From: gaojeng@durras.anu.edu.au (J. Gao)
Newsgroups: aus.culture.china
Subject: China News Digest (Global), Thu, 11/5/1992
Date: 6 Nov 92 02:20:43 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)

                         Thursday, November 5, 1992


Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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1. News Brief (2 Items) ................................................. 21
2. Clinton Pledges Continuity in U.S. Foreign Policy .................... 39
3. World Leaders Congratulate Clinton but Worry About His Changes ....... 93
4. Hong Kong Fears Clinton Victory Will Hurt Key Trading-Partner China .. 40
5. Taiwan Sees Clinton as Friendly but Tougher on Trade ................. 40
6. UNESCO Human Rights committee Chairman Denied Visit to Beijing Prison. 20
7. Chinese Drilling Ship Leaves Disputed Waters in South China Sea ...... 23
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1. News Brief (2 Items) ................................................. 21
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[UPI, 11/4/1992] BEIJING -- Chongqing Knitting General Factory was declared 
bankrupt on Tuesday by the Intermediate People's Court in Chongqing, 
Sichuan. This has become the biggest state-owned enterprise so far to be 
declared bankrupt as part of government reforms to make state industries 
more efficient, the state-run China News Service reported. The move will put
the factory's 2,914 employees out of work.  The Chongqing factory had racked
up increasing losses and debt since 1986, leaving losses of nearly $3.8 
million by last May. (Forwarded by: Chongyu Hua)
                             ___  ___  ___ 

[WALL STREET JOURNAL 11/4/1992] HONG KONG -- The sale of a large Hong Kong 
building was canceled after the would-be buyer -- a company backed by the 
Chinese government -- bounced three down-payment checks in less than a 
month. World Trade Center Group Ltd. had planned to sell its primary asset 
-- Hong Kong's 44-story World Trade Center -- to Resourceful River Ltd., a 
vehicle formed on behalf of a state-operated Chinese concern that wasn't 
identified. The failed deal reflects the risk involved with the recent flood
of investment into the Hong Kong property market by state-run Chinese 
companies. The total price was 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars(US$323 million);
the bounced checks were each for HK$50 million. Chinese companies invested 
about HK$6.6 billion in the Hong Kong property market in the first six 
months of this year, compared with HK$7.3 billion for all of 1991, according 
to one estimate. (Forwarded by: Liu Jian)

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2. Clinton Pledges Continuity in U.S. Foreign Policy .................... 39
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Forwarded by: Liu Jian
Source: JAPAN ECONOMIC NEWSWIRE, 11/4/1992
Written by: Antonio Kamiya
  
WASHINGTON, -- President-elect Bill Clinton assured the world Wednesday of 
continuity in U.S. foreign policy after President George Bush leaves office
in January.

In his first policy statement after winning the presidential election
Tuesday, Clinton said he will work closely with the outgoing Republican
president to ensure continuity in foreign policy.

Clinton, a five-term governor of Arkansas who lacks any foreign policy
experience, also issued blunt advice to "adversaries," warning them not
testing U.S. resolve during the transition period.

Clinton takes office as president on January 20.

"Even if America's administrations change, America's fundamental interests
do not," he said in his statement read in front of the Governor's Mansion 
in Little Rock, Arkansas. "The greatest mistake any adversary would make is
to doubt American resolve during this period of transition," Clinton said.

Clinton listed six foreign policy areas where he said he will work closely
with Bush to ensure continuity in U.S. global affairs.

Topping the list is Middle East peace talks, which are expected to resume
next week in Washington. Clinton also cited negotiations with Russia on 
nuclear arms controls and the imperiled global trade talks as areas where 
he will work closely with the outgoing Bush administration.

Clinton, who has backed Bush's efforts to conclude the Uruguay Round trade
talks, said he wants progress toward a "good agreement" in the talks to 
reform global trade. In addition, he pledged support to bolster Russia's 
democracy, seek a peaceful resolution of ethnic conflicts in the republics 
of former Yugoslavia, and help for famine victims in Somalia.

The policy statement focused primarily on foreign policy, which was largely
sidestepped during the presidential campaign. "Today I want to reaffirm the
essential continuity of American foreign policy and my desire to seek 
bipartisan support for our role in the world," Clinton said at the start of 
the statement. Clinton, who met with his transition team in Little Rock on
Wednesday, has yet to announce who will run his State Department. Among the
candidates most often mentioned are Christopher Warren, deputy secretary 
under the Jimmy Carter presidency and a key member of Clinton's transition 
team.

Another name often cited as a possible candidate is Lee Hamilton, a senior
Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee. George
Stephanopoulous, communications director of the Clinton campaign, said 
Clinton is expect to brainstorm with his transition team "for the next
several days."

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3. World Leaders Congratulate Clinton but Worry About His Changes ....... 93
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Forwarded by: Liu Jian
Source: JAPAN ECONOMIC NEWSWIRE, 11/4/1992

World leaders reacted with cautious optimism Wednesday to the election of 
Bill Clinton as the next U.S. president, expressing hope the youthful 
Arkansas governor would bring a fresh impulse to the White House but 
worrying about the impact he might have on the world economyand critical 
foreign policy issues.

Enemies of President Bush ridiculed his loss at the polls, with followers of
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein slaughtering sheep and chanting anti-Bush 
slogans in celebration of Clinton's victory and Cuban leader Fidel Castro's
Communist Party trumpeting that Bush had suffered a "humiliating" defeat.

Most world leaders sent congratulatory messages wishing Clinton warmest 
regards and thanking Bush for his leadership at the close of the Cold War, 
but privately officials and businessmen expressed nervousness about 
exchanging the familiar hand of Bush for the little-known Clinton.

Across the globe from Tokyo to Moscow to Mexico City, government leaders and
analysts expressed a similar sentiment: We don't know Bill Clinton. 
Officials in Mexico and Japan worried he would push protectionism over free
trade, Mideast leaders wondered if the peace process would stall and China
prepared for thornier Sino-U.S. relations if he turns campaign rhetoric into
policy.

Clinton is unknown to Japanese leaders, and we are worried he and the 
Democrats could take up protectionist trade policies," said Takashi Inoguchi,
a professor of political science at Tokyo University. "He will have to 
adopt tough policies or the U.S. economy will not be improved soon."

His comments were echoed in the Mexican capital, where officials were
concerned about whether Clinton would wholeheartedly press for Congress to 
approve the North American Free Trade Agreement, which aims to turn the 
United States, Canada and Mexico into a free trade zone. Clinton has
endorsed the agreement, which is likely to cause an initial transfer of
jobs from the United States to Mexico, but he has criticized it for
failing to ensure the countries are bound by similar regulations on 
environmental protection and worker rights.

Canadians expressed similar concerns, with Deputy Prime Minister Don
Mazankowski saying he was glad Canada already had signed a free-trade
agreement with Washington and had negotiated the NAFTA free-trade pact
because such accords would have been more difficult under the
protectionist Democrats.

Officials in other parts of the world found the transition from Bush to 
Clinton unsettling. The Kremlin, which viewed the president as a partner
and ally in ending the Cold War, was scrambling to find out more about the 
Arkansas governor and offering congratulations phrased in language clearly 
indicating it would have preferred a second Bush administration.

Anatoly Krasikov, head of President Boris Yeltsin's press service, said the 
Kremlin did not expect any changes in Washington's stance toward the former 
Soviet Union, which is relying upon the United States for financial 
assistance to help it move toward a free-market economy.

In the Middle East, where the president forged an alliance against Iraqi 
aggression and coaxed Israel and its Arab neighbors into historic peace 
talks on the 40-year-old Middle East conflict, reaction to the Arkansas 
governor's election was mixed.

Supporters of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein reportedly danced in the
streets of Baghdad and slaughtered sheep in celebration over the electoral
defeat of Bush, who put together the coalition of forces that drove Iraqi
troops from Kuwait during the Persian Gulf war. The government-run Al 
Gomhuriya newspaper said the results of the American election showed "God
wanted George Bush to be crushed in the elections and thrown in the garbage
bin of history." "The other foes of Iraq should expect similar punishment
from God. The cancer that plagued (French President Francois) Mitterand and
the decline of the British pound from which Prime Minister John Major is
now suffering are clear examples of heavenly punishment," the newspaper
said.

The parties to the Middle East peace talks predicted the transition of U.S.
presidents would put the Arab-Israeli peace process on hold for several 
months but said they did not anticipate a major shift in American foreign 
policy toward the region. "Clinton's victory will affect negatively the 
(U.S.) interest to push forward the peace talks -- particularly in the next
few months, and until the next president organizes his administration," the
British Broadcasting Corp. quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Sharaa as
saying.

In the Jewish state itself, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
congratulated Clinton and said he was convinced the "special relations
between the American people and the people of Israel" would continue.
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said he believed the peace talks would
continue forward. While Rabin also praised President Bush for being a friend
to Israel, other Israelis had blunt words of condemnation for the American 
leader because of his administration's sharp opposition to the construction
of Jewish settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

While some nations viewed Clinton's election with uncertainty, China had
good reason to believe its relations with the United States would be
thornier under a Clinton administration because of the governor's scathing 
criticism of Beijing's human rights record during the campaign. Although
there was no immediate government reaction to Clinton's victory, hundreds of
curious Chinese jammed a U.S. Embassy election center to monitor returns
from the presidential vote, expressing both fear and hope for an anticipated
tougher line toward China under Clinton.

"It might become difficult now, because Clinton will use a very firm policy
against China," said Jia Yechun, 20, an English major at a Beijing college.
"Clinton seems to have a strong prejudice against China." But another 
middle-aged intellectual, who declined to be identified, expressed hope that
a tougher U.S. policy toward China might push the communist government 
toward adding political reforms to its drive for a capitalist-style market
economy. "Perhaps if the United States is more forceful, our government will
see an interest in allowing us to speak more freely, even if there is no
democracy," he said.

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4. Hong Kong Fears Clinton Victory Will Hurt Key Trading-Partner China .. 40
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Forwarded by: Chongyu Hua
Source: UPI, 11/4/1992

HONG KONG -- Analysts and expatriate U.S. business executives Wednesday 
feared a Bill Clinton victory -- coupled with big Democratic wins in 
Congress -- could spawn a tough American stance toward communist China, one
of Hong Kong's largest trading partners.

We're going to have to bring over all these new congressmen and educate them
as to the value of keeping China's door open," said U.S. businessman Ira
Kaye, chairman of Hong Kong Republicans Abroad. "And we'll have to send our
lobbyists to Washington to convince the administration, also."

An estimated 3,000 of Hong Kong's 23,000 U.S. expatriates gathered at the 
Marriott Hotel ballroom Wednesday for an election party featuring balloons, 
banners, campaign posters, and American television broadcast via satellite.

Hong Kong's American community -- dominated by businessmen -- has
traditionally been Republican, but local Clinton activists gave the
Democrats a high profile this time around.

Still, both camps -- as well many Hong Kong nationals -- worry about what a 
Clinton administration will mean for communist China.

The president-elect has previously indicated he favored tying Beijing's Most
Favored Nation trade status to China's human-rights record -- a reverse of 
President Bush's policy. During Bush's tenure, the White House repeatedly 
vetoed congressional measures to impose restrictions on China's MFN status 
based on such concerns.

Any possible reversal of that policy worries Hong Kong, because about 
one-third of China's foreign-trade volume moves through the city-state,
bringing large amounts of revenue to local businesses.

Many U.S. companies doing business with China also maintain large operations
in Hong Kong, a British colony set to revert to Chinese rule in 1997.

Paul Cheung, president of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, 
Wednesday summed up the colony's concerns about possible U.S. trade 
restrictions against Beijing.

"I think we need to mount an all-out lobbying effort, not only in
Washington, but talk to Beijing to get the Chinese leadership to understand
more how the U.S. political system works," Chueng said. "This time it's for
real. (China) no longer will have President Bush backing them on
non-conditional renewal (of MFN)."

However, Richard Williams, the U.S. consul-general in Hong Kong, claimed he 
did not expect any major shift in American policy toward China under the new 
administration.

Nonetheless, the Hong Kong stock market dipped Wednesday morning when the 
scope of the Clinton victory began to emerge. However, stocks later
rebounded strongly before the session ended.

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5. Taiwan Sees Clinton as Friendly but Tougher on Trade ................. 40
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Forwarded by: Chongyu Hua
Source: UPI, 11/4/1992

TAIPEI -- Bill Clinton's election victory was expected to broaden political
contact between the United States and Taiwan but harden Washington's resolve
in ongoing trade negotiations with the island.

Ruling Nationalist Party leaders expressed optimism about the new U.S.
president-elect, citing his past interest in Taiwan affairs. "Governor
Clinton has visited (Taiwan) four times and he is a knowledgeable and
understanding friend," said Premier Hao Pei-tsun in a written statement.

Leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan's largest opposition 
group, expect their long-time ties with the Democrats will improve their 
access to the White House. "It's quite true that (Taiwan's opposition) does
have a lot of personal contact with the Democrats," said Kao Ying-mao,
president of a ruling party think-tank, "Clinton's victory will really open
up (Washington's) contact with Taiwan."

Taiwan's Nationalists, who fled to the island after being driven from 
mainland China by communist armies in 1949, suffered strained relations with 
Jimmy Carter, the last Democrat to occupy the White House.

A vocal critic of Taipei's human rights record, Carter broke relations with 
Taiwan in 1979 to switch American diplomatic recognition to Beijing.

But since lifting martial law in 1987, Taiwan has democratized rapidly and 
experts say continued reform will evoke Clinton's support vis-a-vis China, 
the island's main political rival.

"A good way to protect Taiwan's de facto independence is to broaden the gap
between Taipei and Beijing on the human rights issue," said Dr. Lee Tzu-wen, 
foreign affairs advisor to Taiwan's legislature.

On the economic front, Taipei, which last year tallied a $8.2 billion trade 
surplus with Washington, faces a president-elect determined to open foreign 
markets to U.S. goods.

"Clinton will be tougher than Bush was during trade negotiations," said 
government economist Kuo Wen-jeng. He predicts pressure on Taiwan to protect
intellectual property, to open to U.S. farm exports and broaden financial 
liberalizations. "But I don't think Clinton will adopt protectionist
policies because he knows that if you slow up trade relations with Asia you
hurt everyone," Kuo added.

Another of Taipei's economic concerns was Clinton's policy on China, where 
Taiwan businessmen have invested an estimated $10 billion since 1987. Hsieh
Shui-hsien, a semi-official negotiator with China, said a deterioration of
Sino-U.S. relations could inhibit Beijing's access to the vast American 
market. "If this happens," said Hsieh, "Taiwan will lose also because
(Taiwanese joint-ventures) are now using China's quota to export to the 
U.S."

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6. UNESCO Human Rights committee Chairman Denied Visit to Beijing Prison. 20
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Forwarded by: XU Mingyang
Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 11/5/1992
Written by: Yvonne Preston

Beijing, Wednesday: Prisons are off-limits to outsiders because of the need
to protect the dignity of prisoners and ensure they are not upset, Chinese
judicial authorities told Mr Barry Jones, the Australian Federal Labour MP,
today.

Mr Jones is in Beijing to discuss human rights with Chinese leaders in his
capacity as chairman of a UNESCO human rights committee. His failure to gain
access to the Chinese prison system follows China's bar on a visit to Tibet
by Australia's human rights delegation.

The delegation is due to arrive in Beijing on Sunday for its second official
visit to China. On the first, in July last year, it was allowed into Tibet
but its report on human rights abuses there was highly critical.

Mr Jones said the UNESCO human rights committee received more specific 
complaints against China than from all other countries combined, but he
believed the Chinese had made progress on human rights issues.

Mr Jones had two hours of talk with a Chief Judge of the Supreme Court,
Mr Wang Yongcheng, who said China's judiciary was independent of the State,
but acknowledged the overall control of the Communist Party.

China's Premier, Mr Li Peng, in talks lasting 50 minutes, was highly
critical of Australia's poor record in civil liberties. Mr Li said
Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders weree discriminated against.

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7. Chinese Drilling Ship Leaves Disputed Waters in South China Sea ...... 23
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Forwarded by: Liu Jian
Source: JAPAN ECONOMIC NEWSWIRE, 11/4/1992

BEIJING -- A Chinese ship accused by Vietnam of drilling in Hanoi's
territorial waters has left the disputed area, the Chinese Foreign Ministry
said Wednesday.

The South Sea No. 6 has ended drilling activities in the Beibu Gulf (Gulf of
Tonkin)," the Xinhua news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as
saying. "The ship has been drilling on the Chinese side of the median line
of the Beibu Gulf since September 4," the spokesman said. "Now the ship has 
completed its work and left the place."

Hanoi maintains the vessel has been operating in Vietnamese waters.

When the alleged incursion first occurred, the Vietnamese side said the
provocative move also violated a January 1972 agreement between the two
countries not to drill for oil in disputed waters.

China and Vietnam both claim sovereignty over the Gulf of Tonkin and also
dispute the South China Sea Spratly Islands with Taiwan, Malaysia, the
Philippines, and Brunei.

Foreign analysts say China is looking to exploit the untapped oil reserves
in the area to fuel economic expansion on Hainan Island which lies to the
east. In May, China signed a contract with the U.S. Crestone Energy Company
to jointly explore for gas and oil on the Vietnamese continental shelf,
saying it was prepared to use naval force to protect the contract.

Analysts say the Chinese announcement may be an attempt to ease tensions
between China and Vietnam ahead of a likely visit by Chinese Premier Li Peng
to Hanoi later this year.

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