chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (12/20/89)
| +---------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. 20 (I), 1989 Table of Contents # of Lines Headline News .................................................... 82 1 Ceausescu killed protesters with tanks in Romania .............. 62 2 Scowcroft Made Other Secret Trip To Beijing In July ............ 48 3 China Warned Against Subversion by "Hostile Foreign Forces" .... 41 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headline News --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) US President George Bush is receiving strong criticism following reports in the American news media that National Security Affairs advisor Brent Scowcroft and Deputy Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger visited Beijing for consultations with the Chinese leadership in early July, a month after the violent suppression of the pro-democracy began. The July visit came after the US Government announced it had suspended high level contacts with the PRC Government in protest over the violence. From: ONLINE-L@OHSTVMA.BITNET (JBH Online) Source: Radio Australia, 12/19/89 (2) According to World Jornal, VOA announced that they have cancelled the Cantonese broadcasting programs to China. It was also reported that the Manderin broadcasting time has been shorten to 9 hours per day from previous 12 hours per day. VOA claimed this is resulted from the recent budget cut. However, sources has suggested this is another example of which Bush administration has cramped to the pressure from Beijing. From: Tang@alisuvax.bitnet (Deming Tang) Source: World Journal (3) Chinese President Yang Shangqun arrived in Caro yesterday to start his three-day visit of Egypt. Minister of Finance and Deputy Minister of Foreign Economy and Trade went along with Yang. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: AP, Caro, 12/18/89 (4) FDC's Vice-Chairman Wu'er Kaixi and Secretary in General Wan Rennan arrived in Australia yesterday. They will have an interview with Foreign Minister of Australia and economic sanction against China is expected to be the topic. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: AP, Sydney, 12/18/89 (5) In their most recent publications, both 'Time' and 'News Week' place Tiananmen Square event in Beijing at the first in their yearly special reports. 'News Week' also choose one of the student leader Shen Dan as 'The People of the Year'. Shen is the youngest among other 'The People of the Year', who are all from socialism countries. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: World Journal, NY, 12/19/89 (6) Two leading figures in the Federation for Democracy in China, currently visiting Australia as part of a world tour, have called for limited economic sanctions against their homeland and a halt to foreign investment there, until reforms are forthcoming. The two say that citizen-level contacts should continue, however. From: ONLINE-L@OHSTVMA.BITNET (JBH Online) Source: Radio Australia, 12/18/89 (7) President Nicolae Ceausescu told an Iranian newspaper this weekend that capitalism will not come to Eastern Europe. Ceausescu begins his first visit to Iran today. From: ONLINE-L@OHSTVMA.BITNET (JBH Online) Source: Radio Netherlands International, 12/28/89 (8) The late physicist and Nobel Peace Prize winning human rights activist Andrei D. Sakharov will be buried today in Moscow. Thousands turned out to show their respects by filing past his casket in the Palace of Youth over the weekend, and memorial ceremonies were held in at two different sites. From: ONLINE-L@OHSTVMA.BITNET (JBH Online) Source: Radio Netherlands International (9) Premier Li Peng has called for the resumption of "friendly and close relations" between China and Australia, during an unannounced meeting with a high ranking Australian diplomat in Beijing. From: ONLINE-L@OHSTVMA.BITNET (JBH Online) Source: Radio Australia, 12/19/89 (10) There has as yet been no official statement from the Rumanian Government concerning the anti-government demonstrations in the eastern city of Timisoara this past weekend, but reports from travellers arriving from that area say that at least dozens of protestors against the regime of President Nicolae Ceausescu were killed by security forces. Some reports indicate the violence may be continuing. Ceausescu is a hardline Communist who has been a close ally of China, Cuba and North Korea, and has steadfastly resisted calls for reform in the Eastern bloc. Meanwhile, Rumania has closed its borders with Bulgaria, Hungary, Yugoslavia and the Soviet republic of Moldavia. From: ONLINE-L@OHSTVMA.BITNET (JBH Online) Source: BBC, 12/19/89 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Ceausescu killed protesters with tanks in Romania --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: yawei@aqua.bacs.indiana.edu Source: Associated Press, 12/18/89 VIENNA - Romanian police opened fire on protesters during weekend anti- government riots. At least two people were killed, including a child, a person traveling in the region said Monday. In West Germany, Radio Bremen quoted William Totok, an author who emigrated from Romania to West Germany, as saying eyewitnesses told him as many as 300 to 400 people were killed. The report couldn't be independently confirmed. In a late evening report, the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug said Romanian security forces took full control Monday of Timisoara, Romania's fourth- largest city, following the largest protests against the hardline Communist government in 2 years. Tanks were reportedly patrolling Timisoara. Premier Miklos Nemeth of Hungary said there were unconfirmed reports of protests in other Romanian cities and of soldiers being placed on alert. Romania virtually sealed its borders, blocking or restricting travel from neighboring Hungary, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and from other countries. Arriving flights were turned back around at the Bucharest airport. Bulgarian TV said travelers were held in trains for hours before being sent back by Romanian border guards. President Nicolae Ceausescu, the East bloc's longest-ruling leader, traveled to Iran on a state visit. Ceausescu has crushed opposition, rejected the reforms being adopted elsewhere in Eastern Europe and imposed harsh economic measures on Romania. Romanian emigres said thousands of demonstrators enraged with the hardship and repression under Ceausescu clashed with security forces in Timisoara. Police reportedly fired shots and also used water cannons against the demonstrators. Romania's strictly controlled state-run media made no mention of the unrest. The traveler in Romania, a Yugoslav who refused to give his name, told AP other Yugoslav tourists reported seeing more dead in Timisoara after security forces intervened to break up the protests. Those reports also couldn't be independently confirmed, and Romania has refused to allow Western journalists into the country. "Police and troops moved in quickly," the traveler said. He added only police, but not troops, were seen firing at the demonstrators. "I saw two dead, including a child, on the streets," the source said. Ceausescu, 71, rarely travels abroad, and his departure for Iran indicated he wanted to appear unruffled by the demonstrations. His wife Elena, the second most powerful person in the country, stayed behind. In Geneva, exiled King Michael of Romania Monday condemned the crackdown on anti-government protests and said he was deeply moved by the demonstrators' "courageous action." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Scowcroft Made Other Secret Trip To Beijing In July --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: yawei@aqua.bacs.indiana.edu Source: Associated Press, 12/18/89 WASHINGTON - National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft made a secret mission to Beijing in July, the White House acknowledged Monday. Scowcroft's surprise visit to China earlier this month created a wave of criticism. The first visit came just a month after the bloody Chinese government crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square. President Bush sent Scowcroft to China "to personally underscore the United States' shock and concern about the violence," said White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater. Fitzwater also said that Scowcroft's trip intended "to impress upon the Chinese government the seriousness with which this incident was viewed in the United States." Fitzwater left open the possiblity that Scowcroft or other top U.S. officials had made other secret trips to China. "I can't rule out other encounters," Fitzwater said. He added that he, personally, had been unaware of earlier trips. The spokesman declined to say when in July Scowcroft had gone to Beijing, but said it was at least a month after government troops killed hundreds of democracy protesters when the troops moved into the square June 3. Fitzwater's comments were the first administration acknowledgement that Scowcroft has made more than one trip to China after the crackdown. Rep. Sam Gejdenson, D-Conn., chairman of the Subcommittee on International Economic Policy and Trade of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said Bush had "misled the American people and the Congress." "How does the White House square that (earlier trip) with their statements at the time that high-level contacts with the Chinese were cut off," Gejdenson said. Scowcroft and Deputy Secretary Lawrence Eagleburger visited Beijing Dec. 8-9. A wave of criticism from Congress followed the surprise mission. "The president felt this face-to-face mission, like the one recently completed by General Scowcroft, was necessary to show the sense of purpose and direction of the United States government,'' Fitzwater added in a statement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. China Warned Against Subversion by "Hostile Foreign Forces" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET (J. Ding) Source: UPI, 12/16/89 Senior Chinese officials abandoned a recent conciliatory tone toward the United States and reverted back to harsh rhetoric, warning against subversion by "hostile foreign forces," the state-run press reported Saturday. The Communist Party newspaper People's Daily quoted the officials as renewing xenophobic charges that the West is trying to undermine China's socialist system. The officials spoke Friday at a meeting of the Communist Youth League, the party's 56-million-member juvenile branch. The tough talk came less than a week after a surprise initiative by President Bush to restore Sino-U.S. relations with a trip to Beijing by National Security Adviser Brent Scowcroft. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had praised the visit and direct attacks in the press on the United States, almost daily fare since the June crackdown on China's budding pro-democracy movment, had subsided. But Ding Guangen, an alternate member of the ruling Politburo known to be close to senior leader Deng Xiaoping, Friday urged vigilance against ideological subversion and "so-called peaceful evolution by some hostile foreign forces." "We can never make any concessions before the attack from bourgeois liberalization, for there is no way out by making concessions," Ding said. Bourgeois liberalization is a catchphrase for Western political concepts such as democracy and often includes cultural influences, against which the government has waged a fierce campaign. Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin, addressing the same meeting, made a veiled reference to the sanctions imposed by Western nations against China after the crackdown. He said China's stability is based on a loyal party, a well-trained army, and "a tradition of not yeilding to any outside pressure," the People's Daily reported. "A visit by one person or another doesn't change the essence of this society," said a Western diplomat asked about the remarks. "It's the same old leaders, the same old ideology," he said. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Deming Tang E_mail: tang@alisuvax.bitnet | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ========================================================================== News Transmission chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (or) -------------------- --------------------- Local Editor: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wed Dec 20 11:40:32 EST 1989