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CND-Global, August 7, 1998 (GL98-110)
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(Global News, No. GL98-110)
Friday, August 7, 1998
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ISSN 1024-9117
Table of Contents # of Lines
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1. News Brief (9 Items) ................................................ 206
2. News from Taiwan (9 Items) ........................................... 47
3. What's in August 7th's Hua Xia Wen Zhai #384 (cm9808a) ............... 39
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1. News Brief (9 Items) ................................................ 206
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(1) Dyke Bursts in Hubei, Leaving At Least 19 Soldiers Missing
(2) Two Bombs Blow Up in Xinjiang, No One Hurt
(3) Typhoon to Worsen Flooding in China
(4) Fourth Flood Crest Forms on Yangtze as Typhoon Otto Lands
(5) Dissidents Urge Beijing and Taipei to Exert Pressure on Indonesia
(6) Taipei and Beijing Dispute over Murdered DPP City Councilor
(7) Chinese Ambassador Declines Appearance as "Witness" Before US Congress
(8) Hong Kong Economic Slump Threatens TUNG's Position
(9) Suspected Computer Hacker Arrested
____ ____ ____
(1) Dyke Bursts in Hubei, Leaving At Least 19 Soldiers Missing
[CND, 08/06/98] A dyke burst Saturday in Hubei's Jiayu county left at
least 19 soldiers missing, AFP reported citing the official China
Daily. A Hubei provincial flood-control official was quoted by China
Daily as saying the total number of casualties was still under
investigation.
About 100 square kilometers were flooded after the dyke burst. Some
2,000 soldiers and police were mobilized to rescue 53,000 stranded
residents.
AFP reported that dissident sources claimed at least 150 soldiers and
a large number of residents were killed when the dyke burst.
At least 138 people have been killed in Hubei during the summer
floods. (Jian-Min LI, YIN De An)
____ ____ ____
(2) Two Bombs Blow Up in Xinjiang, No One Hurt
[CND, 08/04/98] On July 8, Moslem separatists set off two bombs in
Khotan, a southern Xinjiang town, AFP reported, quoting local police
and officials. No one was hurt and the bombers were arrested. The
homemade bombs were placed close to a traffic watchtower near the
Khotan town hall. One bomb blew up at 9:00 am and another at
midnight. The building's windows were shattered by one of the blasts.
The blasts occurred when president JIANG Zemin was visiting Xinjiang;
he urged the authorities to crack down on Moslem separatists.
Some unidentified travelers said that there were more than two bomb
blasts. According to a report by Hong Kong's South China Morning
Post, another bomb went off in another Xinjiang city Korla ten days
ago. But Korla authorities contacted by AFP said the explosion was
caused by a gas cooker, which left two dead. Xinjiang has been dogged
by separatist violence over the past few years. (Shiji SHEN, YIN De
An)
____ ____ ____
(3) Typhoon to Worsen Flooding in China
[CND, 08/06/98] China's battle against the unbridled summer floods
will intensify as the season's second tropical storm starts to sweep
across the southern Yangtze River region this week, UPI reported.
Typhoon Otto tore across Taiwan Tuesday, causing tremendous damage to
its farmland. Worse still, it killed at least one person on the
island. The storm was expected to land in the southern and southeast
part of the mainland, further threatening the already endangered
dikes and embankments along the swollen Yangtze River. Since March
this year, residents along the gigantic river have been experiencing
record floods brought about by the early melting of highland snow in
Tibet and Qinghai, and by heavy rains resulting from the El Nino
weather phenomenon. So far, floods have claimed 2,400 lives in
mainland China. (Peter LI, YIN De An)
____ ____ ____
(4) Fourth Flood Crest Forms on Yangtze as Typhoon Otto Lands
[CND, 08/06/98] Regions along the middle reaches of Yangtze River
were warned to brace for the fourth flood crest this year, Reuters
reported Thursday citing Xinhua. The new flood crest was expected to
pass the Three Gorges Dam on Thursday.
Hubei, among the hardest hit in flooding, has mobilized over one
million residents and soldiers to fight the flood.
Xinhua said problems were reported at 3,581 places on embankments
along the Yangtze River, but the most dangerous places had been dealt
with.
On Thursday, Anhui, Hubei's downriver neighbour, braced for an
onslaught of water from two sides as the Yangtze River moved in from
the west and Typhoon Otto roared in from the east coast. Even before
Typhoon Otto, Yangtze water levels in Anhui had exceeded warning
marks for 40 days and topped the 1954 record level for seven days.
It is believed this year's flooding is the worst since 1954 when
33,000 people were killed by floods. (Jian-Min LI, Sue Bruell)
____ ____ ____
(5) Dissidents Urge Beijing and Taipei to Exert Pressure on Indonesia
[CND, 08/06/98] Forty-four dissidents in mainland China signed an
open letter to the governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,
calling for a tougher line with Indonesia on crimes against ethnic
Chinese. AFP reportedly received a fax copy of the letter. The
dissidents criticized the governments for being too soft so far,
suggesting that they send a delegation to Indonesia to support and
comfort the victims, especially the gang-raped women. The letter also
demanded a public apology and compensation to the victims from the
Indonesian government. It also requested that the United Nations send
a team to Indonesia to investigate the crimes. XU Wenli, MAO Guoliang
and WANG Donghai are among the signed. (Weihe GUAN, YIN De An)
____ ____ ____
(6) Taipei and Beijing Dispute over Murdered DPP City Councilor
[CND, 08/06/98] Taipei rejected Beijing's accusations that it was
using the murder on the mainland of a Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) city councilor to stir up tensions between the two sides.
Commenting on the accusation, Jan Jyh-horng, deputy secretary of
Taipei's semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), said that
Beijing's charges were groundless, AFP reported on Wednesday. LIN,
Ti-Chuan 32, a DPP councilor from Taiwan's Kaohsiung city, was found
murdered in Haicheng in Liaoning Province on the mainland. SEF
offered to send its officials to accompany the victim's family to
Liaoning to reclaim the remains. Beijing rejected the proposal and
claimed that Taipei was "taking advantage of the incident to
deliberately create and exacerbate differences in order to sow
dissension between compatriots across the Straits." Beijing did not
want the incident to affect SEF Chairman Koo Chen-fu's upcoming visit
to the mainland, the highest level semi-official contact between the
two sides since 1993. In response to Beijing's reaction, Jan
expressed the hope that Koo's trip would not be affected. Beijing and
Taipei have been two rival Chinese states since the end of the
Chinese Civil War in 1949. (Peter LI, YIN De An)
____ ____ ____
(7) Chinese Ambassador Declines Appearance as "Witness" Before US Congress
[CND, 08/05/98] The Chinese embassy in the US stated late Wednesday
that Ambassador LI Zhaoxing was right to pull out of a scheduled
appearance before a subcommittee of the US Congress, AFP reported.
At a news conference, Chinese embassy officials rejected US
Representative Chris Smith's charge that Ambassador Li had canceled
his appearance at the last minute with "the most flimsy excuse
imaginable."
According to Representative Smith, a Republican from New Jersey and
outspoken China critic, who heads the House International Affairs
Subcommittee on International Relations and Human Rights, Ambassador
Li sent word 20 minutes before the session began that he would not
appear.
Smith asserted that the committee had tried its best to accommodate
Ambassador Li, including renaming the session from a "hearing" to a
"meeting", rearranging the committee room so that Li would be seated
at a table at the same level and across from committee members
instead of being seated at a separate table and being stared down at
by the committee members who are usually seated on a raised dais, as
well as barring other "witnesses" from testifying in front of the
panel on the same day.
It is known that top US officials are routinely questioned as
"witnesses" and often harangued by legislators in front of the
Congressional subcommittees.
Chinese officials maintained that an informal "meeting" on the issue
of human rights in China is more conducive to candor and suitable for
a foreign diplomat. In a statement, Embassy spokesman YU Shuning
said that "in keeping with general diplomatic practice, it is not
appropriate for the ambassador to appear as a witness before the
Congressional subcommittee."
Ambassador Li's US Congressional liaison HUO Mingwu said Li was
willing to meet Smith "anytime, anywhere." Li also invited
Congressman Smith to meet the ambassador in the Chinese embassy to
discuss the issue of human rights in China.
Smith's spokesman Ken WOLFE stated that Smith would go to the embassy
for a dialogue "if it's a meeting just like the one scheduled today,
with the press allowed in." (Ray ZHANG, YIN De An)
____ ____ ____
(8) Hong Kong Economic Slump Threatens TUNG's Position
[CND, 08/06/98] The continuing economic crisis in Hong Kong has
prompted a group of activists to discuss a scheme that would force
Chief Executive TUNG Chee-hwa to step down, AFP reported Wednesday.
TSANG Kin-shing, a founding member of the Action Committee for
Defending the Diaoyu Islands and a former member of Hong Kong's
mini-parliament, is to lead the "dump Tung" campaign, as Tung is
blamed for the decline in the territory's political, economical and
social conditions.
Currently Hong Kong's unemployment rate stands at a 15-year high of
4.5 percent, while the Heng Seng stock index has slid to 7,580.80 on
Tuesday, less than half of its value before the crisis. Tsang, also a
member of the popular Democratic Party, stated that the campaign
would start soon if the unemployment rises above 5 percent and the
Heng Seng index falls below 7,000 points.
In addition to the slumping economy, Tung has also seen several
disasters in the first year of his office, including a deadly "bird
flu", an E. coli food poisoning scare, and recent mismanagement of
the new airport. None of these events have helped Tung's approval
ratings, which have taken a dive amidst the Asian financial crisis.
(Jim YU, YIN De An)
____ ____ ____
(9) Suspected Computer Hacker Arrested
[CND, 08/05/98] A 20-year-old computer user, surnamed Ma, was
arrested by police in east China on suspicion of attacking and
damaging one of the nation's largest Internet service providers, UPI
reported, citing the Shanghai-based Wenhui Daily.
According to a police report, Ma is suspected of launching four
web-based attacks on the 169 dial-up network from his home in Jiangsu
province since July 19. No detail on the extent of damage caused to
the server was revealed.
The arrest is the first under a series of anti-hacking regulations
promulgated by the Ministry of Public Security in December. (Ray
ZHANG, YIN De An)
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2. News from Taiwan (9 Items) ........................................... 47
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Source: Taiwan's China News (08/05/98 - 08/07/98)
Contributor: Chang-Jiu Chen; Abridged by: TIAN Yu.
* Taiwan's highest-ranking mainland negotiator, Straits Exchange Foundation
Chairman KOO Chen-fu, made a case for continuing cross-strait
talks since a DPP councilor was murdered in the mainland late last week.
* The DPP formally backed down from its previous hard-line stance of
indefinitely cutting its ties with the mainland, created in the wake of
the murder of DPP Kaohsiung Councilor LIN Ti-chuan in northeastern
China.
* Ministry of National Defense Spokesman KUNG Fang-ding said that the
domestically-produced anti-ballistic missile that was successfully test
fired last year is undergoing further test simulations.
* Taiwan said it has no plan to develop nuclear or biochemical weapons. The
statement followed a comment by Gerald SEGAL, director of Studies at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, that Taiwan was
playing the nuclear card to ensure continued backing from the US.
* Doctors examined the body of murdered DPP Kaohsiung City Councilor LIN
Ti-chuan in Liaoling in accordance with specific instructions from her
family.
* Beijing's top Taiwan affairs official reaffirmed that Taiwan's chief
negotiator with Beijing is welcome to visit mainland this fall.
* Former premier HAU Pei-tsun has voiced his support for Taiwan to hold
political talks with mainland authorities, saying that there is no reason
for Taiwan to be afraid of holding talks on such issues as "one China,"
China's democratization or signing a truce agreement with mainland
authorities.
* Taiwan said it would consider restricting imports of Indonesian labor if
Jakarta fails to address reports of atrocities against ethnic Chinese in
Indonesia's May riots.
* Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the Taipei Office of the
American Institute in Taiwan were willing to confirm a local newspaper
report about National Security Council Secretary-General Ding Mao-shih's
alleged secret meeting with US Deputy National Security Adviser James
Steinberg in New York last week.
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3. What's in August 7th's Hua Xia Wen Zhai #384 (cm9808a) ............... 39
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_From: Hua Xia Wen Zhai Editorial Board <cnd-cm@cnd.org>
Hua Xia Wen Zhai
(CND Chinese Magazine)
Issue #384
August 7, 1998
ISSN 1021-8602
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Table of Contents (cm9808a)
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1. Headline News of the Week (Jul 29 - August 6) ....................... CND
2. Glimpse of China: Impressions Post-World Cup .................... HU Zhou
3. Opinions: Figures Past and Present with Future Challenges ....... YU Tian
In Defense of CHEN Xitong ........................... WEI Yagui
4. Culture: Talk with ZHANG Yimou: Movies Are Emotional (Part 2) .... YE Tan
5. Information Exchange: Fees Adjustment for Rotary Stamps
6. Focus: The Truth and Lies about Tibet (Part 3 of 3) ............. Laozhuo
7. One of Us ("Wo Men"): Grandpa .................................... ZI Wei
8. Letters from Readers: One Must Tell Truths, Overseas/Humor
9. Riddles
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CND-CM Executive Editor: XU Ming Yang
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