dollars being sought by the China Interna- tional Trust and Investment Corp. (CITIC). It quoted a senior Japanese banker in Hong Kont as saying he suspects Japan's Ministry of Finance already has approved the deal. Such approval would mean the removal of the most important obstacle in the way of Japanese banks resuming lending to China, analysts said. ... Meanwhile, British-based Lloyds Bank is involved in a dispute with a wholly-owned subsidiary of CITIC, according to another South China Morning Post report. ... The large number of disputes over unpaid credit between Chinese and foreign banks reflects a severe funds shortage facing China's financial institutions, analysts say. +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Subscription: (Xinmeng Liao) xliao@ccm.umanitoba.ca | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest Executive Editor: (Bo Chi) chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.edu | +-------------------------------------------------------------------------+ Tue Feb 6 09:01:16 EST 1990