From: gaojeng@durras.anu.edu.au (J. Gao)
Newsgroups: aus.culture.china
Subject: China News Digest (Global), Fri, 11/13/1992
Date: 13 Nov 92 11:25:33 GMT
Organization: Australian National University
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.22.8
Summary: CND
Keywords: CND

               * * *  C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t  * * *

                                (News Global)

                          Friday, November 13, 1992


Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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1. News Brief (2 Items) ................................................. 13
2. China Admits It Holds at Least 4,000 Political Prisoners ............. 42
3. Honecker Goes on Trial for Berlin Wall Deaths ........................ 61
4. Chinese Official Blasts Hong Kong Lawmakers' Vote for Reform ......... 38
5. Ding Guangen Warns of Political Fallout from Market Economy .......... 24
6. Letter To The Editor: China's Per Capita GNP Higher .................. 24
7. What's in Today's Hua Xia Wen Zhai #85 (cm9211b)? .................... 26
============================================================================

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1. News Brief (2 Items) ................................................. 13
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[SBS-TV (Australia), 11/13/1992] Deng Xiaoping has reportedly given personal
instructions  to PRC governmental officials not to give in to the demand for
more democracy in Hong Kong. (Forwarded by: Gao Jie)
                             ___  ___  ___

[UPI, 11/12/1992] FORT WORTH, TEXAS  --  General  Dynamics  Corp.  announced
Thursday  the  United  States  and  Taiwan agreed on the sale of 150 F-16A/B
fighters, a deal made  possible  by  President  Bush.  The  new  planes  for
Taiwan's air force will be made at GD's Fort Worth plant. "When added to the
24 F-16s the U.S. Air Force plans to procure  annually,  the  F-16  sale  to
Taiwan  strengthens  the  F-16  production base in the United States for the
rest of the decade," GD's announcement said. "The sale will provide signifi-
cant  employment  at  the Fort Worth division and a large number of supplier
firms that produce various components and equipment for the Fighting  Falcon
in 47 states." (Forwarded by: A CND reader)

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2. China Admits It Holds at Least 4,000 Political Prisoners ............. 42
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Forwarded by: Chongyu Hua <cyuhua@ncsa.uiuc.edu>
Source: UPI, 11/11/1992

BEIJING -- China holds 4,000 convicted political prisoners  nationwide,  but
has refused to reveal the much-larger number of people it has under adminis-
trative detention, an Australian human-rights mission said Thursday.

"We are forcing the Chinese bureaucracy to debate human rights,"  Australian
Sen.  Chris Schacht, head of the 9-member delegation, said at a news confer-
ence.

Schacht said the Chinese Ministry of Public Security admitted to  his  group
that   the   communist  government  currently  holds  4,000  "counterrevolu-
tionaries," or people  convicted  of  politically  related  offenses.  China
denies holding any "political prisoners."

Schacht said the Chinese also  refused  to  disclose  how  many  people  the
government  has  under  various forms of administrative detention -- such as
"re-education through labor" -- which allow authorities to hold suspects for
years without trial.

Observers think tens of thousands of Chinese are so held.

"The Chinese authorities (should not be) asking  us  to  believe  that  only
4,000  people  are  detained  for their political views," said Chris Sidoti,
head of Australia's law-reform commission and another  member  of  Schacht's
delegation.

The Australians also said China refused to discuss how  many  executions  it
has  staged, and also declined to let the mission visit Beijing prisons, in-
dividual jailed dissidents or the separatist region of Tibet.

"We never had an overly optimistic view," Schacht said,  although  he  added
that Chinese officials appeared somewhat at ease and open with the Australi-
ans since the group arrived Sunday.

Still, Schacht said that when his delegation handed the Chinese side a  list
of  211 specific detainees Australia wanted information on, Beijing authori-
ties only said "they would consider it."

Schacht's  delegation,  which  includes  several  Australian  lawmakers  and
government  officials,  is  on  a  13-day mission to follow up on an earlier
visit the group made in July 1991.

After that trip, the group produced a lengthy and highly critical report  on
China's human-rights situation.

The delegation planned to leave Beijing later Thursday to visit western Xin-
jiang  Province,  whose large population of ethnic Muslims has long resisted
Chinese communist rule. Later, the Australians were to visit  the  southwest
city of Chengdu and Shanghai.

Despite the lack of substantial progress on Chinese  human  rights,  Schacht
nonetheless  said  he considered it "very unwise to draw a line in the sand"
and set a deadline for improvements.

"It's clear (the Chinese) are concerned about the international  environment
on human rights," he said. "They see the issue is not going away."

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3. Honecker Goes on Trial for Berlin Wall Deaths ........................ 61
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Forwarded by: A CND reader
Source: UPI, 11/12/1992

BERLIN -- Former East German Communist  leader  Erich  Honecker  smiled  and
flashed  a  V-for-victory  sign Thursday at the opening of his trial for the
deaths of those killed trying to cross the Berlin Wall to freedom.

Honecker, 80, and five other top East German officials face charges in  con-
nection  with  the  deaths  of 12 of 350 people killed at the Wall and other
East German border points during the Cold War.

Codefendants in the case include Erich  Mielke,  84,  former  chief  of  the
dreaded  State  Security  police,  or "Stasi"; ex-East German Prime Minister
Willi Stoph, 78; ex-Defense Minister Heinz Kessler, 72;  ex-security adviser
Fritz  Streletz, 68; and once-influential regional Communist Party boss Hans
Albrecht, 72.

Shortly after the historic trial opened Thursday morning, a judge  adjourned
proceedings until Monday because of Stoph's absence, due to illness.

Still, Honecker, who himself suffers from liver cancer, looked fit  and  re-
laxed as proceedings got underway.

During a brief recess, the ex-leader flashed a V-for-victory sign as  people
in the courtroom's public gallery stood on their chairs to get a better look
at him. The former Communist leader, dressed in a blue  suit  and  red  tie,
also joked and chatted with his lawyer.

However, Honecker only looked at the judge or the press gallery  during  the
proceedings,  avoiding  any  eye  contact with Karin Gueffroy, mother of the
last man killed trying to cross the Wall. Gueffroy's son  died  nine  months
before the steel-and-concrete barrier came down in November 1989.

Prosecutors have largely  based  their charges in  the case on shoot-to-kill
orders the six defendants allegedly issued to East German border guards.

Honecker and  his co-defendants have been  described as the "most-hated  men
in  East  Germany" -- a state that ceased on Oct. 3, 1990, the date East and
West Germany reunited after more than four decades.

All six men had been members of East  Germany's  National  Defense  Council,
which allegedly approved the shoot-to-kill order during Honecker's reign.

Notes allegedly taken during a 1974 council meeting quoted Honecker as  say-
ing: "As in the past, guns are to be used ruthlessly in the case of attempts
to break through the border, and those comrades who successfully  use  their
weapons are to be praised."

The remarks represent  the only-known written record  of  the  shoot-to-kill
order,  which  made the Berlin Wall the single-most-hated symbol of the Iron
Curtain that divided East and West during the Cold War.

Despite the fact that 350 died crossing the border, prosecutors have decided
to only deal with 12 of 56 manslaughter counts previously issued against the
six defendants.

Authorities decided to shorten the proceedings because doctors considered it
unlikely  Honecker  could  survive another two years -- the time prosecutors
expected a wider trial to take. Lawyers now  predict  the  streamlined  case
will take until April 1993 to argue.

The 12 manslaughter counts filed against Honecker and the others  relate  to
four  people shot dead by border guards at the Wall, as well as eight others
killed by mines or automatic firing devices along the site's "death strip."

Last week, Germany's Supreme Court upheld jail sentences against former East
German  border  guards who did the actual shooting. The court ruled that the
killings violated both international and East German law.

Under reunified Germany's rules, judges must try East German  offenses  com-
mitted  prior  to  Oct.  3, 1990 -- such as the ones Honecker and the others
stand accused of -- under East German law.

Honecker, who played a key role in secret planning for the August 1961  con-
struction  of  the Wall, fell from power on Oct. 18, 1989 -- three weeks be-
fore Germans on both sides of the border tore down the hated edifice.

Honecker eventually sought refuge in the Soviet Union, then holed up in  the
Chilean embassy for more than seven months after communism collapsed in Rus-
sia.

However, Russia's post-communist government forced the deposed leader to re-
turn to Germany this past July.

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4. Chinese Official Blasts Hong Kong Lawmakers' Vote for Reform ......... 38
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Forwarded by: Liu Jian
Source: JENSW, 11/12/1992

HONG KONG -- A Chinese spokesman warned Thursday that the Hong Kong Legisla-
tive Council (Legco) lacked the authority to approve political reform propo-
sals offered by Hong Kong Governor  Christopher  Patten,  the  semi-official
Hong Kong branch of Xinhua news agency reported.

A spokesman for Xinhua's Hong Kong branch, China's unofficial representative
in  the British colony, made the statement in response to Legco's 32-20 vote
in favor of a motion offering "general support" to  Patten's  proposals  re-
garding the 1995 Legco election.

The motion also urged "the British and Hong Kong governments to comply  with
the  principles  of  openness,  fairness and responsibility to the people of
Hong Kong when these proposals are discussed with the Chinese government."

The unidentified  Xinhua spokesman  said that, "as a  consultative  body  to
the  Hong  Kong governor, Legco fundamentally does not have the authority to
pass any resolutions that would alter or overturn agreements or  understand-
ings between the Chinese and British governments."

He claimed that the seven-hour debate in Legco on Wednesday was "carried out
entirely under the pressure of the British authorities in Hong Kong."

The Xinhua official also said the vote "brazenly rejected the  principle  of
convergence  with  the Basic Law" and showed that the British authorities in
Hong Kong were "deliberately undermining Hong Kong's  prosperity,  stability
and peaceful transition" to the post-1997 resumption of Chinese sovereignty.

He concluded that the British would have to bear full responsibility for the
consequences.

Speaking to reporters in Vancouver, Canada, Patten responded to the  Chinese
statement  by  saying, "There is a limit to the rewriting the New China News
Agency (Xinhua) in Hong Kong can do."

"We all know that the Joint Declaration and the Basic Law talk about the ex-
ecutive  authorities  in Hong Kong being accountable to the legislature," he
said. "We know that the Legco will have to agree to the arrangements for the
1995 elections," he added.

Fred Li Wah-ming, a directly elected Legco member from the  liberal  Meeting
Point party, told Kyodo News Service that the Xinhua spokesman's description
of Legco is "totally incorrect."

"Since Legco can pass and amend laws and approve budgets, how can  they  say
it's a consultative body?" he said.

Li pointed out that the Basic  Law,  passed  by  China's  National  People's
Congress  in  1990, "has a lot of blank spaces" on the 1995 Legco elections.
"What are we supposed to converge with?" he asked.

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5. Ding Guangen Warns of Political Fallout from Market Economy .......... 24
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Forwarded by: Chongyu Hua <cyuhua@ncsa.uiuc.edu>
Source: UPI, 11/12/92

BEIJING -- A senior Chinese Communist Party official has called for steps to
check  corruption  and  political  fallout stemming from recent moves toward
capitalist-style market economics, an official newspaper said Thursday.

Ding Guangen, a member of the party's ruling Politburo and an  associate  of
senior leader Deng Xiaoping, warned in a speech published by the party flag-
ship People's Daily that economic  reforms  had  opened  the  door  to  "bad
things" that threaten political integrity in China.

"There is the possibility that the principles of market exchange are  invad-
ing  political life and that power is being exchanged for money," said Ding,
who delivered the speech in late October -- after the  14th  national  party
congress -- to the Central Party School.

Ding's wordy commentary said tight political control must be  maintained  as
China  moves towards the market system and echoed Communist Party fears that
increased economic freedoms and greater contacts with abroad  are  infecting
social and political life in China.

"Opening the doors to the country has allowed a few good things  to  enter,"
said Ding. "But at the same time it can also bring some bad things."

He did not specify the "bad things," but cautioned that the  growing  market
economy has encouraged people to put profit ahead of all other things.

Chinese leaders have been concerned about ideological education and  commun-
ist  purity  as  increased social ills like crime, prostitution and drug use
have accompanied China's 14-year reform program.

Despite pushing the market-oriented reforms,  Deng  himself  has  maintained
party supremacy and rejected any challenge to the government.

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6. Letter To The Editor: China's Per Capita GNP Higher .................. 24
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Written by: A CND reader
Date: 11/12/1992

Dear CND editor:

Yesterday CND published an article entitled "China's economy  may  be  three
times  larger  than official estimates." It says that China's GNP per capita
is probably near $1,000.

The following are the per capita GNP of the East Asia countries given in the
October  5  issue  of  Fortune magazine. It puts China at even higher living
standard.


      Country                Per Capita GNP (in US$)
                      (adjusted for purchasing power, 1989)

      Hong Kong                 $ 15,180
      Singapore                 $ 15,108
      Japan                     $ 14,311
      Taiwan                    $  6,837
      South Korea               $  6,117
      Malaysia                  $  5,649
      Thailand                  $  3,569
      China                     $  2,656
      Philippines               $  2,269
      Indonesia                 $  2,034
      Burma                     $    595

The Per Capita GNP values  are  not  simply dividing the national GNP by the
population. I do not know how they did the calculation.

The  same  issue of  Fortune has a special section called "Asia  2000" which
mainly focused on China's economy.

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7. What's in Today's Hua Xia Wen Zhai #85 (cm9211b)? .................... 26
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Source: Hua Xia Wen Zhai Editorial Board, 11/13/1992

                              Hua Xia Wen Zhai
                           (CND Chinese Magazine)
                                  Issue #85
                              November 13, 1992

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                        Table of Contents (cm9211b)               
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1. Head-line News of the Week.........................................Li Xin
2. Revenge and Rehabilitation: the German Style..................Long Yintai
   Yesterday's Blossoms -- High Officials of the Former East Germany........
   ............................................................Chen Jianming
3. The Chemical Fertilizer Incident..............................Wang Zaojun
4. Excerpts from Liu Binyan's Autobiography.......................Liu Binyan
5. A Striking Name-list of the Outflowing Top Athletes..............Shi Yong
6. Too Much Debt to Repay..........................................Liu Zaifu
7. Novel Excerpt: Manhattan's China Lady (Part 5) ...................Zhou Li
8. Between Editors and Readers: Responses to <<Halloween Tragedy>> etc.
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           Executive Editor:  Hua  Xinmin  <  cnd-cm@sdsc.edu  >
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filenames are: HXWZ85_1.tar.Z and HXWZ85_2.tar.Z.

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