CHINA CLAIMS ALL OF SOUTH CHINA SEA
By Bob Van Leer

  (HAIKOU, CHINA, Oct. 22, 1991) - After a delayed flight we arrived in Haikou, Hainan Island, today in time for some visits and sightseeing around town and finished off the evening with our final banquet in China.

  The flight aboard a South China Air Boeing 737 was uneventful after a two and a half hour delay. The plane was only about a third full, mostly our party.

  The flight from Guangzhou was only 50 minutes.

  Hainan is a tropical island south of mainland China and due east of Viet Nam. The people in Hainan are visibly different from those on the mainland and look more like Vietnamese.

  Several of us took a stroll downtown from our hotel, the Haikou Tower Hotel. We were the only westerners visible on an hour walk. We went down a small, crowded street lined with tiny shops and restaurants towards the docks. The people on the street were intensely curious and quite friendly.

  The estuary at this point is filled with Chinese junks. One was unloading cargo in an old ritual. A line of men kept coming out of the hold. They had special headbands which held a sort of harness that allowed them to carry a sack or two on their shoulders.

 They marched across the deck, up a couple of planks and disappeared into a truck and came out without their burden and went back for more.

Coca Cola Plant

  In the afternoon we visited a brand new Coca Cola plant, a joint venture with the U.S. The sole American was the manager a man about 30 from Wyoming. But he had gone to school in China where his father was a diplomat.

  He said his pay scale for employees was 350-600 yuan per month including commissions and bonuses. The formal opening of the plant was just last week.

  We went from there to the Haikou Canned Foods Factory which specializes in canned coconut milk for a soft drink. We tried it and it's rather good.

Vintage Capitalism

  It is the largest industry on Hainan. The pay scale is about 485 yuan per month. Mr. Mai, the factory manager, said the factory was now profitable but had been in the red. The method of reorganizing for profitability may have been done by Communists but was vintage capitalism. He said, "We got rid of the idiots".

  Hainan Island is the largest of five special economic zones with rules set up to make foreign investment easier. For instance, we had to apply for visas weeks in advance to be allowed in China. Hainan, alone among Chinese provinces, can issue visas on the spot.

  The province has a population of 6.2 million people. Haikou has a population of 400,000, small for the Chinese cities we have been visiting.

  We were told that Hainan is growing rapidly, "more in the past three years than the previous 30". In Haikou, as every Chinese city we have visited, construction is booming.

South China Sea

  One question I asked drew a mushy answer. Chinese maps show China owning the entire area of the South China Sea.

  The farthermost reach is a thousand miles south of Hainan which, in turn, is south of mainland China. China claims within a few miles of the coast of the Philippines, Brunei and Viet Nam.

  There is not much in the huge area except some rocks but oil is a serious possibility on the sea floor. I was told that, yes, the Philippines, Viet Nam and Brunei had other ideas about who owned the South China Sea.

  But a solution will come gradually is a peaceful way. "But the Chinese government is very clear about the ownership of the islands.

Longest Life

  We were told that Hainan is a healthy place with a life expectancy the longest in China, 74 years.

  The evening banquet was served, as usual, at round tables with lazy susans in the center. This was an 11 course meal and, as all these banquets, food is served on small plates or bowls from large serving plates in the center.

  At this dinner separate clean dishes were provided for each course. This could be a small plate or a plate, bowl, ceramic spoon combination. The amount of dishes for one meal was horrendous.

  Numerous toasts were given for everyone to thank everyone for our trip here.

  Mr. Li, a member of the secretariat of the journalists association, which makes him a high-ranking party man, gave a speech in the form of a toast. Li speaks little English.

  But, on the tour, it was quite plain that this is a savvy guy and also a dedicated party member. Our impression of him is that he is a man we would like to know better but the language barrier prevents it.

The Party Line

  Tonight he gave us the party line, he said some have raised the question of whether China will go the way of Russia and Eastern Europe. Li said, "You have your answer already".

  He said the situation in China is stable and the Chinese people love the present system and support the leaders of the Communist party.

  He said the economy is growing and the market is flourishing but there are some problems. He said after China opened the door in 1979 "some flies and mosquitoes got in".

  I can go along with some of the things Li said but he would have been better off leaving out the part about people loving the system and party officials. That isn't even true in our country where we elect the officials. Li concluded by saying relations between China and the U.S. keep developing and there is no problem in China with relations with the U.S.

  Our stay in Hainan was to be only one night. Tomorrow we will tour the island and, late in the afternoon, return to Guangzhou by plane.