From: gaojeng@durras.anu.edu.au (J. Gao)
Subject: CND-Global, Mon, August 31, 1992
Summary: CND
Keywords: CND
Organization: Computer Services Centre, Australian National University
Date: 31 Aug 92 12:11:11 GMT

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

                              (News Global)

                        Monday, August 31, 1992

Table of Contents                                                # of Lines
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1. News Brief (4 Items) ................................................ 42
2. Eighteen Chinese Reporters to Visit Taiwan .......................... 26
3. New Movie by Director Zhang Yimou Wins Festival Prize in China ...... 23
4. Bush Nears Decision to Let Taiwan Buy U.S. War Planes ............... 69
5. Ex-Japan Prime Minister Tanaka Leaves for China ..................... 34
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1. News Brief (4 Items) ................................................ 42
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[REUTERS 8/27/92] BEIJING -- Drought which has badly hit more than 60 pct of
farmland in the central province of Anhui will certainly lower yields in the
autumn harvest, the official Economic Daily said. The conditions on 2.66
million hectares of stricken crops are getting worse despite the efforts of
8.7 million farmers to relieve the situation, it said. It did not give an
estimate for how the harvest would be affected. Anhui, which was badly hurt
by flooding last year, is one of China's major rice producers. (From: A CND
reader)
                        ____  ____  ____  ____

[AP 8/29/92] BEIJING -- Fishermen angry over pollution in China's coastal
Zhejiang province stormed a chemical plant, damaging equipment and forcing
the factory to halt production, an official report said today. The English-
language China Daily newspaper said about 100 fishermen broke into the plant
June 15 after their repeated complaints over the factory's discharge of
untreated wastewater were ignored. The report did not explain the reason for
the delay in reporting on the disturbance. The China Daily said wastewater
discharged into the East China Sea killed seaweed, kelp, clams and other
seafoods. It did not say if the problems have been resolved. (From: A CND
Reader)
                        ____  ____  ____  ____

[Jiji Press 8/27/92] TOKYO -- Yaohan International Group will open a
shopping center in Beijing in December jointly with CHINA Venturetec
Investment Corp. (CVIC), a venture capital affiliated with the Chinese
government, the Hong Kong-based firm said Thursday. This will be Yaohan's
second shopping center in CHINA, followed by the one in Shenzhen, company
officials said. The shopping center containing five stories above and two
under the ground will have about 12,000 square meters of sales floor space,
the officials said. Yaohan aims to sell 300 million yuan at the shopping
center in the first year. (From: A CND reader)
                        ____  ____  ____  ____

[AP 8/26/92] WASHINGTON -- Peace Corps Director Elaine Chao will become the
new president of United Way of America, replacing William Aramony, a United
Way source said Wednesday. The source said Chao was being introduced to the
United Way board at a meeting in Alexandria, Va., by a search panel that
recommended her selection. Chao, 38, One of the highest ranking Asian-
American officials in the Bush administration, she served as a former deputy
transportation secretary. Chao was confirmed as director of the Peace Corps
in December. (From: Huijie)

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2. Eighteen Chinese Reporters to Visit Taiwan .......................... 26
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~From: A CND Reader
Source: REUTERS 8/27/92

TAIPEI -- Eighteen Chinese journalists will visit Taiwan next month, the
largest group of reporters from China to come to the island since the end of
the civil war in 1949, officials said on Thursday.

The Bureau of Entry and Exit has agreed to issue visas to 18 Chinese
television radio and print media reporters to promote civilian contact
between Taiwan and China, bureau spokesman Liu Peng-chun told reporters.

The journalists were invited to visit Taiwan by the Straits Exchange
Foundation a semi-official body which handles the island's links with China.

The reporters will arrive on September 5 for a one-week visit. They will not
meet officials of the government or the ruling Nationalist Party, foundation
spokesman Shih Chi-ping said. Taipei still bans official contact with China.

Two reporters from Beijing-owned news agencies visited Taiwan last August to
cover the piracy trial of seven Chinese fishermen, becoming the first
Chinese reporters to visit the island since the civil war.

State radio said Chinese Go master Nie Weiping would visit Taiwan for two
weeks next month under the island's programme to encourage visits by leading
Chinese academics, artists and sportsmen. Go is an ancient Chinese
boardgame.

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3. New Movie by Director Zhang Yimou Wins Festival Prize in China ...... 40
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~From: <izzyhc1@ucla.edu>
Source: AP 8/29/92

A movie directed by Zhang Yimou has won the top prize at a film festival in
northeastern China, which gave another sign the government is easing up on
censorship,

The government had banned two of Zhang's previous films "Raise the Red
Lantern" and "Ju Dou" both Oscar nominees.

"Qiuju Goes to Court" on Friday was given the Changchun festival's Gold Cup,
which includes a $3,700 award, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported
today.

Fifty-five films from China, the United States, Japan, France, Italy, India,
Hong Kong and Taiwan were screened at the festival, which concluded Friday,
Xinhua said.

The Gold Cup award marks a special triumph for Zhang, who has had difficulty
getting his movies screened in China. He is now benefiting from a lessening
of restrictions as officials gradually move toward more openness in the
conservative cultural arena.

The movie is about a peasant's efforts to get redress through the judicial
system for injuries her husband suffered at the hands of a village leader.

It features actress Gong Li, who has starred in the two Zhang movies
nominated for Academy Awards in the best foreign film category "Raise the
Red Lantern" in 1992 and "Ju Dou" in 1991.

Chinese official media reported in July that censors had approved "Raise the
Red Lantern" for screening in China, beginning in September. The movie was
produced with funds from Taiwan and already screened widely abroad.

The government apparently had objected to the movie because of its subtle
message about authority and rebellion. It is about a wealthy, elderly man
who holds his four concubines as virtual prisoners.

"Ju Dou," which is about a woman who has an affair with her husband's
nephew, apparently has been banned because of its sexual content.

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4. Bush Nears Decision to Let Taiwan Buy U.S. War Planes ............... 69
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~From: Huijie
Source: AP-DJ 8/30/92
By: Eduardo Lachinca

WASHINGTON -- The administration of U.S. President George Bush, heeding
election-year demands from Congress and the defense industry, is nearing a
decision to let Taiwan buy U.S. warplanes for the first time in more than a
decade, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Texas lawmakers who support the arms sale say Bush could authorize it "any
time now." The likely U.S. vendor is General Dynamics Corp., which has had a
potential Taiwanese order of 60 to 150 F-16s on its books for many years.
The sale has been blocked by U.S. diplomatic commitments to China that date
back to the early 1980s, when the U.S. needed China's help in countering the
Soviets' military might.

The Bush administration's intention to reverse or modify this ban surfaced
last month when Bush told Texas radio listeners that he would take a "hard
look" at it. He made his promise just a day after General Dynamics announced
plans to lay off 5,800 of its Fort Worth, Texas, workers because of
declining F-16 orders.

Taiwanese authorities have been intently watching the developments in
Washington ever since Bush said he would be prepared to reconsider U.S.
policy toward the plane sales. At a dinner last Friday, Defense Minister
Chen Li-an told reporters, "We hope the U.S. can overcome its difficulties
and sell the planes."

Asked for comment on news reports that the Bush administration is close to
approving the sale, Chen smiled, raised his hand and crossed his fingers
to reporters, indicating that he is hopeful.

Some analysts suggest that Taiwan has its best chance of gaining approval
for the F-16 sale during the U.S. presidential campaign because the White
House will be concerned about winning votes in the key state of Texas.

An interagency team representing the U.S. National Security Council and the
U.S. State, Defense and Commerce departments is expected to recommend a
course of action for Bush to take. A formal notification to Congress that
the administration intends to license the sale of the planes to Taiwan would
effectively terminate the long-standing ban.

There is no known opposition to the sale in Congress. A letter that
Representative Joe Barton, a Texas Republican, sent to the White House
urging approval of the F-16 sale drew 100 co-signers from both sides of the
House aisle.

The main hitch to the sale is a provision in a 1982 U.S.-China joint
communique that expresses the U.S. intent to "reduce gradually its sale of
arms to Taiwan, leading over a period of time to a final resolution."

However, proponents of the F-16 sale claim that a 1979 U.S. law, the Taiwan
Relations Act, takes precedence over any executive agreement, and that this
law authorizes the U.S. to provide Taiwan with whatever arms are needed for
its defense.

So far three U.S. Republican administrations have adhered to the 1982 text,
but since then the balance of power has changed considerably in Southeast
Asia. There no longer is a Soviet Union posing a threat to any Asian nation.
China, meanwhile, is buying top-of-the-line Russian SU-27 fighters and
acquiring the right to manufacture another highly capable Russian model,
the MiG-15.

Moreover, China also is acquiring the ability to refuel these planes in
midair and thus extend their range to the farthest reaches of the South
China Sea.

Taiwan, on the other hand, hasn't been able to upgrade its air force
comparatively. It is stuck with outmoded U.S.-made F-5s and F-104s.

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5. Ex-Japan Prime Minister Tanaka Leaves for China ..................... 34
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~From: A CND Reader
Source: REUTERS 8/27/92

TOKYO -- Japan's former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka, who normalised
relations with CHINA, left on Thursday for a five-day private visit to
Beijing to mark the reconciliation 20 years ago.

Tanaka left on a special charter flight with several members of his family
and others, including a member of parliament of the ruling Liberal
Democratic Party which Tanaka once headed.

Since suffering a serious stroke in 1985, Tanaka has retired from public
life and is unable to talk. It is his first overseas trip since the Lockheed
bribery scandal ended his rags-to-riches political career.

Tanaka was arrested in 1976 and was later charged with taking $2 million in
payoffs from the Lockheed aircraft company. He appealed and the case is in
the courts. Because of this, he had to obtain government permission to leave
the country.

China has never forgotten his initiative to normalise relations in September
1972 by going to Beijing, at a time when China was isolated in the middle of
the Cultural Revolution.

During a visit to Tokyo in April this year, Communist Party chief Jiang
Zemin visited Tanaka and invited him to China.

During this visit Tanaka is to meet Jiang again and is due to stay in the
Daiyutai guest house reserved for high-level state guests. He is due to
return to Japan on Monday.

A Japanese foreign ministry spokesman said Tanaka's visit was not connected
to a planned visit by Emperor Akihito to CHINA in late October. "He is not a
special envoy. He is making a private, not an official visit," the spokesman
said.

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