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Tue, Apr 1, 1997
US 'Down Plays' Gingrich's Remarks
also: PRC rebukes Australia for its tough language; Sino-Thai relations are 'brotherly'; PRC says missing dissident is alive and well; Xinhua bureau chief dies by own hand; and more . . .Please read the statement of purpose.
United States: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction---the mainland government has issued a statement in response to Newt Gingrich's tough stance on the Taiwan question during his trip to the mainland last week. The PRC Foreign ministry said, "We hope that the US Government could adopt a policy of non-interference into China's internal affairs, stop selling advanced weapons to Taiwan and observe the three Sino-US joint communiques." The article also says, Gingrich himself upheld the principle of the "one China" policy---although one wonders how Gingrich himself interprets the meaning of "one China", and the paper does not say. . . .
Anyway, Inside China has a Reuters dispatch with a bit more informative news, from the American perspective. "U.S. Seeks to Play Down Gingrich Taiwan Comments" is the title of the story, but as the reader will notice the United State's message is not so clear-cut: the White House has indeed down played Speaker Gingrich's remarks and reaffirmed its "One China" policy. It noted, the Taiwan relations Act does not commit the US to defending the island, although it does oblige the US to help equip and service the island to maintain a "sufficient self-defense capability," reports the paper.
But Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at a news conference at the UN, an attack by the PRC against Taiwan would be of "grave concern" to the United State, reports the paper, even as she affirmed the limits of US commitment to the defense of Taiwan. According to the Act, US policy is to "consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States," reports the paper.
See the Sat, Mar 29, 1997 and Sun, Mar 30, 1997 issues for more information.
Australia: According to Melbourne's The Age newspaper, the PRC has issued a statement rebuffing Mr Howard's tough line on human rights.
See the Mon, Mar 31, 1997 issue for more information on Mr Howard's trip to China.
Development: "Nation targets poverty" is a China Daily article and a nice piece of propaganda. It reports on China's ambitious target to lift its people out of poverty by the year 2000, but it would appear to fit too nicely in with the PRC's definition of Human rights.
Thailand: we have a short piece on an official visit by leaders of the Thai government to the mainland; the visit commences on April 2. The China Daily quotes Thai Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who said, "Thai-Chinese relations are now moving in an even smoother and steadier direction." Speaking to a Bangkok-based Chinese reporter, he said: "ties between the two countries are not ordinary ones; Thailand and China have special relations and brotherly feelings."
See yesterday's issue (Mon, Mar 31, 1997) for more information on Sino-Thai relations.
Lawful shuffle: Executive Vice Minister of Justice Zhang Xiufu said government agencies were taking good care of Bao Tong, former aid to Zhao Ziyang and the highest ranking official to be jailed in the wake of the Tiananmen disaster. Released from prison last May, Bao was immediately placed under house arrest. He recently disappeared, and the United States has made an issue of the PRC's confinement of Bao without providing him with judicial representation, reports the paper.
As Zhang explains, "High-level departments think he is not suitable any more for ministerial-level housing and want to change his residence but have so far failed to do so," the paper quotes Zhang. "Because a two-year suspension of his political rights still applies to Bao Tong, so some administrative bodies are exercising management measures. . . .The relevant departments are taking good care of him.
"Zhang defended Bao's detention, saying Beijing's measures were necessary and required by law," writes the paper.
In related news: dissident Liu Xiaobo's lawsuit against the government for sending him to a labor camp without a trial has been dismissed by the Xuanwu District court in Beijing, reports Inside China.
Hong Kong: British citizens residing in the colonydarted over to Macao over the Easter holiday weekend in order to beat the April 1 change in visa regulations. As of today British passport holders will no longer receive a 12 month stamp on their passport upon entering the Crown Colony. In preparation for the July 1 hand-over the stamp bares a 6 month limit, and after July 1 all British citizens will have to apply for a work visa along with all other foreigners. By travelling to Macao, the Portuguese colony, and then returning to Hong Kong, they receive a right to abode thru March 1998.
Journalism: Patrick Tyler, New York Times's Beijing correspondent, reports on the suicide of Wei Guoqiang, 47, the Washington bureau chief of mainland China's Xinhua News Agency. Tyler writes, Wei was apparently recalled last month after a colleague discovered his preparations for seeking political asylum, and over the weekend hanged himself in his Beijing apartment. Tyler notes, over the years Wei had written a number of strongly worded stories taking issue with the United State's human rights problems and her affinity for power politics in the world.
The article also provides information on the Xinhua New Agency. Tyler notes, Xinhua not only reports the news to readers in China and to the world. It functions as part of a broader information apparatus for China's leaders. The agency "receives, translates, condenses, and provides analysis of news gathered from all over the world and presents it daily to China's leaders," writes Tyler. Xinhua also acts as a cover for agents of China's Ministry of State Security, the intelligence gathering arm of the PRC.
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