chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (12/09/89)
| +---------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 * (ND Canada Service) -- Dec. 9 (I), 1989 Table of Contents # of Lines 1) China News Digest and Chinese Students, seen by an American ....... 35 2) Communism Dying? American's View .................................. 90 3) Meeting of the Leaders of the Front for Democratic China .......... 70 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. China News Digest and Chinese Students, seen by an American -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: scott%sage@gargoyle.uchicago.edu (Scott Deerwester) Date: Fri, 8 Dec 89 (Center for Information and Language Studies, University of Chicago) ... 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 Univer- sity. 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 communication 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. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Communism Dying? American's View ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> BY: LANGER, GARY ; Associated Press Writer DATELINE: NEW YOR (AP) December 06, 1989 Half of all Americans believe communism is dying, twice the number who thought so nine months ago, a Media General-Associated Press poll has found. The survey found views of communism shifting radically as reform sweeps Eastern Europe, with far fewer Americans now seeing the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies as a threat. But more Americans feel threatened by China, where authorities in June suppressed pro-democracy demonstrators. And the poll found no change in the relatively high level of concern about communism in Latin America. The survey tracked opinion by repeating questions that first were asked in a Media General-Associated Press poll in March, a few months before the democratic reform movement gained full force in Eastern Europe. The change in opinion was striking. Then, for example, only 19 percent said communism was on the decline around the world. In the new poll, 54 percent said communism was declining worldwide a nearly threefold increase. Similarly, 52 percent regarded communism in Eastern Europe as less of a threat to U.S. security now than in the past; in March, just 28 percent held that view. And 51 percent in the new poll saw Soviet communism as less of a threat to the United States, up from 38 percent nine months ago. In one of their broadest measures, the surveys asked respondents: "In your view, is communism dying, or not?" In March, 25 percent said yes. In the new poll, 52 percent said yes. The new survey was conducted Nov. 17-25, as many of the changes reshaping Eastern Europe were still evolving. The changes, some of which culminated after the poll was done, include establishment of a partially non-communist government in Poland and the fall of Communist leaderships in East Germany, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Optimism was the greatest for East Germany, where on Nov. 9 the Berlin Wall was opened after 28 years of division from the West. Sixty percent in the survey expected that within their lifetimes East Germans will enjoy the same freedoms Americans have now. By contrast, only 26 percent expected American-style freedoms to come within their lifetimes to residents of the Soviet Union, where reforms are progressing more slowly and the Communist party retains supremacy. And only 14 percent expected such freedoms in China, where soldiers staged a bloody crackdown on dissidents near Tiananmen Square on June 3-4. Indeed, during the past nine months more increasing threat to the United States, while those seeing China as less of a threat fell from 34 percent in March to 20 percent now. While fewer Americans now believe China is moving away from communist political and economic systems, the opposite was true for Eastern Europe and for the Soviet Union. Seventy-five percent believed some of the Eastern European countries are moving away from communist economies, up from 47 percent in March. And 70 percent believed some of Eastern Europe was dropping the communist system, more than double the number in March. The movement of opinion about the Soviet Union, like the change there, was less abrupt. Sixty-seven percent believed the Soviets are leaving their communist economic system, up from 58 percent; and 48 percent believed the Soviets are changing their political structure, up from 31 percent. As in the earlier poll, concern was greatest about communism in Latin America: Forty-six percent called it an increasing threat to the United States, virtually unchanged from March. Men and more highly educated respondents in the new poll were likeliest to believe that communism is declining or even dying, and that the threat to the United States posed by the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is decreasing. The survey, conducted by telephone, had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Media General Inc., a communications company based in Richmond, Va., publishes the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the Richmond News Leader, the Tampa (Fla.) Tribune and the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal, and operates TV stations WXcL in Tampa, WCBD in Charleston, S.C., and WJKS in Jacksonville, Fla. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Meeting of the Leaders of the Front for Democratic China ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> BY: GOLDEN, ED ; Associated Press Writer DATELINE: NEWTON, Mass. (AP) December 06, 1989 Leaders of the Chinese democracy movement opened a five-day planning session Wednesday to blunt criticism from the Chinese-American community that they are disorganized. "Our goal is to overturn one-pary rule by the Communist Party, not to overthrow the Communist Party. We want to use peaceful, non-violent measures," said Yan Jiaqi, chairman of the Front for a Democratic China. The Front is an umbrella organization of the Chinese democracy movement that has been criticized by Chinese students and residents in the United States as lacking focus. "We have delegates from England, Australia, Hong Kong, France and the United States. They have all come to decide our future work. It's a very important meeting," Yan said. Subjects on the agenda included how to separate personal finances from money donated since the student uprising was crushed by Chinese authorities in Baijing's Tiananmen Square in June. Wu'er Kaixi, one of the student leaders in Tiananmen Square now on a one-year fellowship at Harvard, has in particular been criticized by the Chinese-language press in the United States for allegedly confusing his personal finances with the front's finances. Representatives from Chinese communities around the world were to report in an effort to lay out a specific program for the group's long-term operation. An afternoon, closed-door meeting Wednesday was to consider relations with Taiwan. "We cannot accept Taiwanese independence. Taiwan is part of China. But we have to decide our policy towards Taiwan's democratization and the changes taking place there," Yan said. "We want to go to Taiwan anr see the situation. We can't go from the mainland." Wan Runnan, founder and former president of a Peking-based computer firm and general secretary of the FDC, has planned an exploratory trip to Taiwan to speak with members of various political groups, including the independent opposition party that was formed in the last few years, Yang said. He said the FDC was not thinking about siding with any particular group in Taiwan since FDC members include active members of Taiwan's ruling party, the Kuomintang, as well as former members of the Communist Party. Another item to be addressed was the FDC's policy toward Tibet. The Chinese government has claimed sovereignty there since the 13th century. Tibetans claim to have a different culture and say they should be independent from Chinese rule. Yan met this week in Paris with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled religious leader, to propose a solution for the problem. It involved forming a federation so that Tibet's relationship with China would be more like a state, Yan said. Yan, who said he offered the proposal on behalf of the FDC, said the Dalai Lama offered no response. FDC leaders said they would present a position when their meetings end Sunday. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Editor: Gang Xu (NDUS) E-mail: gxu@kentvm.bitnet | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ============================================================================= News Transmission chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (or) -------------------- --------------------- Local Editor: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sat Dec 9 11:12:27 EST 1989
chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (12/09/89)
| +---------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. 9 (II), 1989 Table of Contents # of Lines Headline News .................................................. 50 1) China To Close 10% Of Newspapers And Publishing Houses ..... 23 2) State-Owned Enterprise Went Bankrupt ........................ 42 3) Jailed Writer Allowed To See Ailing Relative ............... 71 4) Wang Bids For Power General Backs Reforms .................. 94 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headline News --------------------------------------------------------------------------- (1) U.S. State Dept. official said yesterday that no special delegate would be sent to PRC to report the U.S.-Soviet summit at this time. Before, after the summit, a special envoy would go to Japan, South Korea and PR China to report the results of the summit. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: World Journal, 12/7/89 (2) Japnese government at the first time has loaned $35 millions to China since June 4th, among which $25 millions was given to Beijing TV Station, and the left will be used in a hosipital in Shanghai and two educational projects in Gan Su province. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: AP, 12/6/89 (3) 'People's Daily' criticized that Dalai Lama had received a human right award which was awarded by French first lady in Paris. The newspaper also reported the meeting between Dala and 'the collaborator', blaming that Dala and Yan Jiaqi 'encouraged each other'. Beijing government meanwhile protested to East German for allowing Dala to visit East Berlin. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: World Journal, 12/7/89 (4) FDC leaders are having a meeting in Newton, Mass. to plan its long-term strategy and the relationship with Taiwan in the future. FDC also criticized Wuer Kaixi's statement about HR2712 bill, which was on 'World Journal' a few days ago and has drawn many critical remarks since then. Wuer apologized for the statement. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: World Journal, 12/7/89 (5) Sculptures of 14 solders, who were killed during the June 4th military crackdown in Beijing, are put in 'The Military Museum' in Beijing. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: World Journal, 12/7/89 (6) A Japanese newspaper reports that CCP Party chief Jiang Zemin criticized Soviet leader Gorbachev as the initiator of East Europe's reforms. Jiang is also reported blaming the former East German President Krenz as a traitor. It reported that Deng has recently ordered not to report too much about Grobachev. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet. (J. Yang) Source: World Journal, 12/7/89 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. China To Close 10% Of Newspapers And Publishing Houses --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: <CHENH@IUBACS> Source: AP News BEIJING - China plans to shut down 10% of its newspapers and publishing houses, the official Xinhua news agency said Thursday. It is targeting for closure those printing pornography or material critical of the Communist Party. The Press and Publications Administration will also merge newspapers and periodicals that are similar in content, Xinhua said. The report said China has 1,600 newspapers, 3,000 social science periodicals and 500 publishing houses. Many are similar in nature and have few readers. In the past year, particularly after Communist leaders used troops to crush the pro-democracy movement in June, the government has moved to consolidate and exert greater control over the publishing industry. Millions of publications have been confiscated and destroyed in a nationwide anti-pornography campaign. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. State-Owned Enterprise Went Bankrupt --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> Source: BEIJING (AP) December 06, 1989 An eastern China motorcycle factory has become the first state-owned enterprise to go bankrupt in the country's 40 years of Communist rule, the official news agency reported Wednesday. The Nanchang Motorccle Factory in Jiangxi province was declared insolvent by a local court after accumulating losses equivalent to $1.4 million and debts of $2.6 million, the Xinhua News Agency said. The 631 workers in the factory will receive government relief funds, the report said. China began experimenting with bankruptcy in several cities in 1985. In 1986, a collectively owned explosion-proof equipment factory in the northeastern city of Shenyang became the nation's first to be declared bankrupt. A national bankruptcy law went into effect on Nov. 1, 1988, prompting the official Economic Daily to predict that at least 30,000 money-losing enterprises with a workforce of millions would soon be out of business. More than 20 percent of large state-run factories run at a loss and must be heavily subsidized by the government. Hundreds of thousands of smaller firms are perennial money losers. But the new law has been largely ignored as banks resist declaring debts unpayable, local cities seek to avoid further strain on their inadequate unemployment systems, and party officials in money-losing enterprises use their influence to keep plants operating. China's current hard-line leadership has generally given a cold shoulder to free-market reforms, stressing that China must maintain its state-run socialist economic system. The Xinhua report said the Jiangxi court also declared bankrupt a 645-worker collectively owned cardboard box factory with debts and losses totaling about $1.3 million. It said the property of both factories would be auctioned by the court. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Jailed Writer Allowed To See Ailing Relative --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hkucs!kwchan@uunet.UU.net Source: South China Morning Post, Thursday, December 7, 1989 [Seth Faison in Beijing] Dai Qing, a leading writer who has been jailed since early July, was recently allowed out for an afternoon visit to her ailing father-in-law in the Beijing hospital, sources close to her family said. Dai, who looked thin but otherwise healthy, was escorted to the hospital one day last month by two officials from Qincheng prison, and return to her cell a few hours later. Contrary to earlier reports, Dai had been let out of prison on bail, and the sources said her family was not expecting her to be released any time soon. A respected writer and reporter for the Guangming Daily, Dai was, until her arrest, an outspoken critic of the Communist Party on Political, environmental and feminist issues. Many Chinese intellectuals could not believe she would spend a long time in prison because of her well-known political connections, which stemmed form her upbringing as a step-daughter in the home of late marshal, Mr Ye Jianying. Guangdong Governor, Mr Ye Xuanping, son of the late marshal, wrote a personal appeal in the summer for her early release, apparently to no avail. The father of Dai's husband is seriously ill with cancer. In October, her husband told authorities that the elderly man had asked to see his daughter-in-law before he died. Dai's husband was told he needed to produce detailed statements from hospital doctors to verify the seriousness of his father's condition before the request could be considered. The statements were produced, but no response given. One day last month, Dai's husband was sitting silently with his father, when she appeared at the door with two guards and a third, unidentified official. Dai told her husband she was being treated well in prison. He noticed that her grey hair was growing back and offered to bring her some of the hair dye she customarily used. "I will never dye my hair as long as I remain in prison," Dai allegedly responded. It was the first time she had seen her husband since she was arrested at their home in early July. Dai was one of the journalists who met senior party officials to demand guarantees for greater freedom of the press. On May 14, she made an impassioned plea for hunger-striking students to abandon their sit-in Tiananmen Square. She publicly resigned her membership from the Communist Party on June 4, saying she wanted to distance herself from politics and concentrate on her writing. She apparently made no attempt to hide from the post-massacre purge that was sure to include her, and was required at the Guangming Daily to write detailed reports about her activities during the spring. She was named in Beijing mayor, Mr Chen Xitong's June report that listed those intellectuals and activists considered by authorities to have engaged in serious anti-government activity. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Wang Bids For Power General Backs Reforms --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hkucs!kwchan@uunet.UU.net Source: South China Morning Post, Thursday, December 7, 1989 [WILLY WO-LAP LAM] The state Vice-President, General Wang Zhen, is emerging as one of the most powerful patriarchs in China. With the retirement of senior leader, Mr Deng Xiaoping, and the growing sickness of economic theorist, Mr Chen Yun, General Wang, 81, is exerting an influence second only to that of the President and military strongman, Mr Yang Shang-kun. Like Mr Deng, General Wang is a politician who can appeal to different factions in the party. A conservative ideologue, General Wang has nonetheless been a staunch supporter of China's open door policy. Chinese newspapers in Beijing reported yesterday that while inspecting the Zhuhai Special Economic Zone recently, General Wang said the reform and open policy should be further carried out in the zones. According to the papers, the Vice-President spoke highly of the results achieved by Zhuhai and encouraged local officials to develop the zone's resources with foreign investment. The patriarch said: "Furthering the reform and open policy is what Deng Xiaoping has proposed time and again. "It is also a strategic decision made by the party Central Committee." The Vice-President said local cadres must not adopt a wait-and-see attitude. They must implement the reform policy without hesitation. Analysts say General Wang is trying to add to his political power by appearing to be the protector of the former associates of ousted liberal leader, Mr Zhao Ziyang. A regular visitor to Shen-zhen, Zhuhai and other open cities along the coast, General Wang has assured local leaders their positions would not be undermined because of their association with Mr Zhao. Chinese sources say General Wang's intercessions were partly responsible for the Shenzhen mayor, Mr Li Hao, and Zhuhai mayor, Mr Liang Guangda, staying in power. In early summer, Mr Liang came under investigation for using powers to seek personal gain but he has since emerged unscathed. The Vice-President is one of the few Beijing leaders who regularly meet foreign business leaders. As honorary president of the China Association for International Friendly Contacts and honorary president of the China-Japan Friendship Association, General Wang is well-known to Japanese business executives. Business analysts say General Wang has shown personal interest in large projects in Guangdong, Hunan and Hainan provinces. His support was one of the factors behind Beijing's approval of the development of Hainan's Yangpu port by the Japanese construction giant Kumagai Gumi. A Western diplomat said: "General Wang has a personal stake in the preservation of the coastal policy as hammered out by Deng Xiaoping and Zhao Ziyang. "After all, his son, Wang Jun, a senior manager with the China International Trust and Investment Corp, is heavily involved in business deals in the zones and open cities." Because of his hard-line conservatism in ideological matters, however, General Wang is also popular with the party's right-wing. He was the first leader who proposed using military force to suppress the student movement in late 1986 and this year Soon after the June 4 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the Vice-President openly proposed sending liberal intellectuals to exile in far away Xinjiang province. Analysts say General Wang's standing in the army is very high. A career soldier, the general became army vice-chief of the general staff as early as 1955. Shortly before the opening of the party fifth plenum in November, there was speculation in Beijing that should there be a deadlock over the choice of a new Central Military Commission chairman or vice-chairman, General Wang might be a "dark horse" candidate. Even though General Wang walks with the aid of a stick, he is believed to be in robust health. In the event of Mr Deng's incapacitation, the Vice-President, who enjoys Mr Deng's total trust, could play the role of king-maker in the succession struggle. +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Yaxiong Lin E_mail: aoyxl@asuacvax.bitnet | +------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ========================================================================== News Transmission chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (or) -------------------- --------------------- Local Editor: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sat Dec 9 20:44:46 EST 1989