Path: utzoo!lsuc!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!daemon From: chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (Bo Chi) Newsgroups: ut.chinese Subject: Nov. 9 (II), News Digest Message-ID: <8911091628.AA25991@vlsi.waterloo.edu> Date: 9 Nov 89 11:28:49 GMT Sender: Distribution: ut Lines: 265 Approved: nobody@csri.toronto.edu Original-To: china-distribution@cs.toronto.edu | +---------I __L__ ___/ \ -------I +----+----+ | ___\_\_ | \./ | | -----+- | | | | | __ \/ | --+-- |--- | |---| | I----+----I | I__J/\ | __|__ | | | |---| | | | _____ \ | /| \ | | | L__-| | I I---------J / J \/ | | V | J * C h i n a N e w s D i g e s t * (ND Canada Service) -- Nov. 9 (II), 1989 Table of Contents # of Lines 1) East German Government Resigns: Protest Continue .................... 64 2) Ten People In Guizhou Province Have Been Arrested ................... 16 3) Protesters March As Well On Soviet Revolution Day ................... 43 4) Guangdong Halts Foreign Building Deals .............................. 77 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. East German Government Resigns: Protest Continue ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tang@alisuvax.bitnet (Deming Tang) [Source: Des Moines Register, 11/08/89] EAST BERLIN, EAST GERMANY -- East Germany's 40-year-old Communist- dominated government, struggling to stave off economic and political collapse, resigned en masse Tuesday and pleaded with those fleeing to the West to remain in the country. More than 100,000 people marched Tuesday for democracy in five East German cities. The 44-member Cabinet, called the Council of Ministers, resigned jointly, said government spokeman Wolfgang Meyer. The council, led by 75-year-old Premier Willi Stoph, implements policy made by the Communist Party Politburo. More than 28,000 East Germans have fled to West Germany through neiboring Czechoslovakia since Saturday -- they arrived Tuesday at the rate of 200 per hour. About 175,000 more than 1 percent of the population, have left the country this year by legal or illegal means. The Council of Ministers will remain in office until Parliament elects a new one, Meyer said, but he did not say when that would occur. The party Central Committee was to meet today to consider further changes. West German political leaders in Bonn applauded Tuesday's resignations but said only democratic reforms will quell unrest in the communist nation. Several Communist Party officials and three small parties allied with the Communists urged the resignation of the Politburo itself, which met Tuesday. Leaders "should resign without any delay" to make way for a new Politburo and government to carry out reforms, said the newspaper Junge Welt, an organ of the Communist youth organization. Egon Krenz, who replaced his mentor Erich Honecker, 77, as party leader last month, has said five elderly Politburo members closely associated with Honecker will be replaced by the end of the week. Two other Politburo members lost their jobs when Krenz took over Oct. 18. The Politburo, which normally has 21 members, also discussed an "action program" Krenz has said would contain sweeping political and economic reforms. Guenter Krusche, a senior Lutheran Church leader in East Berlin called for immediate "secret and free elections" for a new government. About 5,000 people marched in East Berlin on Tuesday to demand free elections and challenge the Communist monopoly on power. Police did not interfere with the protesters, who shouted: "All power to the people!" ADN, the official news agency, said 50,000 people rallied in Wismar, on the Baltic coast; 35,000 rallied in Nordhausen, near Erfurt; and 20,000 marched in Meiningen. Guntram Ermann of New Forum, the largest opposition group, told the Wismar crowd his organization seeks "peaceful transformation to a democratic state." On Monday, 750,000 demonstrators marched, with about 500,000 in Leipzig alone. East German leaders have been promising democratic reforms and freer travel in hopes of halting unrest, but the draft law appeared to satisfy no one. In rejecting the law in its current form, ADN said, the committee declared: "The proposal does not meet the expectations of citizens... and will not achieve the political credibility of the state." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Ten People In Guizhou Province Have Been Arrested ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: CHENH%ROSE.DECNET@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu [Source: Associated Press, 11/07/89] BEIJING - Communist leaders met secretly Tuesday to endorse a three-year austerity plan. The Chinese people were told to brace for several years of ''hard living'' as the country grapples with economic difficulties. Meanwhile, police reportedly arrested 10 people in the southern province of Guizhou and accused them of trying to overthrow the government. The Legal Daily, an official newspaper, said the 10 are members of ''an organized, planned and programmed counterrevolutionary group.'' The Communist Party's governing Central Committee was expected tp prescribe tighter government controls over the economy and fewer market- oriented reforms. That could mean the revival of the primacy of central planning, restora- tion of the leadership of party members in factories and a limit in the growth of collective and private enterprise. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Protesters March As Well On Soviet Revolution Day ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Tang@alisuvax.bitnet (Deming Tang) [Source: Des Moines Register, 11/08/89] MOSCOW, U.S.S.R. -- An unprecedented march by 5,000 Muscovites protesting the Communist Party's monopoly on power was held her Tuesday as the Kremlin leadership staged a scaled-down version of the traditional Revolution Day military parade in Red Square. The 72nd anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution was marred in other Soviet cities by reported protests, strikes and clashes with police. It was the first time since 1924, when Josef Stalin was consolidating power in the aftermath of Vladimir Lenin's death, that the traditional holiday unity was disrupted. From around the country came reports of unrest. Official parades were canceled in the restive republics of Armenia, Georgia and Moldavia. Activists in Moldavia said that thousands of would-be protesters were dispersed -- and some of them beaten -- by police. In Armenia, as well as in the Baltic republic of Latvia, activists reported that protesters burned Soviet flags. In the Arctic city of Vorkuta, coal miners who have been on strike for two weeks joined the official celebration, but carried banners with slogans demanding more independence and that the government fulfill promises of better living and working conditions. In Alma-Ata, capital of Kazakhstan, an anti-nuclear group campaigning for an end to Soviet and American underground tests joined the local march, and in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, youth sought to stop tanks from parading through the city. The most revolution event of Revolution Day began Tuesday morning in Moscow's northern section, when 5,000 marchers wended their way through the street carrying anti-government banners, taunting police and chanting, "Freedom, freedom," and "Away with the KGB." Police made no attempt to interfere with the unofficial demonstration. But the marchers were blocked from approaching Red Square by barricades and lines of hundreds of militiamen. "Shame, shame, shame," the marchers shouted in unison. One young man ran up to the policemen in their gray greatcoats and held up a banner that said, "Lies." The crowd cheered in approval. Walking under the traditional red banners and portrits of Lenin that have festooned Moscow in recent days, many demonstrators called for an end to the Communist Party's leading role in Society and the passage of laws guaranteeing freedom of the press. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Guangdong Halts Foreign Building Deals ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: hkucs!kwchan@uunet.uu.net (Chan Ki Wa) [Source: SCMP, 11/07/89] Guangdong province, China's southern economic showcase, has decided to halt almost all foreign investment in property, according to a Chinese Government document. Hongkong property developers said the decision signalled a retreat from Beijing's open door economic policies championed by senior Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. The document, issued in mid-September, ordered an end to new foreign in investment in property and said the freeze would also apply to contracts which had been signed already but where construction had not yet started. The only exception would be Taiwanese investment in industrial property. Hongkong-based property developers confirmed they had heard of the instruction contained in the document, which was obtained by the Reuters news agency. Its authenticity was confirmed by a Chinese official. "It's an about-turn for the current open door policy," said a Hongkong property consultant with long experience in the China market. China opened its property market when Shenzhen sold land leases to foreigners throught auction in 1986. Other provinces and cities in China, including Shanghai, Tianjin and Fujian province, quickly followed suit. Official Chinese figures show that as of March, foreign property investment in Guangdong totalled US$2.44 billion. Another developer, who has invested in many projects in China, said he feared other Chinese provinces would follow Guangdong's lead. Hongkong developers said they believed Chinese authorities had become increasingly concerned about the growth of overseas investment in the property market. Chinese leaders felt the benefits of overseas investment were outweighed by problems of spiralling property prices. In the past year, Guangdong province has halted foreign investment in hotels. The document said the latest decision had been taken because it was thought that property investment was not the best use of foreign capital in China. The document called on authorities in cities and counties throughout Guangdong to review thoroughly all property investment by foreigners, including those from Hongkong, Macau and Taiwan. It said the review was to be finished by the middle of October and results submitted to the provincial Government. The Guangdong official said a number of cities and counties were arguing with the provincial Government over the issue and had not yet filed thir reports. Hongkong developers said foreign investors were concerned mainly by the freeze on contracts already signed. There were no immediate estimates of the value of such contracts, but they are thought to be substantial. The bulk of Hongkong's manufacturing industry has shifted across the border to Guangdong in recent years to take advantage of relaively cheap labour. The document said projects already under construction would be closely monitored and handled on a case-by-case basis. Taiwanese investors, who have been active in the Chinese property market, will be allowed to erect industrial buildings only. The document said Chinese firms in partnership with Taiwanese investors would have to report the projects to the Government and approval would be strictly controlled. A Hongkong property developer said: "I wonder how they can stop it. They have leased out or auctioned many pieces of land in the past few years. If they stop it, nobody will believe that China will keep its opendoor policy." +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Deming Tang E_mail: Tang@ALISUVAX.bitnet | +---------------------------------------------------------------------------+ ============================================================================= News Transmission chi@vlsi.uwaterloo.ca (or) -------------------- --------------------- Local Editor: Bo Chi chi@vlsi.waterloo.edu