European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 23, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday May 23, 1994 commentary a the stars and stripes Page 13. Finally and with startling clarity the chinese. Communist dictatorship is sending its Core message to the United states nationwide repression by arrest of dissenters will not Only continue but Widen. A by june 3, president Clinton will decide whether to live up to his executive order to remove China slow Tariff privileges unless it Progress toward giving the chinese and tibetan people some Relief from such instruments of government As political arrests forced labor and torture boards. . Rosenthal no longer is there any possible doubt that the communists have failed to do that a and will not unless economic pressure is applied. The communist regime is working with some american officials and businessmen. To dredge up a few fringe human rights crumbs that Clinton can Call a a Progress if he decides to betray his word and the cause of human rights. But Beijing is increasingly terrified of human rights. It is increasingly unsure of its hold on the chinese people. It is increasingly fearful of them. Now it tells diplomats and american business executives that the right to dissent without being arrested would bring instability. To dictatorships a a instability is a synonym for weakening their police Ter ror control in any Way. So even As it makes a Public relations release of a prisoner or two Beijing carries out More political arrests. And at least 500 political prisoners previously unknown to the West have been added to the list of thousands of others by. Human rights watch a Asia in China of course arrest Means electric Shock Iron rods floggings and deprivation of food visits an Shower water. In its renewed insistence on smashing dissidence and dissidents Beijing demo wishes the arguments of the China Trade lobby and its servants in Congress the Treasury the National economic Council and the Commerce department. These Fellows Campaign openly against the presidents own human rights policy. He does not shut them up. For years now the China lobby has been peddling the line that economic growth in China would bring political Liberty. That propaganda is a perversion of history an insult to All who died under Hitler and Japan a dictatorship during their economic surge. The lobby preaches also that removing Low Tariff privileges will somehow Hurt the United states More than China. But As the deadline approaches Beijing itself drops that economic bluster and admits its fear of losing those privileges. Thanks to the Low tariffs and to slave wage labor costs China has built a $30 billion annual Trade advantage Over Uncle sucker. Billions of that Export profit come from products made in the factories and prisons of the chinese army rifles and assault weapons by the Boatload plus furniture toys tools machinery. Other forced labor prisons Export pumps carpets clothes machinery a a dozens of products undercutting american labor. China lobby propaganda about great China slamming its Market shut on America is ludicrous. That Market Sells us four times As much As it buys and would keep exporting even with higher tariffs. The lobby a Little secret is that the chinese communists have shown themselves susceptible to economic pressure a so important to them is their huge Rake in from the United states and american investment. Revocation of Low tariffs stands much greater Chance of freeing prisoners chained to torture boards than have the fruitless years of american appeasement. Some members of Congress have surren dared to the lobby become defectors front the human rights cause they once backed. But a Strong group of human rights supporters remains a people like reps. David Bonior of Michigan Rich aril Gephardt of Missouri Tom Lantos of California Frank Wolf of Virginia and of course san Francisco a gift to America and the people in the prison cells Nancy Closi a Democrat and supporter of Clinton. If Clinton does walk out on his executive order or weasels it Down to a mockery he will be giving the chinese communists the special License they now ask for a License for More repression More arrests More torture cells All handsomely subsidized by the United states of America. C now York times an icon of dignity to the last she went Home to die. There would be no strangers coming Down her Hospital corridor whispering outside her door. No paparazzi Angling to get at her bedside. A the spokesman for the Hospital had said As spokesmen have said so Many times before a mrs. Onassis and her family have asked that her privacy be respected at this the reporters the curious the Well wishers were kept at arms length for one last . V a a a Quot \ a a Jacqueline Bouvier. Jacqueline Kennedy. Jackie o. It was a malignant cancer indeed that killed this most private of Public women at 64 years old. The woman a image was seared into our National photo album half her lifetime ago. She was 34 years old a Only 34 a on that Day when she flew Back from Dallas still dressed in a Pink suit stained with the blood of her husband. In the Days that followed Jacqueline Kennedy become the icon of National mourning. She set a Standard for the stoicism we Call dignity in the face of death. She did this As she did everything a with courage in Public under a veil. Jacqueline Bouvier the daughter of a Black the 18-year-old who was chosen the Debutante of 1947. The diffident Vassar and George Washington student who became the a inquiring camera girls for the old Washington times Herald. The wife of the Young senator from Massachusetts. The first lady. At times she looked like a Deer caught in the Kennedy headlights. She Hadnot voted before her marriage did no to care much for politics was More attracted to Art than policy and liked shopping More than touch football. A. A a we thought we knew her. We thought she belonged to us. She has been on More Magazine covers than Madonna. We followed every move every hairstyle and lifestyle change. We knew her favorite diet dinner a baked potatoes with caviar a and her favorite designers. A a a \ a a /. But it was a compliment that she did no to return an intrusion she lived with but did no to Welcome As a single Mother the most famous widow of the most famous children in America she chose to raise Caroline and John As Well and As far from the spotlight As possible. A i was Reading essayist Thomas Carlyle a she said once after Jack died a and he said you should do the duty that lies nearest you. The thing that lies nearest me is the she did that duty and had that pleasure. Years later when her son John made a Toast at his Sisters engagement he said a there were always just the three of us. Now there will be and now there will be one less. ,. America wanted Jacqueline Kennedy to remain Frozen in time circa 1963, circa 34 years old. When she married Aristotle Onassis the country reacted As if Ellen Goodman some marauding Visigoth had made off with americans trophy widow. But she did what she wanted a when she went to work As an editor she was criticized As a Rich woman who had gone slumming at the workplace. But she made her own Coffee xeroxed her own pages edited her own books. She made her own life. The world changed enormously in the years after Jackie was first lady. Gradually the zone of privacy we allow Public figures became smaller than a stall Shower. Now psycho biographies written in psychobabble fill the shelves and turn lives into mini Senes. Fame Means living Long enough to have an actress play you in someone else a script about your life. Jackie on even politicians Are expected to reveal their childhood traumas to talk show hosts in the 1990s. Wives Are called upon to do confessional interviews about their inner feelings about everything including their marriage. Everyday people line up for the Chance to discuss dysfunctional families and 12-step horror stories in the name of but Jackie did t Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis remained the most Lamous and the most private of women. She did no to comment. She did no to write her memoirs or do interviews about her disappointments. Call it distance. Call it shyness. Call it Reserve aloofness. Chose your word on the continuum of privacy. May i suggest dignity at this very end of an Era Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis did it her Way. She Khi with dignity. A Jejo Jon i Jijo
