China News Digest
Fall 1997
- Anticipating his first state visit to the United States, Chinese President
Jiang Zemin said he wants to "join hands" with President Clinton in
building ties between the two nations into the next century. He met in August
with Clinton's national security adviser, Samuel Berger, and said relations
have made "positive progress, with common ground in many fields" since he
and Clinton met in November in the Philippines. An October 28 meeting is
anticipated.-Associated Press
-
National Security Adviser Samuel Berger, in a rare upbeat assessment of the
human rights situation in China, said in August the daily lives of the
Chinese people have improved "rather significantly" over the past 10 years
and that they now have "a greater degree of choice in where they live and
work." Television, e-mail and facsimile service "ake it harder for the
central government to maintain control," Berger said, but he acknowledged
that human rights progress in China has not extended to political rights, in
the form of political dissent.-Associated Press
-
To help ensure adequate living standards for citizens no longer able to rely
on state-funded jobs, 206 Chinese cities have set up welfare safety nets,
China's press reports. The minimum monthly income guaranteed in each city
varies, from 240 yuan, or $29, in the affluent southern city of Guangzhou to
80 yuan, or $9.67, in Nanchang. Standards were based on the actual costs of
food, housing, medical care, clothing and compulsory education in each city.
Most urban Chinese have long relied on employers to provide necessities like
housing, health care and utilities, often at very low cost. But
market-oriented reforms have led many state-run companies to cut back on
benefits, and many have closed.-Associated Press
-
Appealing to the Communist Party's revolutionary traditions, General
Secretary Jiang Zemin urged Chinese leaders on Sept. 12 to push new economic
reforms that critics fear would usher in privatization and weaken state
control over the economy. He announced ambitious plans for a capitalist-style
sell-off of ailing state companies. However, in opening the party's congress,
held once every five years, Jiang gave no hints of loosening the party's hold
on the government and military, nor did he say it would tolerate challenges
to its rule. He also reiterated offers to hold talks with Taiwan on ending
hostilities, but threatened to use force if the island. The address is seen
as important because it is a test of his power after the death of paramount
leader Deng Xiaoping in February.-Associated Press.
-
Later the next week, delegates to the Chinese Communist Party congress
appeared to be uniting behind crucial economic reforms and ideological
changes underpinning the policies, an official report said. The communist
faithful are enthused by proposed capitalist-style cures for sluggish state
industries and plans to enshrine economic pragmatism as party doctrine, the
official Xinhua News Agency said. Delegates were expected on Sept. 18 to
approve General-Secretary Jiang Zemin's platform and choose a new
policy-setting Central Committee.-Associated Press
-
In August, China unveiled new measures to reform small state enterprises,
encouraging employee buyouts of struggling firms the government no longer
wants and promoting the long-taboo concept of private ownership. A front-page
commentary in the China Securities newspaper contained the boldest public
call yet for an official go-ahead for private ownership, transferring state
assets into non-state hands. China's communist leaders have strongly opposed
diversification in ownership of state firms, the core of their socialist
system.-Reuter's News Service
-
Summer floods wreaked havoc in eastern and southern China, with the death
toll set at about 300 as of early August. Flooding caused by weeks of
torrential downpours had killed 25 people and injured 1,067 in the central
province of Jiangxi by July 12, Chinese officials were quoted as saying.
Other death tolls were set at 20 for Zhejiang, 164 in Guizhou province, 41 in
Guangdong province and 34 in Guangxi. Significant flood damage was reported
in Zhejiang province. Jiangxi had been hit more severely than last year, with
271,000 people homeless and direct economic losses estimated at 5.64 billion
yuan. In 1996, flooding in China was some of the worst in decades, killing at
least 3,000 people, destroying 1.7 million homes and causing damage estimated
at $26.5 billion.-Reuter's News Service
-
Typhoon Winnie slammed into China's eastern coastal province of Zhejiang on
Aug. 18 and wreaked havoc across the province for 11 hours, destroying about
100,000 homes, flooding fields and damaging dams and sea dikes, leaving 140
people dead and 3,000 injured in low-lying coastal areas. The storm damaged
1.6 million acres of farmland in the province, causing direct economic losses
of $2.2 billion, an official estimated. The death toll would have been higher
if authorities in Zhejiang and neighbouring Jiangsu province and the city of
Shanghai had not evacuated 790,000 people from coastal towns and villages in
the path of the typhoon, officials said.-Reuter's News Service
-
China's ruling Communist Party has moved to curb regionalism by reshuffling
11 provincial leaders this year, one of them from Jiangxi province. "The
(personnel) adjustments can prevent cadres from being in office in one unit
too long, easily ending up with absolute power and even creating independent
kingdoms," it said. The top jobs in Jiangxi were reshuffled in the first
half of this year.-Reuter's News Service
-
The Clinton administration said in September that it is working to certify
that the communist country isn't helping nations develop nuclear weapons
programs. But the White House and the State Department said it is premature
to predict whether the issue will be resolved in time for the Oct. 28 meeting
between President Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin. China declared
in May 1996 that it would not provide nuclear assistance to nations with
unsafeguarded reactors and U.S. officials say the Chinese have followed
through on their commitment.-Associated Press
-
Chiang Wego, the adopted son of Chiang Kai-shek, died Sept. 22 of kidney
disease at a Taipei hospital, his doctors said. He was 80. Chiang Wego was a
high ranking commander in the army before retiring from the military in the
1980s. He largely withdrew from public life in recent years. Wego revealed
last year in his autobiography that Chiang Kai-shek adopted the boy to
preserve a married friend's family honor, and he was long considered Chiang
Kai-shek's biological son.-Associated Press
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