jshen@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Jun Shen) (01/23/91)
* * * C H I N A N E W S D I G E S T * * *
January 21, 1991
Table of Contents # of Lines
0. Briefs..............................................................20
1. China Detains Human Rights Activists................................70
2. Latvia Plans Self-Defense Units After Soviet Attack.................87
3. Chinese Leadership Vows to Continue Security Crackdown in 1991......64
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0. Briefs................................................................20
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On Monday, Iraq showed videotape of badly injured American pilots which
were shot down over Iraq, in which the pilots, seemingly in a state of
duress, denounced the US attack on Iraq. It is unclear as to whether the
injuries the pilots suffered were a result of their planes being shot
down or due to torture.
The US apparently denied Israel the IFF codes needed to avoid US and other
allied aircraft over Iraq, which would have been necessary for a
retaliatory air strike. These codes are used by missiles and airplanes to
electronically distinguish between friendly and enemy aircraft, and without
them the Israeli planes would have been labeled hostile.
The Bush Administration is discussing whether to expand its war goals in
the Gulf from simply driving Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait to destroying
Hussein himself and putting him on trial for war crimes, due to recent
events such as the abuse of American POW's and the unprovoked missile
attack on Israel.
The Pentagon said on Monday that Iraq is destroying oil pumping facilities
in Kuwait.
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1. China Detains Human Rights Activists..................................70
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From: Run-Ping Qi <qi@cs.ubc.ca>
Source: AP, January 22, 1991
Police on Monday detained seven human rights activists from overseas who
sought to attend trials of the leaders of China's crushed 1989 democracy
movement.
One, the Rev. Louis Ha of Mauritius, was release more than three hours
later after being warned to "follow the rules of China." The others
remained inside a local police station, being questioned about their
activities.
All except Ha arrived last Thursday and have been meeting with dissidents
and court officials.
The police action reflects the government's sensitivity over the trials of
key participants in the democracy movement. At least 24 participants have
been tried or sentenced in the past two weeks and more trials are expected
soon. Authorities have refused to let reporters attend and refuse to answer
questions about the proceedings.
An Associated Press reporter saw six of the seven activists led from their
hotel Monday afternoon as they prepared to deliver letters to Chinese
leaders appealing for fair and open trials.
Policy grappled with an American television cameraman who followed the
group and confiscated his camera and videotape.
The seventh member of the group, a Canadian, was picked up later.
Police refused to say why the activists were detained.
Norman Quan, who lives in Los Angeles but remains a Chinese citizen, said
police wanted to ask about their activities in China. He spoke after being
questioned briefly by police in his hotel room before being taken with the
others to the police station.
Another in the group, Simon Jones of Britain, told a reporter at the police
station that their passports were taken but they were not accused of
anything.
"We're just demonstrating that there's still widespread interest and
concern about the political prisoners in China," Jones said in an interview
at the hotel just before the police came.
The other detainees were Bobby Chan of Britain, Lee Menling and Ardi
Bouwers of the Netherlands, and Raymond Chan of Canada.
Neil Clegg, a diplomat at the Canadian Embassy, had been planning to help
Raymond Chan deliver letters Monday afternoon to Chinese officials.
"The Canadian government is concerned about the human rights situation in
China and we are trying to help them (the activists) convey their concerns,"
he said.
The group had made several trips to the Beijing city court where the
democracy activists are being tried. Court officials told them foreigners
had no right to attend trials.
They met Saturday with two officials of the national legislature and
expressed their concern that the trials be fair and open.
Quan said plainclothes police followed them on their rounds.
They planned to leave China on Tuesday.
A Chinese studying in Canada flew into Beijing on Saturday in a similar
effort to attend the protesters' trials. Police met him as he got off the
plane and put him on a flight out of the country.
Reliable source from China indicated that these six detainees were released
five hours later. They still plan to leave China on Tuesday.
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2. Latvia Plans Self-Defense Units After Soviet Attack...................87
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From: Charlie Li <liq@shark.cs.fau.edu>
Source: Prodigy, January 21, 1991
The Latvian parliament voted Monday to set up special self-defense units
after Soviet "black beret" special forces blasted their way into the
Baltic republic's interior ministry earlier in the day.
A White House spokesman termed the attack by Soviet troops "deeply
troubling."
At Least 4 Die
A ministry spokesman in Riga said 4 people were killed and 10 wounded in
Sunday night's 90-minute battle in the center of the Latvian capital.
The attack was the 2nd bloody operation against a Baltic separatist
government in 8 days. The crack troops left some 5 hours later after talks
between Latvian Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis and Soviet Interior Minister
Boris Pugo.
A spokesman for the Latvian parliament said deputies approved the formation
of "Special Units of the Forces of State Self-Defense" before dawn - hours
after the operation at the interior ministry had ended.
Decree Text
A decree said the forces would "defend and protect the lives, rights and
freedoms of the inhabitants of the Republic of Latvia, society and
government from illegal threats."
There was no immediate indication on whose orders the "black berets" had
acted. The unit, also known as OMON, is directly responsible to the
hardline Pugo, former head of the Latvian Communist Party and its KGB
security police.
On Saturday night, a self-styled National Salvation Committee said it had
taken power in Latvia, a move given great prominence in the Moscow media.
Fell Into Trap
The army action in neighboring Lithuania the previous week was undertaken
on the instructions of a similar committee.
A pro-Moscow deputy from Latvia said the special troops had fallen into a
trap after trying to start negotiations with interior ministry officials.
Col Viktor Alksnis, one of the country's most prominent conservatives,
said OMON men had come to the ministry after an OMON officer's wife had
been raped the previous day.
"When they arrived, someone opened fire without warning," Alksnis told
Reuters.
Death Sentence
Reading a statement by the conservative "Ravnopravie" (Equal Rights)
faction in the Latvian parliament, Alksnin added: "They found themselves
caught in a trap aimed at destroying the OMON. They then made the decision
to start attacking the building."
Alksnis also spoke briefly to the opening session of the parliament of the
Russian Federation, which opened in Moscow, telling deputies he had been
"sentenced to death" by separatist activists.
Yeltsin Reacts
Russian leader Boris Yeltsin told the session, moved forward by a week
because of rising tension in the country, that developments in the Baltic
were part of a "reactionary coup taking place today which is not yet
irreversible."
"We are convinced that this is a strategic political error which should and
must be corrected," he said.
Several dozen protesters gathered outside the parliament on the banks of
the Moskva River to voice support for Yeltsin.
Massive Protest in Moscow
On Sunday, at least 100,000 people massed by the Kremlin walls to denounce
the army action in Lithuania and a widely perceived swing to the right by
President Mikhail Gorbachev.
In Riga, Latvian President Anatolijs Gorbunovs appeared on morning
television to denounce the attack on the ministry and repeat his demand
for the OMON to be removed from the republic's territory.
"I denounce these acts and send my condolences to the relatives of the
victims," he said. "It was a tragic night."
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3. Chinese Leadership Vows to Continue Security Crackdown in 1991........64
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From: Yi Li <li%vanity.ncat.edu@cunyvm.cuny.edu>
Date: January 21, 1991
The Chinese leadership has made it clear that, after a year of arrests,
mass public trials and more than 1,000 executions, the severity of its law
and order crackdown will not abate in 1991.
"Comprehensive criminal control is the party central's correct policy based
on historical experience," Supreme People's Court president Ren Jianxin was
quoted in official reports Monday as telling a public security conference.
The eight-day national work conference opened Sunday at Yantai in the
eastern province of Shandong.
In a policy-setting speech, Qiao Shi, the politburo member responsible for
security, stressed the importance of the "attack" on criminal elements to
ensure the success of China's drive to modernize and reform its economy.
"The attack on crime must come before other measures in comprehensive
criminal control," Mr. Qiao was quoted by the People's Public Security News
as saying. Other measures included crime prevention and education, he said.
The agenda for China's law enforcement remained unchanged in 1991 from a
sweeping campaign begun two years ago and centered on the so-called "six
vices" -- gambling, traffic and consumption of drugs, prostitution, feudal
superstition, pornography and the sale of women and children.
Last year alone, China's state-controlled press reported death sentences
against more than 1,000 people across the country for crimes including
murder, rape and grand larceny.
The actual number of executions is thought to be much higher, and thousands
of other criminals have been imprisoned for terms up to life.
Mr. Qiao emphasized that the battle against crime would be waged at every
level of the government and party structure.
The penetration of the anti-crime campaign into everyday life was reflected
in the slogan, "Whoever is in charge will take responsibility," meaning
that down to the individual work unit level, managers would be answerable
for their subordinates' vices.
In an editorial Monday accompanying its news report on the security
conference the party newspaper People's Daily also urged vigilance against
corruption, decadence and "infiltrative and subversive activities waged by
hostile forces within and outside the country."
"In our country, the class struggle will certainly exist for a long time
and will become intense at times. The opposition of capitalism against the
four cardinal principles will also exist for a long time," it said in
reference to the four cornerstones of Chinese communist ideology.
The warning was a reference to anti-government elements, branded criminal,
such as those behind the 1989 demonstrations that were suppressed in the
bloody Tiananmen Square military crackdown of June 4.
Since January 5, courts in the capital have convicted 10 people and put on
trial another nine for crimes associated with the pro-democracy movement.
Among those awaiting conviction and sentencing were Ren Wanding, a 46 year
old veteran activist accused of counter-revolutionary propaganda and
incitement to riot, and Guo Haifeng, a student leader charged with counter
revolutionary sabotage.
Trials against those behind the 1989 unrest were expected to be over by
February, a senior central government official said over the weekend.
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