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

                             (News General)

                       -- Feb. 22 (I), 1990


Table of Contents
                                                                     # of Lines
1. Reports of Human Rights in China etc. ............................... 121
2. China's Austerity Policies Taking Hold But Serious Side Effects ..... 19
3. Human Rights Abuses Still Widespread ................................ 80
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1. Reports of Human Rights in China etc.
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From: "Jian Ding" <IZZYQ00@OAC.UCLA.EDU>
BY: SCHWEID, BARRY ;  AP Diplomatic Writer
Source: WASHINGTON (AP)   February 20, 1990

  China,  Nicaragua and Iraq were sharply criticized by the State
Department  today   in   an   annual   human   rights  report  to
Congress  that  also documents beheadings andamputations in Saudi
Arabia and floggings in Iran.

   In   the   Israeli-occupied   West  Bank  and  Gaza Strip, the
report  said the human rights situation is "a source of deep con-
cern."  Palestinian  Arabs  are  in the 27th month of an uprising
against Israeli control.

    From  student  detentions  in Liberia to disappearances in El
Salvador,  the  1,641-page  report catalogues man's inhumanity to
man in virtually every conceivable way.

    In   Burma,   men   forced   to  walk ahead of army troops in
mine-infested  fields   are  blown  up.  In  Iran,  prisoners are
flogged and suspended from the ceiling, according to eyewitnesses
and human rights groups.

    Pro-democracy  demonstrators  were  gunned  down in Beijing's
Tiananmen  Square   June   3-4,   and   independent observers are
cited  as  challenging  the  official  toll  of  20 executions as
unrealistically low.

    The   report  also finds areas of improvement, most conspicu-
ously  in the Soviet  Union.  "Authorities  have  adopted  a more
forthcoming  approach  to foreign criticism of their human rights
record," the report says.

    And   yet,  though the top leadership no longer fosters anti-
Semitism  and  appears   embarrassed  by  it,  "there  has been a
sharp increase in popular expressions of anti-Semitic attitudes,"
the  report  relates. "Jews have been increasingly concerned over
the danger of violence."

    Israel,  a  democracy,  comes  in  for  little criticism out-
side of the situation in the occupied territories.

    A   total   of   432  Palestinians  were  reported  killed in
1989,  304  by  Israeli  security  forces and settlers and 128 by
other Israelis.

    While   the   Israeli   defense   forces  engaged in a severe
crackdown,  the  report   cites   a   significant   increase   in
Palestinian  violence  against Palestinians, spurred by a growing
Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement.

    James   Zogby, executive director of the Arab American Insti-
tute,  called  the   report   a   brutal  indictment  of  Israeli
occupation,  said  pro-Israel groups  applied  pressure  to  mute
the criticism and that Congress should either  cut  the  $3  bil-
lion  in  aid  to  Israel  or  make it conditional on an improved

record.

    The  Israeli Embassy in Washington issued a statement saying,
"Israel's  measures have not differed from those applied by other
democratic  countries  when   facing  violence  in  the  form  of
riots,  armed  assaults, murder and terror." Soldiers who violate
regulations are punished, the embassy said.

    Rep.    Gus    Yatron,    D-Pa.,    chairman   of  the  House
human  rights subcommittee, complimented the State Department for
a  report  that  "pulls  no punches  in  assessing  dismal  human
rights  records  of such dictatorial regimes as China and Iraq."

    Yatron  challenged  the Bush administration to match the rhe-
toric  with  "a  policy   which  places  America's  commitment to
human  rights  and democratic institutions  above offending ruth-
less  regimes,  which  the administration is currently seeking to
curry favor."

    His    statement    reflected    congressional  criticism  of
President  Bush  as  imposing   only   limited  sanctions against
China  after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in which hundreds and
possibly thousands were killed.

    The   report   found  a  dramatic  deterioration in the human
rights  climate in  China  in 1989. Apart from the Beijing massa-
cre,  the  army  killed scores of  Tibetans in March in Lhasa and
reports  of  torture  of persons accused of "counterrevolutionary
crimes"   are   persistent.  "Conditions  in  Chinese prisons are
invariably harsh and frequently degrading," Congress was told.

    Iraq's  human  rights  record is described as "abysmal," with
effective  opposition  to  government policy stifled and intelli-
gence services engaged in extensive surveillance.

    "The  freedoms  of speech and press and of assembly and asso-
ciation  are virtually  nonexistent,"  the  report  says.  "Other
important  human  rights problems  include  continuing disappear-
ances  and  arbitrary  detentions, lack of fair trial, widespread
interference with privacy, excessive use of force against Kurdish
civilians and an almost total lack of worker rights."
    In    Jordan,    where   martial   law  has  been  in  effect
since   1967,  intelligence  and  security  agencies  have  broad
surveillance  powers  and certificates of good conduct are needed
for all public jobs and for many in the private sector.

    In   Saudi Arabia, capital punishment is meted out for a wide
variety  of  crimes.  Beheading  is the usual method of execution
and,  in  some  cases, it was  followed  by  public  crucifixion.
In the first 10 months of 1989, at least  13  thieves  had  their
hands severed, including 11 non-Saudis, the report says.

    Nicaragua's   Sandinista   government,   which faces national
elections  on  Sunday,  is sharply criticized for maintaining "an
extensive   and  repressive  internal  security  apparatus"  that
includes  surveillance  and infiltration of the political opposi-
tion.

    "Political   and   extrajudicial   killings   are still being
reported, the political    opposition   still   suffers   consid-
erable   harassment   and intimidation,  the government continues
to  hold  political prisoners and the writ of the security forces
still runs deep and wide," the report says.

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2. China's Austerity Policies Taking Hold But Serious Side Effects
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From: Young Chul KIM,
IBRD 473 - 3826 CAFGM at IBRDVM1
Source IMF Press Summary  2/22/90

AP  DJ reported from Beijing that China's State Statistics Bureau
spokesman  Zhang  Zhongji  told  a news conference that China has
cooled  its  overheated  economy, but at the cost of rising unem-
ployment,  budget-crippling  subsidies,  and increased industrial
losses.

He  said 1989 economic developments were encouraging, citing more
manageable  growth,  a  decline in spending, and a drop in infla-
tion. But old and new problems make the task of economic rectifi-
cation even more difficult.

AFP  reported  from Beijing that Xinhua said natural catastrophes
cost  China  $11B  last year. Drought, floods, and earthquakes in
particular, cut farm output by at least 30%.

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3. Human Rights Abuses Still Widespread
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From: Charlie Li  <QiangLi@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
Source: The China World at Florida Atlantic University
February 19, 1990

WASHINGTON  (FEB.  19) UPI -  A survey of human rights around the
world  shows  that  the  revolution  in Eastern Europe has barely
moved the needle in  terms of the number of people who are living
in freedom.

   In  the  annual  survey  by Freedom House, an independent U.S.
organization,  Executive  Director  Bruce McColm puts the current
world population at 5.2 billion.

   Of those, according to the survey, 39 percent of the people in
the  world  are  now "free," 22 percent are "partly free," and 39
percent are "not free."

   That  is  only  a slight change from one year earlier, when 39
percent  were  "free," 20 percent were "partly free," and 41 per-
cent were "not free."

   In  the  definitions  of the survey, the Soviet Union, despite
its  political  changes,  remains  listed as "not free," since it
continues to be a one-party state where citizens do not enjoy the
right to elect the head of their state, and civil liberties and a
free press remain in question.

   South  Africa,  on the other hand, is listed as "partly free,"
since  whites  have  democratic rights and there is a free press,
with  the   exception of limits on news about racial and security
matters.

   Hungary,  as an example of the Eastern European revolution, is
listed  as  "partly  free" because its freedoms have not yet been
totally codified into law.

   The  State  Department  is  to publish its own survey of human
rights  around  the  world  on  Wednesday. In one section of that
report, the State  Department is much more critical of China than
the White House has been.

   A  human rights report by Asia Watch calls the lifting of mar-
tial law in China a sham designed for U.S. consumption.

   In  the  report  called  "Punishment Season," Asia Watch says,
"Having  bludgeoned the population of Beijing into temporary sub-
mission,  and  having  installed a fearsome network of vigilante,
police  and paramilitary forces throughout the Chinese capital in
order  to maintain the repression, the authorities can now easily
afford to dispense with the formal institution of martial law."

   Asia  Watch  said  that President Bush, "anxious to be able to
show some kind of result from his excessively conciliatory policy
toward  Beijing,"  was  too uncritical about minor changes by the
Chinese government.

   Asia Watch called the recent release of 573 selected political
prisoners  "a  publicity  stunt"  to disguise the fact that up to

30,000 political prisoners remain in jail.

   Freedom  House,  in  its  survey, calls 1989 "the most pivotal
year  of  the  post-war  period" in terms of human rights, but it
described the advances as "fragile and still reversible."

   Looking  back  over  the  past 17 years, when the organization
began  its  global  survey,  there has been a steady trend toward
freedom, but it has been statistically slow since both the Soviet
Union  and  China, with a combined population of approximately 25
percent of the world, remain in the "not free" category.

   In  1973,  the  survey  called 32 percent of the world "free,"
compared to 39 percent in in 1990.  In 1973, Freedom House judged
47  percent  of  the  world "not free," compared to 1990 when the
figure was 39 percent.

   In  the  last year, the Freedom House survey said that China's
crushing  of the democratic reform was a major setback, and there
were other reverses, including Burma, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

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Thu Feb 22 11:32:22 EST 1990