Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - May 21, 1989, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press May Page 7 the Beijing communism travels on unknown paths by Brian Dickinson Providence journal in Beijing this China and the soviet Union staged their set piece Summit exercises to Mark the end to 30 years of frosty but the real Story the Story of lasting significance rested with the protesting chinese who streamed by the hundreds of thousands into the heart of Beijing to demand that their government change its it was the students and their throngs of admirers who dominated the news and forced a Hasty Revi Sion of the Summit it was the students who secured a pledge from party chief Zhao Ziyang that the government would work out Concrete measures to enhance democracy and and it was the students who Drew from soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev an applauding endorsement of the dialogue they seek with chivas who says communist politics has to be Dull the four tumultuous Days in Beij ing As have few events in recent the epochal changes roiling the communist Here were the leaders of the worlds two communist Nei ther secure any longer in his shared virtually admitting to each other that their Dogma had Here were leaders of two troubled each groping to build something workable from the Politi Cal and economic chaos he had in and Here were the Young elite of a fast changing Gath ering in Force to urge new Leader ship and More in the sheer numbers of Demon and in the baffled response by the the crowds surging through Tiana men Square represented far More than another student their action marked a watershed in chivas unsteady Era of having tasted the students want and up to a Point they will defy their government to make their reformist demands their like the wave of reformist demands surging through the soviet reflect some kind of a new Force at work in societies Long ruled despotic ally from the Gorbachev and Deng each struggling to revamp a system programmed for have uncorked populist forces beyond Ima the to heavy Structure of state once the essence of control in both is being directly in both authorities have plenty of muscle to get Tough if things should get out of whether they have the will to crack Heads once More is another ques demands for spreading across both confront party leaders with a fear some How much change dare they accept without also risk ing collapse of the Only ruling machine they know both Gorbachev and Deng have shown themselves ready to depart dramatically from inherited Ortho wherever it they have shed awkward ideological although both talk of continuing to build both have had to Bend their Creed to accommodate today practical in both pressures of the re form Agenda seem to have shoved ideological rhetoric awkward process the chinese protesters have hastened this awkward process of reinterpreting communist they have focused on a Central irony communist whose debilitating flaw comes from contradictions built into the system the problem lies with the As even its leaders Are be ginning to it was the students and their thousands of playing on the expectations generated by the Summit who brought this critical Issue into by urging faster the students made Clear that marginal reforms would not by their petitions and hunger strikes and the crowds were challenging the wis Dom of the communists political leadership in any communist How even the most assiduous re former dare not push things Over the Gorbachev and in one Are both committed con whose overriding goal is to whip life into a stagnant political to this they Are willing to incur great risks yet the aim of a revived socialist state and a streamlined communist party have hardly Dis the question is whether accumulating protests could eventually trigger party disintegration and the emergence of some new hybrid socialist so such a transformation would appear to be years and even decades in both China and the soviet the party retains near total control it can yield a lot without yielding in the areas where it counts most full press an Independent judiciary and Multi Cleparty both Gorbachev and Deng re leased energies they May not be Able to each must wonder How his daring initiatives will they can tinker with Dogma As much As they but at some Point the tinkering May have Ren dered their regimes no longer communist and at that Point the party itself will have been transformed beyond it is this out control dissolution that Gorbachev and Deng have Rea son to such a transformation would appear to suit the demonstrators in Beijing just and they have shown that they have the kind of discipline that would be needed to bring it a Summit meeting of Little substance by Elaine Carey Cox news service t Beijing the sin soviet Summit was not a major coup for either As a matter of neither the soviet Union nor China appeared to gain much from the meeting other than restoration of Normal Spinoso Viet and while the closing of the schism Between the worlds communist Goliath was the two seemed intent on keeping each other at arms when soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev flew Home West Ern preoccupation that the Summit was the seed of a formidable and threatening communist Alliance appeared the Summit ended with a formal communique stating the accomplishments of the but the 1ft Point communique didst list any agreements emerging from the Summit except for the restoration of Normal relations Signi fied by Gorbachev visit the communique merely described the state of sin soviet relations As they were before the most of the Points spoke in Gener Al terms about Good Mutual understanding and International before the the soviets tried to talk the chinese into issuing a it would have imparted the sort of historic stature to the meeting that sin american rapprochement was Given by the 1972 Shanghai communique be tween president Richard Nixon and the chinese refused for some the communique was issued after Gorbachev Gorbachev made Many conces Sions to the chinese in order to extract the invitation to Moscow pressed for months for a european diplomats Here said that when Gorbachev he anticipated it might be necessary to make other he by the time the soviet Leader student rebellion crippling the heart of the chinese capital precluded the the demonstrations challenging the credibility and survival of Chi Nese Leader Deng Xiaoping government meant Gorbachev had the upper diplomats it May Well be that the wily soviet saw no no need to delve into detailed negotiations a government which might not outlive such enormous popular re after much of Gorba chess program had to be changed because the chinese government even get him past the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators swarming the asian audience that might explain Why Gorba chess speech to the chinese people was no More than a repeat of his groundbreaking United nations discourse last december simply tailored to an asian it May also explain Why soviet foreign ministry spokesman Gen Nady Gerasimov had so Little substantive information to report after Gorbachev had met he repeatedly emphasized that the talks were of a conceptual nature or the Only specific topic to come according to was there was no the Chi Nese had wanted to convince Gorba Chev to lean harder on the Vietnam Ese so they would accept International supervision of their withdrawal from the chinese also insist that the Khmer Rouge guerrillas be included in a cambodian coalition govern ment As a balance to the Vietnam soviet troop reductions along the chinese and mongolian which began just As Gorbachev a obviously improve relations and regional the chinese realize the cuts Are not wholly Gorbachev saves Money and needs external Calm in order to concentrate soviet financial re sources and Energy on propelling his Economy out of stagnation to avoid Domestic social Gorbachev trumpeted the eco nomic and development cooperation he envisions springing out of improved sin soviet it will not spark an Over night Trade Boom Between the two that links them in an integral the trip to China for Gorbachev was also to Mark the Start of a courtship Between the soviet Union and but it is Clear that the chinese at least Are not As easily enraptured by Gorbachev As West europeans or this was just a Small step toward building Bridges to such nations As South the Philippines and especially to Japan is the other asian Power which is resisting Gorbachev diplomatic he admitted in his speech that there was a Long Way to go before Normal relations with Japan Are the two nations have never signed a treaty ending the state of War that has existed Between them since the second world massive protest spreads in China by Karen Minden special to the free press Beijing what began student protest Here in the i chinese capital has spread to include workers and several thousand students staging a hunger strike at men a handful of students have threatened to immolate the protesters Wear a million peasants and the students parents i Are wearing red headbands to their the student led protest for Dom of the democratic forms and an end to corruption is now referred to As the patriotic i now High school and even Elet Centary school children Are some some on some Riding on the Back of filing past the 29storey International investment and Trust civic on Chang an Boule a troop of Blu Clad police carrying a love the country Banner were warmly applauded thousands of the civic bastion of capitalist with ticker tape As chinese businessmen in suits stood at the win waving and flashing the Vic tory sign to the student slow to react the by soviet Leader Mikhail chess visit during this peaceful massive was to most people believe that they not respond with military because even the military oppose a patriotic v no certain about the out come but the masses of people in Beijing Are ambulances heading towards k Tiana men Square to tend to r ing students Are greeted cheers and leaders of the universities have stated their support for the and have demanded that the state agree to a threatening rain Clouds Beijing May Cool the protest but there is a definite move towards a mass demand for Reform that prob ably cannot be Karen a professor the faculty of management at University of is China representing Canada afar science and technology working group meeting of the Pacific nomic cooperation International organization that advises ministers on Pacific rim affairs i tory throne speech paints an optimistic picture with the Reading of the Terv with the Reading of the tory governments second throne the legislative process is under Way once More to the Surprise of some and the Relief of others who had hoped or feared the minority govern ment would not survive Long enough to celebrate its first it did survive the first year be cause the tories refrained from doing anything sufficiently negative or outrageously righting to prompt the other parties to at the same the liberals realized they needed More experience before trying to grab the Gold ring and new democrats were pre pared to do almost anything to avoid facing the electorate and possibly disappearing from the political above the politicians knew the Public was not eager to go to the polls in the near will the situation be any different this time although the nip is still apprehensive about what might occur in an Gary doer indicated that if the governments Agenda runs counter to the needs of under the dome Arlene Billinkoff the people and fails to stimulate the his party May vote against it with heavy emphasis on the Liberal Leader Sharon Carstairs has been More stating her party is prepared to take Over at any no longer was she willing to accept excuses or attempts to shift blame to others for the govern ments failure to after one year of she believed it was time for in truth there has been action since the last throne More than half of its almost 90 commit ments have been while others Are were Defeated or yet to see the Light of the top priority item fiscal manage ment and accountability has apparently been the govern ment can Point to a comprehensive audit of provincial Reallo cation and rear ionization of More fiscal reports and most important in the governments View a reduced As the throne speech for too Many years we have been living beyond our Means but Manito Bas government is Back under con rear ionization of funding and re organization were providing More effective and responsive it with the which was reduced by at its lowest level since the Premier acknowledged that some of the improvement was due to heavy nip but also insisted the Good management techniques instituted by his administration were equally regard he proudly noted the foundation had been the deficit was under control and the financial House was in that accomplishment has opened the door to the next stage economic renewal through sustainable de this years favorite Buzz words recognize the interdependence of environmental and social elements according to the governments will Lead to beneficial economic develop ment with subsequent positive Impact on services for with particular attention to the More vulnerable elements of As outlined in the 15page Docu there will be one initiative after involving Environ Rural Northern Urban cultural social Priori health family Justice and some sound familiar either left Over from last year or taken from the nip even Filmon admitted they were neither new nor what would normally be identified As but he was proud of this full Active Carstairs was although the government had been urged to be she there was no genuine the word action appeared Only once in the she also found it amusing for the government to adopt the glitzy topic of especially when it had taken no Steps to protect the environment when it sold As for its Success in reducing the she did not believe the cur rent financial position had anything to do with provincial it was merely More Money from where was the real she while the liberals would study the document i dont like what i have said we must indicate our objections be cause this throne speech is invade she its not some thing we take but this is not a proactive there was a Strong possibility her caucus would oppose doer was equally concerned about but did recognize some positive measures although he believed the tories might be in Trou ble once they run out of old nip unlike his Liberal whom he regarded As a Swip ing he intended to beco operative when government sures merited such a response a0d feisty when his caucus would consider Issac Tion in regard tothe throne but was aware it was merely word doer rather than Post Jfe they would determine he Public really wants an election Ion this there was the budget which usually Makesby Breaks a will the government be this session based on doers the nip Are not Likely to the liberals in opposing the throng on june they will have another Opportunity with the budget but the tories do not seem maybe they believe the the route which indicated the govern ment would continue to pursue egg objective of economic renewal through sustainable development Over the next three do they know something is anyone willing to Wager t ;