European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 27, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 a the stars and stripes Colum Santhony Lewis the eve of o tragic anniversary reflections on As we approach the first anniversary of the Tiana men Square massacre China lugs at our understanding and our conscience. In a world of spreading democracy How can so vast and talented a nation remain under authoritarian Rule is there reason to Hope for change what should we on the outside do to help there Are profound insights into such questions in a new Hook Quot a higher kind of loyalty Quot by Liu Binyan. It is a Memoir of life in contemporary China a gripping Memoir. It is also an exploration of How people come and remain under the Sway of tyranny. Liu is China a most important and most courageous journalist. In the Brief periods when it was possible to publish honest accounts of life in the Peoples Republic he travelled around the country reporting on corruption and injustice. Millions read him and put their Hopes on him following the publication of his devastating 1979 article on communist party cadres abuse of Power a people or monsters a in a sense lius greatest Story is his own. For 22 years Between 1957 and 1979, he was in disgrace As a for 13 of those years he had to live apart i my his wife and children working As a labourer. Yet it was a Long time before he lost his Faith in Mao Zedong and the communist party. He kept thinking that the leaders would Correct the horrors he saw and reported. But the Book chronicles How Waves of Quot Reform Quot always petered out leaving the corrupt untouched. He came to see that the real Issue at the top was not Quot rights or Quot left Quot but Persona Power. A the c chinese not tolerate this state any longer a he wrote at the end of the Book. A the handful of octogenarians and the privileged bureaucratic clique whom they represent will neither change their ways nor hand Over Power. Thus they Are doomed to in 1987, Liu was expelled from the parly along with hang Lihi the great scientist who is now living in Asylum in the . Embassy in Beijing. Liu was allowed to go to the United states in 1988. Liu and his equally courageous wife Zhu Hong were in Boston the other Day and we talked about the current situation. I asked whether China could insulate i sell from the surge of democracy elsewhere in the world. Both Shook their Heads no. A a the China of 20 years ago could a Liu said. A but control from the Center is much weaker now after the turmoil of the cultural revolution and then a decade of economic i hat loss of control is Clear despite the massacre Liu said. Quot before the massacre we did t have underground organizations now we do in Many provinces. We did no to have underground publications but now we leaders of the democracy movement have escaped from China after months in hiding Liu pointed out although their pictures were posted everywhere As wanted. They got out he said because they had help from Many a including even Security but Liu noted that the communist party is much More deep rooted in China than those in Eastern Europe. He pointed out that it was not installed by the soviet Union but won Power on its own. And few chinese he said a know about the terrible things that happened in these 40 a the great famine in the Early 1960s, for instance. I myself Only Learned in the 1980s that 20 million to 30 million people died so Ordinary people do not Liu said that when chinese think of the party they still have illusions. A they say a maybe the party itself was Good but there were corrupted officials who did bad they think of the party As something abstract a Liu said there Are important forces of change inside the party a officials at All Levels who oppose the massacre who oppose corruption. Potentially we have people like Gorbachev. But they done to show themselves because the time is not what should the United states do i asked. Liu did not disagree with president Bush a decision to extend most favored nation trading status to China but said Bush should a exert More pressure on the Issue of human so far he said the president has Little to show for All his Friendly gestures toward Deng Xiaoping. A in China we would say a Deng Xiaoping never gave Bush any face a a he said. A it seems to us that or. Bush overestimates Deng a control and the stability of his Rule a just As the United states did with the nationalist government More than 40 years ago. You helped that government when it was going to be toppled. You lost the government and at the same time you lost the people a the Peoples feeling for c new York time Sandrew j. Glass new East West relations put Israel in the Middle there Are a few fortunate places in the world such As Switzerland where people of diverse cultures have Long lived peaceably Side by Side. And then there is the Middle East. Lor More than four decades arabs and jews have been unable to Frame a formula to resolve their deep differences. All the while Washington and Moscow have stood at the Edge of this bubbling cauldron As proxy combatants tossing in arms and Money. This weeks Summit finds the superpowers acting More like partners than As rivals in analysing the volatile Middle last scene. But changes in East West relations have served to produce fresh uncertainties which May actually heighten the risk of War in that Region. I he Arab Nightmare has always been the Specter of a greater Israel one that stretches from the Banks of the Nile to the euphrates River. In some Arab minds the Kremlin decision to allow Large numbers of soviet jews to emigrate to Israel helps turn that Nightmare into a reality. Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak has journeyed to Moscow to plead with Mikhail Gorbachev to Stem the flow of jewish immigrants. He warned the soviet president that it could Lead to another Mideast War. Egypt has signed a peace treaty of sorts with Israel and receives $3 billion a year in . Aid. For Jerusalem it is also a matter of demographics. Speaking of the soviet jews Simcha Dinitz an israeli absorption official and a former envoy to Washington says a this is our last Best Hope. Without those people we could become a minority in our own land within another in nearly every Arab land at least four out of every 10 people Are under the age of 15. Demographers predict that the population of the entire Arab world will double in 22 years. Some palestinian leaders refer to such population pressures As their prime tool to eventually undermine the jewish state. A key facet of our Century was the nazi murder of 6 million jews. Surveys show that educated arabs widely believe that Western guilt Over the holocaust helped spawn a the zionist they also blame stalinist Russia for backing the idea As a Short sighted Man Euver to curb British influence in the area naturally the israelis see things differently. An israeli consensus holds that if Ever the crunch comes the West cannot be trusted. They Ponder whether at a Point of utmost peril either an american government or american jewry will come to their Rescue Given such widespread attitudes the rift Between Washington and Jerusalem becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Each signal from Washington aimed at stabilizing the israelis seemingly rudderless course causes the israelis to dig in deed or. F israelis Center right forces have a policy a even if at the moment they do not have a government. It is to pursue the status quo in the occupied lands yielding As Little As possible. While that program fails to Stem the Intifada its advocates believe any other one would be worse. War talk May be cheap but Jerusalem takes it seriously. Last month for example. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein spoke of an Arsenal of binary chemical weapons that Iraq would use to destroy a half of Israel Quot if it came under attack. The israeli response was to put its unacknowledged nuclear Arsenal on Alert status a without notifying Washington. ? the Cia has prepared a report that f covers All this a and More. It notes for instance that such supposedly moderate Arab countries As Egypt and Jordan. A rather than objecting to Hussein a appalling threats actually hailed them. President Bush complains that Israel lacks a government that he can Deal with. But As flames spread he lacks the luxury of waiting to act until a new fire commissioner reports for duty. C new York times the opinions expressed in the columns and cartoons on this Page represent those of the authors and Are in no Way to be considered As representing the views of the stars and stripes or the United states government
