CHINA WANTS WESTERN TECHNOLOGY
By Bob Van Leer

  (BEIJING, CHINA, Oct. 10, 1991) - The protesters at Tiananmen Square were just a small number of people trying to subvert the government, at least that's what we were told by Liu Huaqui, China's deputy foreign minister.

  His version is that the government had to act to ensure the rights of the overwhelming majority of the people.

  We arrived in Beijing today after a routine 1146 kilometer (kilometer is 0.621 mile) flight from Shanghai that took an hour and 15 minutes.

  It was a 45 minute bus ride downtown to the Beijing Hotel where we will be staying the next few days. Our 14th floor room overlooks the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, two blocks away.

  Beijing is another huge city with about 10 million people.

  This is the capital of China and the center of action. Tis whole huge country, larger than the U.S., is all on Beijing time, which leaves people in the western provinces starting their day in the dark.

  China's population is the largest of any country on the planet, estimated at 1.1 billion.

  Our plane was late so we had just time to register and go to the foreign ministry building for our audience with Minister Liu. Liu contended that the June, 1989, "political storm" is over and "a thing of the past".

  Liu said the Chinese constitution guarantees freedom of speech. He said, "China is a country where people enjoy full democracy and freedom".

Different Concepts

  Answering a question, he did say that the U.S. And China may have different concepts of democracy. But he insisted Chinese people have freedom to voice their own views.

  Liu said reforms of Pres. Gorbachev in the U.S.S.R. Are internal affairs of the Soviet Union. He hoped the Soviet Union moved toward stability but, judging from the events of August, there are differences in the country.

  Liu said Chinese people have freedom to travel abroad, to come and go. But, in a pointed comment about the U.S., he said some Chinese have problems getting U.S. visas.
In answer to another question, Liu said freedom of religion is guaranteed in the constitution.

Group Skeptical

  Our group of 28 newspaper people was plainly skeptical about some of his answers.
Liu said one of China's most important foreign policy issues is peace, China does not enter into alliances with any power groups.

  He said China is ready to have peaceful relations with all countries of the world on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistance, these are: 1. Mutual respect for sovereignty, 2. No interference in the internal affairs of others, #. Mutual nonaggression, 4. Equality and mutual benefit, 5. Peaceful coexistance.

  Liu made appeals several times for U.S. business investment in China. He said the U.S. is now first in investment in China.

  If the U.S. lifted sanctions applied after Tiananmen Square, normal relations will be restored and developed. He said, "China has a good investment environment, it is profitable to be here". He said Socialism will be combined with other forms of ownership. He said China now has private ownership and collective ownership. He said even has a stock market now.

Want Technology

  China wants western technology and management. Liu said China is a good neighbor and has peace on all its borders.

  But the tranquility vanished when I asked about relations with Taiwan. China considers Taiwan another province of China, not a separate country. Liu said, with Taiwan, there are, "no negotiations, no compromises, no contacts". He sent his translator to me after the meeting to make sure I understood what he said.

  Television is some better in Beijing than Shanghai. TV here has CNN International so we can get some U.S. news on a regular basis. TV sets here have eight channels. Broadcasts start at 8 a.m. and is over about 11 p.m. Channels are intermittent and sometimes the same program is on three or four channels. There are educational programs, classroom style.

  Programming in Shanghai was heavy on Chinese "westerns" similar to "B" western movies in the U.S. except the actors have Chinese medieval garb. And lots of fighting with swords.

  Litter police keep the city clean in two ways. They sweep and pick up trash and give a scolding to anyone seen littering. They wear red armbands and are mostly older men.

  In Shanghai in the early mourning we saw groups of people exercising on the Bund, at bus tops and other places. We were told this was tai ching.

  Kentucky Fried Chicken has outlets in Shanghai and Beijing and, we were told McDonald's and Pizza Hut are here also but we haven't seen them.

  New high rise buildings are all over Beijing and others are under construction. Some of the construction doesn't look too well done but others are up to any standard.

  The architecture is the same as western buildings except a few of the new high rises have a touch of traditional Chinese architecture on roof lines.

Another Banquet

  The evening was a formal banquet at the hotel by our hosts, the All China Journalism Association.

  The meal again, was a dozen or more courses featuring dishes such as black 30 day old duck eggs (quite good) and shark's stomach (so-so).

  Repeated toasts were offered which we drank with small glasses of white wine. Mr. Li, deputy director of the association, commented that he enjoyed meeting with our group because the usual visitors were from papers like the New York Times and Washington Post.

  There association is not really like ours. The membership is similar except that their member newspapers and TV stations are owned by the government, Communist Party of China, People's Association and trade associations.

  Mr. Li, deputy president, who sat at our table, said that papers connected to the government or party have the strongest voice. Membership totals 1500 newspapers, 500 TV stations and 500 radio stations as well as magazines.

  Li said there is some subsidy of newspapers but generally they have to carry their own weight and profitable newspapers are taxed.

  Tomorrow we have an early morning visit with the U.S. ambassador to China.