European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 06, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday. October 1989 columns Flora Lewis . Good will has Little influence on China China s foreign minister Qian Lichen told the United nations that relations with the United states were at a Crossroads but could improve if America stopped criticizing China. Thai seems to be the Reward to president Bush Tor keeping almost mum after Tiana men Square and the continuing crackdown. Despite the angry distress or Congress and the american Public he limited official reaction to suspending military deliveries and High level contacts. Both measures have already been breached. So it should t be surprising that Beijing considers it reasonable to try to censor american opinion As Well As to stifle All Domestic critics. For Well Over a decade starting almost immediately after pingpong Diplo Macy in 1971 in the midst of the vicious cultural revolution China has benefited from a special indulgence in . Human rights attitudes. There was an excessive almost hysterical View of China from the 1949 revolution until then but afterwards there was a switch to a double Standard. After Deng Xiaoping launched his four modernizations in the Fate 1970s, there came extravagant expectations that China was going capitalist and would inevitably move on toward democracy. The United states was prepared to be patiently encouraging. No doubt this illusion contributed to the Shock of this june. But it in t a reason to let Beijing think americano est t care what it docs at Home As Long As China accepts Dollar investments and credits. Chinese leaders keep repeating they will maintain Reform and opening to the outside world because the policies have injected vitality and Energy into China s socialist Caus and reinforced state economic  indeed they have. China is not afraid of sanctions Deng recently told japanese visitors. But he does t seem to realize that no foreign penalties could set Back his ambition of assuring China s rightful place As one of the most advanced Industrial countries in the world in the next Century As much As his own Power gluttony and brutality. Even if the leaders wanted to no doubt they could t re impose the isolation of the cultural revolution which Cost millions of deaths and probably dec Ades of development. Still there is nostalgia for that kind of self Exalta Tion. Two years ago when there was rapid Advance a Young woman who had been a red guard told me that perhaps it was better when the country was Cut of because the . Was More polite  it did t occur to her that she had t a clue what the rest of the world was saying White China lacerated itself in self imposed quarantine. But the leaders who Are old enough to remember All their country s tremendous upheavals in this Century James j. Kilpatrick do know it can have weight in the world Only if it slays in the world As an Active partner. They forget that partnership takes More than one and it is China s own behaviour that makes it More or less appealing More Orless reliable for cooperation. It does China no service for the United Stales and the rest of the West 10 be polite and hide what we think our reasons for loss of Confidence in China future and loss of sympathy. An article in the current world policy journal Points out that . Policy has Only encouraged fur ther irresponsible behaviour on the part of China As Well As disc9uraging reformers wh9 seek democracy and making it harder to develop business relations. Washington is driven by outdated sentiments and questionable assumptions the writer Marie Gotts Chalk says. She sums them up As the Appeal of anti soviet strategy a vast Market in the future and the illusion of stability. Although stability is the main excuse Deng give for repression in fact Post revolutionary China has followed the most unstable policies imaginable lurch ing from the great leap Forward and vast people s communes which brought a famine that killed 20 million to the Hundred Flowers to the cultural Revo Lution to modernization to reasserting class War. In Between there were zigzags of tolerance democracy Wall and campaigns against intellectual  these unsteady 40 years which Beijing has just celebrated the advances of the last decade and the chinese people s energetic talents make it Likely this phase won t last Long either. As former . Ambassador Winston lord says in the journal foreign affairs for the chinese people above All we must Hope that the big chill is soon  but As Beijing says it depends on China not on us. In by a Kolmos the supreme court retains its magical Powers Washington precisely at 10 o clock there comes an impressive whomp of a Gavel. All Rise spectators leap to their feet the great Burgundy curtains pan behind the Bench and quite suddenly the nine justices materialize at their chairs. Before a court that has done its Best to drive god out of Public institutions marshal Alfred Wang offers an ironic invocation god save the United states and this honorable court the supreme court s term of october 1989 has begun. No matter How Many times a reporter May have heard the familiar ritual it always brings a Tingle. Forgive me if you will a personal note. I first visited the supreme court of the United states Onan april morning in 1941. I was 20 years old a cub reporter on Richmond s afternoon paper and i had come by train to Washington for my first look at the nation s capital. With no particular destination in mind i wandered into the High court. It was love at first sight. Like most love affairs this one has had its  and Downs. At the risk of immodesty i venture to say that no columnist has denounced the court s Opin ions More ferociously More often or to less effect than i have denounced them. It is discouraging come to think of it How Little attention the court has paid to the dissenting opinions of or. Justice Kilpatrick. But one perseveres. After nearly 50 years the old magic still works. Much has changed in this time. The marbled building open Din 1935, is As stately As Ever the court room itself exudes the same majesty. Bui Security precautions arc now pervasive. On this monday morning a guard made Rita braver of lbs put her umbrella through the Metal Detector. The volume of cases has increased dramatically. And of course the judges have changed. Memory Rolls Back. I have Little recollection of chief Justice Harlan Stone he had come and gone before i began intensive coverage of the court. But it is impossible to forget Hugo Black Felix Frankfurter and William Douglas the three horsemen of the new Deal s apocalypse. One thinks of Robert Jackson a quiet Force on the court and of Abe Fortas that flawed but Brilliant Jurist. John Marshall Harlan Earl Warren Lewis Powell Potter Stewart we have see some memorable figures. Now the opening rituals have been concluded. Six attorneys have been admitted to the bar of the supreme court. It is time to get on with the term Edwin a Kneedler an assistant to the solicitor general Steps to the decl can to argue the government s Side in a Case that probably will not be known As John Doc Agency v. John Doe corp. He has a hard half hour ahead of him the Case is of less than monumental importance. It involves the Freedom of information act foia. Back in 1978, Pentagon auditors investigated the costs that a defense contractor had allocated to a software development project. Years Laler inc Fri took custody of the 1978 records believing they might be useful in a grand jury proceeding. The corporation sued under the foia demanding Access to the papers bul inc government resisted the records had been compiled for Law enforcement purposes and thus were exempt fro the foia a reach. The 2nd circuit ruled last year that the documents had not been compiled in the first place for Law enforcement purposes and granted the corporation s petition. The government appealed. Kneedler got off to a bad Start. He had scarcely opened his Mouth before chief Justice Rehnquist demanded to know where All this John Doc stuff had come from. Who had denominated that style of the Case Kneedler made a feeble and unresponsive answer and after that it was downhill All the Way. This is part of the drama of the court reporters who regularly cover Oral argument become critics of appellate style. Young or. Knic dlr a gentleman encumbered by a heavy Black Beard was not impressive. He stumbled he Stam mered he fell into the huh us. Before his half hour mercifully ended All nine of the justices had peppered him with questions he seemed ill equipped to answer. At one Point Justice Scalia observed helpfully that Kneedler had just shot himself in the foot. It did nothing for the advocate s composure. He stepped Down with the air of a plucked Chicken. So it goes. The foia Case will be re captioned to get rid of the John Doe Flummer. Real names will be substituted and arguments of far greater importance will come along. It promises to be a fascinating term. But if you love the court so arc they All. C Una Vavial prut synd Caa