chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) (11/25/89)
| +---------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) -- Nov. 25 (I), 1989 Table of Contents # of Lines Headline News ................................................... 41 1) Two powerful Earthquakes Struck Sichuan ..................... 34 2) New Obstacle For The Students To Go Abroad .................. 85 3) Policewoman Executed For Taking Bribes ...................... 15 4) Foreign Exchange Tightened .................................. 67 5) Deng Rebuffed In Committee Move ............................ 35 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headline News ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (*) Radio Beijing News 7pm PDT (in manderine) Nov 25 1989: Chinese vice miniter of foreign affairs Mr Liu Huaqiu met with US deputy ambassodor in Beijing and strongly protest that US congress passed the bill to loose the 2 years home residence requirement to Chinese students who hold J-1 visa. Chinese government requests president Bush to refuse this bill. Otherwise, Chinese government will have to take strong reaction and US government must be responsible for all the consequences. From: Rupert Zhu <rzhu@violet> (1) According to a report from congress, Chinese government's interruption on international mails has increased promptly since June. 92.3% people say that their mails has been interrupted. In the congress's hearing, one fourth of the people said that only 70% of their mails could reach the receivers in China; one fifth said 75% of the mails from China could be received in the U.S. The missing rate of parcels get to as high as 20%. The correspondence between Tibet and the U.S. is almost impossible since 1989. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet (J. Yang) Source: World Journal, 11/21/89 (2) Mr. Lord, the former embassdor to China, said that the leaders in East Europe has learnt the lesson from Tiananmen Square event. In a news conferece in Las Vegas, Mr. Lord said the leaders in East Europe has learnt to restrain themselves, therefore you do not expect things like 'Tiananmen Square event' will happen there. From: simone@nyspi.bitnet (J. Yang) Source: AP, 11/20/89 (3) The Chinese Foreign Ministry has banned banquets atits embassies overseas in honor of visiting Chinese dignitaries, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Monday. From: IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET (J. Ding) Source: BEIJING (AP) 11/20/89 (4) Beijing is trying to reassure jittery intellectuals that it is not closing the door to political reform. While stressing that the party's authority will be enhanced, the Chinese Communist Party is pointing out that it is willing to take in opinion from different sectors of society. From: hkucs!kwchan@uunet.uu.net Source: South China Morning Post (5) China called in the U. S. ambassador in Beijing Sunday to urge that President Bush veto proposed congressional sanctions against China or bear the consequences of poor Sino-American relations. In retaliation for an army crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in June, the U.S. Senate last week passed a bill imposing economic sanctions on China. From: hongyuan@math.wayne.edu (Hongyuan Lai) Source: The Detroit News, 11/20/89 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Two powerful Earthquakes Struck Sichuan ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> Source: AP November 20 & 21, 1989 Two powerful earthquakes struck the southwestern province of Sichuan today, killing three people, injuring five and destroying several homes. The quakes measured 5.2 and 5.4 on the Richter scale of ground motion, said the official Xinhua News Agency. The worst-hit area was in Jiangbei County near Chongqing in eastern Sichuan. The death toll from two earthquakes that struck souteastern China this week has risen to four, and officials said 1,000 houses were destroyed, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday. Another 161 people were injured when the quakes hit near Chungking in Sichuan province Monday, Xinhua said. An undetermined number of livestock were also killed by the quakes, which registered 5.2 and 5.4 on the Richter scale, the report said. Local seismologists had predicted a strong quake for the coming year and the area was rocked by several weaker quakes in September, the report said. Sichuan is one of China's most quake-prone regions. Fifty-four were injured and more than 4,000 homes destroyed in a central Sichuan quake in September, and a series of five quakes measuring up to 6.7 on the Richter scale killed 11 in western Sichuan in June and July. A series of heavy temblors registering up to 6.1 on the Richter scale rocked northern China's Shanxi province in October, leaving some 50,000 homeless. The Richter scale measures ground motion as recorded on seismographs. A quake measuring 6.0 can cause severe damage in a populated area. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. New Obstacle For The Students To Go Abroad ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> Source: BEIJING (UPI) November 20, 1989 [By: LUBMAN, SARAH] Universities in Beijing are refusing to issue students official copies of their college transcripts in an apparent new attempt to tighten control over students planning to study overseas, Chinese sources say. Previously, students could obtain transcripts bearing official university seals by showing identity cards and written proof that a close relative lives abroad. But students say the regulations have changed and school registrars will not release transcripts, even with the required documentation. No reason was given for the change. A spokesman for the State Education Commission, which oversees all educational matters, would neither confirm nor deny the new restriction. The new measure is the latest in a series of moves by the government to restrict study abroad. Authorities have already announced plans to favor postgraduate students for study abroad. A new rule also requires all would-be graduate students to work in factories or villages for one to two years before continuing their studies, let alone go overseas. The government is concerned about increasing numbers of students who opt not to return from study abroad. More than 40,000 Chinese students in the United States alone have been allowed to extend their stays for a year following Beijing's brutal military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in June. But many students see the new controls as punishment for their involvement in last spring's protests, which began on university campuses and spread nationwide. "This is their way of getting even," said a student from Beijing's Institute of International Relations. The restriction on transcripts creates a new obstacle for students applying to go abroad because most schools require official copies as part of the application process. "What am I supposed to do now?" said a graduate student at Beijing University, which was at the center of the spring protests and where students and teachers are now undergoing intensive ideological indoctrination. "I'm patriotic, just like the Communist Party says I should be. I want to come back and help my country, but they won't even let me leave," she said. In addition to the transcript restriction, students at Beijing University in particular are chafing under an onslaught of new regulations. Extracurricular lectures by visiting speakers, a frequent campus activity before June, are now forbidden without permission from the president of the university. Beijing University authorities were angered this year when then-U.S. Ambassador Winston Lord spoke at a "democracy salon" at the school's campus at the invitation of students. The visit had not been authorized by school officials. Students are also busy writing "confessions" of their activities during the protests, which have since been officially termed a "counterrevolutionary rebellion." Beijing University students who do not give an account of their actions last spring will not be allowed to register for new classes, which are starting two months late, students said. Despite glowing reports in the official Chinese press about quiet campuses full of diligent students who now understand their "mistakes," many students say they are depressed and feel they have no future. Some are even taking solace in the traditional Chinese gambling game of mah- jong also banned under new regulations and campus parties. "I used to be idealistic, and now look at me," said a former student leader, opening a bottle of beer with his teeth. "We've all become decadent." A poster announcing a dance at Qinghua University hinted at the prevailing mood. "Life doesn't have to be painful," it said. "We still have our own road to follow let's dance." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Policewoman Executed For Taking Bribes ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> Source: BEIJING (AP) November 21, 1989 A policewoman was executed in southern China on Tuesday for taking bribes to find rural residents places to live in the city, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Zhang Mayun, who supervised household registrations, was executed with an accomlice, saleswoman Chen Heilian, in the city of Canton, Xinhua said. Ms. Zhang took the equivalent of $76,000 in bribes to transfer 63 people from rural areas into the city, Xinhua said. The two were arrested in June 1988 and sentenced to death a year later, the report said. Their appeals were turned down, Xinhua said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Foreign Exchange Tightened ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "J. Ding" <IZZYQ00@UCLAMVS.BITNET> Source: BEIJING (AP) November 20, 1989 [By: JONES, TERRIL ; Associated Press Writer] China's central bank has quietly tightened regulations on foreign exchange, limiting purchases of foreign currency and restricting its sale to those with airline tickets out of the country. The new regulation, which come several months after the government's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in the nation's capital, stem the outflow of foreign capital. They suggest the government could be considering a devaluation of the Chinese currency, but economists in Beijing said they Pin the near future. Under the new restrictions, which apply to foreign visitors as well as Chinese, holders of foreign currency certificates can only repurchase 50 percent of the amount of foreign currency they originally sold, a Bank of China official said. Anyone who has converted $1,000 to foreign exchange certificates, or FECs, can only exchange half that amount back into dollars, said the official of the bank's Bank Deposit Department, who would not give his name. Customers must also present an airplane ticket proving that they need the money because they are going overseas, the official said. They may make deposits to Bank of China FEC accounts that already exist. Customers may also withdraw from their FEC accounts in the form of checks, which can be cashed into foreign currencies overseas, the official said. The new regulations were not announced publicly but were put into effect about a month ago, the official said. China has a dual currency system, with the yuan divided into renminbi, for domestic use, and FECs for foreigners and Chinese who change foreign currency into yuan. The Bank of China official would not say why the restrictions were imposed but called them "a reasonable measure." "If you change dollars into foreign exchange certificates, it's natural that you should spend the money in China," he said. There are no plans to abolish FECs, he said. "It's a very serious thing," said an official of the Beijing office of a European-based credit bank. "It's a move to tighten the economy and more closely monitor foreign exchange," said the banker, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "They've done this because many Chinese have FECs in their hands which they change to U.S. dollars on the black market," he said. "It is primarily to restrict the cash going out. There are less U.S. dollars in cash available and people have less to play around with in the open market." The double-currency system has spawned a lively black market in FECs and convertible foreign currencies, primarily U.S. dollars. Chinese generally need FECs to purchase imported items, and must prove they have dollars or other foreign currencies in order to travel or study abroad. One reason for the Bank of China's move could be to discourage illegal foreign currency transactions. "But the black market has fallen," the banker said. "You get less for dollars, and the black market centers have been clamped down upon." The black market price for the U.S. dollar has dropped from about eight yuan a year ago to five or six yuan today, the banker said. The official exchange rate for the yuan is 3.7 to the dollar. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Deng Rebuffed In Committee Move ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hkucs!kwchan@uunet.uu.net Source : South China Morning Post Senior leader Deng Xiao-ping has suggested that the powerful party Central Advisory Committee, of which he was once head, should be dissolved. The suggestion, said to have been made on September 4, was apparently not accepted. The committee is currently led by conservative Chen Yun. At the fifth plenary session of the party Central Committee, Mr Deng stepped down from the Central Military Commission but none of his contemporaries have made similar moves. Mr Deng's speech to the six Standing Committee members of the Politburo and President Yang Shang-kun and the chairman of the National People's Congress, MR Wan Li, was reported in yesterday's Wen Wei Po. Analysts said that while the report was apparently authentic, it was intriguing that it should have appeared more than two months after Mr Deng had made it and less than a week after the fifth plenary session. One suggestion was that publication of the article, which would be fed back to Beijing, might be intended to renew pressure on the veterans to step down. In the report Mr Deng was said to have suggested that the Central Advisory Committee (CAC), which he created in 1982, should be abolished at the 14th National Party Congress due in 1992. At the time the CAC was formulated Mr Deng suggested that its life should not be beyond two terms of five years each. It was then intended to accommodate many veterans who were persuaded to vacate their Central Committee seats for younger cadres. After 10 years Mr Deng apparently felt that the Central Advisory Committee had served its purpose and that it should no longer be around to affect the workings of the Central Committee. +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 Nov 25 11:06:04 EST 1989