chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (12/10/89)
| +---------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. 10 (I), 1989 Table of Contents # of Lines 1) Soviet Lithuanian Republic Abolishes Communist Monopoly .... 53 2) East Germany To Rewrite Constitution ........................ 54 3) US Rejected Having Been Interfering In China's Internal Affa.. 48 4) Letter To ND Editor ......................................... 34 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Soviet Lithuanian Republic Abolishes Communist Monopoly --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: yawei@aqua.bacs.indiana.edu Source: AP News MOSCOW - The Lithuanian parliament voted Thursday to abolish the Communist Party's constitutionally guaranteed supremacy, activists said. The vote would legalize multiple political parties in the Baltic republic of the U.S.S.R.. The move made Lithuania the first Soviet republic to reject the Communist Party's legal lock on power. It also presented a bold challenge to President Mikhail Gorbachev, who has said that demands for more autonomy in some of the 15 republics are endan- gering his economic reform program. Gorbachev has sought to crack down on the autonomy movements to reassure hard-line Soviets, who are alarmed by challenges to the Communist Party at home and in Eastern Europe. Eduardas Potashinskas, a Lithuan- ian activist, said the vote Thursday was 243-1, with 39 abstentions. A vote on the same proposal Wednesday fell nine votes short of the two- thirds majority required to pass it. The lawmakers decided to vote again Thursday, in part because 84 deputies were absent and 30 abstained Wednesday. ''The Supreme Soviet of Lithuania, ... (abolished) the 6th article of the constitution of the L.S.S.R. ... (and replaced it with a) new formula which declares a multiparty system,'' the information department of the Lituan- ian political movement Sajudis said in a statement. Sajudis spokesmen said new language recognizes that political parties and movements are within the legal framework of the Lithuanian Constitution. Article 6, which became part of the basic law of the Soviet Union with the Brezhnev Constitution of 1977, makes the Communist Party the ''leading and guiding force of Soviet society.'' Eliminating it could help reduce the party's grip on on all spheres of life. The Lithuanian action only affects that republic. It is likely to face a stiff challenge from Moscow. A similar proposal in the Armenia republic failed Wednesday when the legislature failed to draw a quorum. The Lithuanian party is moving toward a showdown with the Kremlin over its plans to separate from the Soviet Communist Party. Gorbachev has spoken out sharply against that. The Lithuanians have scheduled a Dec. 19 party congress to decide on the issue. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. East Germany To Rewrite Constitution --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: yawei@aqua.bacs.indiana.edu Source: AP News EAST BERLIN - The Communist Party got together with the opposition Thursday after 40 years of ruling East Germany with Stalinist orthodoxy. They agreed to rewrite the constitution and hold free elections in May. The first talks between party and opposition delegations were held after publication of the new Communist program. About 2,500 people marched to the site of the talks in a Lutheran Church building and chanted, ''Free elections! Free elections!'' Lt. Gen. Wolfgang Schwanitz, chief of state security, said angry citizens had stormed secret police facilities in four cities, inflicting ''numerous slight injuries to our colleagues.'' He said the situation was at ''the threshold of escalation,'' and aggressive acts against his forces could ''have unforeseeable consequences for the country.'' The government has warned against growing violence, but few cases have been documented. Opposition leaders in Suhl claimed police dispersed angry citizens with tear gas. Communist Premier Hans Modrow appealed for calm while sympathizing with people angered by reports of ousted officials thwarting investigations of alleged corruption. Mayor Wolfgang Berghofer of Dresden, representing the Communists at the talks, joined other officials in calling on citizens to act responsibly. Berghofer expressed concern about short, politically motivated strikes occurring at state enterprises. The West German newspaper Bild quoted him as saying there was a ''potential for violence on both sides.'' East German news media reported riots in some prisons by inmates demanding amnesty. As in the the rest of Eastern Europe at a time of rapid change, the future political course is unclear. The Communist Party opens an emergency congress Friday to revamp its structure and shed the last vestiges o Stalinism. Markus Meckel, a spokesman for the newly formed Social Democratic Party, told reporters Thursday the Communists planned to change their name to the Socialist Party, as the Hungarians did in October. In its new program, published Thursday by the official news agency ADN, the party calls for ''alternative democratic socialism.'' --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. US Rejected Having Been Interfering In China's Internal Affairs --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> Source: WASHINGTON (UPI) December 07, 1989 [BY: ANDERSON, JIM] A high-ranking State Department official Thursday sharply rejected Chinese claims that the United States was interfering in China's internal affairs by raising objections over abuses of human rights. In an address on Human Rights Day at the department, assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights Richard Schifter spoke of China's rejection of U.S. complaints about the crushing of last June's pro-Democracy movement in China. "Let me use this opportunity to restate the obvious. The standards by which China is now being judged and by which we judge all others are not American standards. They are universal standards," Schifter said. As a result, he said, "Comment on a government's failure to live up to these standards is no longer viewed in the international community as interference. It is viewed as an appropriate response to those cases in which a government ignores the standards set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." He noted that China's votes on some United Nations resolutions involving South Africa mean that China, too, believes comment on human rights violations in foreign countries is appropriate. Chinese spokesmen and official journals have criticized American comments about the crackdown. The Chinese government threatened to end all student and cultural exchanges if the United States enacted legislation extending the stay in the United States of about 45,000 Chinese students. Congress did pass the bill, but President Bush vetoed the legislation, saying he would not permit any Chinese student to be sent back home against his or her will. Because of the veto, Congress would have to pass new legislation in the next session. On Eastern Europe, Schifter said that the acceleration of events "leaves us almost breathless." "With Romania and Albania the only old-line dictatorships left in Eastern Europe, it is fair to say that never in the history of nation-states has the European continent been so close to the brink of true freedom," he said. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Letter To Editor, China News Digest and Chinese seen by an American. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott%sage@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Scott Deerwester) (part of this letter was posted yesterday, this is the complete one) I have been forwarding electronic copies of the recent postings on the implementation of President Bush's directives to the INS to the University of Chicago Foreign Student advisor. People at other universities might wish to consider contacting their Foreign Student Advisors to see if it is possible to communicate with them electronically. To avoid a bad impression, it would probably be better if just one person does so. That would avoid beseiging them with multiple copies. I should emphasize that our Foreign Student Advisor greatly appreciated having this information. China News Digest was the only source of information on the INS cable. We have also made copies of this digest and the China News Digest available to our East Asian Library. The East Asian Librarian has generously agreed to make space available so that people without net access can read these. We give three copies of each issue. Two are available to the public and one is kept for the library's archives. If my own experience is any guide, Chinese students haven't done much to communicate with American students and faculty about all of these issues. I am only peripherally aware of activities of the (apparently quite active) Chinese community at the University. There is a quite natural tendency for a Chinese community to be relatively isolated from the larger University community because of cultural and language barriers. Even so, if the Chinese community were to make better use of the commun- ication channels available to it, it would achieve higher visibility of its aims, and perhaps a higher degree of support. I would have thought that identifying and cultivating support among Americans who care about you would be an important goal. This message was also posted to soc.culture.china. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Yaxiong Lin E_mail: aoyxl@asuacvax.bitnet | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ========================================================================== News Transmission chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (or) -------------------- --------------------- Local Editor: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sun Dec 10 10:32:22 EST 1989