China & HK News
Chan Ki Wa
Date : Oct. 20 Friday
Send time : 21st Oct., 5:00 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
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Hong Kong
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- begin -
The Hongkong Standard Friday, October 20, 1989
EYE ON CHINA by Wu Zhong
Discontent shows in wave of nostalgia
=====================================
Emotional nostalgia seems to be sweeping the whole of China.
A couple of years ago, the image of the late Chairman Mao Zedong started to
make a comeback among the Chinese people. His busts and badges, once rampant
during the Cultural Revolution and soon abandoned after his death, reappeared
on the black market in cities and towns.
But before the June 4 military crackdown on the student-led pro-democracy
movement, these Mao souvenirs were mainly sought by foreign tourists and
students.
One of my American friends bought a dozen ceramic busts of Mao in the famous
"ghost market" in Tianjin and shipped them home because he thought they would
make good gifts for friends.
Some students began to wear Mao badges last year, probably just for fun. But
no doubt this also reflected some kind of nostalgia towards the Cultural
Revolution when students became Mao's Red Guards.
Similarly, cotton-filled green army overcoats have become the campus fashion in
winter since 1985; nearly every college student, male or female, wears one.
This is just another example of reminders of army-uniformed Red Guards.
Most of these students were born after the beginning of the Cultural Revolution
and had little knowledge of the Red Guards. Their nostalgia is merely a way
to express discontent with the present.
However, this kind of nostalgia soon spread to the average Chinese when high
inflation hit the country last year. At that time, there was some limited
freedom of speech, so Beijing residents often joked sarcastically: "The Chairman
was bad, but under him one yuan was worth one yuan. Deng Xiaoping is good, but
under him one yuan is worth only 10 cents."
Since the June 4 crackdown, however, nostalgia has gained other meanings. A
recent report said the Beijing authorities have issued a directive forbidding
trade in Mao busts, badges and even his Little Red Books.
If this is true, it seems that demand for Mao souvenirs has grown so much that
the authorities have become afraid that this kind of feeling might undermine the
authority of the current leadership.
But the Chinese cherish the memory of Mao - not only throught buying his badges.
Mao's home village, Shaoshan in the southern Hunan province, has once again
become a Mecca for many zealous Chinese. Millions of people visited the sacred
place during the Cultural Revolution. But since the death of the Great
Helmsman, it had almost become a forgotten site.
Official statistics reveal that since 1985, the number of visitors began to
increase at an annual rate of 30 per cent, reaching a peak this year. From
January to September this year, the tiny village has received about 600,000
visitors, including some from abroad.
Chinese literature, too, has recently been full of Mao reminiscences. Stories
about Mao have become so popular that nearly all literary magazines now have to
carry some to attract a readership.
In addition, stories about other dead leaders and revolutions under Mao now
also win readers. For instance, a story about the life of Jian Qing, Mao's
widow, who is still in prison, and their daughter, has become a bestseller.
Enjoying the same popularity is another story about the power struggle at the
top following Mao's death, leading to the downfall of the Gang of Four.
This nostalgia has attracted much attention. Many analysts, both within and
outside China, have tried to find the cause.
Generally speaking, nostalgia is part of the national character of the Chinese.
In the country's long history, the Chinese always considered the past better
than the present.
The 40 years of Communist Party rule certainly have not helped the Chinese to be
rid of this tradition completely. Instead, nostalgia seems to have become a way
to escape from reality. The Chinese especially indulge in nostalgia when they
feel discontent with the present and see no improvement in the future.
But nostalgia sometimes can also be used as passive resistance.
In Guangzhou, the most open city in China, pop singers who used to sing Hongkong
and Taiwan pop songs are now learning hard the "revoultionary songs" heard
during the Cultural Revolution.
They are not being forced to do this by the authorities but because audiences
demand it.
According to the Hongkong China News Service, concert audiences in Guangzhou
often request performers to sing revolutionary songs such as "I love Beijing
Tiananmen", "Without the Communist Party, there is no new China", "Socialism
is Good", and even those which glorify Mao and have been considered as
expressions of personal worship. These include "The East is Red" and
"Sailing in the Sea Relies on the Helmsman".
Pity these poor pop singers. They are all in their early 20s and have probably
never heard of these songs. But to further their careers, they have had to
learn hard, just as they had to learn Hongkong and Taiwan pop songs previously.
One Chinese news service reported that the practice has spread to the special
economic zones of Shenzhen and Zhuhai.
Following the June 4 massacre, new party chief Jiang Zemin told his countrymen
to pick up old revolutionary songs in order to remember the contributions of
the Communist Party. And on several occasions he has led workers and cadres in
singing "Without the Communist Party, there is no new China".
But the Chinese authorities have so far not ordered these songs to be performed
on stage by pop artists.
The irony here is clear. While the authorities can forbid "counter-
revolutionary" activities, they may not openly oppose pop singers doing
revolutinary songs glorifying the late Chairman Mao.
But lauding the memory of former leaders can be interpreted in another way - as
expressing dissatisfactiion with the present leaders.
Even in Hongkong many people have started talking about the abilities and merits
of the late Premier Zhou Enlai without mentioning Deng Xiaoping. Ironically, it
is often the case that what is unsaid is more significant than what is said.
This irony is so obvious that it is no wonder a top Chinese leader in Beijing,
during an inspection trip to Guangzhou, told local leaders that more pop songs
should be sung at concerts.
The Chinese people are shrewd. Having lived through so many political
movements, they know very well how to express their dissatisfaction under
particular circumstances.
It would be foolish for the Chinese authorities try to suppress the current wave
of nostalgia. Instead, they should try to learn from it to see why Mao enjoys
such a great popularity so many years after his death.
- end -
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Date : 21st Oct. 89
Send time : 10:30 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
PRODUCTION HIT BY MANAGERS' DOUBTS
MARTIAL LAW TO STAY IN LHASA
REPORTER IN HIDING AFTER ASYLUM BID
SET BACK FOR COMPROMISE 1997 MODEL
--------------------------------------------------------------------
PRODUCTION HIT BY MANAGERS' DOUBTS
[From John Kohut in Beijing]
Chinese managers have slowed down production because of doubts about
Beijing's commitment to economic reform, a senior Chinese official said
yesterday.
Mr Zhang Zhongji, spokesman for the State Statistical Bureau, said one of
the main reasons for the sharp fall-off in industrial output last month was
that enterprise managers were still having doubts about the Government's
policies.
"Some company managers have suspicious about the rectification (austerity)
program and certain policies aimed at cleaning up the Government," he said.
As a result, they dare not manage their production boldly and with a free
hand, Mr Zhang said at a press conference to report on economic performance
for the first nine months of the year.
Mr Zhang disclosed a sharp fall off in economic growth for September,
raising fears among Western economists that the Government's austerity
policies might plunge the country into recession.
National industrial output in September this year was 109 billion yuan
(HK$228.9 billion), a mere 0.9 per cent increase over the same month in
1988. Light industrial output fell 1.8 per cent.
Mr Zhang attributed the poor September growth figures in part to the
slump in consumer demand, mounting inventories and problems for companies
in securing sufficient supplies of raw materials.
But he admitted that non-economic factors, namely, the attitudes of
factory managers, had been an important factor.
"Some company managers are afraid the contract responsibility system will
be changed," Mr Zhang said.
"In handling his relationship with the party committee, the manager feels
there are some difficulties," he said.
The contract responsibility system, which gave managers greater power to
run the affairs of their own enterprises, was a cornerstone of the economic
reforms of ousted Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang.
According to analysts, company managers complain about interference from
party functionaries and the new stress on central planning, saying the
state cannot guarantee supplies or a ready market for their goods.
Mr Zhang also said that while inflation was declining, there had been no
major breakthroughs in resolving the huge gaps between supply and demand,
and the Government was unlikely to meet its target of cutting inflation
down to 10 per cent by the end of the year.
Retail prices from January to September 1989 were up 22 per cent from the
average for the same period of 1988. However, inflation was slowing down,
Mr Zhang said, Retails prices last month were a mere 15.2 per cent over the
same period last year.
Capital construction which had been fuelling China's inflation, was also
down sharply. The number of new construction projects undertaken by
state-owned companies was 10,000, a fall of two-thirds from the first three
quarters of 1988.
While China's economy still faced a host of problems, Mr Zhang said the
Government's austerity program had worked to cool down the country's
over-heated economy, which has grown at more than 10 per cent a year
throughout this decade, leading to high inflation and shortages of raw
materials.
Gross national product in the first nine months of this year rose to 1.14
trillion yuan (HK$2.39 trillion) , a five per cent increase over the same
period last year.
The performance of the state sector lagged far behind that of collective
and small village enterprises.
About 20 per cent of state enterprises had made losses. These losses were
up a startling 123 per cent over the same period in 1988, Mr Zhang said.
===========================================================================
MARTIAL LAW TO STAY IN LHASA
China will not lift martial law in Lhasa in the foreseeable future because
Tibetan nationalists are carrying out pro-independence activities, a senior
army officer disclosed.
Troops sent in to quell anti-Chinese protests in March were preparing to
spend a hard Himalayan winter, Colonel Feng Lanqun said.
"For the time being, we cannot withdraw," said Colonel Feng, who is
secretary-general of the martial law command in Lhasa.
"Generally, the situation is normal and peaceful. In the last seven
months, there have been no riots or unrest. Social order has been
guaranteed," Colonel Feng said.
Hundreds of green-uniformed soldiers maintain a high profile in Lhasa, the
ancient capital of Tibet, ruled by Beijing in the face of sporadic
anti-Chinese protests.
Soldiers man checkpoints every few hundred metres along main roads and
metal huts give shelter to guards posted around the Jokhang Temple, Tibet's
most sacred Buddhist shrine in the centre of Lhasa which attracts hundreds
of fervent pilgrims every day.
Despite the overwhelming military presence, a small number of separatists,
including nuns, had tried to stage demonstrations.
On a few occasions, he said, they had put up posters, waved the
nationalist snow leopard flag and shouted slogans.
Last Saturday, a small group of nuns staged a brief demonstration near the
Jokhang Temple, calling out for an "independent Tibet" and were arrested by
police, he said.
"It is a complicated situation. A small minority of separatists demanding
an independent Tibet and wanting to split China are still carrying out
their activities.
"Factors contributing to unrest still exist. So for the present we cannot
lift martial law."
Around the troops, life seems to go on. Markets are busy, pilgrims are
still walking into Lhasa, and buildings destroyed in the March unrest are
being rebuilt.
[Reuter]
===========================================================================
REPORTER IN HIDING AFTER ASYLUM BID
[By Fanny Wong]
Mainland Chinese reporter Ma Chi went into hiding after approaching the
Hongkong Government for political asylum yesterday before her seven-day
transit visa expires on Monday.
Ms ma, who was last seen on Thursday meeting local reporters, was not
available for comment yesterday and her whereabouts were not known.
The Hongkong Journalists' Association which provided the venue for a press
conference for Ms Ma two days ago, said it did not know where she was.
Claiming to have been persecuted by China., Ms Ma is understood to have
approached the Immigration department and other Government departments for
asylum yesterday morning.
This is despite an earlier statement, saying she was seeking a visa to go
to a third country rather than political asylum.
An Immigration Department spokesman declined to comment on whether Ms Ma
had sought asylum, saying that they did not comment on individual case.
Government officials, including Political Adviser William Ehrman met
yesterday morning to discuss her case.
Unlike Chinese swimmer Yang Yang, who visited Hongkong with a two-way
permit, Ms Ma was allowed into the territory with a week-long transit visa
on her way back to China from a visit to Japan.
The department spokesman said mainlanders entering Hongkong with two-way
permits fall into a different category from those she hold transit visas.
A transit visa allows a visitor to stay up to seven days and approval has
to be sought for extension, he said.
It is not known yet if Ms Ma's case would complicate discussions between
the Hongkong Government and New China News Agency on settling the present
illegal immigrants dispute.
Although the Government maintains that it will consider mainlanders'
application for asylum on a case by case basis, Ms Ma may serve as another
test case of Hongkong's flexibility in applying its policy.
China is understood to be anxious not to have the Yang Yang saga repeated
and is said to have relayed to Government that Hongkong's promise to meet
this demand is crucial for Beijing to resume routine repatriation of
illegal immigrants.
Ms Ma said she was a reporter for a magazine concentrating on elderly
people.
She had earlier sought assistance from the Immigration Department and was
told nothing could be done for her.
She later approached the local French Consulate, requesting a visa to go
to France, but was again rejected.
Meanwhile, the China-Hongkong Legal liaison Group yesterday urged the
Government to take Ms Ma as an exception and allow her an extension to
stay here.
Despite stressing the need not to turn Hongkong into a "safe house" for
mainland dissidents, the group's chairman, Mr John Barton, said Ms Ma could
be excused for expecting similar treatment to Yang Yang.
"There is ground for making her an exception but making it clear that
will be the last such exception," Mr Barton said.
He said it was right and proper that Hongkong should continue to defend
the agreed full autonomy in local legal and economic affairs.
===========================================================================
SET BACK FOR COMPROMISE 1997 MODEL
[By Chris Yeung]
Talks between the territory's three major political forces -
conservatives, liberals and moderates - over details of a compromise
post-1997 political model may break down following growing signs that China
is determined to adopt a conservative bicameral blueprint.
In a major setback to the compromise bid, the moderates have proposed
slowing down the pace of political change as outlined in the so-called
"4.4.2" proposal given that China has indicated the package is too radical.
The counter-proposal, raised by the moderates when meeting liberals and
conservatives on Thursday night, was flatly rejected.
Faced with the impasse, the three sides agreed to cancel a meeting
scheduled today to allow more time for a thorough and wider consultation
within each camp before negotiations are renewed.
Leaders from the three camps said they expect another meeting will be held
early next week so that a conclusion can be reached before the current
consultation exercise ends on October 31.
The dramatic twist in the latest tussle over the pace of democratic
reforms emerged as China put across a strong message that there was no
future for the new compromise proposal.
More and more local groups from the pro-China circle also broke their
silence this week by throwing their weight behind the controversial
two-chamber legislature system championed by the New Hongkong Alliance.
The latest groups to do so were the Hongkong Chinese Import and Export
Association and two major groups withing the left-wing 170,000-strong
Federation of Trade Unions, although the FTU itself has remained
non-commital publicly on the conflicting political models.
The 3,600-member Federation of Hongkong Public Utilities Workers' Unions
and the 29,000-strong Motor Transport Workers' General Union said in a
press release that the bicameral model was the best design so far, because
it helps to cater to the needs of different sectors of the community.
A source said yesterday that China's clear preference for a slower pace of
democratic reforms in the past fortnight dominated the 3.5-hour discussion
of leaders from the three camps on Thursday.
"The drastic change has prompted some people to re-think on the 4.4.2
formula in a bid to fight for the best out of the worst. They want to
ensure the future political system will be developed as democratically as
possible. In a way, they are very pragmatic.
"But it appears that some members within the moderate camp are also under
direct pressure from China not to pursue the original 4.4.2 model," the
source said.
Members from the three camps contacted yesterday remained tight-lipped
over the substance of the negotiation.
It was learned that the seven-group moderate camp had on Thursday proposed
cutting down the number of seats for direct elections in the first and
second legislature.
One option is to confine the number of directly-elected seats to not more
than half in the second legislature in 2001, instead of 60 percent as under
the original blueprint.
After months of hard bargaining, the three rival groups agreed earlier
this month to end the impasse over political reforms in the past four years
by forming a joint conference to thrash out details of the new compromise
proposal.
The package provides that 40 percent of the first legislature be directly
elected, with another 40 percent to be chosen by functional constituencies
and the remaining 20 through a grand election committee.
Beginning with the second legislature, the number of seats allocated for
direct elections should be increased to 60 percent by scrapping the grand
election committee seats, with the total number of seats for functional
bodies remains unchanged.
Legislators should decide on their own whether to switch to a full
universal suffrage system beginning from the third term in 2005.
A source said: "The moderates want to slow down the pace of democratic
reforms to make it more acceptable to China. The conservatives, of course,
will welcome it. But the liberals have made it clear that they would not
accept it."
"If the moderates insist, the talks will finish. Bear in mind that the
liberals considered the 4.4.2 formula as their baseline.
"The liberal camp will split up if its negotiating team agrees to make
further concessions.
"The ball is now in the court of the moderates. Developments over the
next few days will be crucial. The desire to strive for a compromise is
still strong," the source said.
In a related development, the Industrial Relations Committee backed the
new compromise proposal but wanted a clear timetable to be laid down on the
introduction of full universal suffrage for the third legislature.
===========================================================================
HSI SERVICES LTD : HANG SENG INDEX AT: 16:52
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PREVIOUS AM INDEX PM INDEX
20/10/89 CLOSE 12:30 15:30
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HANG SENG INDEX 2663.37 2701.29 2703.95
CHANGE +37.92 +40.58
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COPYRIGHT. HSI SERVICES LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Send time : 23rd Oct., 0:50 am HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
CHINA DENIES ECONOMY IN SLUMP, DESPITE FIGURES
FIFTH PLENUM TO FOCUS ON ECONOMIC AND IDEOLOGY ISSUES
THREE JUNE DISSIDENTS ENTER TAIPEI
KEEP PLA OUT OF CENTRAL, SURVEY REVEALS
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[South China Morning Post, Sunday, October 22, 1989]
CHINA DENIES ECONOMY IN SLUMP, DESPITE FIGURES
China's Premier Li Peng has reassured his countrymen that the economy,
after showing its worst performance in over three years, is not headed for
a tailspin.
He also vowed once again that Western economic pressure, though an added
burden, would eventually be overcome.
"China's economy will not contract, despite what some Western economists
say," the People's Daily yesterday quoted Mr Li as saying.
"There are some Western nations that are pressuring us and applying
economic sanctions," he told Thai Vice-Premier Bhichai Rattakul during a
meeting in Beijing.
"But this will not have much impact. China has a great deal of ability to
resist pressure," he said, expressing his thanks for friendlier policies
adopted by Thailand.
Western nations have cut military co-operation and halted government
credits to China since a bloody army crackdown on a pro-democracy campaign
in June. Trade sanctions, however, have not been applied.
Mr Li, a communist hardliner who has actively promoted an economic
retrenchment policy started 13 months ago, made the remarks ahead of key
meeting of the party's central committee.
The plenum, delayed by factional disputes over economic policy is expected
to be held late this month or in early November and will focus on mapping
out economic strategy.
"At the moment, our economy faces problems - the rate of growth has fallen
and the market is soft," Mr Li said. "But this is because we are
rectifying our state enterprises and improving opportunities for providing
even more varieties of goods."
Western economists said that if China wanted to avoid a contraction, it
would have to expand credit that was cut drastically under the austerity
drive to hold once-rampaging inflation in check.
"They could avoid negative growth by pumping more cash into the system,"
said a Western economist.
"It is possible that is what they already have in mind," said another
foreign economist.
A spokesman for the State Statistical Bureau said on Friday that austerity
measures had brought inflation down markedly - to 13 per cent in September
from a first-half peak of more than 25 per cent.
But he added they had led to stockpiling of goods, capital shortages, loan
defaults and a 123 per cent surge in losses of state firms in the first
nine months.
Earlier Mr Zhang Yi, an agriculture official, said private businesses in
rural areas would be shut down immediately if they were found to be poorly
managed, and others could expect to see their public funds cut off.
But collectives would continue to receive government loans, Mr Zhang said.
Mr Zhang is the vice director of the township enterprises management
department of the Chinese Agriculture Ministry, which is responsible for
18.8 million rural enterprises.
The new offensive against the private sector aims at slowing "the pace of
rural industrial development," he said.
"Inefficient, mismanaged and money-losing enterprises which have been
squandering energy and raw materials are to be closed immediately," Mr
Zhang said, without saying what would happen to the millions of workers
they employ.
The private sector has been a main target of the new Communist Party
leadership's major political overhaul. Calling private businesses "a main
pillar" of China's rural and national economy along with the huge state
firms, Mr Zhang however assured that "the state will not do away with all
===========================================================================
FIFTH PLENUM TO FOCUS ON ECONOMIC AND IDEOLOGY ISSUES
Beijing: Tight secrecy enshrouds preparations for an upcoming meeting of
China's new ultra-conservative Communist Party, which is expected to codify
a policy of economic recentralisation and strict ideological control.
According to tradition, no date or location has been given for the party
plenum. the last plenum met behind closed doors on June 23 and 24, three
weeks after the army's brutal crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in
Beijing.
Government spokesman Yuan Mu has said the meeting will take place "at the
end of October or earlier". The fifth party plenum is expected to be
dominated by China's grave economic difficulties.
The country's top leaders, notably Premier Li Peng and new party chief
Jiang Zemin, have announced a nationwide economic retrenchment and the
pursuit, for at least three years, of an austerity program launched in
September last year.
The declared aim of the recentralisation policy is to cool and overheated
economy and rein in runaway inflation which stood at 25.5 percent for the
first half of this year.
It also targeted "bourgeois liberalisation", and its root cause,
capitalism, towards which China was steering dangerously close under the
reformist leadership of ousted party chief Zhao Ziyang according to his
more orthodox detractors.
Emphasis is now being placed on the virtues of collectivism, heavy state
planning, and attacking the exploitive" private sector - which seem to
completely contradict repeated assurances by Beijing that its economic
reform and open-door policies, launched by senior leader Deng Xiaoping a
decade ago, will continue.
The economy will dominate the meeting, but according to Western analysts
and diplomats, the top members of the 48-million-strong Communist Party
will also have to address China's numerous and unresolved political
questions, or else face paralysis.
The most pressing problem is the succession of 85-year-old Mr Deng, the
object of fierce behind-the-scenes political jockeying.
Mr Deng's replacement will inevitably by China's new strong-man, but there
are no indications that a new Chairman will be appointed during the fifth
plenum because of party instability and infighting, rekindled by the
Beijing Massacre.
The meeting will convene amid an ongoing witch-hunt on dissenters and
calls for a purge withing the party. But this has not prevented Beijing
from presenting the upcoming plenum as a sign of new-found unity.
The participants must resolve the nagging problem of Mr Zhao, ousted by
the fourth plenum for having "divided the party and encouraged the
counter-revolutionary rebellion".
The plenum will also gauge Mr Jiang's hold on power. described officially
as the "core of the third-generation collective leadership," he seems a
possible heir-apparent after the disgrace of his two predecessors.
[Agence France Press]
===========================================================================
THREE JUNE DISSIDENTS ENTER TAIPEI
Taipei: Three Chinese pro-democracy activists have arrived in Taipei, the
first group of mainlanders given refuge by Taiwan's Nationalist government
following the martial law crackdown in Beijing in June.
Tien Xinjan, Bai Xueh and Jing Jing, all believed to be pseudonyms, asked
members of the Taipei press not to reveal their real identities to protect
their families on the mainland.
All three said they were married, and had children.
At a news conference yesterday, they also avoided answering questions on
the channels they had used in fleeing China and obtaining visas to Taipei,
saying such disclosures would make it more difficult for others to leave.
The three said they were journalists and that they had flown to Taipei from
Europe last week.
But sources from the Free China Relief Association (FCRA) said the three
came from Hongkong, and that an other six pro-democracy mainlanders would
also arrive in Taipei "shortly".
The FCRA has been handling applications by Chinese who wish to live in
Taiwan to avoid persecution by Beijing for their participation in prod
-democracy activities either on the mainland or overseas.
"Students, intellectuals and workers have all examined the value of the
existence of communism and we decided it does not suit China any more," said
Mr Tien, who taught Russian at a Beijing language school.
the 43-year-old native of Henan Province in east-central China said he saw
tanks moving towards demonstrators in Tiananmen Square on June 4.
"We all feel so angry and sad about the crackdown," MR Tien said.
"The troops never thought people in Beijing could be so brave and Beijing
residents never imagined soldiers would open fire on them."
Mrs Jing, 27, a native of Beijing, declined to describe her role in the
Tiananmen demonstration, saying: "I would be immediately recognised if I do
so."
An art school graduate, she said she had worked as an art designer for
several magazines and television stations.
Mr Bai, 26, from central Zhejing Province, said he husband was arrested
following the June 4 crackdown because of her involvement in pro-democracy
activities.
These included organising protests and demonstrations for teachers and
students and attacking communist authorities in writing, the FCRA said.
Taiwan's Interior Ministry had issued entry visas to 10 mainland Chinese
who were active in pushing for democracy in China, a ministry official
said, adding that 96 applications had been received and most of them were
from people now taking shelter in Hongkong.
[Agency France Press]
===========================================================================
KEEP PLA OUT OF CENTRAL, SURVEY REVEALS
[By Dean Nelson]
Hongkong people are overwhelmingly opposed to a People's Liberation Army
base in Central, an opinion poll has found.
This result comes as Sino-British relations plumbed new depths after the
Government's unilateral decision to move the naval headquarters at HMS
Tamar to Stonecutters Island - a move seen by the Chinese as a British bid
to influence the site of the PLA's base in 1992.
The poll, carried out by Inrasia Pacific and commissioned exclusively by
the Sunday Morning Post found the vast majority of respondents favoured the
New Territories as the best site for the Chinese military headquarters.
Of the 622 people interviewed by telephone, 51 percent said the PLA should
be stationed outside the main commercial districts in the New Territories.
One in five said the bases should be stationed even further from the
beaten track, near the China-Hongkong border. More than a quarter of
respondents named specific border points for siting the bases, including
Lowu, and Shataukok.
Throughout the polling there was a strong NIMBY factor - Not In My Back
Yard - with 62 percent of Hongkong residents wanting the bases sited in the
New Territories, compared with 52 percent among Kowloon residents and only
43 percent among those living in the New Territories.
One in 10 New Territories residents said the abses should be sited in the
border towns.
Almost one in four of those polled favoured China following the
Government's decision to move the military headquarters to Stonecutters
Island.
In a separate poll, an overwhelming majority backed the Government's
decision to allow dissident mainland swimmer Yang Yang to flee the
territory to the United States.
More than 50 percent of those questioned said they approved the
Government's decision, while among voters, the figure was even higher at 60
percent.
And a large majority indicated the Government should do exactly the same
if another Yang Yang situation arose. This result comes as mainland
journalist Ma Chi is seeking asylum in Hongkong.
Thirty-nine percent said the Government should defy China and help
political refugees even if Beijing threatened sanctions against the
territory, while only 28 percent said asylum seekers should be returned to
the mainland.
The majority said they favoured helping refugees despite the mounting
illegal immigrant problem at the border.
However, a large minority - almost one-third of those questioned - said
Hongkong should lead the way out of the present crisis by assuring China
all cases similar to Yang Yang's in future would be returned to the
mainland.
===========================================================================
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Send time : 5:45 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
RUNAWAY CIVIL SERVANT SAYS HE RODE ON SECRET RAILWAY
TIBETAN RIOTERS 'TORTURED IN JAIL'
STUDENTS PANIC OVER VISA CHANGE
SZETO CHALLENGES MODERATES' SHIFT
BLCC PAIR FAILED THEIR DUTIES: LEE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[South China Morning Post, Monday, October 23, 1989]
RUNAWAY CIVIL SERVANT SAYS HE RODE ON SECRET RAILWAY
[From Nigel Rosser in London]
A former Chinese civil servant, who claims to be hiding in Hongkong after
fleeing the mainland, has told a British television crew that not only is
there a secret railway running beneath Beijing, but he has travelled on it.
He said the system was built over a period of about 40 years, to enable
senior leaders to escape from the Great Hall of the People to an army base
hollowed out of a mountain to the west of Beijing in the event of civil
unrest or invasion.
The former civil servant was interviewed by Britain's Granada TV's World
in Action from an undisclosed Causeway Bay address.
He claimed top leader Deng Xiaoping and senior members of his inner circle
had ordered the route to be built to enable the Government to flee to Xi
Shan mountain.
He revealed that the mountain base was equipped with hospitals, ammunition
dumps and communications systems.
The line begins at Chegongzhuang and has stations at the Government
compound at Zhongnanhai and under the Great Hall of the People.
From here it runs south to rejoin the public system at Qiamen and east as
far as Pingguoyuan, where another secret network takes the train to the
military base.
The civil servant also claimed there was another secret line linking the
Bank of China to station 12 of the public system.
This is intended to transport China's gold bullion re-services from the
capital in case of invasion.
He claimed that Chinese troops who suddenly emerged from the Great Hall of
the People station to smash the student rebellion in June had been using
the underground system.
Granada television secured the interview as part of its documentary The
Terror After Tiananmen, which includes rare footage taken inside China
since the rebellion.
TVB has already bought the Hongkong rights to the controversial film,
which shows interviews with dissidents who have fled underground, as well
as clandestine shots of police and military activity in China's capital.
In a series of astonishing interviews, filmed with hidden cameras, people
inside China reveal the full extent of the Government's crackdown on the
population.
Claims are made that since the imposition of martial law thousands have
been killed in police raids and executions.
Students travelling to Fujian and Hubei to spread the news of the massacre
have been unceremoniously killed by local police, some people claim.
One family was said to have been offered 4,000 pounds (HK$50,000) and
access to a new apartment, modern appliances and cheap televisions to keep
silent after their son was killed by mistake by the secret police.
Students have been particularly hard hit, the program claims.
They had been encouraged to report each other to the authorities and
classes have been decimated by the police crackdown.
One student tells how six of his classmates have disappeared since the
massacre. Only one he thinks has escaped to freedom.
Other students have succumbed to mental illness under the pressure brought
to bear on them; these, the young man claims, are simply tied to a bed and
injected with tranquillisers to keep them quiet.
Students have also been asked to give daily accounts of their movements
between April 15 and June 4 - corroborated by another person - and write
"self-revealing" essays, and statements saying what they think of
democracy.
As one interviewee concludes: "Why should we be afraid of death. If we
are not afraid to be alive, why should we be afraid of death?"
The world premiere of the Terror After Tiananmen, will be shown in Britain
by Granada tonight.
===========================================================================
TIBETAN RIOTERS 'TORTURED IN JAIL'
TIBETAN nationalists jailed for taking part in pro-independence rioting
and protests alleged yesterday that beatings and torture take place in
Chinese prisons, but a police spokesman categorically denied this.
Mr Wang Naiwen, spokesman for the Tibet Regional Public Security Bureau
in Lhasa, said: "We have strict rules and regulations. All prisoners
receive fair treatment. No one has been beaten or tortured. I am
absolutely sure of this."
Disclosing official figures for the first time, Mr Wang said more than
400 Tibetans had been arrested since three days of violent anti-Chinese
protest erupted last March in Lhasa.
Courts had tried and sentenced 63 people and about 20 nuns had been sent
to labour camps without trial for up to three years, he said. About 320
people had been released and four or five were awaiting trial he added.
Nobody had been executed or jailed for life since September 1987, when
the recent wave of pro-independence protests began Mr Wang said.
He also denied unconfirmed accounts by Tibetans that many people had
died through injuries received in prison.
But three Tibetans interviewed privately claimed prison conditions were
deplorable and that guards routinely beat inmates and sometimes used
torture.
The three requested their names not be disclosed for fear of reprisal.
Two bore vicious scars they said were inflicted in prison. It was
impossible to independently verify their accounts.
Regional government officials said no foreigner had been allowed to
visit Tibet's prisons nor would they be.
One of the three nationalists, revealing his scar, said: "They tortured
me with a two-headed electric prong to try and extract the names of
people who led the protests."
When he was arrested, he said, his arm was tied behind his back by the
thumb for three days.
A small cell in Tibet No 1 prison held from five to 10 people, had no
windows and was cold in winter, he said.
He estimated there were more than 1,000 Tibetans jailed in Lhasa's three
main prisons. A Tibetan source in the Public Security Bureau,
interviewed separately also put the figure at more than 1,000.
Among those arrested since March were two university students, a man and
a woman who put up posters calling for Tibetan independence, a Tibetan
source said.
The woman had been beaten and crippled and was now in hospital, the
source said, quoting her relatives.
Tibet University president Ciwang Junmei confirmed that two students had
been arrested. The man was expelled and sent home, while the woman whom
he named as Gong La was sent to a labour education camp for three
years. The president said he knew nothing of the alleged beatings.
Western human rights organisations have criticised China for alleged
abuses in Tibetan prisons but the central government in Beijing ahs
always denied this and rejected accusations as interference in its
internal affairs.
The police spokesman described the situation in Lhasa after more than
seven months of martial law as basically stable.
Asked whether the police force could handle the situation if the
People's Liberation Army withdrew its troops, Mr Wang answered probably
not.
He said the most recent pro-independence protest was by a small group of
nuns on October 14. They were arrested and sent to labour education,
China's description of forced labour combined with indoctrination.
Mr Wang said that, under Chinese law, people could be sent for labour
education without trial through a decision-making process involving the
police, the civil administration bureau and the labour reform
committee.
Labour education was used for less serious offences, he said. Inmates
were allowed monthly visits by relatives and some could return home for
festivals.
A relative of one of the nuns, a teenager, said conditions in the camps
near Lhasa were bad but bearable.
Mr Wang said the overwhelming majority of people in Lhasa, a city of
120,000, welcomed martial law and the stability it brought.
"A very, very small number of people want an independent Tibet. They
know independence is impossible. For a long time Tibet has been part of
China - people know this," he said.
China claims to have held sovereignty over Tibet for more than seven
centuries but this is disputed by the Tibetan government-in-exile in
northern India, led by the spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.
[Reuter]
===========================================================================
STUDENTS PANIC OVER VISA CHANGE
[From Uli Schmetzer]
For the past 10 days, a mob of Chinese students has gathered every
morning outside the Australian Consulate in Shanghai. From time to time
the crowd has chanted "Cheats! Liars! Thieves!" at the solid iron gates.
The students are angry because they know time is running out on
opportunities for them to leave for places such as Australia, Western
Europe and the United States.
A government document circulated recently advocated that students work
seven years at a job in China before they are allowed to take
postgraduate courses abroad.
Worse, students may soon be asked to take a special loyality test to
determine if they are likely to return home. About 70,000 Chinese
scholars have remained in the United States over the past decade.
If implemented, the guideline would further curtail overseas study.
Already, China's new hard-line leaders have put a limit on the number of
students allowed to go to the West.
When China began to liberalise its policies in the late 1970s, students
flocked to American graduate schools. Among them were the children of
all three Communist Party leaders of the 1980s: the late Hu Yao-bang,
the ousted Zhao Ziyang and the current chief, Jiang Zemin. Even the
children of China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping studied at
universities in the United States.
Parents employ guanxi (connections) and "presents" to obtain official
approval for their children to study abroad. They pool family resources
to pay for the tuition fees, the air fare and the bribes.
But the diplomats behind the consulate gates in Shanghai are also
victims of a brazen visa scam by foreign language colleges that take
advantage of the predicament of Chinese students.
In the dusk of a rainy day last week, two Chinese girls stood among the
hostile crowd outside the Australian consulate. Both complained they
had paid a US$5,000 (HK$39,000) tuition last December for a six-month
course at a language college in Australia. Their visas had not come
through, they said, despite the promise that once the college accepted a
student, the visa would follow automatically.
One of the girls, Ms Weng Chen, whose English is already quite fluent,
said:"We can still hope. Most of the people here are angry because they
had their study applications rejected after sending the money to
Australia but have not been reimbursed."
Since the army crackdown on the student movement in June and the
subsequent repression of liberal ideas, Western embassies have been
besieged by long queues of visa applicants who claim they want to study
abroad, but in reality have no intention of returning to the harsh life
of their homeland.
The bottled-up frustrations of tens of thousands of Chinese students
waiting months, some a year, for visas turned into angry protests two
weeks ago when an angry crowd manhandled an Australian consular official
and laid siege to the consulate.
The mob trapped diplomats in the consulate for three days, banged and
kicked cars and ripped out windshield wipers. Finally police armed with
clubs pushed back the crowd.
Some Western diplomats conceded the anger of applicants is often
justified because many countries do not reply to visa requests for
months, a tough wait for Chinese who forfeir their jobs and social
security once they have applied to go abroad.
[Chicago Tribune]
===========================================================================
SZETO CHALLENGES MODERATES' SHIFT
[By S.Y.Wai]
Liberal lawmaker Szeto Wah yesterday publicly questioned the moderates
over their change instance towards the 4-4-2 compromise political
blueprint.
He said most parts of the model had originated from the moderate camp
during last year's consultation exercise on the first draft of the Basic
Law.
At the third anniversary celebration of the Hongkong Association for
Democracy and People's Livelihood, Mr Szeto said the political back ground
of the moderate groups might have contributed to their sudden change of
stance.
"This exposes the political affiliations and intentions of those who have
been claiming that they are moderates," he said, hinting at their pro-China
affiliations.
Despite the dramatic twist, Mr Szeto said the 4-4-2 model might still have
enough backing from various political forces to represent a consensus of
Hongkong people.
The 4-4-2 package states that 40 percent of the first post-1997
legislature be directly elected with another 40 percent to be chosen by
functional constituencies and the remaining 20 percent through a grand
electoral college.
The liberal activists, the Group of 89 professional and businessmen lobby
and the seven-group moderate camp agreed to the blueprint earlier this
month after weeks of negotiation.
But the moderates last week proposed slowing down the pace of change as
outlined in the package, because China had indicated it was too radical.
Meanwhile, the Association for Democracy and People's Livelihood will
speed up its preparation for forming a fully-fledged liberal political
party.
The association, one of the three major groups in the liberal camp, will
hold a general meeting within the next two months to discuss the move.
It has been negotiating with Meeting Point and the Hongkong Affairs
Society about joining forces to form a liberal political party.
Chairman Federick Fung Kin-kee said a forum would also be held to gauge
the views of its members holding public offices towards the impact of
having political parties in Hongkong.
"We have among our ranks one Legislative Councillor, two Urban
Councillors, three Regional Councillors and 30 district board members.
"Such a forum will be necessary to find out what having political parties
will mean to Hongkong, to our association and to the grassroots," he said.
Mr Fung said he believed Hongkong would see a number of political parties
formed in the near future.
"But they would be reduced to two or three major parties in due course.
This is a necessary process for Hongkong to move towards democracy.
"Only when two or three major political parties emerge can Hongkong be
regarded as politically mature.
===========================================================================
BLCC PAIR FAILED THEIR DUTIES: LEE
[By Caitlin Wong]
Legislative councillor Martin Lee Chu-ming yesterday criticised two
leaders of the basic Law Consultative Committee (BLCC) for failing in their
duties by engaging in political activities.
While criticising the BLCC for not being representative enough, Mr Lee
said he was particularly disappointed with the performances of BLCC
secretary general Leung Chun-ying, and one of its vice-chairmen, Mr Lo
Tak-Shing.
Mr Lee said the two leaders should not have taken part in any formulation
of political models for post-1997 Hongkong, accusing them of trying to
force their views "down Hongkong people's views and submitting them to the
Basic Law Drafting committee as they ate enjoined to do by the
constitution, they have repeatedly sought to force their opinion on the
people of Hongkong, first by introducing the proposal of the Group of 89,:
Mr Lee said.
"And now, towards the end of the Basic Law consultation period, they are
trying to push forward this 'one legislature, two councils' proposal and
make Hongkong people swallow it.
"They shouldn't be doing these things. They should be listening instead of
telling people what they should do. So I'm afraid they have sadly failed in
their duties."
That the bicameral model was forwarded when the final consultation was
drawing to a close posed the question that the idea had come from China, Mr
Lee added.
He said if the present Basic Law draft was not substantially amended, it
would not be acceptable to the majority of Hongkong people.
Mr Lee also warned that China's present hare-line tactics towards
Hongkong would only spur more people into leaving the territory.
He defended the Hongkong Government for its handling of the Yang Yang
case.
"According to my understanding, existing law has it that people
overstaying on their visas have to go, but it doesn't matter where they go
as long as they leave Hongkong," Mr Lee said.
"So in the case of visitors from China, the Hongkong Government does not
necessarily have to turn them back. And if a third country offers to take
in a certain person, the Hongkong Government just can't ignore it.
"It just can't afford to breach the human rights of this person when the
world is watching.
"The people of Hongkong are not frightened of their future. They're
frightened of the Chinese Government . So people are goring away and that
cannot be in Hongkong's interest.
"I hope the Chinese leaders will recognise this fact and change its new
policy towards Hongkong by going back to its original policy of trusting
the people of Hongkong, and giving them confidence and a high degree of
autonomy," he said.
On the liberals' progress in establishing a political party, Mr Lee said
he hoped it would come into being as soon as possible.
Mr Lee also explained his decision not to join another political party
being formed by fellow legislator Jimmy McGregor.
"According to my original understanding, it would draw support from
professionals and businessmen and finance pro-democracy groups or parties,"
Mr Lee said.
"Latter it was made known to me that the foundation could evolve into a
political party and thus i decided not to join it because of my involvement
with the liberal camp's preparations for their own political party," he
said.
===========================================================================
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Send time : 5:30 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
hkucs!kwc...@uunet.uu.net
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NCNA TO `WATCH' FIRMS FOR BEIJING
NCNA OFFICER RETURNS AFTER ASYLUM BID
CHINA ENDS BORDER ROW ON ILLEGALS
DAILY CRITICISES HEAD OF NOBEL PRIZE COMMITTEE
OPTIMISM OVER AGREEMENT ON POST-1997 MODEL
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[South China Morning Post, Tuesday, October 24, 1989]
NCNA TO `WATCH' FIRMS FOR BEIJING
[By Lulu Yu]
Beijing has set up a special watchdog within the New China News Agency
(NCNA) to ensure China-backed companies in Hongkong do not deviate from the
Communist Party line.
The move is part of the Chinese Government's drive to clamp down on what
they consider to be "subversive activities" in the aftermath of events in
Tiananmen Square.
It coincides with the appointment of a senior Beijing official, Mr Pan
Zengxi, as vice-director of the NCNA, China's de facto mission in Hongkong.
It is believed that the 60-year-old Mr Pan, who was Vice-Minister of the
Central Government's Ministry of Transport and Communications until last
year, will play a key role.
His portfolio includes economic affairs, currently the main responsibility
of NCNA's most senior vice-director, Mr Zheng Hua.
Other vice-directors under the leadership of Mr Xu Jiatun are Mr Qiao
Zong-huai, Mr Zhang Junsheng, Mr Mao Junnian and Mr She Mengxiao.
Little is known about Mr Pan, who is currently on an official trip to
Beijing with Mr Zheng Hua, although he has been here for a year.
His appointment is expected to be announced within a few days.
Chinese sources said that with the establishment of the watchdog, Beijing
would be better able to keep track of the activities of leftist firms,
organisations and even individuals.
A number of China-funded companies such as the controversial Wen Wei Po
newspaper, are known to have adopted an anti-government stance in support
of dissidents in the wake of the June 4 crackdown.
Others are believed to be on the side of liberal political groups which
championed democratic reforms disliked by China.
In an environment where the community is increasingly split between the
liberal and the pro-China conservative camps, Beijing wants to ensure that
all its representatives in the territory are sympathetic towards official
Chinese policies.
One method of whipping companies into line is by controlling their purse
strings through the NCNA watchdog. More than 2,000 companies here will be
under surveillance.
===========================================================================
NCNA OFFICER RETURNS AFTER ASYLUM BID
[By David Chen]
Xu Haining, the maverick former researcher of the New China News Agency's
(NCNA) Hongkong branch who demonstrated for the pro-democracy movement and
later sought asylum in Britain, has returned to his home-town of Hangzhou,
as an officer in a research institute.
Chinese sources said at one time it was being considered whether to send
Mr Xu back to Hongkong to work, but it was decided he would do better being
with his mother who also worked in Hangzhou.
Mr Xu, 27, came into prominence briefly in May when he and other NCNA
members demonstrated outside the news agency headquarters in Queen's Road
East in sympathy for the pro-democracy movement in Beijing.
Later he disappeared, and in an open letter said he had formed a movement
with more than 170 signatures from the local NCNA staff. He then
approached several consulates in search of political asylum.
Two months ago, he quietly flew to London with the British making all the
arrangements.
There he would have faded from the public eye - but for two
considerations. After "debriefing" Mr Xu, the British found he had little
to offer them as he was only a junior official who knew little of what was
going on in China or in Hongkong.
He was put up in a refugee camp where he led a meagre existence with few
friends to talk to.
Then he came across a newspaper report saying that his chief, Mr Xu
Jiatun, Hongkong director of the NCNA, had promised that those wayward
dissidents, including the young researcher, would not be punished.
Regretting that he had made the move to Britain, Mr Xu approached Chinese
Embassy in London.
Embassy officials were taken aback and had to seek instructions from
Beijing, so Mr Xu was told to return in a few days.
But he did not do so, as the British had by then discovered his move.
He was put up in a safe house, but later returned to the Chinese Embassy.
This time the embassy staff refused to let him go.
On the day of his departure he met an impartial observer confirming he
wanted to go back home.
He returned and after a period of rest, went back to work.
Meanwhile sources have said that Chai Ling, the girl who was a leader of
the hunger strike at the height of the Tiananmen Square movement and now
wanted for counter-revolutionary activities, is still in hiding somewhere
in China.
The source indicated she might be at an embassy, taking refuge like
dissident astrophysicist Professor Fang Lizhi and his wife, Ms Li Shuxian.
Other sources have said Wan Dan, the Beijing University student leader who
was foremost in the democracy movement together with Wu'erkaixi, might soon
appear on television to tell his story, in the same way as four other
hunger-strikers, including the famous Taiwan composer Hou Dejian, had done
about a month ago.
There have also been allegations that Mr Wang's background was not as
straightforward as it had appeared during the spring protests. Sources said
MR Wang might have other connections which would put him in a more
favourable position to give information to the Government.
In the retreat from Tiananmen Square on that fateful morning of June 4,
the students lost contact with him. He did not surface until two months
later when he appealed to a Taipei reporter, Huang Tei-pei, who had
returned to Beijing only a day earlier seek help for his escape.
The escape bid was foiled and Mr Wang was said to have fallen into the
hands of the public security.
An analyst said: "The sequence of incidents is far too coincidental and we
need more information to reassess Wang's role in the student movement."
===========================================================================
CHINA ENDS BORDER ROW ON ILLEGALS
[By Fanny Wong]
China has agreed to resume taking back illegal immigrants from today,
signalling an easing of tension with the Hongkong Government.
It is understood repatriation, suspended 16 days ago, would begin again
without either side granting any special or additional commitment.
"This means that we are back to normal relations," a Hongkong Government
spokesman said. "The war of words is over."
The number of illegal immigrants to be sent back today will be finalised
this morning when Hongkong and Chinese officials meet.
Hongkong is hopeful that all of the 1,098 returnees who have been caught
since the normal repatriation program was suspended on October 8, will be
sent across the border at Man Kam To by the end of the week.
China stopped accepting illegal immigrants caught sneaking into Hongkong
in retaliation for the Hongkong Government's decision to allow Chinese
swimmer Yang Yang to go to the United States after overstaying his visa.
it is understood Hongkong has not given China any undertaking about future
asylum-seekers and China has not ruled out the pend repatriation again in
future.
Announcing an end to the deadlock, the Hongkong Government and the
Hongkong branch of the New China News Agency(NCNA). China's de facto
embassy here, yesterday both issued an identical statement.
It said: "After discussions between the Hongkong Government and the
Xinhua(New China) News Agency, Hongkong branch, the two sides have reached
agreement to re-start the repatriation of illegal immigrants on
October 24".
"The two sides re-affirmed their understandings of 1974, 1980and 1982 on
illegal immigrants and two way permit holders and their determination to
fulfil their commitments under these understandings."
The announcement coincides withe the ninth anniversary of the abolition of
the "touch-base" policy, after which illegal immigrants were automatically
sent back.
After October 24, 1980, no illegal immigrant from China was to be allowed
to remain in Hongkong.
Those already here were given three days to refister for an identity card
and new measures were taken to deter others from coming.
Two weeks of talks on the repatriation problem between Political Adviser
William Ehrman, and the head of the NCNA Foreign Affairs Department, Mr
Ji Shaoxiang, ended yesterday morning and required the approval of Beijing,
a source said.
It is understood China has not built any new demands into its agreement
to accept illegals again.
This is despite fears that China was pressing the Hongkong Government for
guarantees that there would be no more Yang Yang incidents before it would
resume repatriation.
According to the 1974 and 1980 understandings, all illegal immigrants are,
in principle, to return to China. The same rule applies to two-way permit
holders.
However, it is understood the two understandings on illegal immigrants
reached in 1974 and 1980 and the 1982 understanding on two-way permit
holders all allowed for exceptions which will continue to apply.
China was well-aware of the provision for exceptions which will continue
to apply.
China was well-aware of the provision for exceptions and agreed to
re-affirm the understandings, a source said.
A Chinese source explained Beijing did not wish to drag out the issue
because it felt that Hongkong had been taught " a lesson" and Hongkong
officials had shown sincerity in soloving the problem.
"Beijing wanted to teach Hongkong a lesson, and that has now been
achieved," the source said.
British sources, however, interpreted the "exercise" as not being aimed
only at the Hongkong Government.
"I think it may not necessarily be aimed ta just the Government, but at
Hongkong people, warning them that china can do whatever it wants," a
source said.
That view was echoed by Mr Joseph Cheng, political commentator and Dean of
the School of Humanities and Arts, Open Learning Institute.
"China has demonstrated that it's willing to impose punishment on Hongkong
if the actions on the part of the community damages face and damages its
own interest," he said.
"While the Chinese government doesn't want to hurt Hongkong's stability
and prosperity, it's willing to go far enough to achieve the effect it
wants. It was never meant to be a long-term policy not to take back the
illegal immigrants."
In the 24 hours up to 5 am yesterday morning, 98 Chinese illegal
immigrants were caught, bringing the total of arrests since China suspended
repatriation to 1,098.
This is double the daily arrival rate since the program was suspended.
Mainland officials in Hongkong were in contact with their Shenzhen
counterparts yesterday working out detailed arrangements for repatriation.
Assistant Secretary for Security Trevor keen said Hongkong immigration
officials and their Chinese counterparts here would finalise details of the
program, including the number of the first batch of returnees, this
morning.
Local Legislative Councillors were delighted at the settlement of the
illegal immigrants dispute.
Mr Martin Lee Chu-ming said: "I hope this is the beginning of a new policy
from China which is to take into account the anxieties and fears of people
of Hongkong and restore the confidence here."
Fellow councillor, Mrs Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, said she hoped the spirit as
indicated in the settlement of the dispute would prevail in future
diplomatic discussions.
===========================================================================
DAILY CRITICISES HEAD OF NOBEL PRIZE COMMITTEE
China yesterday launched a bitter personal attack on the head of the Nobel
prize committee, accusing him of supporting Tibetan separatists and
tarnishing Beijing's reputation.
The official People's Daily said Mr Egil Aarvik had outrageously likened
China's response to the granting of the Nobel Peace Prize to the Dalai
Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, to Adolf Hitler's protest against
the decision to give the award to a German journalist in 1935.
In a commentary headlined "Aarvik's Absurd Logic", the newspaper said:
"The Chinese people believe the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to the
Dalai Lama is an unfriendly act.
"The committee under Aarvik's leadership had given support to the Dalai
Lama who want to split the motherland and dreams of restoring feudalism to
Tibet.
"Instead of showing regret fro the serious impact of this erroneous
decision, Aarvik has flown into a rage and made vicious attacks on China.
His attitude had been crude and unreasonable."
China has formally protested to Norway over the decision to award the
prize to the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leader who fled Tibet after
an abortive uprising in 1959.
Norwegian state television has reported that Beijing threatened to break
all economic ties with Norway if a government representative or King Olav
attend the award ceremony for the Dalai Lama in December.
"Even more intolerable is that in order to smear and distort China's image
Aarvik absurdly compared China's criticism of the granting of the prize to
the Dalai Lama to Hitler's opposition to the award of the prize to a German
journalist in 1935," the newspaper.
Mr Aarvik said last week that Beijing's response mirrored that of Hitler
when Carl von Ossietzky won the award in 1935. Hitler barred the
journalist, then an inmate in a concentration camp, from collecting his
prize.
Meanwhile, the Dalai Lama said yesterday that he would remain "a simple
Buddhist monk" despite winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
But he said the award would heighten world awareness of Tibet's struggle
against Chinese rule.
"I will not be a different person," the Tibetan spiritual and temporal
leader said at his first public address since returning to his exile home
in Dharamsala after winning the prize.
He told a crowd of 4,000 Tibetans celebrating the 29th anniversary of the
Tibetan Children's Village that the Nobel prize would make the Tibetan
cause better known.
[Reuter and Associated Press]
===========================================================================
OPTIMISM OVER AGREEMENT ON POST-1997 MODEL
[By Chris Yeung]
A leading advocate of the compromise post-1997 political model, Mr Vincent
Lo Hong-sui, is still optimistic that differences between conservatives,
liberals and moderates over the package will be settled when the three
groups meet tomorrow or Thursday.
Mr Lo said last night that the Group of 89 "will stick to the 4-4-2 model
as a basis for negotiation" for a compromise model.
However, there is a strong likelihood that the final round of talks in the
period set down for consultations over the Basic Law will break down
following moves of the moderates to slow down the pace of democratic
reforms as outlined in the "4-4-2" model.
The moderates will meet again tonight to consider whether to insist on a
slower pace.
Mr Lo warned that time was running out. "Hongkong people should
demonstrate that they they are politically mature enough to settle
differences on their own. A compromise will help promote unity among
different sectors".
He said the present strained ties between Hongkong and China would also be
eased if a locally-supported proposal is endorsed by Basic Law drafters.
"It's natural that some counter proposals were raised for consideration
during negotiation," Mr Lo said.
"They (the moderates) have put forward some ideas during the last meeting.
They did not insist. It's not final," he said.
Mr Lo's conciliatory remarks - convenor of the Group of 89 businessmen and
professionals - were made after liberals, Mr Martin Lee Chu-ming and Mr
Szeto Wah, openly claimed that the moderates might have backed off because
of pressure from China.
"Mr Lee might be over-reacting. The most important thing is what comes out
at the end of the talks. I'm not so pessimistic," Mr Lo said.
The "4-4-2" package provides 40 per cent of the first post-1997
legislature to be directly elected with another 40 per cent to be elected
by functional groups.
The remaining 20 per cent should be chosen through a grand electoral
college.
But moderates last week proposed cutting down the number of directly
elected seats in the first and second legislature because China has
indicated it was too radical.
A negotiating team member said the moderates "should know very well that
the liberals are unable to make further concessions".
"There's just one week to go. What we can do is to try our best to have a
model fully agreed upon by the three sides."
Another said some moderates were convinced that there was still " a ray of
hope" for a compromise model to be accepted by China if it is modified.
"They do not believe that China is firmly in support of the bicameral
model."
===========================================================================
HSI SERVICES LTD : HANG SENG INDEX AT: 11:44
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PREVIOUS AM INDEX PM INDEX
24/10/89 CLOSE 11:30 :
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HANG SENG INDEX 2732.17 2737.43 .
CHANGE + 5.26 .
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Send time : 4:30 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
hkucs!kwc...@uunet.uu.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
IMPRISONED STUDENT WANG SAYS 'KEEP UP THE EFFORT'
EAST BLOC EVENTS ALARM BEIJING
NCNA ALLEGES `SECRET PLEDGES'
JOURNALIST RETURNED TO CHINA
COMMONWEALTH WILL HELP HK, IF ASKED
FEW SUBMIT OPINIONS ON DRAFT LAW
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[South China Morning Post, Wednesday, October 25, 1989]
IMPRISONED STUDENT WANG SAYS 'KEEP UP THE EFFORT'
ONE of the top Chinese student leaders of the crushed democracy
movement, Wang Dan, has sent a friend a postcard from prison saying:
"Keep up the effort."
Sources from Beijing University where Wang studied, said he asked the
friend to bring soap, winter clothes, a quilt, food and plastic
utensils to the prison in Chang Ping county, north of Beijing.
The sources, who spoke on the condition they not be identified, did
not receive the postcard but said they knew the student who did.
"They talk to me every day," the sources quoted Wang as writing. They
said Wang underlined the word "talk", and interpreted it to mean he
was questioned daily by authorities.
Wang, a slightly built, 20-year-old history student, with a shock of
hair that often fell in his eyes, was one of the best-known figures of
the seven-week student-led demonstrations for a freer society.
He often could be seen with a megaphone at the head of demonstrations
and rallies on Tiananmen Square and was one of a small council of
student leaders who discussed protest strategy.
After the army crushed the protest on June 4, Wang's name headed a
government most-wanted list of 21 students.
He was arrested on July 2 after meeting a Taiwanese reporter to ask
for help in fleeing from China.
The university sources said school officials agreed to allow the
friend and three other history students to deliver the items to Wang's
prison on October 13.
The four were not allowed to see Wang, but were told by prison guards
that he shared a cell with at least 20 other prisoners, was given two
meals a day and was allowed to walk in the prison yard several times
daily.
The guards were also quoted as saying that it was likely Wang would be
moved soon to another place to await trial. He has been accused of
counter-revolutionary activities and could face execution.
China has already executed at least 12 protesters since it used the
army to crush the demonstrations in Beijing. The 12 were workers and
peasants who supported the students' protests.
The Government has refused to say how many students have been jailed
or comment on their fate.
The students who went to Chang Ping reported meeting a second group of
students visiting the prison the same day taking supplies for Zheng
Xuguang, a student leader from the Beijing College of Aeronautics who
was also on the wanted list.
People arrested in China do not have the right to communicate with
relatives or friends until they have been sentenced and placed in a
labour reform program in jail.
By allowing Wang and Zheng to ask friends to send supplies, the
Government appeared to be trying to show some leniency.
Sources say all 21 of the students on the wanted list have been
arrested except for two who fled abroad - Wu'erkaixi and Li Lu.
However, authorities have confirmed the arrests of only eight.
Arrest warrants have also been issued for other students and older
intellectuals.
[Associated Press]
===========================================================================
EAST BLOC EVENTS ALARM BEIJING
China is deeply concerned about events in Eastern Europe, Prime Minister
Li Peng was quoted as saying yesterday, expressing for the first time in
public Beijing's misgivings over reforms and unrest threatening communism
there.
Mr Li, a hard-liner instrumental in crushing China's democracy movement
in June, told a visiting Yugoslav official that reforms meant "perfecting
the socialist system", implying they should not be used to dump communism -
as Poland and Hungary have done in recent weeks.
"As a socialist country, China is of course deeply concerned about events
in some East European countries," he said, quoted by the communist partly
newspaper People's Daily.
But he added, in meeting Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Zivko Pregl, each
country should decide for itself "how to proceed along the socialist path".
He did not name any country and Mr Pregl's reply was not published.
China's state-run media has devoted little space and time to events
sweeping Eastern Europe, with coverage limited to brief reports and no
direct comments.
Foreign diplomats in Beijing said Mr Li's remarks revealed concern that
while China was reverting to orthodox communist policies after a save of
unrest swept the country last spring, Poland and Hungary had moved in the
opposite direction with East Germany under popular pressure to follow.
Diplomats said Beijing feared that events in Eastern Europe, perhaps
partly influenced by China's own democracy movement, could rekindle unrest
among the 1.1 billion Chinese.
"The Chinese authorities are worried, and so they should be," one Western
diplomat commented.
East European sources said the Chinese Communist Party was circulating
internal documents saying Hungary-once a model of reform for china - was
no longer a socialist country. Instead the documents denounced stead the
documents denounced Budapest as "bourgeois liberal".
Since student protests were crushed by the army in Beijing in June, an
unmarked police car has been parked close to the Hungarian embassy,
apparently to stop any would-be defectors, an East European diplomat said.
Developments in Eastern Europe have captured the imagination of many young
Chinese whose own hopes of political change have been dashed by the current
crackdown.
Even in remote Tibet, nationalists who took part in pro-independence
protests n the regional capital Lhasa in March were asking recent foreign
visitors for the latest news about East Germany and its mass exodus of
citizens to the West.
East European sources said that despite its concerns, China had turned down
a recent proposal by Rumanian President Nicolae Ceausescu that a summit of
communist leaders be help to sort out problems in East Europe and chart a
communist future.
The sources said they believed Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had
also opposed the idea.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman denied that Rumania had proposed
such a summit.
With his own brand of orthodox communism, Mr Ceausescu is one of the few
East European leaders China can still count on for support in its
hardening ideological battle against what Beijing denounces as Western
subversion.
The People's Daily also published attacks by the Bulgarian and North Korean
communist party newspapers on what they called attempts by the West to
subvert communism.
[Reuter]
===========================================================================
NCNA ALLEGES `SECRET PLEDGES'
[By Fanny Wong]
A fresh row has broken out between China and Hongkong, with the New China
News Agency (NCNA) accusing the territory Government of concealing new
undertakings reached in the agreement to resume the repatriation of illegal
immigrants to the mainland.
The NCNA, China's de facto embassy here, yesterday claimed that the
Hongkong Government had apologised to the Chinese Government over the
consequences of the Yang Yang case and given written undertakings before the
deal was truck.
Responding to the NCNA allegations, the Hongkong Government issued a
statement clarifying its position, but made no reference to any written
under-taking to China or any apologies.
It is understood the Government does not see this week's developments as a
climbdown. Its view is that China has resumed taking back illegal
immigrants for its own internal reasons.
Earlier, at a rare press conference, Mr Zhang Jun-sheng, NCNA
vice-director in charge of publicity, also declined to make public the
contents of the written undertaking.
"We won't go into detail," he said.
Reading from a prepared statement, the NCNA deputy head of the Propaganda
Department, Mr Sun Nan-sheng, accused the Hongkong Government of trying to
give the impression that it had given "no new undertaking during the
negotiations over the issue".
He said:"The fact is that during contacts between the two sides in the
past two weeks, the Hongkong Government has time and again apologised to
us about the consequences of the Yang Yang case, and at the same time
reaffirmed that the Hongkong Government had no intention to turn Hongkong
into a base for subverting the PRC (People's Republic of China)."
"Examples have also been cited to indicate measures the Government has
taken to restrain the anti-PRC subversive activities."
Based on the sincerity of co-operation and the commitment made by the
Hongkong Government on the above issues, the NCNA agreed to resume the
repatriation of illegal immigrants yesterday.
Late yesterday the Hongkong Government issued a statement in response to
the NCNA allegations.
A Government spokesman reiterated that Hongkong had no intention allowing
the territory to be used as a base for subversive activities against China.
"The NCNA were also told that the law applies equally to all and that no
group would be given more tolerance that the law allows."
The spokesman also said that in the course of discussions "the Hongkong
Government expressed regret to the NCNA if any embarrassment had been
caused to them as a consequence of their putting out their statement on
Yang Yang".
The spokesman stopped short of commenting on any written commitment made
to the Chinese.
It was claimed at the NCNA press conference by a reporter that the written
commitment contained four points.
These included a guarantee by the Hongkong Government not to allow the
territory to be used as a base for anti-communist activities, the Alliance
in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China be disbanded, the
handing over of more than 10 mainland dissidents to China, and the control
of local media opinion.
However, Mr Zhang neither confirmed nor denied the substance of the
undertakings, saying that he was not prepared to disclose the details.
Mr Sun accused that Hongkong Government of being irresponsible and
distorting the truth in concealing the existence of the written
undertaking.
He said NCNA officials had contacted their Hongkong counterparts three
times on Monday night to ask them to clarify that point.
But the effort proved to be futile, he added.
Mr Zhang said he was putting across the Chinese position to avoid any
confusion.
The row emerged as the first batch of 150 mainland illegal immigrants were
returned to China via the Man Kam TO border.
Until yesterday morning 1,028 illegal immigrants were awaiting
repatriation in detention centres and were expected to be returned within a
week.
A Government spokesman said the number of people repatriated yesterday was
higher than the average of about 100.
The repatriation program was suspended by China on October 8 in
retaliation for allowing mainland swimmer Yang Yang to flee to the United
States.
The Governor, Sir David Wilson, yesterday declined to be drawn into the
new dispute.
Speaking after the weekly Executive Council meeting, Sir David said the
resumption of the repatriation program was what both sides had worked for
in the past two weeks.
"It is a good thing," Sir David said, but declined to answer questions on
the row.
Referring to the Yang Yang case, Mr Zhang said that Britain had told them
it was under pressure form the United States to allow the swimmer to go.
"The British side explained to us the reason they sent Yang Yang away was
due to pressure from the US State Department and the US Congress," Mr Zhang
said.
But an American Consulate spokesman said: "As far as we are aware, there
was no pressure from the United States Government or anyone else in dealing
with the Yang Yang application."
"It was a regular visa application, and we reviewed it, based on the
application and supporting material, and issued a visitor's visa."
Mr Zhang said the Yang Yang case was not incidental, but was a result of
the policy taken by Britain.
"The Chinese side hopes that similar incidents will not happen again," he
said.
Mr Zhang said the Yang Yang case could have been a simple mater of dealing
with a two-way permit holder who overstayed his visit. But it had been
turned into a political issue.
According to Hongkong officials, the 1974, 1980 understandings on illegal
immigrants and the 1982 understanding on two-way permit holders all allow
for exceptions.
The officials maintained that under the immigration Ordinance the
authorities have the discretion to send overstayers to a third country.
The Professor of Law at the University of Hongkong, Mr Peter Wesley-Smith,
said the understandings did not bind the Hongkong Government.
The discretion lies with the immigration authorities and if the policy as
stated in the understandings were to be accepted, it had to be incorporated
in the immigration laws, he said.
===========================================================================
JOURNALIST RETURNED TO CHINA
Mainland journalist Ma Chi, whos request for political asylum was turned
down by both Hongkong and France, returned to China last Saturday, two days
before her visitor's visa was due to expire, it was learned yesterday.
Ms Ma, who claimed to have been persecuted in China, attempted to commit
suicide after her request for asylum was rejected by the Hongkong
Government.
She then sought help from the French Consulate, which also turned down her
plea for political asylum.
Ms Ma, 40, was supposed to contact the Immigration Department on Monday
when her week-long visa was due to expire, but she left the territory on
her own accord at the weekend.
===========================================================================
COMMONWEALTH WILL HELP HK, IF ASKED
[From Simon Macklin in Kuala Lumpur]
It is up to the people of Hongkong to tell the international community
what should be done to support the territory and boost confidence,
Commonwealth Government leaders said yesterday at the end of their
eight-day summit.
Conference chairman, Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir
Mohamad, said that because of uncertainty about Hongkong's future it had
been accepted that steps be taken to help.
He said countries such as Singapore and Australia had indicated that
they might be able to assist some people in the territory to emigrate, but
he added that further action was required.
"If there is anyway we can increase confidence in Hongkong we will do
so. We would like to take advice from Hongkong," Dr Mahathir said.
It was not the place of foreign governments to try to stop people from
leaving the territory if they chose to do so, but alternatives to
migration should be examined so as to maintain the prosperity of
Hongkong, he added.
Dr Mahathir admitted that the Commonwealth leaders "really did not
know" what should be done to help, but were committed to supporting the
people of Hongkong.
But as there were still eight years until Hongkong reverted to Chinese
rule, there was a possibility that confidence would be improved.
"We see tremendous changes taking place in many countries in the world
today and we should not rule out that those changes might take place in
China," he said.
Earlier, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said her Government
had been anxious to have a reference of support for Hongkong included in
the final communique issued by Commonwealth leaders.
"For our part we place particular importance in securing a statement of
support for Hongkong and I'm glad to say that all Commonwealth
governments agreed to do this," she said.
Mrs Thatcher added that where ever she went she sought support for the
people of Hongkong through what was a "difficult period".
Mrs Thatcher said she was satisfied with the statement issued which
said China and Britain's commitment to the Joint Declaration was vital
to the maintenance of international confidence in Hongkong.
Britain's objective in supporting Hongkong was to ensure the Joint
Declaration which promised that capitalism in the territory would
remain.
But Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said it was not up to
Britain alone to work for the future of Hongkong.
"We agreed it is in all our interests that Hongkong should continue to
prosper. Hongkong has always been and we hope will remain a vital
meeting point for East and West on all levels - political, trading and
financial," he said.
"It is a problem for all of us and I believe very strongly that the
British Government needs the support of all of us."
Commonwealth Secretary-General Sir Shridath Ramphal said there had been
little debate or discussion about Hongkong issue in meetings between all
member governments.
But the passage in the final communique referring to boosting
confidence in the territory had met little dissent, he added.
However, another section in the communique referring to the future of
the territory is understood to have raised more debate.
The communique calls for the repatriation of boat people without saying
whether it should be voluntary or otherwise.
Mrs Thatcher was adamant that there was no other solution to Hongkong's
Vietnamese boat people problem other than repatriation.
"Most countries in the world send back illegal immigrants. The United
States sends them back to Mexico and repatriates them to Haiti," said.
Hongkong was experiencing "great difficulties" in dealing with the
continued arrival of boat people.
"Hongkong has never pushed away boat people for very obvious reasons
and so they go there and you see there is trouble in the camps and they
cannot go on steadily accepting more," she said.
Asked whether Britain and Hongkong could proceed with mandatory
repatriation without the support of the US and other countries, Mrs
Thatcher said foreign governments should recognise that the present
situation could not continue.
"If people criticise any further action - though that further action
has not yet taken place - they should recognise the situation cannot
continue as it is," she said.
===========================================================================
FEW SUBMIT OPINIONS ON DRAFT LAW
Fewer than 5,000 people have submitted their opinions on the Basic Law
draft during its final consultation period, which finishes in six days.
More than 73,000 submissions were collected during the first
consultation period last year, although about 63,000 of them were
pre-printed letters gathered by liberals in a signature campaign to
solicit support for Group of 190 political proposals.
A deputy secretary-general of the Basic Law Consultative Committee, Mr
Ma Lik, said yesterday that they would remind the public of the imminent
deadline through the media.
He said the secretariat had been busying compiling reports to be
submitted to the drafters.
The present consultation period began in February and was due to expire
in July . It was extended for an extra three months after consultative
activities were stopped for six weeks following the June 4 massacre in
Beijing.
===========================================================================
HSI SERVICES LTD : HANG SENG INDEX AT: 11:40
-----------------------------------------------------
PREVIOUS AM INDEX PM INDEX
25/10/89 CLOSE 11:30 :
-----------------------------------------------------
HANG SENG INDEX 2731.97 2710.98 .
CHANGE -20.99 .
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Send time : 3:45 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
hkucs!kwc...@uunet.uu.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT BY STUDENT
GOLD WATCHES FOR SOLDIERS
SHANGHAI MAYOR DEMANDS REFORMS CONTINUE
LETTER REVEALS NO CONCESSIONS
A COPY OF THE LETTER MR EHRMAN WROTE TO MR JI
LO CALLS FOR ALLIANCE TO BE DISBANDED
BEIJING ATTACKS UK LEADERS OVER STANCE ON TERRITORY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[South China Morning Post, Thursday, October 26, 1989]
UNDERGROUND MOVEMENT BY STUDENT
A student underground movement has begun to emerge since the military
crackdown in June but organisers face fear of arrest, low morale, and a
government campaign to root out former activists, student sources said
yesterday.
According to the sources, students at several leading Beijing
universities began to form an underground organisation early this autumn.
The group was intended to function as a "Second Autonomous Union of
Beijing University Students", adopting the name of the student-led
organisation that spearheaded protests that spread nationwide in April
and May.
In spite of the mass arrests of student leaders since the Tiananmen Square
massacre, students have begun to hold clandestine meetings to exchange
information. Some even keep identities secret from each other, in an
ironic emulation of the strategy employed by the fledgling Communist Party
when it was organising in the 1920s.
A former student activist at a major university estimated that around 10
students carrying out organisational work have been arrested over the past
two weeks, but that secret meetings continue.
"There's one guy comes by my room every now and then to tell me things,
and I don't even know his name or which school he goes to," the student
said. "I met him during the protests last spring and he's still heavily
involved."
After the crackdown in June, the original Autonomous Student Union was
declared a "counter-revolutionary" organisation.
According to the sources, security officials frustrated by the escape of
some student leaders are now seeking out students who played relatively
minor roles in the movement. The sources said several students were picked
up recently, and others continue to turn themselves in out of fear.
"So many were killed," said a graduate student who was interrogated after
June and later released. "We must be careful and patient, but we cannot let
people forget what happened".
"Any underground activity at this point is just suicide," said a former
student leader who says he still doesn't know whether he will be arrested.
Meanwhile, troop movements involving thousands of soldiers were observed
late on Tuesday and early yesterday in Beijing.
Witnesses said they saw several hundred covered trucks carrying men and
material in several areas of the capital. Some convoys were seen near
Tiananmen Square, which has been under military guard since June 4.
[United Press International and Agence France Presse]
===========================================================================
GOLD WATCHES FOR SOLDIERS
Chinese soldiers deployed in Beijing to enforce martial law are to be
given gold watches celebrating the crushing of the pro-democracy movement
in June, a newspaper reported.
The watchface will depict a helmeted soldier doing sentry duty in front of
the Forbidden City, the Jinwin Bao daily said.
An inscription in black Chinese characters will say: "Commemoration of the
June 1989 crackdown."
The watches will be handed out next month.
===========================================================================
SHANGHAI MAYOR DEMANDS REFORMS CONTINUE
[By Willy Wo-Lap Lam]
A major regional official has delivered a thinly veiled warning to central
planners in Beijing not to roll back reform.
Mr Zhu Rongji, mayor of Shanghai, said yesterday: "While there may be
short-comings in carrying out some concrete (reform) policies, readjustment
should be made (to the policies only) on the basis of detailed studies and
investigations."
"Otherwise, no changes should be made.
"Maintaining the stability and continuity of the current policy is an
important guarantee of the healthy development of reform and opening to the
outside world in Shanghai."
Mr Zhu, also the party boss of China's largest city, made these remarks at
a meeting on ideological work in local industrial enterprises held in
Shanghai.
"The open and reform policies, as well as the related laws and regulations
approved by the party Central Committee, the State Council and the National
People's Congress should continue to be implemented," he said.
According to analysts, Mr Zhu was deliberately casting his vote for the
continuation of reform ahead of the fifth plenum of the 13th Central
Committee.
The plenum, originally scheduled for early October, has been postponed
owing to disagreement over the extent to which market-oriented reforms
begun by ousted party chief Zhao Ziyang should be replaced by policies
stressing re-centralisation and strict governmental control of all economic
activities.
Mr Zhu's views were seconded by Mr Huang Ju, deputy mayor and deputy
secretary of the Shanghai party committee.
In a report on the city's economic development this year, Mr Huang said:
"The practice of the shareholding system and other economic reform
experiments will be continued in Shanghai."
"Further development of the reform and open policies is the key to
promoting our economy," he added.
Shanghai has been a main beneficiary of policies introduced by Mr Zhao,
especially the delegation of decision-making powers to regional
administrations and letting local governments keep higher proportions of
their earnings.
However, Chinese sources say that at the forth-coming plenum, central
planners will urge that Beijing takes back powers from the regions and that
the share of national income by the central Government should be boosted.
Shanghai is strapped for cash for a string of badly needed infrastructure
projects, including the building of a subway and major ports, highways and
bridges.
Analysts say the Shanghai is also anxious that reform continues because of
its poor economic performance this year.
In his economic report, Mr Huang disclosed that in the first nine months
of this year, the city's Gross Domestic Product was 51 billion yuan
(HK$107.1 billion), up seven per cent from last year.
However, foreign trade volume for this period was US$3.54 billion
(HK$27.61 billion), a mere 1.4 per cent up from 1988.
A diplomatic analyst said: "Shanghai fears that, if the central planners
have their way, local government departments and corporations will lose
their autonomy in doing business with the outside world, thus further
affecting their foreign-trade earnings."
Mr Zhu, who was promoted Shanghai party boss in the summer, is generally
thought to be more reformist-minded than predecessor Jiang Zemin, who
became party General-Secretary last June.
Observers in Beijing say that if the plenum decides to replenish the two
Politburo seats left vacant by the ousting of Mr Zhao and liberal ideologue
Mr Hu Qili, Mr Zhu has a high chance of being inducted to the supreme body.
In the tradition of the Chinese Communist Party, the party bosses of
Beijing and Shanghai are entitled to seats o the Politburo.
===========================================================================
LETTER REVEALS NO CONCESSIONS
[By Fanny Wong]
The Hongkong Government did not give any new undertaking or concessions
to China to end the dispute over the repatriation of illegal immigrants.
This is revealed by the text of a letter sent by the Government's
political adviser to a senior China representative on Monday.
The letter is at the centre of a dispute between the New China News
Agency (NCNA), China's de facto embassy, and Hongkong.
The NCNA claimed it was a "written commitment made by the Hongkong
Government to gag anti-Beijing dissent as part of the deal to resume
repatriation of illegal immigrants, and accused it of acting
dishonourably and irresponsibly.
However, the letter merely reiterates the Government's long-standing
policy of not allowing the territory to be turned into a base for
subversive activities against China.
"The Hongkong Government has no intention of allowing Hongkong to be
used as a base for subversive activities against the People's Republic
of China,"it states.
The letter was sent by Political Adviser William Ehrman to Mr Ji
Shaoxiang, head of the NCNA's Foreign Affairs Department, on Monday, the
day agreement was reached on resuming repatriation after an abrupt
16-day suspension.
To convince the Chinese about Hongkong's sincerity, Mr Ehrman's letter
said the NCNA will have noticed the arrest of members of the April 5th
Action Group, low key Double Ten celebrations, and refusal of a site for
a replica statue of the Goddess of Democracy.
This was suggested as a demonstration of the Hongkong Government's
prudence in handling delicate political questions.
The Hongkong Government stressed that no group would be tolerated any
more than the law allowed.
This meant that as long as groups did not break local laws, they would
not be penalised and that the Government would tolerate dissent.
The Government was indicating that it wasn't prepared to clamp down on
pre-democracy activities or groups such as the Hongkong Alliance in
Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China as long as they
act in accordance with Hongkong law.
Nevertheless, this particular reassurance to China could rekindle
suspicions that the police move against the April 5th Action Group and
the subsequent seizure of tapes from the two television stations was
designed as possible appeasement to China, even though the latter
incident was not mentioned in the letter.
Analysts say it is dangerous to mix politics with police actions.
Political commentator, Dr Joseph Cheng, said:"To put rule of law
considerations almost on a par with political ones is a dangerous sign."
"When police actions are presented to China as reassurances that its
interests and concerns would be respected, this is dangerous."
"The exchanges between China and the Hongkong Government have left
people bewildered as to the actions of the authorities," Dr Cheng said.
However, both Hongkong and China said yesterday that they wanted to end
the war of words.
"As far as we are concerned, we have nothing to say. The matter has
been resolved," a Hongkong official said.
"The matter is over, we don't want to argue any further," a locally
based NCNA official said. "The more one talks, the darker the picture
becomes".
The wish to resume normal relations was evident in the editorials of
yesterday's two Beijing-controlled newspapers, Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei
Po.
"Now the two sides should really look forward and avoid getting caught
in meaningless arguments and try their best to restore and promote
co-operation on other matters," the Ta Kung Pao said.
Executive and Legislative Councillors agreed that both sides should
end the war of words. Executive Councillor Dr Daniel Tse Chi-wai urged
mutual understanding between China, Hongkong and Britain in handling
problems arising during the transition.
Fellow Exco member Miss Maria Tam Wai-chu said:"I'm very glad to see
that things are now back to normal. I don't see any particular virtue in
having another verbal exchange."
"As long as the illegal immigrants are removed from Hongkong and
freedom of speech is maintained, I really don't believe any battle of
words will be productive whatsoever.
Senior Legislative Councillor Allen Lee Peng-fei said:"The most
important thing was that China was willing to take back illegal
immigrants."
Legislator Dr Leung Che-hung, however, said:"Hongkong people have been
confused and concerned. We have been hearing conflicting stories from
different sources, which is in no way helpful to the already failing
confidence of Hongkong people."
He urged the Government to clarify the issue.
Yesterday a second batch of 150 illegal immigrants were sent across the
border at Man Kam To, but the arrival rate remained high.
Up to 5 am yesterday 114 illegal immigrants were arrested, bringing the
total being held for repatriation to 987.
If the present rate of repatriation continues, immigration officials
are hopeful that the backlog since the repatriation program was
suspended on October 8 will be cleared within a week.
The program was suspended in retaliation for Hongkong allowing mainland
swimmer Yang Yang to go to the United States.
===========================================================================
A COPY OF THE LETTER MR EHRMAN WROTE TO MR JI
Mr Ji Shaoziang 23 October 1989
Head of foreign Affairs Department
New China News Agency
387 Queen's Road East
Hong Kong
Dear Mr Ji,
Subsequent to our meeting on 17 October, you asked whether the
Hong Kong Government could provide further explanation relating to our
discussion on the statment made by Ambassador ke at the thirteenth
meeting of the Joint liaison Group. I am happy to do so.
The Hong Kong government has no intention of allowing Hong Kong
to be used as a base for subversive activities against the People's
Republic of china. NCNA will have noticed the arrest of members of the
April 5th Action Group outside their National Day reception. They will
also have noted that the 10 October celebrations passed off in a low-key
way, and that the Hong Kong Government has recently rejected a proposal
for a permanent site for a replica statue of democracy. No group in Hong
Kong Government will continue to have a prudent regard for the special
circumstances of Hong Kong and the interests and concerns of the Chinese
Government.
Yours sincerely
/* signature */
(W G Ehrman)
Political Adviser
===========================================================================
LO CALLS FOR ALLIANCE TO BE DISBANDED
[By Chris Yeung]
A leading businessman, Mr Vincent Lo Hong-sui has called for the
disbanding of the Hongkong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic
Movement in China, as the first step towards bridging the deepening rift
between Hongkong and china.
Mr Lo, leader or the influential Group of 89 businessmen and professionals
in the Basic Law Consultative committee, also urged Beijing not to impose
tightened constraints over post-1997 Hongkong in the mini-constitution,
which he warns might further erode confidence and increase emigration.
On the British front, he maintained the granting of a safety exit would
help solve the brain drain by insists pushing for an over-rapid
democratisation program was not the answer to the confidence jitters.
Considered one of the most influential businessmen in the territory, Mr Lo
was delivering a package of measures that should be taken by Hongkong,
Britain and china to normalise the present links across the border at a
lunch meeting of the Zonta Club of Hongkong yesterday.
His call for the disintegration of the Alliance, however, was immediately
rejected by its chairman, Mr Szeto Wah and vice-chairman, Mr Martin Lee
Chu-ming who insisted they were not subversive.
Mr Szeto said last night: "there is now freedom of speech in Hongkong. A
disbandment of the Alliance now will have an extremely bad influence. We've
never considered disbanding the group."
Mr Lee said:"There has been no evidence so far that indicates we are
subversive," adding a disbandment would have bad implication after 1997.
In his speech Mr Lo said:"This(June 4) event shattered all expectations
and dreams of Hongkong people. Instead of hopes, there were grief and sorrow.
Instead of close co-operation with china, there appeared to be
confrontation."
"Relations between China, Britain and Hongkong became strained leading to
open bickering over some secondary issues. Hongkong people are once again
lost about their future.
"We should take positive steps to cultivate mutual understanding with China
now. A good relationship can exist and continue only when two sides accept
and respect each other.
"One way to demonstrate our sincerity and commitment to the 'one country,
two systems' principle is to remove all obstacles in building mutual trust
between china and Hongkong."
Mr Lo claimed one major obstacle was the 229- group Hongkong Alliance in
Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China which was branded by
China as subversive.
"As long as the Alliance is active, Beijing will have the excuse and
reason to believe that Hongkong might develop into an anti-communist base.
Whether you agree or not makes no difference.
"For the sake of the overall interest of the community, perhaps it is an
appropriate time for the organisers of the Alliance to consider dissoloving
their organisation voluntarily and donate the $20 million raised to
charities," he said.
Mr Lo claimed many from the business circle shared his view, but he
stressed he never intended to put pressure on embarrass the Alliance
organisers.
He insisted that the existence of the Alliance was no longer justifiable
given the student movement in China had already been suppressed by the
authorities.
Mr Lo said:"Neither the Government nor the people of Hongkong can force
them to disband. It's up to the Alliance.
"The views of Hongkong people are significant. People I have met shared my
view that we should be more practical now. The Alliance has become a
stumbling block for the rebuilding of the normal ties between Hongkong and
China."
"It's an eyesore to Beijing. That's undeniable,"he said.
"If we do not take the first step, Beijing will continue to be prejudiced
against us. Who's going to solve the problem in future? It's a matter
facing the 5.7 million people.
:Time is ripe for us to be more practical. It's not the time to save face.
The Alliance leaders have said they would keep a lower profile and organise
fewer activities. Why not disband it altogether?
"I have raised the issue with them. They said there were difficulties. I
fully appreciate the fact that the Alliance leaders have worked very hard
in the past. I hope they will carefully consider my suggestion," he said.
Mr Lo rejected the suggestion that the disbandment of the Alliance would
be made at the price of freedom of speech.
"I don't think the two are related. If we can convince Beijing the
activities of the Alliance are not counter-revolutionary, that's fine. But
that's not the case.
"Now that they have already concluded it is counter-revolutionary, what
can we do? Continue to confront them? Or fight back?
"There has been no formal contacts between both sides now. How many
Hongkong people now are able to talk directly to Beijing leaders? If they
just listen to the views of certain people, what will Hongkong be?" he
asked.
Mr Lo said the business and professional lobby has been under severe
attack because they joined talks with the liberals on a compromise
post-1997 political model.
"If the problem drags on, we might have to face a Basic Law that we are
not willing to accept and support," he said, while stopping short of naming
the unpopular bicameral model.
===========================================================================
BEIJING ATTACKS UK LEADERS OVER STANCE ON TERRITORY
China yesterday accused un-named British "leaders and officials" of trying
to "internationalise" the question of Hongkong against the stipulations of
the Sino-British Joint declaration.
Diplomats said the criticism was aimed at Prime Minister Margaret
Thatcher, following discussion of Hongkong at the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting in Malaysia this week.
A communique at the end of the week-long meeting asked Commonwealth
members to proclaim their concern for the territory and to help maintain
its prosperity.
Mrs Thatcher had earlier asked the summit to call on China to restore
confidence in Hongkong.
In a tersely-worded statement quoted on state radio and television
yesterday, Beijing said Hongkong had been part of China since ancient times
and its future through the implementation of the Joint Declaration was a
matter between Britain and China.
"Other countries or international organisations have no right to interfere
in it," it said.
Any attempt to involve others "runs counter to the stipulations and spirit
of the Joint Declaration and violates the norms of international law", the
statement said.
"It absolutely won't work for the British side to use such tactics as
playing the cards of `confidence', `popular will' or even
`internationalisation' to reintroduce various unreasonable demands that
were rejected in the course of Sino-British negotiations on the question of
Hongkong," it said.
Britain should adopt "a sincere attitude" and strictly adhere to the
agreement of 1984 to guarantee the territory's prosperity and stability.
A British official in Beijing said China should welcome efforts made to
boost the prosperity and stability of the territory's five million people.
Speaking at a press conference in Malaysia, Mrs Thatcher said: "We have
all wished to support the people of Hongkong through this difficult
period."
[Reuter]
===========================================================================
HSI SERVICES LTD : HANG SENG INDEX AT: 13:00
-----------------------------------------------------
PREVIOUS AM INDEX PM INDEX
26/10/89 CLOSE 12:30 :
-----------------------------------------------------
HANG SENG INDEX 2706.60 2700.11 .
CHANGE - 6.49 .
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Send time : 5:45 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
hkucs!kwc...@uunet.uu.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW OF LINKS WITH EAST EUROPE
LIFESTYLE OF STUDENT LEADER UNDER FIRE
BEIJING ISSUES REGULATIONS FOR JOURNALISTS
WE'LL DISCUSS HK AS WE SEE FIT - BRITAIN
GOVERNOR BACKS GROUP'S FREEDOM
SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[South China Morning Post, Friday, October 27, 1989]
REVIEW OF LINKS WITH EAST EUROPE
[By Willy Wo-lap Lam]
Beijing is reassessing its relations with Eastern Europe in view of
dramatic developments toward democratisation that have taken place in
Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia.
Chinese sources say that the reappraisal is being undertaken at Politburo
level, and that think-tanks such as the Policy Research Office of the
Central Committee have taken part in assessing China's possible response to
the new challenge.
So far, however, senior officials have refrained from giving direct
comments on radical reforms introduced by Poland and Hungary. They have
also insisted that China reserves the right to choose its own path.
In his talk with Thai Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan, General-
Secretary Jiang Zemin said that "whatever system that a country adopts
should be decided upon by the people of that country"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Li Zhaoxing and yesterday: "The development of
the Hungarian situation is Hungary's own affairs."
In an interview with Japan Economic News in Beijing, Mr Yuan Mu, spokesman
of the State Council, said that, concerning reform in the Soviet Union and
some East Europe countries, "China will not say this or that".
While outlining the general principles of economic reform, which includes
the "insistence on the system of public ownership," Mr Yuan does not rule
out further experimentations.
"We are in the midst of exploring a way of synthesising central planning
and adjustment by free-market mechanisms," he added.
On political reform, Mr Yuan said China would further increase the
authority and leadership of the Communist Party.
But he said China would not return to the pre-1978 "erroneous policy of
`taking class struggle as the key link'; nor will China repeat the policy
of `using politics to tower above everything'."
Analysts say Mr Yuan's remarks are less strident than speeches on
communist ideology recently given by senior leaders.
For example, in his National Day speech, Mr Jiang Zemin re-hoisted the
banner of "class struggle" and called for more ideological indoctrination.
"The present leadership has not changed its policy of rolling back reforms
introduced by ousted party chief Zhao Ziyang and reinstating many of the
policies associated with Chairman Mao," a Western diplomat said.
"However, at a time when Eastern Europe is grabbing world attention with
liberal reforms, Beijing does not want to appear too outdatedly orthodox."
Mr Yuan also sounded conciliatory in his remarks on Sino-French
relationship, which has been at its worst in recent years because dissident
organisations, including the Front for Democracy in China, have taken Paris
as their base.
Mr Yuan said Beijing welcomed an October 18 statement by French Foreign
Minister Roland Dumas that Paris would not accept on its soil "political
activities against a government with which it has diplomatic relations".
Mr Yuan said he hoped "France is as good as its word".
He also said that martial law "will be lifted before very long".
About 5,000 troops were transferred out of the central area in the early
hours of last Tuesday, according to a military analyst who sited dozens of
army trucks rattling down the Second Ring Road out of Beijing
===========================================================================
LIFESTYLE OF STUDENT LEADER UNDER FIRE
Chinese official media yesterday continued their attack on exiled student
leader Wu'erkaixi, claiming the 21-year-old former Beijing Normal
University student is leading a corrupt life abroad.
Mr Wu'erkaixi, vice-chairman of the Federation of Democracy in China
(FDC), which was formally established last month in Paris, was reported by
the official China News Service as leading a "luxurious" life in the United
States.
MR Wu'erkaixi is now a part-time student of Harvard University in Boston.
Quoting the New York-based World Daily, CNS reported that MR Wu'erkaixi
was a student who "seldom goes to classes and people are impressed by his
high class suits, fashions and his generous style".
However, the report failed to say exactly what corrupt deeds Mr Wu'erkaixi
had committed.
It said that the student leader rented an office costing US$1,100
(HK$8,580) a month and he had invited FDC members and overseas Chinese
students to Boston to "enjoy lobster meals and watch maple leaves".
It also claimed that Mr Wu'erkaixi could afford four-star hotels, which
charged as much as US$250 9HK$1,950) a night when he was on trips.
The report questioned the student leader's source of income.
"I would keep those donations which have been destined for myself and are
specified not for political purposes," Mr Wu'erkaixi was quoted as saying.
===========================================================================
BEIJING ISSUES REGULATIONS FOR JOURNALISTS
The Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council has issued
detailed regulations on application procedures for Hongkong and Macau
journalists who want to report in China.
Reporters must apply for approval through the Hongkong branch of the New
China News Agency 15 days in advance. The NCNA will then relay the
requests to State Council departments or regional governments.
Only after the approvals have been secured can reporters leave for the
mainland.
On arrival in China, reporters must register with the All China
Journalists' Association or their branches, which will issue them one-time
journalistic identity certificates.
No Hongkong and Macau news organisations are allowed to employ local
Chinese as their representatives or special correspondents.
Reporters holding Home Visit Permits can only go to China for tourism
purposes or to visit relatives.
The regulations do not apply to Hongkong-based foreign correspondents or
reporters employed by the Hongkong offices of foreign news organisations.
===========================================================================
WE'LL DISCUSS HK AS WE SEE FIT - BRITAIN
Britain last night bluntly warned China not to try to limit discussion of
Hongkong with members of the international community, be cause the
territory was an issue of importance to the rest of the world.
"The Chinese can't say we can't discuss it with anyone. It is a totally
inappropriate remark," a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
said in London.
The statement follows a new warning by the Chinese Prime Minister, Mr Li
Peng, against making Hongkong an international issue.
This follows criticism earlier in the week from the Chinese Foreign
Ministry about the communique issued by the Commonwealth Heads of
Government Meeting in Kuala Lumpur in which leaders expressed support for
the people of Hongkong.
The communique called on Britain and China to fully implement the Joint
Declaration and preserve the prosperity of Hongkong, and sought backing from
the international community for the people of Hongkong.
Last night's statement from London said: "Hongkong will continue to be
raised as we see fit.
"The Chinese cannot prescribe that we should not discuss Hongkong in the
international forum.
"Because of Hongkong's international position we must be able to discuss
it when and where we wish."
Britain stressed that Hongkong remained part of the international
community within Britain's sphere of interests, and it was wrong for China
to criticise White-hall on the issue.
Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is understood to have asked for a full report
on the quarrel between Beijing and London.
Prime Minister Li entered the controversy yesterday with a warning that
attempts to pressure the Chinese Government on the Hongkong question would
be in vain.
He stressed the need to maintain prosperity and stability in Hongkong.
To do so, both China and Britain must act according to the stipulations of
the Joint Declaration.
"Some people, however, are trying to recede from the principles set out in
the Sino-British Joint Declaration," he said, while calling on Britain to
abide by the agreement.
He reiterated earlier allegations that "they are playing cards of `popular
will', `confidence' and `internationalisation'."
Any attempt at internationalising the Hongkong issue is "absolutely
unacceptable" to the Chinese Government, Mr Li said.
He said the Chinese Government "is always principled and trust-worthy".
He added: "It has faithfully implemented and abided by the agreements
reached with other countries. There is no exception in carrying out the
Joint Declaration on the Hongkong issue."
"China pays, and will continue to pay, close attention to the stability
and prosperity of Hongkong," he said.
Last night's reply from Britain to China's criticism stressed that the UK
would fully honour its obligations within the Joint Declaration, which was
not a matter for other countries.
The Foreign Office spokesman said the British Government was "absolutely
committed to the Joint Declaration".
"The implications of the Joint Declaration are of the concern to the
United Kingdom and China and there is no question of involving other
countries.
"But the fact is Hongkong plays a vital role in the world economy,
therefore it is of interest to the international community that the success
of Hongkong should continue up to, including, and beyond 1997.
The latest series of remarks indicate that China's leaders are seriously
concerned over the course the quarrel has taken in recent weeks.
Mr Deng has long taken a personal interest in Hongkong, having decided as
early as 1979 that Hongkong must revert back to Chinese sovereignty by 1997,
there being no question of extending the Nanjing convention and the New
Territories lease.
He has also expressed the hope that he would live long enough to be able
to set foot in Hongkong after 1997.
Hongkong is also the first of three territories to which the concept of
"one country two systems" - a principle that Mr Deng champions in the final
unification of the whole country - was applied.
Observers also said the lengthy statement by Mr Li first issued on
Wednesday and delivered yesterday with minor alterations, may be intended
to contain the debate on the issue before it gets out of hand.
===========================================================================
GOVERNOR BACKS GROUP'S FREEDOM
[By Kent Chen and Daphne Cheng]
The Governor, Sir David Wilson, yesterday said the Hongkong Government
would not dictate to local pressure groups which supported the Chinese
democracy movement that they should be disbanded.
Sir David was referring to the Hongkong Alliance in Support of the
Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, which Beijing has branded as a
subversive group aimed at overthrowing the Chinese Government.
Asked whether he agreed with recent suggestions that the Alliance be
disbanded, Sir David said:"That must be a matter entirely for the
Alliance."
"The Government doesn't try to dictate to organisations in Hongkong,
which are legal, what they should do or what they should not do. It is
entirely a matter for the organisations themselves," he said.
Sir David's remarks were last night hailed by Alliance leaders as
"reasonable and sensible".
Sir David yesterday broke his silence on Chinese officials' claim that
the Hongkong Government had given new undertakings to China to end the
dispute over the repatriation of illegal immigrants.
The New China News Agency (NCNA) officials earlier claimed that the
Hongkong Government had given a "written commitment" as part of a deal.
Sir David, however, claimed that Hongkong Political Adviser William
Ehrman had written the only letter to the NCNA.
"As far as I know," Sir David said, "that was the only letter that went
from the Political Adviser's Office to the Xinhua News Agency (NCNA)".
But Sir David was anxious to distance the Government from the
disclosure of the letter in yesterday's South China Morning Post.
"Let me make it clear, that was not released by the Hongkong
Government.
"We don't as a practice release the contents of diplomatic exchanges.
That is normal practice," he said.
The NCNA declined to comment.
The letter was sent by Mr Ehrman to Mr Ji Shaoxiang, head of the NCNA's
Foreign Affairs Department, on Monday, the day agreement was reached on
resuming repatriation after a two-week suspension.
It merely reiterated the Government's long-standing policy of not
allowing the territory to be turned into a base for subversive
activities against China.
Earlier this week, leading businessman, Mr Vincent Lo Hong-sui, called
for the Alliance to disband to help bridge the deepening rift between
Hongkong and China.
An Alliance general committee member, Mr Cheung Man-kwong, said there
was no reason for the Government to intervene in their affairs, as the
Alliance is a legal and legitimate organisation.
Mr Cheung pledged that they would not dissolve the Alliance.
Another Alliance spokesman, Mr Lau Chin-shek, said it would be
detrimental to the future of Hongkong if the Government sought to
restrict political activities.
"The Government should not sacrifice Hongkong's interest just to
appease the Chinese," said Mr Lau. The Alliance would discuss the
Political Adviser's letter on Tuesday, he added.
The Governor's view that it was up to the Alliance to decide what they
should do was echoed by Senior Legislative Councillor Allen Lee
Peng-fei.
"The decision to disband or not is up to members and the executive
committee of the organisation. It's important for them to realise the
problem they are facing today," Mr Lee said.
"They should know their situation and their relationship with China and
be responsible. I believe they will make a wise decision."
Mr Lee said he had discussed with some colleagues ways to improve the
strained Sino-Hongkong relations, which he said were vital to restoring
local confidence.
"We know what happened on June 4 and we know what happened in the past.
But it's important that we re-establish the relations. We should first
of all have a mutual trust and understanding then we go further to build
confidence."
Executive Councillor Rosanna Tam Wong Yick-ming urged both sides to
restore normal relations.
"The most important thing is that the problem is now resolved and the
Chinese authorities are now taking authorities are now taking back the
illegal immigrants.
"The most important thing for Hongkong's interest is that the problem
be solved as soon as possible and the problem has now been solved. It's
not a question of who wins or loses.
"Hongkong is a society ruled by law. Anything allowed under the law, I
believe, has to be protected. I'm confidence the Hongkong Government
will adhere to this principle.
Meanwhile, on using the post-1997 land fund for the proposed new
airport and container port, Sir David said the Government would not need
to rely on the land fund.
"We are making assumptions on funding which are not dependent on the
SAR (Special Administrative Region) land fund," he said, while praising
the idea as "a positive way of looking at the use of land fund".
He was asked to respond to a suggestion by the Bank of China's Economic
Bulletin that the land fund of the Hongkong SAR be used to fund the new
projects.
The Governor was speaking after visiting a Japanese-owned photocopier
manufacturing plant in Tsuen Wan yesterday.
===========================================================================
SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY
[By Bernard Fong]
A majority of respondents to a survey yesterday rebuffed a call for the
Alliance in Support of the Patriotic and Democratic Movement in China to
disband, saying the group formed in May was not subversive.
Two thirds of the 535 people polled by Survey Research Hongkong(SRH) said
people of the territory should continue to support the pro-democracy
movement in China.
The survey was sponsored by the South China Morning Post, and held in
conjunction with last night's Radio Television Hongkong (RTHK) public
affairs program, Monthly Topical.
Only 11 per cent said Hongkong people should desist from supporting the
movement labelled "subversive" by the Chinese Government.
Sixty-two per cent said they did not believe Hongkong was being used as a
base to undermine the Chinese Government, compared with 13 per cent who
thought otherwise.
A quarter of the respondents did not offer an opinion.
Fifty-eight per cent said they had little or no confidence that China
would abide by the "one country, two systems" model suggested for the
Hongkong Special Administrative Region. Twenty-nine per cent felt China
would live up to the promise.
Sixty-two per cent said China, more than any other party, should do more
to restore their confidence in Hongkong.
The majority view that Hongkong people should not shrink from involvement
in mainland politics was a stinging rejection of the call for the
dissolution of the Hongkong Alliance In Support of the Patriotic and
Democratic Movement in China.
The Beijing authorities have on occasion alluded to the activities of the
group as subversive and singled out its leaders - especially its chairman,
Mr Szeto Wah, and vice-chairman, Mr Martin lee Chu-ming - for stern
criticism in the official media.
The guest panellists on the program - Mr Szeto, Catholic priest Father
Louis Ha, Basic Law Consultative Committee member Dr Raymond Ho and
legislator Mr Ho Sai-chu - yesterday differed on whether the Alliance had a
future in Hongkong.
Mr Szeto said the Alliance was not a subversive organisation, despite its
support for the Chinese pro-democracy movement which had been declared
illegal by the Beijing Government on May 20 and crash on June 4.
"Not only do the people of Hongkong support the pro-democracy movement but
people from around the world have continued to support the cause," Mr Szeto
asserted. "What is more, the concept of 'one country, two systems' implies
that we in Hongkong have the right to engage in our own politics."
His view was challenged by Mr Ho who emphasised that support for the
pro-democracy movement was not the issue but the aim of the Alliance
should be questioned if it advocated the ousting of the present Chinese
regime.
Mr Ho said there were limits to the freedom of expression, citing the
Hongkong Government's enactment of the Film Censorship Ordinance two years
ago as a guarantee to china that its national interests would not be
jeopardised.
A member of the RTHK audience argued that the Alliance should not be
dissolved because the Hongkong people generally supported the goals of the
group, one of whose tenets is that territory's move towards a democratic
future also hinges on political reform on the mainland.
"Why should the Alliance disband? I think the communist Party should
disband," he said.
"The Communist Party is a political party; it is not China. In the 40
years of that party's rule, China has been afflicted by backwardness and
brutality.
"To seek the toppling of that party is not subversion; it is the right of
the Chinese people".
===========================================================================
HSI SERVICES LTD : HANG SENG INDEX AT: 11:27
-----------------------------------------------------
PREVIOUS AM INDEX PM INDEX
27/10/89 CLOSE 11:15 :
-----------------------------------------------------
HANG SENG INDEX 2691.18 2673.28 .
CHANGE -17.90 .
Jisheng Song
>
>[South China Morning Post, Friday, October 27, 1989]
>
>REVIEW OF LINKS WITH EAST EUROPE
>
>[By Willy Wo-lap Lam]
>
>Secretary Jiang Zemin said that "whatever system that a country adopts
>should be decided upon by the people of that country"
I just cannot imagine how thick the skin of the Jiang's face is. When
millions of Chinese people tried to urge the Chinese government to make
some moderate chage, the answer from the government was to shoot the people
with machine guns and tanks. Now he is talking about the respect of the
people's choice.
> For example, in his National Day speech, Mr Jiang Zemin re-hoisted the
>banner of "class struggle" and called for more ideological indoctrination.
But this time, the classes should be categorized differently. CCP leaders
belong to the suppressive class and the ordinary Chinese people are in
the suppressed class. Especially, Chinese intellectuals belong to the
proletarian class. If there is a class struggle as Jiang claimed, then it is
the struggle between CCP leaders and ordinary Chinese people. For the CCP
leaders, it is the struggle to maintain their unlimited power in China and
for the ordinary people, it is the struggle for the freedom and democracy.
___
Chan Ki Wa
Source : South China Morning Post
Date : 27th Oct. 89
Send time : 5:45 pm HKT
Sender : Society of HKU Postgraduates on Chinese Affairs
Postgraduate Students' Box
Student Union Office
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
hkucs!kwc...@uunet.uu.net
--------------------------------------------------------------------
REVIEW OF LINKS WITH EAST EUROPE
LIFESTYLE OF STUDENT LEADER UNDER FIRE
BEIJING ISSUES REGULATIONS FOR JOURNALISTS
WE'LL DISCUSS HK AS WE SEE FIT - BRITAIN
GOVERNOR BACKS GROUP'S FREEDOM
SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY
--------------------------------------------------------------------
[South China Morning Post, Frida}, October 27, 1989]
REVIEW OF LINKS WITH EAST EUROPE
[By Willy Wo-lap Lam]
Beijing is reassessing its relations with Eastern Europe in view of
dramatic developments toward democratisation that have taken place in
Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia.
Chinese sources say that the reappraisal is being undertaken at Politburo
level, and that think-tanks such as the Policy Research Office of the
Central Committee have taken part in assessing China's possible response to
the new challenge.
So far, however, senior officials have refrained from giving direct
comments on radical reforms introduced by Poland and Hungary. They have
also insisted that China reserves the right to choose its own path.
In his talk with Thai Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan, General-
Secretary Jiang Zemin said that "whatever system that a country adopts
should be decided upon by the people of that country"
Foreign Ministry spokesman Li Zhaoxing and yesterday: "The development of
the Hungarian situation is Hungary's own affairs."
In an interview with Japan Economic News in Beijing, Mr Yuan Mu, spokesman
of the State Council, said that, concerning reform mn the Soviet Union and
some East Europe countries, "China will not say this or that".
While outlining the general principles of economic reform, which includes
the "insistence on the system of public ownership," Mr Yuan does not rule
out further experimentations.
"We are in the midst of exploring a way of synthesising central planning
and adjustment by free-market mechanisms," he added.
On political reform, Mr Yuan said China would further increase the
authority and leadership of the Communist Party.
But he said China would not return to the pre-1978 "erroneous$policy of
`taking class struggle as the key link'; nor will China repeat the policy
of `using politics to tower above everything'."
Analysts say Mr Yuan's remarks are less strident than speeches on
communist ideology recently given by senior leaders.
For example, in his National Day speech, Mr Jiang Zemin re-hoisted the
banner of "class struggle" and called for more ideological indoctrination.
"The present leadership has not changed its policy of rolling back reforms
FEIJING ISSUES REGULATIONS FOR JOURNALISTS
The Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council has issued
detailed regulations on application procedures for Hongkong and Macau
journalists who want to report in China.
Reporters must apply for approval through the Hongkong branch of the New
China News Agency 15 days in advance. The NCNA will then relay the
requests to State Council departments or regional governments.
Only after the approvals have been secured can reporters leave for the
mainland.
On arrival in China, reporters must register with the All China
Journalists' Association or their branches, which will issue them one-time
journalistic identity certificates.
No Hongkong and Macau news organisations are allowed to employ local
Chinese as their representatives or special correspondents.
Reporters holding Home Visit Permits can only go to China for tourism
purposes or to visit relatives.
The regulations do not$apply to Hongkong-based foreign correspondents or
there being no question of extending the Nanning convention and the New
Territories lease.
He has also expressed the hope that he would live long enough to be able
to set$foot in Hongkong after 1997.
Longkong$is also the first of thvee territories to which the concept of
"one country two systems" - a principle that Mr Deng champions in the final
unification of the wlole country - was applied.
Observers also said the lengthy statement by Mr Li first issued on
Wednesday and delivered yesterday with minor alterations, may be intended
to contain the debate on the issue before it gets out of hand.
===========================================================================
GOVERNOR BACKS GROUP'S FREEDOM
[Fy Kent Chen and Daphne Cheng]
"We don't as a practice release the contentw of diplomatic exchanges.
That ms normal practice," he said.
The NCNA declined to comment.
The letter was sent by Mr Ehrman to Mr Ji Shaoxiang, head of the NCNA's
Foreign Affairs Department, on Monday, the day agreement was reached on
resuming repatriation after a two-week suspension.
It merely reiterated the Government's long-standing policy of not
allowing the territory to be turned into a base for subversive
activities against China.
Earlier this week, leading businessman, Mr Vincent Lo Hong-sui, called
for the Alliance to disband to help bridge the deepening rift between
Hongkong and China.
An Alliance general committee member, Mr Cheung Man-kwong, said there
was no reason for the Government to intervene in their affairs, as the
Alliance is a legal and legitimate organisation.
Mr Cheung pledged that they would not dissolve the Alliance.
Another Alliance spokesman, Mr Lau Chin-shek, said it would be
detrimental to the future of Longkong if the Government sought to
restrict political activities.
"The Government should not sacrifice Hongkong's interest just to
appease the Chinese," said Mr Lau. The Alliance would discuss the
Political Adviser's letter on Tuesday, he added.
The Governor's view that it was up to the Alliance to decide what they
should do was echoed by Senior Legislative Councillor Allen Lee
Peng-fei.
"The decision to$disband or not is up to members and the executive
committee of the organisation. It's important for them to realise the
problem they are facing today," Mr Lee said.
"They should know their situation and their relationshit with China and
He was asked to respond to a suggestion by the Bano of China's Economic
SUPPORT FOR DEMOCRACY
[By Bernard Fong]
Mr Szeto Wah, and vice-chairman, Mr Martin lee Chu-ming$- for stern
criticism in the official media.
The guest panellists on the program - Mr Szeto, Catholic priest Father
Louis Ha, Basic Law Consultative Committee member Dr Raymond Ho and
legislator Mr Ho Sai-chu - yesterday differed on whether the Alliance had a
future in Hongkong.
Mr Szeto said the Alliance was not a subversive organisation, despite its
support for the Chinese pro-democracy movement which had been declared
illegal by the Beijing Government on May 20 and crash on June 4.
"Not only do the people of Hongkong support the pro-democracy movement but
people from around the world have continued to support the cause," Mr Szeto
asserted. "What ms more, the concept of 'one country, two systems' implies
that we in Hongkong have the right to engage in our own politics."
His view was challenged by Mr Ho who emphasised that support for the
pro-democracy movement was not the issue but the aim of the Alliance
should be questioned if it advocated the ousting of the present Chinese
regime.
Mr Ho said there were limits to the freedom of expression, citing the
Hongkong Government's enactment of the Film Censorship Ordinance two years
ago as a guarantee to china that its national interests would not be
jeopardised.
A member of the RTHK audience argued that the Alliance should not be
dissolved because the Hongkong people generally supported the goals of the
group, one of whose tenets is that territory's move towards a democratic
future also hinges on political reform on the mainland.
"Why should the Alliance disband? I think the communist Party should
disband," he said.
"The Communist Party is a political party; it is not China. In the 40
years of that party's rule, China has been afflicted by backwardness and
brutality.
"To seek the toppling of that party is not subversion; it is the right of
the Chinese people".
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HSI SERVICES LTD : LANG SENG INDEX AT: 11:27
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27/10/89 CLOSE 11:15 :
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Shuang Deng
>
>...
> In his talk with Thai Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan, General-
>Secretary Jiang Zemin said that "whatever system that a country adopts
>should be decided upon by the people of that country"
>
Give me a break. Decided by people ? What a joke !
When millions of people took the streets in Beijing to demand
reform and democracy.
The answer was tanks and bullets.