From: xc17@cicero.spc.uchicago.edu ()
Subject: CND-EP, August 23, 1992
Organization: U of Chicago, SSPPCC
Summary:  CND-EP
Reply-To: cnd-ep@sdsc.edu
Keywords:  CND-EP
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 17:48:55 GMT
X-Posted-From: cicero.spc.uchicago.edu
X-Posted-Through: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

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===================  Europe / Pacific Section (CND-EP)  ===================
                               August 23, 1992

---------------------------- Table of Contents ----------------------------
No. Subject                                                      # of Lines

1. News Brief (1 Item) .................................................. 8

2. Australia: Illegal Chinese National Nabs Fees and Flees ............. 52

3. Letter from Reader: Irregularities with Chinese Airlines ............ 90

4. 68 Chinese Boat People Stranded in Indonesia ........................ 29

5. Beijing Capital Iron & Steel Company Recruiting 
   Overseas Students and Professionals ................................. 53
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1. News Brief (1 Item) .................................................. 8
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[South China Morning Post, 8/12/92] Police in rural northeastern China have
prevented more than 100 members of a Christian cult from committing mass
suicide at the instigation of their preacher, who told them the end of the
world was near. The devotees of an unidentified sect in Gushan village,
Liaoning province, gathered before dawn on July 15 to jump off a cliff,
believing they would go to heaven. The believers had sold their property and
were eating what they thought was their last meal when police and local
communist party committee raided the meeting house and prevented the
suicide. (From: Charles Mok)

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2. Australia: Illegal Chinese National Nabs Fees and Flees ............. 52
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From: XU Ming Yang
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald 8/20/92
By: Kerry Martin

Police are hunting a Sydney migration consultant who has disappeared with
fees paid by Chinese students for TAFE (Technical and Further Education)
courses which could amount to more than $1 million.

Mr Da Zhan Luo, director of a migration consulting agency, the America
Mexico Canada Studies Agency, is also a suspected illegal immigrant.

He was authorised by NSW TAFE to process student applications as part of a
million-dollar deal with China Star, the commercial arm of the Chinese
Ministry of Labour.

The deal to train 300 Chinese students in marketing, tourism and factory
supervision at TAFE, was struck in September last year. It was seen as a
major step forward in the marketing of TAFE overseas.

But the deal fell flat when Mr Luo disappeared from his Haymarket office on
July 10 with cash and cheques which may amount to $1 million.

Two years ago NSW TAFE set up its international marketing programme to sell
its services overseas. The programme, which hopes to earn between $10
million and $20 million by 1995, offers training for overseas students in
mainstream TAFE courses as well as customised training packages for national
and international clients. China Star was one of its first major deals.

Police are investigating a trust account opened by Mr Luo at the
Commonwealth Bank in which he allegedly deposited cheques made payable to
NSW TAFE and AMC Studies Agency, as well as cash.

A Commonwealth Bank spokesman said the account had been closed and Federal
Police had launched an investigation in consultation with NSW Police.

Constable Steven Arnaudon, a Sydney detective, said Mr Luo had left his
Chatswood unit and his whereabouts were unknown. Federal Police had told NSW
Police that Mr Luo was believed to have left the country.

"The Department of Immigration told us Mr Luo was an illegal immigrant,"
Constable Arnaudon said.

Mr David Day, manager of International Marketing for NSW TAFE, said the deal
had developed into a "diplomatic mess" and everyone was very embarrassed.

The whole thing is a total disaster for NSW TAFE," he said. 'NSW TAFE and
the Chinese Government are very disappointed with the way things have turned
out."

Mr Day said the money was difficult to trace because TAFE did not know what
procedures Mr Luo had used to collect it. He did not know of any
Commonwealth Bank account used to deposit cheques on behalf of TAFE.

A Sydney solicitor, Mr Robert Hemphill, who is representing some of the
Chinese students, said he did not know "exactly how much Mr Luo had when he
disappeared" but it might have been be as much as $1 million.

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3. Letter from Reader: Irregularities with Chinese Airlines ........... 90
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>From: Aubrey J. Zhang, <JTZhang@UNCAMULT.BITNET>
Date: Friday, August 21, 1992

I am a Chinese student at the University of Calgary in Canada.  From July 20
to August 16, I was in China for a home-touring trip after my four-year's
living out of the Motherland.

In early July I bought an Air China's return ticket through Canada Swan
International Travel Ltd. at Vancouver.  As Canada Swan mailed the ticket to
me, they reminded me of having to confirm my return flight at least 72 hours
(three days) ahead of departure.

I did as they advised, FOUR DAYS ahead when I was in Shanghai.  Strange
enough, my seat was already cancelled by the time I confirmed it.  I was
very mad, as everyone could understand it when this thing happened.  I
argued with them, but they had a "good" excuse well prepared for me: my
travel agent made a mistake; they should have told me that the return flight
should be confirmed at least 7 days in stead of 72 hours ahead.  When I
phoned my travel agent after I got back, they told me they just passed what
Air China had instructed and they had no control over this.

Since I was eager to come back and I knew I would miss my connecting flight
(Canadian) at Vancouver if I postponed this one, I went to the Shanghai
International Airport anyway on the pre-scheduled date (August 16).  I had a
hope that the plane would not be full as it was not one month ago or someone
who had a seat would miss the plane as I had the luck four years ago when I
left China the first time.

But all my hopes went into the air when I got to the airport.  I thought I
was the only one who had the bad luck, but I was wrong, I was totally wrong.
After the check-in was finished, I saw at least 20 people there waiting for
seats (I think I know the reason why the Airlines did this to us and
everyone who read the last part of my story will figure it out).  Some of
these people confirmed the flight as I did but was told cancelled; some of
them didn't do that at all, they never dreamed of that outcome and they and
their many relatives were deeply shocked.  Some of them are Canadians (not
Canadian Chinese); some are students like me.

While we were waiting for the normal check-in to be finished, I chatted with
a white man standing beside me: "How do you like your stay in China?"  He
shrugged in a typical American way: "It was OK except this part."  He is
Carl from Vancouver (I forgot his long family name).

As the normal check-in got to the near end, those of us who didn't have
seats started to get very upset.  We frequently asked the girl at the
check-in counter whether she got any seat left.  Her answer was a sure "no."
At this moment, a fourty-or-so man standing behind the girl, probably the
girl's supervisor, got very excited. "Listen!", he said, "those of you who
don't have a seat, please be smart.  If you pay 2,796 FEC (Note: about $600
Canadian), I promise you'll get a ticket of the business class.  Otherwise
... we don't have a single seat for you.  You got it? Those who pay will get
your luggage checked-in immediately."

Some of us who knew the trick got very angry.  They started to argue: "It is
ridiculous.  You've got some seats left, why don't you let us aboard the
plane.  We won't pay more.  It is you that cancelled our flight, you are
responsible for this."  Some said: "If the same thing happened in North
America or Europe, we would be offered a business class seat without any
further charge." The male officer seemed to get quite used to these
arguments: "Don't you ever dare to debate on this!  This is China, not a
foreign country.  We do things our way."

A student-like young man beside me shouted: "I have to go to work tomorrow,
just tell me where to pay the money."  He seemed to have enough cash for
doing that.  I saw no use to join the argument, I followed him shortly.  But
I did not have enough cash.  I already used it all -- like most other
people.  But I happened to have my MasterCard with me.

When I got back to check in, there were still about five people at the
counter arguing with the male officer.  Now he had jumped out from behind
the counter and pointed his fingers at each one's nose: "You want to go?
Then pay the money and we'll let you go.  Don't you dare to say anything."
I thought his manner of pushing us was much worse than that of a peddler
selling things on the street.  What do you say, my fellow Chinese?  The only
thing I could think of was that the people of my motherland just wanted me
to have more "good" impressions about China.

I wouldn't believe what I described above if I hadn't experienced it in
person.  I hope Air China and China Eastern Airlines will eliminate such a
bad practice or they would for sure loose their credits and all their
customers -- there's no doubt about that.

For those who still want to go with Air China, I recommend you to learn from
my lesson and confirm your return flight as long as you get to China and
reconfirm it at least 7 days ahead of departure.  For those to confirm in
Shanghai, please call 327-3016 or 327-7888 (no one told me these numbers
before).  For those in other cities, check your local phone book or ask your
travel agent.  Good luck.

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4. 68 Chinese Boat People Stranded in Indonesia ........................ 29
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From: A CND Reader
Source: UPI 8/19/92

JAKARTA, Indonesia  -- A wooden boat headed for Australia and carrying 68
people claiming to be Chinese citizens became stranded near Jakarta after
running out of food and fuel after 3 1/2 weeks adrift, officials said
Wednesday.

Indonesian marine police said they found the motorized wooden boat carrying
61 men and seven women stranded morning at Sampur beach near Tanjung Priok
harbor in northern Jakarta.

"They stopped at Jakarta Bay and asked for fuel and food before continuing
their journey to Australia," an official said.

The boat people, who said they departed from Liong Sie on the Chinese
mainland, were not allowed to disembark and they laid anchor about a mile
from the port's pier.

Authorities refused to allow anyone, including reporters, to approach them.

Their case was being handled by the immigration office in coordination with
marine police and navy personnel, officials said.

The boat people said they left Liong Sie July 25 and made no stops at any
other harbors or beaches during their journey.

If their claim is true, it would be the third incident in more than a year
of Chinese boat people becoming stranded in Indonesia.

A boat carrying 56 Chinese headed for Australia became stranded in the same
area in July 1991, and another boat with 10 Chinese people, also headed for
Australia, was stranded in April at Central Java's Tanjung Emas harbor.

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5. Beijing Capital Iron & Steel Company Recruiting 
   Overseas Students and Professionals ................................. 53
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>From: Science and Technology Salon of Ottawa via <cao@irc.lan.nrc.ca>
Source: Soc.Culture.China, August 21, 1992

CISC (Capital Iron & Steel Corporation --"Shou\/Gang-Zong\/Gong-Si-") is one
of the top ten enterprises in China in terms of economic efficiencies.
CISC's profit in 1991 was 2.926 billion (RMB), ranking first among China's
top 500 enterprises.  CISC has more than 100 subsidiary enterprises with a
total of 200,000 employees, including 44 domestic corporations and 15 joint
venture corporations located in 21 provinces of china.  CISC has also
established independent and joint venture companies, as well as marketing
networks in 12 countries around the world such as USA and Belgium.  While
its main products being iron and steel, CISC's businessesalso include
mining, machinery, electronics, construction, chemical engineering, light
industry, shipping, shipbuilding, automobile parts, tourism, agricultural
machinery, and clothing industry.  CISC has also a strong technical force
with 72 research institutes and 29,235 technical and professional stuff.

The Chinese State Council has made decision to give CISC more extended
rights, including approval of self-funded projects costing less than $10
million (US) abroad or 200 Million (RMB) inside China; activities in
international trade and cooperations and personnel exchanges; establishment
of its own bank to offer various financial services in both RMB and foreign
currencies, participating in international financial activities, and
management of its own foreign currencies. 

The service department for the returning professionals in CISC will do its
best to help returnees in creating good working and living conditions.  The
offers for employment can be in different types such as term contract,
consulting service, or formal employment; Oversea professionals can get a
continuous service years (gong-ling/) when working for CISC.  The monthly
salary will no lower than 400 RMB; Married couples can generally have a two
bedroom apartment; Spouses and children of the professionals who work as a
formal employee in CISC will have the advantage in employment and access to
kindergarten facilities.

The company currently has 630 openings for various fields including all
major engineering fields and natural sciences, business and acounting,
medicine, and costume design.  All correspondence for employment should be
addressed to :

Ms. Shu Youzhen or Mr. Hu Tao
Service Department for Overseas Students and Professionals
CISC, Shijingshan , Beijing, 100041
Tel:  829-2276;  829-4394; Telex: 222893 SGC CN;
Fax: 829-4572; 829-3518;  Cable :  CMCSB Beijing

The Education Office of the Chines Embassy in Ottawa is also willing to
provide possible services and helps for those who are interested in CISC
employment opportunities.  The contacting address and telephone numbers are:

80 Cobourg St. , Ottawa, Ontario, Canada , K1N 8H1
Tel (613)232-6312;   Fax (613)232-2094

[Editor's Note: For a complete list of openings in CISC, please contact the
                author of this news item.]

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