chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (12/23/89)
| +---------I __L__ ___/ \ -------I +----+----+ | ___\_\_ | \./ | | -----+- | | | | | __ \/ | --+-- |--- | |---| | I----+----I | I__J/\ | __|__ | | | |---| | | | _____ \ | /| \ | | | L__-| | I I---------J / J \/ | | V | J * C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t * (ND Canada Service) -- Dec. 23 (I), 1989 Table of Contents # of Lines Headline News ....................................................... 16 1. Loyalists Groomed to Head Provinces .............................. 35 2. A $100 Million Bonanza for Chinese Military ...................... 35 3. World Bank Poised to Resume Loans to China ....................... 55 4. PRC Proposes Amendments to Joint Venture Law ..................... 26 5. Developments in EE and SU: Warsaw Pact Allies Condemn Killings ... 27 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headline News ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU (J.D.) and lin@cs.stanford.edu Source: AP News, 12/20-22/89 An Agriculture Department report shows that China in 1990 will keep its huge lead as the world's biggest pork producer despite a shrink in its overall swine inventory. China has bought additional U.S. wheat under a price subsidy program, the Agriculture Department said Wednesday. China said the events in Romania were an internal affair. In Beijing, the China-Romania Friendship Association opened a laudatory photographic ex- hibit called "Romania in Socialist Construction." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Loyalists Groomed to Head Provinces ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: kwchan@hkucs.UUCP (Chan Ki Wa) Source : South China Morning Post, 12/21/89 By Willy Wo-Lap Lam The conservative leadership in Beijing is working to ensure that loyal- ist cadres are appointed to top positions in the party committees of 12 pro- vinces. Next spring, Beijing is scheduled to reshuffle the leadership of party committees responsible for running 12 provinces and autonomous regions. A top priority of the party Central Committee's Organisation Department is to ensure that both "red and expert" cadres are picked for leadership po- sitions. The harshness of the leadership's political demands was stressed by the party organisation chief, Mr Song Ping, when he met organisation department cadres from 18 provinces and major cities, in Beijing. Analysts say the newly assertive conservative leadership is anxious to further weed out die-hard supporters of the former party chief, Mr Zhao Zi- yang, and the deceased former party chief, Mr Hu Yaobang. During recently convened planning conferences, local-level cadres tried to resist Beijing's efforts to take back financial decision-making powers. Several regional leaders can be considered to be close followers of ei- ther Mr Hu or Mr Zhao. For example, members of the so-called Communist Youth league faction -- which has traditionally supported liberal policies -- still staying on in power include Mr Wang Zhaoguo, the Governor of Fujian province and Mr Hu Jingtao, party boss of the Tibet Autonomous Region. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. A $100 Million Bonanza for Chinese Military ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU (J.D) Source: United Press International, 12/20/89 By: David Schweisberg President Bush's approval for China to launch three U.S.-built satel- lites will mean a $100 million bonanza for the Chinese military that could aid its missile program, Western military and industry sources said Wednesday. The White House move, announced Tuesday, authorized the export to China of three communications satellites made by American aerospace companies for launch aboard Chinese rockets, the first full-fledged business for China's aspiring commercial space industry. The deals were suspended for review after Bush imposed sanctions against China in response to the Chinese army's bloody suppression of the pro-democracy movement last June. The sanctions also included economic measures and a suspension of military sales. The Bush administration, under intense domestic criticism for its recent initiative to improve relations with Beijing, defended the decision as in line with its goal of keeping the sanctions from damaging U.S. commercial interests in China. But according to Western military and aerospace experts, the launch payments to the nominally civilian Chinese space companies involved will actually be under the control of China's military. And given the direct links between civilian and military rocket programs, they refused to rule out that some funds could ultimately accrue to China's missile development program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. World Bank Poised to Resume Loans to China ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: kwchan@hkucs.UUCP (Chan Ki Wa) Source: South China Morning Post, 12/22/89 The World Bank and the French and Japanese governments are poised to lift economic and political sanctions on China, despite the fact that Beij- ing has not modified in any substantial way its domestic and foreign poli- cies. World Bank sources said yesterday that the international financial body is likely to resume lending to China early next year. The easing of the US position on economic co-operation with China will make it easier for the World Bank to resume loans, the sources said. A resolution adopted by the US Congress, calling for a freeze on new loans to Beijing, is due to expire at the end of this month. "Given the recent easing of US restraints on economic aid to China, the US Congress is unlikely to call for the extension of the resolution," a Bank source said. Diplomats in Beijing said yesterday that France, the sternest Western critic of Beijing's crackdown on the democracy movement, had made an about- face by offering to finance a joint-venture deal in China. In saying it will provide public funds for a new Citroen plant, Paris has given Beijing every reason to believe that its intransigence towards the West is paying off, analysts said. The offer represents a breach in economic sanctions decided at a late- June European Community summit in Madrid in response to the Chinese crack- down. At the same time the Tokyo-based economic newspaper Nihon Keizai report- ed yesterday that the Japanese Government has decided to invite Chinese Machinery and Electronics Industry Minister, Mr Zou Jiahua, to visit Tokyo in January, partly lifting the ban on interchange of ranking government of- ficials. The Japanese media also reported yesterday that the Government has de- cided to begin consultations with China in January on Japanese yen credits totaling 100 billion yen (HK$5.42 billion) for six projects included in a second package of Japanese loans totaling 470 billion yen (HK$25.48 bil- lion). On Wednesday Japanese bankers had said they were prepared to extend a credit line to China that was arranged four years ago, if it was formally requested by the state-controlled Bank of China. The Foreign Minister, Mr Taro Nakayama, told a group of business leaders that Japan was preparing for the "new development" of its relations with China. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. PRC Proposes Amendments to Joint Venture Law ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: tang@ssurf.ucsd.edu Source: Wall Street Journal, 12/22/89 China's legislature proposed amendments to a law governing joint ven- tures with foreign firms. The amendments will include guarantees that the government will not na- tionalize or requisition joint ventures, the official media reported. The changes also stipulate that the two partners in a joint venture may choose the chairman and vice chairman of their operation; the current law states that the chairman must come from the Chinese side. The amendments also says that joint venture partners need not set a specific time for the length of their contract. Previously all joint ven- tures were for fixed periods, often 20 or 30 years. Some 8,000 joint ventures have gone into operation since China opened its doors 10 years ago, and foreign investors have provided about $14 bil- lion for business venture. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Developments in EE and SU: Warsaw Pact Allies Condemn Killings ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: kwchan@hkucs.UUCP (Chan Ki Wa) Source: South China Morning Post, 12/21/89 Vienna -- The brutal crushing of anti-government demonstrations in Rumania has raised a storm of indignation from the country's liberal neighbours and Warsaw Pact allies. Only the Soviet Union took a more cautious line, saying it lacked the detailed information on which to pass proper judgement. Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia were the most outspoken in their con- demnation of the bloodshed in Timisoara. Czechoslovakia's probable next president, the play-wright Vaclav Havel, denounced "the regime of the Rumanian Dracula, who is killing his people." the Polish parliament condemned the "repression and terror," while in Hun- gary a black flag was hoisted over the parliament building. East Germany also made an official protest against the repressive ac- tion. Even Bulgaria, which has been on good terms, expressed shock at the precipitous closure of their common border and the "tragic news" coming from Timisoara. NOTE OF EDITOR: Dracula, a vampire in a horror novel of Bram Stoker. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Executive Editor: Sanyee Tang, tang@ssurf.ucsd.edu | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- News Transmission chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (or) ----------------------- --------------------- NDCadada Editor: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sat Dec 23 12:24:35 EST 1989