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FBIS3-39505_0 | Incidents of Left-Wing Violence Increasing | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Unattributed report: "Left-Wing Violence on the Increase"] [Text] Right-wing and left-wing extremists are moving closer together as far as violence is concerned. Preliminary 1993 figures by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution indicate that there were some 1,100 acts of violence by left-wing extremists, while the other side accounted for 1,820 such incidents (in 1992: 980 and 2,638, involving one and 17 deaths, respectively). Included among the acts of violence are murder and homicide, bomb and arson attacks, breach of the public peace, personal injury, traffic blockages, and severe damage to property. Christian Democratic Union Bundestag Deputy Heinrich Lummer said that irrespective of the "convergence of extremism" reporting on leftist violence is neglected in most media: "All forms of extremist violence must be stigmatized." Left-wing extremism, the former Berlin senator for the interior said, is "overshadowed insofar as national exposure is concerned." |
FBIS3-39510_1 | Claes' Aide: NATO Enlargement No Guarantee for Stability | cultural organization, which means that only the latter reason is valid. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Strobe Talbott assumes that stability in Europe will de determined by developments in Russia. I believe he is right in his assumption. We must take full account of Moscow. We must know what the Russians are thinking. Why is Russia so against the enlargement of NATO? Because it sees it as a move toward a dangerous isolation. Since 1917 that has been a permanent fear for the Russians. We must not fuel this paranoia. We can draw a parallel with the Ostpolitik of the former German Chancellor Willy Brandt. He could only begin his detente efforts after he had assured the Russians of the status quo in Europe, and thus by acknowledging Russia's place in Europe. Another example is the Cuban crisis. U.S. President John Kennedy was able to resolve it successfully because he did not start bombing immediately but tried instead to understand how Nikita Khruschev saw the conflict. [Oosterwaal] The West hopes to keep Yeltsin in place because it is horrified by his rival, Zhirinovskiy. But the West has little or no influence on Russia's domestic affairs. [Coolsaet] The best guarantee for stability in Europe is a democratic Russia. Whatever it takes, we must not allow an authoritarian, despotic system to develop in the former Soviet Union which would be opposed to the West. But how? By supporting the forces for democracy. I also know that our impact is very limited. But however limited this influence may be, we must at least try. If we believe that Russia is automatically embarking on a new imperialist adventure, then we cannot hesitate. Then we must enlarge the alliance as quickly as possible. But I do not believe that this scenario is unavoidable. Russian society consists of a Slavic, nationalist component and a Western-oriented component. It has been that way since Peter the Great. It is one of the keys to an understanding of Russia. Zhirinovskiy is the crystallization of a frustrated nation which is feeding off anti-Western Slavic sentiments. His success is not surprising. There is great unease in Russia. By immediately allowing NATO to extend right up to the borders of the former Soviet Union we would be lending force to this Slavophile and xenophobic nationalism. As long as the power play between the Slavophiles and those who look to the West has |
FBIS3-39518_5 | Paper Comments on PDS Government Program | clear in their principles and plans -- in order to start practicing the principles of the market and fair competition in politics too. Nobody would dream of suggesting that the PDS' program is a kind of cure-all for the country's problems. Indeed, it includes some proposals that seem still ill-defined or unsupported by adequate arguments -- for instance, where it postulates a growth, albeit sacrosanct, in expenditure on education of 6-10 percent of GDP, without clarifying to the detriment of whom and what this would take place. Be that as it may, however, this examination of the good and bad features of the PDS program can produce useful and meaningful assessments only on the basis of a comparison with the proposals and programs of its rivals. To be specific: There are a couple of issues that have particularly occupied the start of the election campaign -- taxation and the media. With regard to the former, Occhetto says that "a reduction in taxation will be achieved as and when the general conditions of public finances make it possible." In other words, it is necessary first to emerge from the trap of the public deficit by bringing inflation down still further, the continuation of an incomes policy, and further spending cuts. This, essentially, is the policy being pursued by the Ciampi government, and we are acquainted with both its advantages and its disadvantages. Do Occhetto's rivals have a different program in mind? We know that they are talking about cutting taxes, but what do they intend to do about the public deficit? To deal with it by means of inflation and by printing money? Or by means of something less destructive? It would be helpful if they were to say. As for the media, Occhetto proposes reversing the rationale of the "perverse compromises" -- again -- behind current legislation, centering the defense of the public not on the vested interests of the existing bigwigs but on the citizens' right to pluralism in their sources of information. What are the other rival political forces offering as an alternative? Some further compromises in line with the oligopolistic Mammi bill, or a real opening to this market based on the principles of competition? It would be helpful to know this, too, in order to assess the liberal substance of Occhetto's proposals: It is possible to do better than him, but someone has to do it. |
FBIS3-39521_0 | * Social Security Costs Seen Ballooning | Language: Portuguese Article Type:CSO [Article by Carla Aguiar: "The End of Social Distribution"] [Editorial Report] The very foundations of social security are threatened by an earthquake of gigantic dimensions called "aging." The social security financing system presently rests on the contributions of 3.5 active citizens per retired worker, a situation already responsible for large state deficits. However, were the system to continue unchanged, prospects are even more disquieting, given that in 60 years, barely 1.3 percent of active workers will pay the costs for each retiree. This means that in the year 2050, each worker will bear alone the almost entire amount a retiree costs. Within this scenario, the system's financial burden may "grow 7.5 times," from 300 million contos distributed in 1990 in old age pensions to almost 2.3 billion contos, meaning that the system's deficit will rise to "unconscionable heights." This is the point of departure chosen by the authors of the book Financing Retirement: The Contribution of the Insurance Sector to reach alternative solutions. [passage omitted] They advocate the adoption of a mixed, noncompulsory system at the company or individual level, leading to the accumulation of funds whose management may be entrusted to entities specializing in this type of activity, such as, for instance, insurance companies or pension fund managers. While three other types of theoretical solutions are possible, "their practical applications entail difficulties": pensions can be reduced, the retirement age can be pushed back, or contributions can be increased during a worker's active life. Despite the fear expressed by the specialists with regard to the first two solutions, given the Portuguese social reality of "small pensions with companies increasingly resorting to early retirements," the government did not hesitate to postpone the retirement age and modify the basis for computing retirements, an initiative that resulted in smaller pensions in a number of cases. The new social security law also increased the contributions of self-employed workers. |
FBIS3-39526_2 | Banks' Possible Connections With Serbia Viewed | named. For example, a Serbian private company in Cyprus might pay for an oil shipment stocked in Greece to go to Hungary. Hence, no deal is done with Serbia, but, at the same time, no one can check that the shipment really went to Hungary, and was not diverted to Serbia or Montenegro, the diplomat explained. "We cannot check their activities," reckons Dhimitrios Khatzikostis, chief of the Cyprus customs enquiry department. "To date, we did not uncover any violation of the sanctions. Two or three cases are under investigation," he added. Some of the Serbian companies existed in Cyprus before the United Nations security council voted the sanctions, in 1992, but hundreds were created in the days following the vote. At that time, "Yugoslavs came with suitcases filled with money," a diplomat recalled. American and British central banks have sent several delegations from April to October 1993 to push Cyprus into enforcing the embargo, he said. "Controls have improved since, but they did not go to the bottom of things." Ten Serbian companies listed as suspect by the U.S. Treasury Department have branches in Cyprus, he added. Some of them seem to have kept the same level of activity as before the sanctions were imposed, although their assets were frozen. Cyprus' Central bank did not disclose the number of Serbian off-shore companies, but the most prominent are Beogradska Bank, here since 1988 and very active before the embargo, state trading firms like Yugo-Arab and Yugo-Metal, and Unibros, a private trading company. None of these companies, which are accused of breaching the embargo by the Western media, agreed to answer AFP's questions. The Central Bank has assigned two employees to watch over the activities of Beogradska Bank. Its overt operations range from sponsoring Serbian painting exhibitions to hosting the Cyprus-Serbia humanitarian association activities. This group told AFP it collected 4,000 dollars to buy medicines, that later were sent to Belgrade with travellers, to circumvent a UN authorization. Cyprus and Yugoslavia had close ties, mainly within the Non-Aligned movement. Thousands of former Yugoslavs, mainly Serbians, live in Cyprus -- 2,198, according the interior ministry, much more according to diplomats. Public opinion as reflected in Parliament or the media is largely pro-Serbian, and the Cyprus Orthodox Church last year offered 200,000 dollars to its counterpart in Serbia. Conservative MP Tasos Papadhopoulos has even spoken against Cyprus enforcing the sanctions, branding them as "anti-constitutional." |
FBIS3-39534_0 | Priests Lead `Tens of Thousands' in U.S. Consulate Protest | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Salonika, Greece, Feb 15 (AFP)--Eggs were hurled at the U.S. consulate here whose shutters stayed closed as tens of thousands of demonstrators protested Tuesday [15 February] against Washington's recognition of Macedonia. Led by Greek Orthodox priests, they gathered at the church of Ayia Sofia to march to the consulate behind Greek flags and crosses. Orthodox Metropolitan Pandeleimon read a statement attacking President Bill Clinton's "criminal act" and the "indecent behaviour" of the United States. Athens is fighting a losing battle against the international recognition of the former Yugoslav republic, which it claims has expansionist aims. It says only Greece's northern province can bear the name of Macedonia. Most European Community countries decided to have diplomatic links with Skopje in December, the United States followed suit last week, while the latest was Australia Tuesday. Russia has also taken a similar step. Many students who had been bussed into Thessaloniki while their schools were closed took part in Tuesday's march. Similar but smaller protests were staged in other towns of northern Greece, like Drama, east of here, where mayor Maiyaritis Tsimas personally removed the name of Franklin Roosevelt Street. "I have no idea of the size of the demonstration but many people braved an intense cold with great national fervour," Thessaloniki police chief Ioannis Karakondinis said. Pandeleimon, a strong nationalist and religious fundamentalist, prayed at a religious ceremony for "God in his infinite wisdom to enlighten Clinton so that he changes his anti-Greek policy." The ceremony was attended by the minister for the Greek provinces of Macedonia and Thrace, Kostas Triaridhis, who was present in a non-official capacity, and many politicians sent supportive messages, including government spokesman Evangelos Venizelos, a member of parliament for Macedonia. |
FBIS3-39551_0 | GATT Report Expresses Concern Over U.S. `Unilateralism' | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Geneva, Feb 18 (AFP) -- Many of the contracting parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have expressed concern at what they say is the contradictory "unilateralism" in U.S. trade policy, a GATT report disclosed here Thursday [17 February]. The document, drafted during meetings to examine to U.S. trade pratices, emerged as Washington was threatening Japan with severe reprisals if Tokyo failed to open its markets to U.S.-made portable telephones. The United States has warned that it will prepare a list of Japanese products on which U.S. duties will be increased if Tokyo does not come forward with plans to give foreign portable telephone manufacturers greater access to Japanese consumers. Washington contends that Japan is violating a 1989 accord on such equipment. But the GATT report found that many parties to the agreement see U.S. trade policy as "unilataralist" and contradictory. "They point to what they consider the contradictions inherent in laws aimed at opening markets based on threats to close markets." They cited in particular U.S. legislation known as "Section 301." "There is a growing number of complaints from trading partners concerning the increased resort to these laws and the methods used to determine dumping, subsidization and injury," the report said. It noted that while the United States over the past two years has made "relatively restrained use of these laws," it has nonetheless "introduced new procedures to maintain pressure on foreign governments." The study criticized those voices in the United States urging greater protection against "high-savings countries with which the bilateral deficits are greatest" -- notably Japan. It said that "pressure to take bilateral action against these partners threatens both the openness of the U.S. trade regime and the multilateral system." GATT found that the United States does not always apply the lofty principles of free trade that it defends in debates with its principal partners. While the United States maintains restrictive legislation to protect its own producers it pressures other countries to open their markets still wider, according to GATT. |
FBIS3-39567_0 | Mayhew Maintains Efforts for Peace in Ulster | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Report by Michael Cassell in Belfast, Tim Coone in Dublin and David Owen in London: "Mayhew Maintains Diplomatic Efforts To Find Ulster Peace"] [Text] Sir Patrick Mayhew, Northern Ireland secretary, yesterday employed further delicate diplomacy to maintain British government efforts aimed at encouraging all sides to embrace the peace process in Northern Ireland. In an article published in yesterday's IRISH TIMES, Sir Patrick used new and more straightforward language to address some of the concerns and uncertainties arising from the Downing Street declaration and to offer a more detailed vision of what could lie beyond a permanent end to violence. His message came as it emerged at Westminster that Sir Patrick has given the hardline Democratic Unionist party [DUP] a virtual assurance that the Anglo-lrish conference will not meet while political talks are taking place. Mr Peter Robinson, the DUP deputy leader, said a letter recently received from the Northern Ireland secretary indicated "a willingness to suspend" the conference. The DUP -- which is boycotting the talks process -- last week wrote to Mr John Major requesting a meeting before the prime minister's next encounter with Mr Albert Reynolds, his Irish counterpart, on Saturday. According to Mr Robinson, Sir Patrick also stressed that there was no requirement for the DUP to accept the joint declaration as the basis for political talks. In yesterday's article, Sir Patrick forcefully reiterated the government's insistence that the IRA must end hostilities and that Sinn Fein must renounce the justification of violence and commit itself exclusively to the democratic process. But he also attempted to edge forward on some areas cited by republicans as being in need of clarification. His remarks were welcomed by Mr Reynolds. Sir Patrick repeated his view that, in the event of an end to IRA violence, Sinn Fein could be admitted to exploratory talks "within three months" rather than at the end of a three-month quarantine period. He said that once it was clear that all terrorist violence had ceased for good, the benefits to the community would include "our ability to manage without troops being deployed in support of the police and without emergency legislation." Sir Patrick said Britain "cannot and will not adopt the role of persuader for any particular outcome" and that "with or without" Sinn Fein, the process would go ahead. He added: "We are, however, persuaders who urge the really committed |
FBIS3-39568_1 | Ulster Political Leaders Comment on Peace Process | point to a long and tortuous process with success far from assured. The words with which the Reverend Ian Paisley greeted the announcement by the then Northern Ireland secretary Mr Peter Brooke in March 1991 that a basis for formal political talks existed still seem apposite. "The gate into the field has been opened," the leader of the hardline Democratic Unionist party [DUP] said at the time. "But...there is a lot of hard ploughing in front of us." The main problem areas appear to be as follows: The "nothing is agreed until everything is agreed" formula. This, by definition, precludes the possibility of gradual progress. Every syllable and punctuation mark has to be agreed before anything can be set in stone. Mr John Hume, leader of the mainly Roman Catholic Social Democratic and Labour party [SDLP], regards the principle as "crucially important." It ensures the talks address all the relationships -- within Northern Ireland, between north and south, and between the two governments, he says. An agreement confined to the question of "who wields power in Northern Ireland" would not necessarily solve the province's problems, Mr Hume believes. Unionists favour a less ambitious framework paving the way for a return to devolved government in Ulster, independent of what might be agreed in the other two "strands" of the talks process. They point out that a blueprint for an Ulster assembly was drawn up by a working party comprising all four constitutional parties during the talks initiated by Mr Brooke. Mr Paisley says openly that as far as he is concerned, the formula no longer applies. It was exposed as a "fallacy" during the "failed" Brooke talks process, he says. How to handle the relationship between the north and Dublin. There is no disguising the fundamental differences between the participants on this second strand of the talks process. An Ulster Unionist party [UUP] document to be published this month will argue that the relationship should be handled by ad hoc meetings between Irish ministers and Ulster assembly representatives. But proposals implying that no separate north-south institution -- such as a dedicated secretariat -- is necessary would probably be anathema to the SDLP and to Dublin. Mr James Molyneaux, the UUP leader, goes so far as to say: "Not only are the institutionalised bits unnecessary, but they are unconstitutional. They would tend to tie elected representatives from one part of the United |
FBIS3-39570_2 | GCHQ Cuts May Damage `Special Relationship' | of trimming the GCHQ operation. Their rivals in the intelligence services say that this is because the FCO [Foreign and Commonwealth Office] -- itself under the Treasury cosh -- hopes to become the beneficiary of any cuts in the intelligence services, by being allowed to keep more funds. Since it is common knowledge that the Treasury is out to cut public services across the board, it is unlikely anybody in the FCO would be so foolish. "It is a question of savings to the tax payer, not to anyone else," said one official. There is another school of thought -- shared by some officials in the Foreign Office. It is that at more than 6,000 staff, GCHQ is seriously overstaffed. It is deemed to be peopled by "numbercrunchers" who churn out a needless wealth of indigestible raw material, much of it never read; and that it should be restructured entirely to employ people capable of analysing what it finds out to establish if, and to whom, it is of any use. It emerges that the American cousins, of whom the British service is so solicitous, have the same problem. A recent Congressional hearing focused on complaints by US government departments at the difficulty of accessing relevant information in the dense mass of raw material. "The NSA [National Security Agency] doesn't even bother to provide a summary of its material to its consumers," said one intelligence analyst. "They just tell them `This is the access code, find it yourself.'" Since the end of the Soviet Union, all Western intelligence services have been forced to reexamine their roles in life. It is no secret that the reason MI6 has decided to go public is not because of lofty government aspirations to openness but because it is trying to defend its funds. It defines its post-Cold War role as threefold: the fight against terrorism, nuclear proliferation and drugs. A further problem of what to do with the intelligence community in the new world disorder will arise in 1997, when the large British base in Hong Kong will have to make way for the Chinese. There is speculation that some of them will transfer to an American base in Taiwan -- a sensitive move diplomatically -- and others go to Malaysia and Singapore. The cosiest scenario is that some will join their Australian allies at a signals intelligence base in Shoal Bay, near Darwin. |
FBIS3-39578_0 | Waigel Justifies Wage, Income Taxes, Transfers to East | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Bonn (DPA) -- FRG Finance Minister Theo Waigel (Christian Social Union -- CSU) sees neither a "gap of justice" in the present wage and income tax scale nor in the state financing of Germany unity through austerity measures and the solidarity contribution. In a letter to the Christian Democratic Union [CDU]/CSU Bundestag Group that became known to DPA on Thursday [17 February], Waigel now provides deputies with arguments against the Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD] with comprehensive accounts of burdens. One "cannot talk" of preferential treatment of higher incomes or discrimination of people with small incomes, he stressed. As of 1995, no solidarity contribution will be collected from a four-person family with two children and a gross income of 47,197 German marks [DM] per year. The full surcharge to the wage tax with a rate of 7.5 percent will only become due starting at DM52,166. According to the income tax scale, high-income earners are already now considerably more burdened than regular earners, which has disastrous consequences for industrial enterprises. Another substantial tax burden, repeatedly and emphatically demanded by the SPD, would significantly restrict the financial scope for necessary investments, it was stated. At the same time, the finance minister rejected the SPD reproach that the transfer to eastern Germany via social insurances is socially unjust. In 1993, funds of DM57.5 billion flew from the Federal Employment Office (39.5 billion) and the pension insurance (18 billion) to the new laender; DM33.3 billion of it or just under 58 percent come from federal subsidies, that is tax proceeds. Insurance contributions from employers and employees account for the rest, Waigel reported. However, even regarding the funds from social contributions, the benefits have always been granted independently of the regional origin of the funds. "There is obviously no reason to deviate from this because of the establishment of the unity of the German state," he said. |
FBIS3-39579_7 | Socialist Party Leader on Bosnia, Social Democracy | -- must assume their responsibilities. We are emerging from a 70-year struggle between Communism and the free world. The side of freedom won because it brought together all those people for whom democracy was truly meaningful, and also because it had the most formidable of weapons: economic efficiency. This victory had a cost: We thought that by fighting Communism we were fighting not a state-controlled perversion of social organization, but the pretention of the state to regulate freedom. This is partly true, but we pushed the argument too far. Since the all-powerful state was dangerous, we said, the market forces, which are also the forces of freedom, were going to get us out of the world's troubles and allow us to find growth again. That was a mistaken use of symmetry. The market is not responsible for social balances. The market has no way of preventing its deep-rooted tendency to push toward concentration: an increasing amount of money for the richest people, and an increasing amount of concentration for enterprises. Of course, democracy presupposes the market freedom which we need. We simply want to put limits on it while maintaining it, because the struggle against social inequality is not a matter for the market, but for rules. Giving everyone equal opportunities, protecting the environment, providing education, promoting basic research, and ensuring social protection and everyone's right to health are all functions which the market cannot assume. Look at the United States and Great Britain: Both countries went so far in accepting uncontrolled free enterprise that they are now torn apart by a social antagonism that is weakening them. [Daniel] At the birth of capitalism, moral concerns were just as much in the forefront of people's thinking as market concerns, since they resulted from the Protestant idea that money is necessary while also assuming the rules of loyalty, fair play, and integrity. Therefore, we could posit that capitalism had "social" origins. [Rocard] As a Protestant I think you are paying us more than our due. This puritan and virtuous capitalism never really existed as such. Adam Smith knew that only too well, since on the one hand he wrote The Wealth of Nations and on the other hand he wrote a treatise on morality, and was very careful to keep them separate. All excesses stem from there.... [Daniel] What do you consider to be today's great excesses? [Rocard] Firstly, excesses in |
FBIS3-39579_8 | Socialist Party Leader on Bosnia, Social Democracy | matter for the market, but for rules. Giving everyone equal opportunities, protecting the environment, providing education, promoting basic research, and ensuring social protection and everyone's right to health are all functions which the market cannot assume. Look at the United States and Great Britain: Both countries went so far in accepting uncontrolled free enterprise that they are now torn apart by a social antagonism that is weakening them. [Daniel] At the birth of capitalism, moral concerns were just as much in the forefront of people's thinking as market concerns, since they resulted from the Protestant idea that money is necessary while also assuming the rules of loyalty, fair play, and integrity. Therefore, we could posit that capitalism had "social" origins. [Rocard] As a Protestant I think you are paying us more than our due. This puritan and virtuous capitalism never really existed as such. Adam Smith knew that only too well, since on the one hand he wrote The Wealth of Nations and on the other hand he wrote a treatise on morality, and was very careful to keep them separate. All excesses stem from there.... [Daniel] What do you consider to be today's great excesses? [Rocard] Firstly, excesses in the financial sphere. People have discovered that to make their fortunes they no longer have to produce goods, but instead they can trade in money and that the cost of this trade is borne by production. The current severe crisis in Japan is a perfect example of this: The production of goods and services other than money has slowed down and is almost in a recession because the financial burden is excessive. [Daniel] This financial capitalism in the United States, for example, is now subject to legal controls to a much greater extent than ours is. [Rocard] That is true, but this control only aims to ensure that levies are legal, whereas what we really need to do is lighten them. Moreover, it is quite characteristic of a system in which the legal sphere is growing, in the United States, at the expense of all other activities. [Daniel] It is curious to hear you condemning this excess of virtue.... [Rocard] I am not confusing justice with legalism, or virtue with impotence! The problem is a simple if considerable one. We have to introduce another idea of the state, a state that is less kingly, less centrist or centralizing, less bureaucratic |
FBIS3-39579_12 | Socialist Party Leader on Bosnia, Social Democracy | could be defined thus: rights of man, a high standard of living, and social security. We alone have been able to create and defend these three things. [Daniel] It is meritorious, but can it still be saved? [Rocard] Preserving a high level of protection against countries that practice social dumping requires flexibility and rigorous management and even -- and I am going to shock everyone by this -- a reexamination of certain acquired rights. It is all about saving the most essential thing which is making social justice compatible with the aggressiveness of the industrial and commercial mechanism. Today, we and the Germans are thinking about nothing else. [Daniel] Are you brave enough to say which social benefits should be suppressed? What blockages should we clear? Which myths no longer correspond to reality? [Rocard] Let us identify each separate case. I will start with pensions. When I was prime minister I issued a white paper which clearly listed all the threats to the long-term development of pension schemes. This white paper also listed all the possible measures for improving the situation and ended by concluding that this is such a weighty problem that it is impossible to leave it solely to the discretion of the state. On such complex problems, with such a big an impact on the future, the state should hold a public debate and not decide on the behalf of society. [Daniel] However, there appears to be no other way.... [Rocard] There is the method of multilevel negotiation which takes a long time. In France we are incredibly lucky in that we have the time. After all, no other European country has produced as many children, and as a result our retirement crisis will come in 2005 or 2010. That gives us two or three years to awaken the collective consciousness of the country and create a climate such that nobody can deny the figures. We have to get used to the idea that it will be difficult -- we have to study, research, and then negotiate. I did say, in a doubtless unfortunate joke: "That is enough to bring down any government." The press really made the most of that. Mr. Balladur, however, has quietly passed three decrees on retirement, and it did not bring the government down. Perhaps I should have kept my mouth shut? No, because the measures taken by Mr. Balladur are unfair |
FBIS3-39591_0 | Church Modifies Stand on Employment | Language: Italian Article Type:CSO [Article by Mario Monti: "True Solidarity"] [Text] At a time when there are cries and recriminations on the unemployment problem, an "Informative Note on The Problems of Employment and Development," distrisbuted yesterday by the Office of Social Problems and Labor of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), deserves particular attention. This document sheds light on the two most serious aspects of Italian unemployment, and clearly indicates suitable policies for tackling this problem. In our country this problem is particularly serious because unemployment is concentrated in the south and among young people (thus, it strikes the youth of the south very hard). The document observes, "The rate of unemployment in central northern Italy is no greater than the level in the former West Germany (8 percent), and in the north it can be compared to the more modest unemployment level in the USA (6.7 percent). On the other hand, in the south, unemployment is now 18 percent. Apart from certain regional or short-lived situations, the problem of unemployment in Italy is, therefore, essentially a problem of the south and its unsuccessful development." Thus, "the work, which should be shared in order to redistribute jobs, is unfortunately concentrated in the north. In the south there is still a need to build factories (and not only this, of course)." As far as the structure of unemployment by age and family background is concerned, the document notes (even though data from 1991 are used) that only 12 percent of the unemployed are heads of families, versus an average of 37 percent in Europe. On the other hand, 63 percent of the unemployed are children versus an average of 38 percent in Europe. From the results of another recent study among industrialized countries, Italy (at almost 30 percent) is second only to Spain for the percentage of young people between 15 and 24 who are looking for work without results. The Informative Note of the CEI succinctly, but clearly, moves from the analysis of the data to a diagnosis: "These are specific characteristics that are linked to a labor market situation that is particularly closed and protected, with rules that primarily defend those who already have a job." The document then moves from diagnosis to therapy. To get out of the crisis, in the short term it is necessary "to implement measures meant to make labor market rules more open, coordinated and |
FBIS3-39591_3 | Church Modifies Stand on Employment | those who take part in it because they do not realize that they are hurting those who are even weaker--the unemployed. These are individuals, and particularly young people, that will not be able to find work because the economy allocates resources to dead-end projects rather than the creation of productive jobs. Social welfare measures are possible and appropriate, but they should be well-defined, and not involve nonproductive work. The conclusion of the CEI Note should also be noted: "Going in all these directions means making a fundamental choice to favor future (and collective future) investments in the short term over immediate (and individual) consumption. When taking into consideration the current state of public finances, this also means that it will be essential for social consciousness to prevail over demagoguery in the lively debate regarding taxes which is currently taking place in our country among politicians." I have felt it necessary to go into detail on the CEI's "Informative Note" due to the importance of imposing (as a sensible economic and social policy program) a vision based on flexibility and development on a tradition of thought and teaching that frequently is inclined to favor collective solidarity over growth. One wonders if, in the very terms proposed in this document, it may not be possible to develop a program that is quite similar to the one that I tried to outline on several occasions in this column (in particular on September 3, 1993 and January 5th): - it should defer the reduction of the tax burden to a time when a substantial new equilibrium in public finances has occurred, and in particular, when the current deficit has been eliminated - it should also liberalize labor markets and, at the same time, better regulate them - there should be more public involvement to protect competition and openness, and less government interference in price and supply decisions - there should also be more flexibility (including regional) regarding wages and salaries, fewer restrictions on hirings and firings, and more room for decentralized and individual bargaining - unemployment offices should be eliminated and unemployment subsidies introduced - there should be fewer taxes on production, but fewer subsidies to businesses, less recourse to bailout measures, and more recourse to letting companies fail - furthermore there should be less protection for low productivity, and more care given to human and environmental "capital." An economic policy along these lines |
FBIS3-39613_0 | Aid Groups in Bosnia Urged To `Review' Position | Language: English Article Type:BFN [By Chris Moncrieff, PRESS ASSOCIATION political editor] [Text] Aid organisations were today urged to review the position of any British or international staff in Bosnia as the NATO deadline on air strikes approaches. The Government request was seen by MP's as a suggestion that aid groups should pull out staff who could be vulnerable to retaliation if air strikes are ordered against heavy weapons around Sarajevo. The Foreign Office said: "The Overseas Development Administration have advised these aid organisations to review whether they should keep any British or international staff in Bosnia. "The advice points out that ODA personnel have been relocated in order to reduce the risks to them until the situation becomes clearer." The Foreign Office also said: "Since September 1991, all British nationals have been advised to leave Bosnia-Herzegovina. This advice remains in force. Those who, despite this advice, decide to stay do so at their own risk." |
FBIS3-39623_1 | * Report Details Economic Weaknesses | the medium term. The scenario is no more encouraging for metallurgy, armaments, telecommunications, and machine tools, given increasing competitiveness. In addition, the horizon is clearly unfavorable for data processing equipment, cereals, organic chemistry, base minerals, optics, and photography. On the basis of indicators culled from the end of the 1980's and the beginning of the 1990's, the author argues that Portugal "continues to present a weak industrial structure" at a time when specialization is seen as the name of the game. [passage omitted] According to the study, the recent evolution of the nation's industries "has not brought significant changes to its basic characteristics, maintaining an imbalance in which the textile and forestry sectors have a disproportionate weight." The fragile aspects of the Portuguese economy are also defined: a weak industrial infrastructure that is too polarized, be it by regions or by sectors, and rests on the "old, superseded" standard of cheap labor. Therefore, new methods of production, improved quality, and the establishment of a good image are considered decisive for those sectors in which the Portuguese economy traditionally maintains comparative advantages: textiles and clothing, ceramics, wines, and forestry products. [passage omitted] The foreseeable trend for the three large categories in which the author divides the Portuguese economy (internationally specialized, dependent and relatively self-sufficient) are as follows: in the activities that were specialized in the past, there are good prospects for beverages, leather and footwear, canned fruits and vegetables, and consumer electronics, because of previous investments [passage omitted]. For dependent industries, increasing specialization is foreseen in six fields: electrical equipment of various types, aeronautics, nonferrous metals, transportation and public works equipment, and oleaginous products. Strangely, the study maintains that specialization in the production of auto parts will tend to stagnate. Despite the increased auto production foreseen for this sector--mainly because of the Ford-Volkswagen project--the study believes that "imports will tend to increase unless companies furnishing both products for the Portuguese market and a majority percentage for direct export establish themselves in Portugal." For the relatively self-sufficient industries, there are positive prospects for industrial electrical equipment, ceramics, cement/stone, commercial vehicles, nonferrous metals, furniture, light vehicles, plastics, and boiler equipment. In spite of positive signs for the future of these activities, the study warns that real results depend on the evolution of the Portuguese and Spanish economies, contrary to the other two groups, where problems are of a "European, or even world dimension." |
FBIS3-39639_2 | Spokesman Comments on Opening of Proximity Talks | The spokesman mentioned that our side raised various issues on the opening of Nicosia Airport, always keeping in mind the UN secretary general's four prerequisites. It also discussed with the UN envoys some of its positions on Butrus-Ghali's first document, which refers to 14 confidence-building measures. Kasoulidhis said: We have not exhausted our positions on many issues. We will do this tomorrow and we will wait to hear the other side's views. Answering a question, Kasoulidhis said that Kliridhis raised with the UN representatives the issue of Famagusta's fenced-off area map and asked that the United Nations present a more detailed and accurate map to the two sides as soon as possible so that both sides could agree on the map that would be used in the talks. The UN representatives will present the map by tomorrow. Kasoulidhis mentioned that he will release the map that the United Nations gave to the government last May, adding that it was small and did not present the area clearly and with details. In a statement before the meeting, Clark said progress has been made and added that there has been an agreement in principle on the confidence-building measures and an agreement on how we will proceed. Clark said: I hope we will be able to draw a clearer picture on how the two sides approach the key points and discuss them with the two leaders. I intend to discuss all the key points to make as much progress as possible today. I believe there is a basis for some optimism because we have made some progress. The challenge is to maintain this progress in a way acceptable to both sides. Clark said: This is just one phase of the procedure. Success on the confidence-building measures opens the door to success on the most basic issues. Answering a question on whether he will not deal with the first of the seven points on the agenda, Clark said he intends to deal with all the issues today. He said: In every meeting we will define the specific order we will follow. I believe it is important to clarify from the start that we intend to deal with all the points at every meeting. Asked whether Famagusta's map, which is printed today in some newspapers, is the true one, Clark said he did not see the map. The UN envoys will meet Denktas this afternoon. |
FBIS3-39649_36 | Kohl Pledges To Maintain Logistical Support in Bosnia | about weariness, disenchantment with political parties. It is a general weariness. There are people leaving political parties. Trade unions are losing many more members than for instance the CDU. Employers keep quiet and do not talk about the wave of people leaving. There is talk about the churches, the figures have been published. Take sports. Do you know of any field where we do not breed weariness. And I do not have to tell you -- just watch television in the evening, on all channels, and you will go to bed weary. There are hardly any programs that make you go to bed in a cheerful mood. [Siegloch] But you are confident. You have been party chairman for 20 years, and chancellor for 12 years. Would you say that the 16 October election is the most difficult one of your life? [Kohl] No, I would not say that at all. You know, these are just common sayings. On the one hand they say -- and this is a phrase coined by Adenauer --election campaigns are fountains of youth. These are just words. What are the facts? Well, I sit in my office, attend election events. I go there, usually quite fed up. I could imagine something more pleasant than talking for five hours between lunchtime and evening. And all the hassle.... But when I stand in front of the audience, when I enter the assembly halls, when I talk to the people, when I see them in front of me -- let me put it somewhat infomally -- then you feel like an old army horse: You hear marching music, you raise your head and you march. There is duty, and then there is inclination. You know, I am not somebody who got into politics via the backdoor. I have always been politically active. I organized my first campaign rally in 1949, at age 19. And this party is not just any organization for me, it is part of my home. There are personal, human relationships, both in the ups and downs. This is how a proper party works. This is the same in every party, not just in ours. And one has a moral obligation toward one's political friends. I am standing on their shoulders. I could not survive in this office if I did not have the confidence of the great majority, and confidence is a matter of |
FBIS3-39653_0 | PKK Leader Calls For Readiness Against Escalation | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [First of three installments on interview with Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Workers Party of Kurdistan, PKK, by Huseyin Gul; place and date not given] [Text] KURD-A/Botan-- [Gul] The clashes never stopped this winter. The state forces are launching daily air and ground operations. What is your assessment of this situation? [Ocalan] The state is not remaining idle. It is launching attacks with all its might and is exerting every effort to gain victory for its policy, government, and parties. We are working to draw some conclusions after carefully assessing the air and ground operations it launched under such difficult winter conditions. This assessment of the situation is opening the way to numerous political developments. It is helping us to understand our real strength, see our advantages as well as shortcomings, and clarify and evaluate the path of our progress. Tansu Ciller is describing all such operations as "political decisiveness." What she means is that she is trying to achieve results by manipulating the laws where our nation is concerned and by using the counterguerrilla organization in a lawless manner. She is showing that she is decisive on this issue. [Gul] I want to ask a question that interests everybody. What is your assessment of the murder of Mehmet Nabi Inciler and Behcet Canturk, who were Kurds known as godfathers in Turkey? [Ocalan] We could easily state that starting with the murder of DEP [Democracy Party] parliamentarian Mehmet Sincar, these murders of those we could describe as patriotic Kurdish businessmen were done under the direct orders from the highest authority. Nabi Inciler, nicknamed "Inci Baba," and Behcet Canturk were disposed off because of the role they could have played in the Kurdish problem, as they had done in the past. These are intimidation murders aimed at silencing this [patriotic] segment and at encouraging the emergence of a collaborationist segment, such as volunteer village guards, some clan leaders drawn to Ankara, and many such agents. [Gul] The 27 March local elections are approaching. It is expected that the state will conduct large-scale detentions on the eve of the elections. What will be your stance on the elections? [Ocalan] The state is engaged in an "all or nothing" game. It is trying to hold the elections on the principle of the complete destruction of our movement. It is trying to completely disregard the legal foundations. It is trying |
FBIS3-39654_0 | Southeastern Situation Viewed on Election Eve | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Article by Sinan Yilmaz] [Text] Ankara -- Turkey will enter into an important phase in March. The important period that begins with the Ramadan Feast of the Muslims, will continue with the Newroz Feast of the Kurds and will finally end with the March 27 local elections which will effect both the Kurds and the Turks. These three important events will take place within one week of each other. The widespread belief held by the public is that the local elections will not be held in a complete safe environment. There are reports already which predict that both the state and the outlawed Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) will exert pressure on each other during the elections. The first example of such pressure was experienced in Cizre. Cizre is a district that is mostly influenced by the PKK and for this reason the state is attaching special importance to this district and taking similar measures in other settlements. The most obvious element of such measures is that suburbs are being evacuated and village guards are being settled there. The communities which are forced out of their settlements during these operations are also missing out on their opportunity to vote. It is reported that about 1.5 million people in south and southeastern Anatolia are being forced to migrate. The excitement and the tension of the March 27 local elections have already begun. In the western part of the country, almost all parties' candidates are being announced and election campaigns have started. However, there is nobody in south and southeastern Anatolia who has announced his or her candidature for the mayoral elections as yet. With the exception of one or two, almost every candidate's name is being kept secret. Following the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party's boycott, the political parties are keeping the names of their candidates secret for security reasons. The pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP) is also reluctant to announce its candidates for fear of reprisals. The other common element among the parties is that they all feel that the March elections will not be held in a safe environment. The source of this suspicion is the prediction that both the government and the PKK will apply pressure on each other during the elections. It is necessary to point out though that the communities living in this region do not want such pressure or election rigging. Both seem |
FBIS3-39654_8 | Southeastern Situation Viewed on Election Eve | alleged to have combed the town at random and one child was allegedly wounded in the operation. The tension continued in the following days. On Jan. 27, village guards and security forces staged a march. After police had instructed tradesmen in Cizre to hang Turkish flags on their shops otherwise they would be asked to pay a TL [Turkish lira] 500,000 fine, there was a protest march against the PKK. The number of marchers rose to 600 with the participation of the village guards affiliated to Kamil Atak. It was claimed that certain village guards looted some shops during the march. On Jan. 28, the Nur neighborhood was raided by the security forces and the village guards. On Jan. 30, the body of Ibrahim Danis (19), who was alleged to have been taken into custody during the operation in Kurtulus neighborhood on Jan. 27, was found. Danis's body was alleged to have been put in a house which belonged to a village guard and the house was claimed to have been bombed later. Persons above the age of 10 have started being taken into custody. While it is claimed that people who are taken into custody are tortured and forced to abandon the town, seven of those who were taken in custody were killed and no information about 15 others could be obtained. The names of the people who are claimed to have been killed after being taken in custody are as follows: Ibrahim Danis, Resit Pusal, Selim Ebubekir Duran, Ahmet Yusuf Tun and his son Isa Tun, and Selim and Ahmet whose last names cannot be determined. A total of nine people, two of whom are children, have lost their lives since the intensive clashes broke out. People have become accustomed to the clashes which are experienced almost every day. The clashes began on Jan. 7 with PKK militants throwing hand grenades at a panzer and continued until the next morning. Two individuals were wounded in the clashes and 35 workplaces were destroyed. The latter included buildings of the PTT [Post, Telephone, Telegraph office], Ziraat Bank and the bureau of the daily OZGUR GUNDEM. The fact that heavy weaponry such as antiaircraft, mortar and machine guns are used during the clashes means that serious damage has been caused. Naturally, security of life is the main problem. No one is safe. The people of Cizre have started to pay the |
FBIS3-39657_0 | Ankara `Disturbed' by Kazakh Oil Transportation | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] Tension persists among Turkey, Russia, and Kazakhstan on transporting oil. Ankara was disturbed, because it has now become clear that Kazakhstan's oil will be transported to the Black Sea through Russia. Now attention has been riveted on the status of the Straits. [Begin Fatih Yilmaz recording] Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev's visit to the United States at the beginning of the week produced an intriguing result for Turkey. Nazarbayev and U.S. President Bill Clinton reached a consensus on transporting Kazakhstan's oil to the Black Sea through Russia. This created unease in Ankara, which was hoping that Kazakhstan's oil would be transported to Ceyhan through Baku. Kazakhstan's pro-Russian stance was the primary cause of the unease. The issue of transporting oil through the Black Sea was the other cause for the unease. This question raises the status of the Straits. The U.S. oil companies favor transporting Kazakhstan's oil to the Black Sea through the Straits. But now tension persists between Turkey and Russia over the issue of the Straits. Turkey is not positively inclined toward the use of the Straits for oil transportation. Russia is insisting on it. The status of the Straits will be taken up during the talks to be held between Turkey and Russia next week in Ankara. Ankara is getting ready to present an alternate proposal to transport the oil reaching the Black Sea and the Mediterranean through the Samsun-Ceyhan pipeline. [end recording] |
FBIS3-39665_3 | Craxi Accuses PDS Leadership of Dishonesty | matters up in a few months, but meanwhile there is a tragic economic balance sheet. The talk is of everything but employment, bankruptcies, shutdowns. This is what happens when violence is used. Things can only get worse, because you reap what you sow. I hear no talk of the real problems in this media-dominated world; it looks almost as if there is a real reality and a media reality. [Negri] What do you think of Berlusconi in politics? [Craxi] It is a phenomenon that requires analysis, one that is also present is societies that are even more media-oriented than our own, such as the United States or even Latin America. When I think that from 1976 to 1983 I worked to gain two percentage points [for his party], I cannot but ask myself how great the change has been. [Negri] Did you give him any advice? [Craxi] He has done it all on his own. He realized that there was a lack of leadership, a worrying situation, and he has brought the full weight of media to bear. Be that as it may, he has his own credentials, with their pros and cons. He has demonstrated that he is a good businessman, although the transition from business to politics is undoubtedly a leap into the unknown. [Negri] How do you see Occhetto getting on in the midst of media domination? [Craxi] He has a large part of state television at his disposal, but the television screen is also a mirror of truth. The more people watch him on television, the more they will be able to notice that he is a great liar and that he is not a leader capable of running the country. [Negri] Any nostalgia for the old parties? [Craxi] Much of the blame for the collapse of the system can be laid at its own door, it had aged badly, but we cannot pretend not to see what is replacing it. Notwithstanding its degeneration, the party regime was a channel, but now we are facing the unknown. Suffice it to say that there are only three days to go before the deadline for submitting the lists of candidates, but no one knows yet who they will be. Who knows through what centralized filters the winning names have to pass. It will soon become clear that we are moving out of the party regime into an oligarchy. |
FBIS3-39676_0 | Ancram: Irish Peace, Political Settlement `Linked' | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Report by Patrick Wintour and Owen Bowcott: "IRA Response `Key to Peace in Ulster'"] [Text] A political settlement in Northern Ireland will be difficult if the IRA does not accept the Downing Street Declaration, a Northern Ireland Office minister has admitted. Ministers have insisted for weeks they are not waiting for an IRA/Sinn Fein response but are pushing ahead with efforts to find agreement between political parties on a predominantly internal settlement. In an interview in today's BELFAST TELEGRAPH, however, Michael Ancram, the Northern Ireland minister responsible for developing the suspended inter-party talks, concedes that peace and a political settlement are "inextricably linked." "The declaration and the talks are part and parcel of the same process," he said. "I don't believe you can have peace without a widely acceptable political settlement and I think you probably can't have a widely acceptable political settlement without peace." His comments imply that without the IRA renouncing violence, the prospect of inter-party talks reaching agreement are slim. Mr Ancram's comments come on the eve of the meeting between the Irish Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, and John Major at Downing Street to review progress of the inter-party talks as well as Sinn Fein's response to the joint declaration signed by both governments before Christmas. Yesterday, the Northern Ireland Secretary, Sir Patrick Mayhew, said that he was hoping to see new institutions of joint co-operation between the North and south of Ireland set up as part of his package designed to bring agreement between Dublin, London and the four constitutional parties in Northern Ireland. He welcomed "any step that is intended to develop co-operation on economic and other matters." He thought that the new institutions "could be undertaken...without impinging on the sovereignty of Northern Ireland." Sir Patrick, speaking in the Commons, was pressed by his shadow, Kevin McNamara, on whether new North-South bodies dealing with issues like as the economy or infrastructure should have an executive role, based on ground rules laid down by both governments. Sir Patrick argued that "any organisation, call it a board or a structure, should have clear objectives, with clearly defined lines of authority, coming from wherever it is appropriate, whether it is Westminster, Dublin, or any subsequently established legislative body." The British Government sent secret outline proposals to Dublin this month on the extension of co-operation between the two parts of Ireland. The Ulster Unionists would like |
FBIS3-39693_0 | Jewish Group Calls For Prosecuting Right-Wing Extremists | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Bad Boll (DPA) -- In the view of Ignatz Bubis, chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, violent right-wing extremist organizations should be prosecuted as criminal associations. At a meeting of the Protestant Academy in Bad Boll, Bubis said on Sunday [20 February]: "Throwing fire bombs into asylum-seekers' hostels is just as terrible as assassinating Hanns-Martin Schleyer." He does not understand why the state does not act against violent rightist organizations just as it acted against the terrorist Red Army Faction (RAF) in the past, which killed the president of the employers' association. In Bubis' view, the problem of rightist violence has been played down in Germany far too long. Despite a dangerous interconnection of the right-wing extremist scene, politicians still speak of individual perpetrators and people who are just running along. Addressing approximately 1,000 conference participants, Bubis came out against special laws and a tightening of the penal code: "The existing instruments are absolutely sufficient." However, the judiciary must not orient itself primarily "at the lower limit" in meting punishment for rightist acts of violence. Baden-Wuerttemberg Interior Minister Frieder Birzele (Social Democratic Party of Germany) also criticized the many cases of incomprehensibly mild punishment. Birzele thinks the danger to society posed by right-wing extremists is far greater than the threat that has emanated from leftist groups. With 400-500 right-wing extremists who are ready for violence in Baden-Wuerttemberg alone, the circle of potential perpetrators is far larger than it ever was in the case of the RAF. |
FBIS3-39694_0 | Police, Demonstrators Clash at Republikaner Congress | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Text] Ulm (DPA) -- There were riots at the Baden-Wuerttemberg land party congress of the right-wing radical Republikaner in Ulm on Sunday [20 February]. Around noon, a few hundred demonstrators, who had at first participated in a peaceful rally against the Republikaner, tried to break through the security cordons around Danube Hall. Policemen pushed them back, sometimes using truncheons. At the rally, Ulm Mayor Ivo Goenner (Social Democratic Party of Germany) warned against "philistines and intellectual arsonists." A democratic republic does not need "these Republikaner," he said, addressing approximately 3,000 people. Siegfried Pommerenke, land chairman of the German Trade Union Federation, warned the parties against "adjusting to the right-wing extremists in the race for votes." |
FBIS3-39745_2 | Reynolds on Northern Ireland Talks With Major | the declaration." Mr. Reynolds quashed hopes that the Sinn Fein annual conference next weekend would deliver a response to the Downing St. declaration, saying: "I never expected that forum to be the forum at which the response would be put together." But he hoped sufficient people would recognise that the road to peace was "a better road to choose to pursue their political objectives rather than the road to violence which in the last 25 years has been carried on by paramilitaries on both sides. There will be no military victories." Mr. Reynolds said: "We want people to sit back, study exactly where they have come from, where they are at and which road has the best chance of advancing the cause of nationalism. We believe the peace process is the only road." Earlier, Mr. Reynolds told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend that progress was likely within a month. "Saturday's meeting cleared the air and we have now agreed on the basis for the new talks, which is that the peace declaration will form the basis for the resumption of talks. That will be the new starting point," he said. And Northern Ireland Secretary Sir Patrick Mayhew told the same programme that no party, including the Rev. Ian Paisley's hardline Democratic Unionists, could be allowed to veto progress of the peace talks. Meanwhile, Irish Deputy Premier Dick Spring called on the IRA and Sinn Fein to show "leadership and courage" and accept the Downing Street peace declaration. But speaking on BBC1's Breakfast With Frost programme he conceded that the IRA and Sinn Fein might never respond to the peace initiative. John Hume, the SDLP [Social Democratic Labor Party] leader, said he did not agree with the view that the Declaration was unacceptable to Sinn Fein. He told the London Weekend Television Walden programme: "My reading is that they are still giving it detailed study, which is what I expected, given the nature of that organisation. "Their immediate reaction is suspicion and that is what I expect. But they have not rejected the Declaration. They have asked for clarification." Mr. Hume said that peace in Ireland was above party politics. "I am putting it above party politics myself in the dialogue that I have been engaged in, so I would feel that what the British Government should do now is to directly clarify to them whatever they want clarified." |
FBIS3-39751_16 | Kohl Addresses Businessmen on Development, Programs | legislative period additional pending measures recommended in the Report on Safeguarding Germany as an Industrial Location in the Future. This includes conclusion of the postal reform, in order to strengthen our competitive position in the telecommunications markets, which are growing with enormous speed all over the world. The public response to our Report on Safeguarding Germany as an Industrial Location in the Future is more than encouraging. It shows that we have tackled a central topic for labor and employment. Ladies and Gentlemen, essential preconditions for safeguarding the competitiveness of German industry are future-oriented private investments and successful enterprise strategies. In addition to reducing production costs, it is the task of the companies to help new products gain a breakthrough and develop new markets. We Germans are international leaders in environmental technology and in the development of new materials. What is possible in these areas can also be achieved in other fields that are important for the future. However, in this we must always keep in mind that not everything that is technically and scientifically feasible is also ethically and morally permitted. The same goes for the relationship between economy and ecology. However, Ladies and Gentlemen, a country like ours also needs a climate that is friendly for technology. Creating this atmosphere is one of the important tasks in educating the young generation. In particular, we must once again impart to students the feeling that technological top achievements are something that we can be proud of -- just as athletic top achievements naturally fill us with pride. Therefore, here, too, we need to cultivate the elites. III. Ladies and Gentlemen, responsibility for one's own actions, courage for entrepreneurial risks, and readiness for innovation -- all these are qualities which characterize the independent medium-sized industries in our country -- are also needed in other spheres of our society. I am confident that together we will master the challenges we are facing. We must recognize the signs of the time; we must open up new leeway for action for our country. This is also a precondition for enabling us to make use of new opportunities we will face in the future. The new international changes offer excellent opportunities in particular to us Germans. The recently achieved conclusion of GATT is of outstanding importance for us. It is the most comprehensive liberalization package of past decades. Without liberalization of international trade relations, a |
FBIS3-39799_1 | Kinkel Praises Russia for Bosnian Initiative | to the "seriousness of the NATO ultimatum," the "initiative" of Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and Washington's "more intensive involvement." In an interview with WELT AM SONNTAG, Kinkel stressed that the Serbs' giving in is "a great success for NATO. I am sure that the Serbian besiegers of Sarajevo would not have reacted in this way without the massive NATO threat." NATO is "firmly determined to maintain its ultimatum and to really get down to business if the conditions are not fulfilled." Kinkel praised the Russian initiative for Bosnia. For Bonn it "has always been particularly important that Russia be included in the political solution." With his initiative, Yeltsin has "leaned far out of the window. If the Serbs do not fulfill their promises made to Yeltsin, they would lose their last advocate." The more intensive involvement of the Americans, who are now ready "to fully join in and make use of their influence on the parties to the conflict, in particular on the Muslims," also speaks for the possibility of a political solution. Kinkel said that now it is very important to "make use of the momentum." If, as a goal for the near future, it becomes possible to achieve UN administration for the area of Sarajevo, this could be the beginning of a new stage to come to a political solution in the end. The decisive thing will be whether one can make it clear to the parties to the conflict, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims: "Only if they join in and are ready for a peaceful solution will such a solution be possible." However, the minister warned against precipitate euphoria: "We have been disappointed and led by the nose too often." It cannot be ruled out, either, that the Serbs will now try to shift their heavy weapons from Sarajevo to another battlefield in Bosnia. If this is done, one "must think again about how they can be prevented from doing that." Germany has "a not unimportant share" in the latest development, Kinkel said. Chancellor Kohl was in permanent contact with Russia's President Yeltsin; he himself was partly in direct contact with his Soviet counterpart Kozyrev. There were also permanent contacts with Washington and the European partners. Kinkel stressed that in the overall context Bonn can only play a mediating role, "because we cannot send German soldiers directly to the area of crisis for constitutional and historic reasons." |
FBIS3-39805_0 | U.S., Eurpoeans Set for `Showdown' Over Top OECD Job | Language: English Article Type:BFN [By Jan Kristiansen] [Text] Paris, Feb 21 (AFP) -- The United States no longer wants a European to head the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which is set to assume wider tasks in a changing world economy with Asians and Latin Americas among the major players, Paris-based diplomats say. "We're headed for a political showdown with Washington," a European permanent representative to the OECD said. "Things will heat up over the next few months," another ambassador confirmed in private. Several ranking diplomats at the OECD's Paris headquarters say the Americans are seeking to marshall support from Japan and other non-European member countries in favour of a former Canadian cabinet minister and politician, Donald Johnston, as the next OECD secretary-general. Frenchman Jean-Claude Paye, aged 59, will see his second term in the post expire at the end of next September, but is seeking a third five-year term. "The Americans do not shrink from reminding us in the corridors that the U.S. and Japan between them contribute nearly 50 percent of the budget," a European official said, adding that Washington considers the OECD as "Euro-centric," although a fair share of the key jobs are held by U.S. and Japanese nationals. Paye, who made it clear last July he would seek a third term, is France's official candidate. British Prime Minister John Major has thrown his support behind Lord (Nigel) Lawson, a chancellor of the exchequer under his predecessor Margaret Thatcher, while Germany joined the fray naming senior Economics Ministry official Lorentz Schomerus as its candidate. Belgium and Italy have also signalled possible candidacies, but have so far not cited any names. The Americans, the British and some other OECD governments believe the OECD, which will not for long remain an "exclusive club" of rich industrial countries, will need a "political heavyweight" at the helm to raise its world-wide visibility. Others believe their purposes will be better served by a non-political chief executive seeking to defend the collective cause of its 24 members. They want to preserve its "impartial analysis" of the whole range of current economic, social and technological problems. Well-placed diplomats say the Clinton Administration appears to be taking a new interest in the organization, now perceived as a useful instrument for U.S. foreign policy and domestic economic objectives. "The Americans believe, for instance, that the OECD could be used more effectively in their efforts |
FBIS3-39805_2 | U.S., Eurpoeans Set for `Showdown' Over Top OECD Job | helm to raise its world-wide visibility. Others believe their purposes will be better served by a non-political chief executive seeking to defend the collective cause of its 24 members. They want to preserve its "impartial analysis" of the whole range of current economic, social and technological problems. Well-placed diplomats say the Clinton Administration appears to be taking a new interest in the organization, now perceived as a useful instrument for U.S. foreign policy and domestic economic objectives. "The Americans believe, for instance, that the OECD could be used more effectively in their efforts to open up the Japanese market," a European ambassador commented. A confidential OECD study on labour markets and ways to reverse the rise of OECD unemployment, which could touch 35 million this year, is another case in point. The study will be in focus at President Clinton's "jobs summit" at Detroit from March 13 to 15, officials said. Washington has picked this domain to launch a campaign against Paye by leaking official U.S. documents critical of the OECD's views, European diplomats said. U.S. Ambassador to the OECD David Aaron in a letter accused the OECD secretariat of failing to play a "positive" role in calling for lower interest rates and more growth in Europe as a remedy for run-away unemployment. Rejecting U.S. charges of "Euro-centrism," several OECD ambassadors said the organization had indeed changed since Paye took the helm nearly 10 years ago. They cited the opening in the 1980's of a "dialogue" with the dynamic Asian economies, now extended to emerging Latin American countries as well, and moves in the past four years to open up to the former communist states of East Europe, including Russia. "It is evident that more changes are in the offing," one ranking European diplomat said. Three East European countries are knocking on the OECD's door, while Mexico is set to become its 25th member within a few months and Korea may follow suit around l996. Whatever Paye's own record, the succession is an "excessively complex" issue because it is indirectly linked to the election of a new European Community Commission president, one ambassador said. "The horse-trading is well under way," he added. A "neutral" European official said the choice would be all the more difficult because Canada's Johnston was "hardly known in the outside world" and because some capitals would find it hard to accept Nigel Lawson, a "retired Thatcherite." |
FBIS3-39815_2 | Stresses Need for EU Membership | respect. If you read the transportation concept of the European Union today, you have the ecological criteria anchored in a way that would have been ridiculed eight years ago. [KURIER] The negotiations must be concluded by 1 March. There will not be any additional negotiations. We will not go beyond the diet elections in mid-March? [Mock] No, certainly not. The essential issues must be concluded by 1 March. However, it would be harmful to interrupt negotiations. When things work, one should stay with them -- if necessary, until 0600. [KURIER] You have repeatedly said that, if this is not achieved, an "open window" might be closed again. How dramatic is that in reality? What are the dangers if Austria does not manage to join the European Union on 1 January 1995? [Mock] The risk is great because one cannot predict it exactly. At best, it would be that the negotiations will be resumed in two or three years. The main danger lies in the political situation. The European political climate of integration has not been what it used to be for decades. The pressure from the East has disappeared. If we do not get in now, by the time we try again, those in the European Union might have gained ground who think that it is better to first "deepen" the European Union instead of expanding it. Then there will be even more who say this. [KURIER] Mrs. Schaumayer, the president of the Austrian National Bank, said that if it should not work, Austria would become an "Albania." Can you tell us in three or four sentences what the negative effects will be if we are not admitted into the European Union. [Mock] There will be a lot of negative effects. Investments will decrease, some people will leave with their companies. The opportunities for the people will get generally worse. We will have to take over and obey a lot of issues that are decided elsewhere without us having an opportunity to have our say. We will become second-class Europeans. We will have to be 3-5 percent cheaper to hold our own in competition. We will have to make sacrifices in modernization, in income, in the social sphere, etc. Furthermore, one should not underestimate the effect of standing politically in a corner. [KURIER] It is said that Austria should join the European Union just for security considerations. Others say that |
FBIS3-39858_6 | Ciller Advocates Croat-Bosniak Alliance | in Bosnia-Herzegovina over n the past two years with great concern, and I would like to point out that some 4 million Turks are of Bosnian origin and still have relatives and close family ties in Bosnia-Herzegovina. What is happening in Bosnia is not a civil war, as the Serbs are trying to present it; rather, it is open aggression. It is an occupation by a foreign country, the spreading out of one ethnic group at the expense of another; it is imperialism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. It is not Islam against Christianity, nor Islamic jihad, or spreading fundamentalism. The right to self-defense of a country that is a UN member is being denied. The Turks not only have historical ties with the Bosnians, but also with the Croats, Macedonians, Albanians, and the Serbs. Historically, politically, and culturally, Turkey is a Balkan country. [Zvizdic] In Bonn, President Tudjman offered the possibility of a confederal organization between the Republic of Croatia, the Bosniak-Muslim republic, and the Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia within the Bosnia-Herzegovina Republic, or just with the Bosniak-Muslim republic in case the union does not survive. Can you comment on this offer? [Ciller] Turkey advocates the territorial integrity of an independent and sovereign Bosnia-Herzegovina and we think the union must be preserved. Internationally recognized borders must be protected from this pure aggression. The multi-ethnic character of Bosnia-Herzegovina was once the pride of Europe and, if possible, it must be preserved and cherished. It is then up to the warring factions to decide on their future. [Zvizdic] Can you comment on the politics of Croatia toward Bosnia-Herzegovina. [Ciller] Croat-Bosnian friendship and mutual trust must be regained and measures must be taken to that end. Croat-Muslim conflicts were unjustified and unnecessary. Tudjman and Izetbegovic Are Friends [Zvizdic] Do you think the policies of the Muslim leadership under Mr. Izetbegovic are correct? [Ciller] Mr. Alija Izetbegovic was elected president of Bosnia-Herzegovina. We trust him, and think he is a capable and experienced statesman. He is a friend of Turkey and, to my knowledge, also an old friend of President Tudjman. Turkey supports President Izetbegovic and his Prime Minister Silajdzic and their sound policies for reaching a just, honest, and lasting peace. [Zvizdic] Could the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina end this year? And in the light of that, how do you evaluate the role of the broader international community? [Ciller] The war in Bosnia has been |
FBIS3-39867_2 | DEP Claims Government Crackdown Before Elections | general-secretary, Murat Bozlak was shot in Ankara. At least 50 DEP-affiliated activists, including a parliamentarian from Mardin, have been killed since 1991. The DEP believes the reason behind the recent campaign is to block its candidates and terrorize the people of the Southeast to prevent them from voting for this party. It also argues that raids on houses of its members in western parts of the country are due to Turkey's own concern that the party is strengthening. But security officials argue there is evidence to prove that, on many occasions, the DEP cadres under investigation have active links with the PKK and the party not only supports this organization but at times facilitates its activities. Many of the raids in Istanbul, for instance, are in areas in which the DEP claims to be strengthening its public support, but where armed activities of the PKK have been concentrated. On Tuesday, the mass circulation Turkish daily HURRIYET reported on its front page that security forces had monitored orders given by PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan to the DEP whereby he demanded that the party withdrew from the elections. There are currently claims that the DEP is preparing, under instruction from the PKK, to boycott the elections altogether and boost its propaganda drive in Europe to cast doubts on the legitimacy of the results. The DEP is seen as the most likely winner of local elections in the Southeast, not only due to popular support but to threats issued against the local population by PKK militants. Its major opponents appear to be the pro-Islamic Welfare Party (RP) of Necmettin Erbakan and the paramilitary guards. Village guards are proposing their own tribal chiefs as candidates against the DEP--and the PKK. If the DEP boycotts the elections, the recent round of persecution of its members and executives is to be used for propaganda purposes. The party's deputies are currently campaigning in Europe to bring 200 foreign observers to Turkey in March. There are also unconfirmed reports that the pro-Kurdish OZGUR GUNDEM newspaper, a supporter of the DEP, plans to close down at about the same time in order to give the image that Kurdish rights and activities are being systematically banned in Turkey. OZGUR GUNDEM, which had closed due to financial reasons in the past, is reportedly suffering financial problems again and has found it difficult to pay personnel salaries for the past three months. |
FBIS3-39881_1 | Commentary Views Prospects of EU Expansion | the North for the South. It is France and the Mediterranean countries that are keeping up the flag of integration, and it would be unfair to surmise that they were only interested in political or economic net balances. "Deepening (the Community) before (its) enlargement," is the motto, with which Commission President Jacques Delors wanted to prevent new members from throttling the pace on the path "toward an ever closer union." Yet, this is exactly what cannot be avoided. In theory, the character of the Community must not be significantly changed by the fact that it becomes larger. Apart from a few restrictions, the governments of the four membership candidates have readily accepted the treaty, on the basis of which the Community functions, even including the future project of joint foreign, security, and defense policy. It would be naive, however, to assume that the mentality of the current Twelve would remain unaffected by the arrival of such self-willed nations as the Nordic ones. The Swedes and Norwegians are more than capable of doing what the Danes could, who initially rejected the Maastricht Treaty. In a union of 15 or 16, a new -- at least relative -- majority will emerge, which, despite all loyalty to the Community, will instinctively try to prevent any more powers being shifted to Brussels. Minimum of Consensus In doing so, it will not even have to try very hard, because, one thing is, that the enlargement of the Union is providing the ground for its extension to the East. One can bet that the Poles, Hungary, and the two successor states to Czechoslovakia will join the Union earlier than the Germans are hoping and the French would like. In a Community of 20 or even more highly differing sovereign states, the federalists will probably have to forget their ideas of a European federal state for another generation. Edmund Stoiber does not even have to try so hard. Even in the Community of the Twelve the minimum consensus is hardly ever achieved. The other thing is that one must not forget that all has gotten into a phase of economic decline. The times in which a generous America provided security cheaply and the standard of living increased as if by a natural law are over for the moment. In such times, loyalty to the European idea quickly changes into concern for one's pocket. From the negotiators of |
FBIS3-39883_6 | Kohl Addresses Christian Democratic Union Conference | reluctant to make commitments, and this is naturally being reflected in politics as well. But precisely because this is the case, we cannot give in immediately to every passing trend. No! We must stand up for our program, we must present it in a language that people can understand, and we must act resolutely against those false prophets who seek to exploit anxieties and feelings of uncertainty for their own political ends. Ladies and Gentlemen: Rarely before have such persistent efforts been made to use belly-aching and the cover of pessimism to mount political campaigns. A witness who is really worth quoting here is Martin Waltzer, who recently said the following in his honorary doctorship speech in Dresden on the topic "Unity Is Not failing." I quote: There are evidently people who are principally in a bad mood who cannot stand their own personal disillusionment. Thus, we are all supposed to share this disillusionment. Then he continues that a party that also uses historical difficulties for party political polemics shows it is unable to make any suggestion to resolve the difficulties. I have nothing to add to that. [applause] This means that we, that I, will fight for every vote, that we will represent our beliefs on the offensive. And, Ladies and Gentlemen, on the offensive means being prepared for the fight. Offensive does not mean inviting people to background talks and telling them things -- if possible without stating who is saying it -- which one is otherwise too scared to tell the people. That is no great achievement. Offensive for me does not mean being afraid of one's own courage, giving in to those who believe they are powerful because they perhaps have had access to the opportunities provided by printed materials or television screens. We stand for our policies. We will win without giving in to anyone, friends. That is the decisive thing. [applause] That does not mean the end of discussion, not by any means. A large party such as ours, a large political community such as ours has of course to struggle to find the correct future path. We must do this with respect for the views of others. We have to be capable of listening to arguments and weighing them up. But, Ladies and Gentlemen, we must not completely forget to think about the calender. When there is an election in a federal state |
FBIS3-39883_35 | Kohl Addresses Christian Democratic Union Conference | vacation, but to leave them as they are and not to pay for them in holiday pay, or to give the worker the opportunity to make up for them out of his leave entitlement. We wrangle over this now, and the old ones -- I won't say senior citizens, because it is much closer to reality -- fall by the wayside. I find the way this matter is being discussed quite intolerable. [applause] If at the same time in German cities the number of single people is increasing -- some 50 percent of the households, and of them, 6 million people between 25 and 65 -- then it is clear that hardly anything is changing in the overall climate of the country at present. Hence it is not a CDU obsession -- there are some strange utterances from the FDP that I cannot understand at all -- when we say that the topic of family and children is the central topic when we are talking about securing the future in the medium and long term. We have already set great things in motion from family allowances to parental leave and parental leave allowance. There is also our recognition of time spent rearing children for pension purposes and many other things. This is not enough, however. I promise, with a view to the state's finances -- and our manifesto will look this way barring any great changes in the sums involved -- during the next legislative period we will have to do something in the tax area for industry to promote investment and eradicate unemployment. But we must also take a further step, even if it is only a small one, on behalf of families with children. And, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not just any old issue, which is why I am in favor of a further reduction in the tax burden, for raising the level of statutory tax exemption, which is anyway necessary for constitutional reasons, in line with subsistence level, and we will certainly have to discuss a series of other issues. I would however ask that we discuss this in private before we do so in public, Ladies and Gentlemen. [applause] But -- and I add this by way of warning, because I'm afraid we have also fallen a little behind the times -- as important as all the material things are, there is something far worse |
FBIS3-39883_36 | Kohl Addresses Christian Democratic Union Conference | spent rearing children for pension purposes and many other things. This is not enough, however. I promise, with a view to the state's finances -- and our manifesto will look this way barring any great changes in the sums involved -- during the next legislative period we will have to do something in the tax area for industry to promote investment and eradicate unemployment. But we must also take a further step, even if it is only a small one, on behalf of families with children. And, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is not just any old issue, which is why I am in favor of a further reduction in the tax burden, for raising the level of statutory tax exemption, which is anyway necessary for constitutional reasons, in line with subsistence level, and we will certainly have to discuss a series of other issues. I would however ask that we discuss this in private before we do so in public, Ladies and Gentlemen. [applause] But -- and I add this by way of warning, because I'm afraid we have also fallen a little behind the times -- as important as all the material things are, there is something far worse to criticize, namely that there is no overseeing how cold our society has become in its attitude toward children, and that this is at least as significant as anything we can do in financial terms. Having a positive attitude to children is a wholly personal matter where the state has no business interfering. But where children are present, the state has to act protectively in another way. And the every day life of a family with children, and above all the every day life of single parents, not least single mothers, is such that it is depressing how society, our society, treats them. [applause] Permit me to say a few words on the subject of our country's unity. I said, and it is an opinion we all share, that we are happy with the gift of unity. But it is also true that on this path to unity we found out that 40 years, 40 years of separation, had left far deeper marks than we, myself included, thought. It is also true that overcoming the legacy of the SED regime is the central task we face. But that's the way it has to be. And when we distribute public money |
FBIS3-39884_2 | Views Congress, Electoral Chances | weariness concerning the media. I do not know what would happen if the German citizens were able to decide completely and freely whether they should pay fees to the television station which are compulsory under public law. No, the mood is generally bad. This is all the more absurd because it does not correspond to the real mood of the individual. You can see this in all opinion polls. If you ask the people how they feel personally, the results will be surprising. If they are graded using the marks one to six like at school, the personal situation ranges from about two minus to two plus. If the same people are asked how the country is, the result will be five minus, which means that the promotion is endangered. This is an absurd result! A bad mood is being preached constantly. I will not be infected by it. Germany is one of the most beautiful countries of the world. This has nothing to do with chauvinism. I, Helmut Kohl, am lucky that I can live here in a time of dramatic changes, in a time when we have had 48 years of peace in Germany. All my foreign visitors tell me: Is that all you have to worry about? Of course, we have many worries in our own country. We have to cope with dramatic changes. We have unemployment, we have to save money, but we are still better off than comparable countries. [Lambeck] The pollsters are stating that many citizens expect a change of government in October. How do you explain such a trend? [Kohl] First of all, the statements by pollsters are not a trend. You know, the election will be decided on the evening of the election at 1800. Four years ago, before the first really free election in the former GDR, the People's Chamber election, the pollsters predicted a disastrous result for us. Even the very clever people said at that time: These are traditional laender of the Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD]. And on the evening of the election, they only stammered silly excuses on German television. I was the frontrunner in four Land Diet elections in Rhineland-Palatinate, and I am now facing my sixth Bundestag election. How often have I heard that everything is going wrong and how often have I been politically buried! [Lambeck] One often has the impression that leading |
FBIS3-39890_0 | Police Use `Brutality' Against Anti-Republikaner Rally | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Juergen Voges report: "Militant Police Defend Republikaner"] [Text] Hannover -- Friday evening [11 February] about 2,000 mostly young people protested in front of Hannover's Stadthalle building against an election campaign event held by Republikaner Chairman Franz Schoenhuber. After a rally, called by trade unions, Greens, and the Social Democratic Party of Germany [SPD], 1,000 Lower Saxon policemen used extremely harsh measures to put an end to all attempts to block the Republikaner event. After a protest march to the Stadthalle, which was completely cordoned off, Helga Christensen, Hannover district chairwoman of the German Trade Union Federation, and IG-Metall district head Juergen Peters made speeches, pointing to the connection between mass unemployment and the danger from the right. Hannover Mayor Herbert Schmalstieg (SPD) said at the rally that it was a mistake to have leased part of the Stadthalle to the Republikaner. Schmalstieg regretted that the city's attempt to ban the Republikaner rally failed because of a decision by the Administrative Court. After the rally, calls to block the Republikaner event were issued by megaphone. Previously there had been individual brawls between young demonstrators and Schoenhuber fans. Eggs, fire crackers, and bottles occasionally flew in the direction of the Stadthalle or the police. The police acted with extraordinary brutality against the remaining demonstrators. A mounted police unit galloped into the crowd. Three water cannons fired at the Republikaner' opponents. Individual groups of demonstrators were herded together and beaten with truncheons, even while some of the demonstrators were already on their way home. The leftist group Anti-Republikaner Action Alliance later spoke of "a police operation as Hannover had not seen for a long time." Gila Altmann, spokeswoman of the Alliance 90/Greens Land Executive Committee, criticized the police operation as "excessive and brutal." Within just a few minutes the police made the first, second, and third calls on the demonstrators to disperse, so that afterwards they could act against the anti-Schoenhuber demonstration with all possible harshness. One cannot speak at all of de-escalating behavior by the police, which had been agreed on beforehand. |
FBIS3-39891_0 | Poll: Voters Favor CDU/CSU, SPD Over Small Parties | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Report by Renate Koecher: "Back to the Big Ones"] [Text] Until recently, there seemed to be only one trend for the big parties: a downward one. Every election and almost every opinion poll showed low ratings for the Social Democratic Party [SPD] and the Christian Democratic Union [CDU], while right-wing extremist groups, the Party of Democratic Socialism [PDS], and other protest parties won remarkable successes in land and municipal elections. To many people it seemed certain that an increasing number of voters would turn away from the big parties in the Bundestag elections. With the German tendency to feel terror in anticipation of possible events, memories of the Weimar Republic were evoked. In this process, most people did not realize that the weakening of the popular parties is by no means a law of nature. There are two settings that decrease popularity of the small parties and concentrate voters' attention on the big parties. If a problem affecting national fate is to be decided in elections and if the two popular parties take clearly defined oppositional views on it (this was the case in 1990 when the CDU/Christian Social Union's [CSU] unrestricted commitment for unification stood against the SPD's tendency to slow down the process), then a polarization between the two popular parties in a question that deeply concerns the nation strengthens these parties and decreases interest in new groups. The second setting is competition between two big parties, a situation, where voters consider a change in power possible, but by no means certain. This is the case today. It is, therefore, hardly surprising that the trend toward small parties and protest groups has been stopped for the time being. Over the past few weeks, the CDU/CSU and the SPD have gained support, while all other parties have lost potential voters. In December, 8.4 percent of those polled wanted to give their second vote in the Bundestag elections to the Free Democratic Party [FDP]. By the end of January, only 7.7 percent intended to do so. The share of those who wanted to vote for Alliance 90/Greens sank from 10.2 to 9 percent; support for the PDS went down from 5.3 to 3.4 percent. Support for the Republikaner has declined by almost 50 percent, from 4.6 to 2.7 percent, the lowest figure since January 1992. In contrast to that, the SPD has gained just under 4 |
FBIS3-39913_0 | Government To Lower Taxes, Social Security Contributions | Language: Dutch Article Type:BFN [Unattributed article: "Cabinet Decision To Lower Taxes and Social Security Charges Gets Positive Reception"] [Excerpt] The cabinet decision to lower taxes and social security contributions on citizens and companies by a total five billion guilders in 1994 and 1995 has been received positively from all sides. Only the opposition in Parliament has criticized the way in which the tax reduction is to be financed. In part, the measures will be paid for by the higher-than-forecasted fiscal income received by the cabinet last year. In addition, the cabinet is assuming that next year income will be positive due to the higher growth forecast made by the CPB [Central Planning Bureau] for 1995. According to the initial CPB estimate, which does not take the tax reduction into account, next year growth will be 2.5 percent compared with slightly less than 1 percent this year. The cabinet decision is a compromise between the wishes of the governing parties. The CDA [Christian Democratic Appeal] wanted most of the money to go to employers, while the PvdA [Labor Party] preferred lowering personal taxation. Both parties can live happily with the compromise. A CDA spokesman described the cabinet decision as a "respectable package, a very defendable mix." The PvdA said it was "happy with its main points." The VVD [People's Party for Freedom and Democracy] criticized this method of finance. VVD spokesman Korte said the cabinet was selling something it did not have by spending money now, while it was far from certain whether the revenue would appear next year. D66 [Democrats 66] also thought the cabinet was moving too fast. D66 spokesman Ybema said only a new cabinet could make such a decision. Despite these criticisms, both parties supported the tax reduction option. In a commentary on the cabinet decision, Prime Minister Lubbers said the tax reduction was entirely in line with the SER's [Social Economic Council] recommendations on mid-term economic policy. In the draft recommendations, the SER calls for taxes and social security contributions to be lowered by some 15 billion guilders in the next four years. This is intended to boost employment. Lubbers estimated that the cabinet decision would lead to the creation of some tens of thousands of extra jobs. The reduced taxation is not only good for employment, but will also have a positive effect on all incomes, including those of people on social security. Finance Minister |
FBIS3-39918_0 | Hurd Comments on Conditions, Peace Prospects in Bosnia | Language: French Article Type:BFN [Interview with British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd by Xavier Gautier in Paris; date not given: "Hurd: Serbs Must Return One-Fourth of Their Territory"] [Text] [Gautier] After the "success" of the talks in Sarajevo, do you think an ultimatum is required to unblock the situation in Tuzla and Srebrenica? [Hurd] The situations in those places are different. However, we need to open the Tuzla airport and provide relief for Srebrenica. A Netherlands reconnaissance unit is already in Srebrenica. There is a plan to open an air corridor and channel aid from Tuzla (...). It is almost ready to be executed, but there are other towns where the suffering is greater: Mostar, Vitez, and the Maglaj pocket. The United Nations must prepare a plan that is suited to each of these situations (...). [Gautier] After Sarajevo, is the threat of air strikes still necessary in Bosnia? [Hurd] Everything depends on what happens. The ultimatum is holding in Sarajevo. If the UNPROFOR [UN Protection Forces] forces are attacked anywhere in Bosnia, they will be defended from the air (...). I do not rule out the use of force in the future (...). [Gautier] The situation in Sarajevo was unblocked following Russian mediation. You were the first to welcome the "success" of Russian diplomacy. What kind of inspiration does Moscow's big return to the Balkans have for you? [Hurd] I would first like to point out that this initial success in Sarajevo is due to three factors. First of all, obviously, there was the NATO decision. Then there was the work on the ground by an excellent British general and excellent French troops. Lastly there was the Russian initiative, which was very positive. The Russians have always exerted an influence on the Balkans. The question is knowing whether they are using this influence for the right cause. That was indeed the case this time (...). The lesson (of recent days) is that we must keep the Russians informed and involved in the peace process. [Gautier] Have the negotiations regarding Bosnia, which have stalled for months, been given a new boost? [Hurd] I hope so, but I am not sure. I hope that all the parties will now admit that military victory is not possible (...). Reestablishing peace may take some time yet. We must be sure that Europe, the United States, and Russia work together to bring the deadline closer. |
FBIS3-39926_0 | Kinkel: Tehran-Bonn Relations `Good' | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Bonn, Feb. 23, IRNA -- German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel Tuesday [22 February] underlined the significance of the Islamic Republic of Iran's vital in the world, the region and Islamic world. [sentence as received] He made the remark in a meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Euro-American Affairs Mahmud Va'ezi who is currently in Germany. Stressing that Bonn attaches great importance to Iran and Iranians, Kinkel added that Germany would never treat Iran under the influence of external pressures. He described as "good" Tehran-Bonn relations, and said now that the world is increasingly becoming interested in the Islamic world Bonn is decisive to take a brighter outlook towards the issue but assured it would not impose its ideas on the Islamic states. The German official pointed to the crisis in Bosnia-Herzegovina and reiterated Germany's support for the Bosnian Muslims, adding that they should be helped. Va'ezi who arrived here Monday night on a five-day visit, praised Bonn's supports for Bosnians and its initiatives to solve the crisis. He also called for further help of Germany for the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Bosnian Muslims. Touching on the issues of weapons of mass destruction and regional and global terrorism, Va'ezi announced Iran's readiness for any cooperation with Germany and Europe to bring stability and security to Central Asia, Caucasia and Persian Gulf regions. He welcomed Bonn's more active role in this connection. Welcoming Iran's readiness to have cooperation on human rights issue and campaign against terrorism and weapons of mass destruction, Kinkel expressed pleasure over the meeting of the third Iran-Germany seminar on human rights, to be held in Tehran next april. In another development, Va'ezi held talks with his German counterpart Dieter Kastropp who said that exchange of visits between officials of the two countries was an effective factor to preserve and continue bilateral relations. Va'ezi said that further Tehran-Bonn cooperation would be to the benefit of international interests and would guarantee establishment of regional peace and stability. Kastropp called for further cooperation in the field of cultural relations through signing agreements in the area. |
FBIS3-39929_0 | PKK Activities Reportedly Continue Despite Ban | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Unattributed report: "Half A Million A Day"] [Text] Even after it was banned, the left-wing extremist "Workers Party of Kurdistan" (PKK) continues its activities in Germany: Turkish business people and asylum-seekers of Kurdish descent are forced to provide financial support for the PKK guerrilla fight against the Turkish state. According to information received by the Federal Office of Criminal Investigations [BKA], the PKK wants to collect 500,000 German marks [DM] a day in Germany. More and more victims defend themselves: Since the PKK was banned in November 1993, the BKA has registered an increase in charges filed against those who extort "donations." A total of 100 cases became public last year, while police are expecting significantly more in 1994. Numerous Turks who have been exposed to PKK extortion are taking advantage of special telephone lines by which they can also provide anonymous information. In large cities such as Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, or Dortmund, police are carrying out investigations through special PKK commissions. The brutality of the PKK thugs is reflected in recent cases from the files of the investigators: Three men armed with handguns beat up a Kurdish asylum-seeker in the Swabian city of Schorndorf because he refused to donate. In Dunningen (Baden-Wuerttemberg), four PKK men with wooden sticks attacked a Kurd for refusing to "donate" DM1,000 a month. In Swisttal-Odendorff (North Rhine-Westphalia), one Kurd got a thrashing even though he had delivered DM1,200 to Bonn's Kurdistan Center before. The PKK thought the amount was too low. |
FBIS3-39930_0 | North Rhine-Westphalia Bans PKK Affiliate | Language: German Article Type:BFN ["ff" report: "North Rhine-Westphalia Bans Kurdish Cultural Association"] [Text] Duesseldorf, 21 February -- In North Rhine-Westphalia, an affiliate organization of the Workers Party of Kurdistan (PKK) has been banned. Interior Minister Schnoor announced on Monday [21 February] that the organization in question is the "Mesopatamia Cultural Association," which has its seat in Hagen. The association continued to pursue the goals of the "Median Cultural Center," which was banned in November 1993 as part of the PKK. The organization was notified of the ban on Monday. According to Schnoor, fliers and posters of the PKK were impounded during a search of four apartments. |
FBIS3-39932_0 | CDU Official Outlines Party Program | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Harald Watermann report: "Hintze, the Media, and the Principles of the CDU"] [Text] Hamburg -- Peter Hintze, general secretary of the Christian Democratic Union [CDU], must have been deeply hurt: Immediately after the assertion that only the Christian Democrats can lead Germany into a safe future, he struck back at the media at the CDU congress in Hamburg. Offended by numerous press reports about his person and his ability as secretary general, he sharply attacked the media -- "certain magazines that invent primitive slogans, which spy on party friends and colleagues, which write impertinent serialized stories and provide corresponding slogans to the opposition." He told the 900 journalists who attended the party congress: "I hope you contribute to making it possible for the political dispute and the formation of public opinion to take place in a matter of fact and unpolemical way." Then he turned to the political opponent, the Social Democratic Party [SPD]: He accused the party of avoiding the discussion of topical issues with the CDU. The only thing the SPD has offered in the past few months was obstructionism at all levels. The following sentences were balm for the 1,000 CDU delegates: "We are winning support. Approval for our policy is increasing. Numerous people, including those in the new laender, are acknowledging what we have achieved." Then the CDU secretary general presented the new basic program of the CDU: - Society: "We want to continue to strengthen the family. Those who educate children should pay fewer taxes." - Unemployment: "Our reply to 4 million unemployed is: Only a strong economy ensures jobs. We will expand the social market economy and create new future-oriented jobs in this way." - Social benefits: "We will restructure the welfare state. We need new structures to ensure social justice and social balance tomorrow." - Internal security: "We advocate the right of the citizens to security. Concerning `electronic evidence,' we would like to tell the Free Democratic Party of Germany: Nobody in Germany supports a liberalism that facilitates the work of dangerous criminals." - Europe: "We will make Europe strong. Europe must never again be powerless in view of murder, rape, and immense suffering." - Environment: "We will develop a global environmental strategy that will offer the poor an opportunity for development through their own strength. It remains our task to preserve what God has created." The deputy chairman |
FBIS3-39950_1 | Bertinotti's Treasury Bill Plan Criticized | now been triggered, and everything leads us to believe that it will continue throughout the election campaign. The right --from the League to the National Alliance -- is attacking: denouncing the attempt to further squeeze those who save, and gleefully attributing the Communist Renewal secretary's intentions to the whole of the progressive ticket. For Forza Italia's Antonio Martin Bertinotti starts with "the right premise," but comes to the wrong conclusion. "It is true," the economist states, "that in absolute terms the fact of excluding interest on government securities from taxation leads to unfair results, with a person earning L100 million from working paying half this sum in taxes, while someone earning this amount from securities keeps the full amount. But this inequity is not so easy to resolve: Unless one accepts a huge rise in real interest rates and and a whole set of negative consequences on the budget and employment." At the center, Pact for Italy members and the PPI [Italian Popular Party] let it be known that Bertinotti's proposal "does not make sense," and, as PPI politician Roberto Pinza points out, an attack on savings "would end up increasing the hostility generated by the tax burden." Tax lawyer and Pact candidate Giulio Tremonti gives Renewal's leader credit for at least being ostensibly and completely consistent with the culture of the "financial left." From this perspective Bertinotti's views are more coherent and convincing -- Tremonti states in an open polemic with refutation of the PDS [Democratic Party of the Left] program -- than those of certain groups whose internal rivalry we are currently witnessing. And the VOCE REPUBBLICANA speaks of a left which is in jeopardy, which goes "into battle with [Forza Italia leader] Berlusconi by implying a tax on savings, while latter promises to abolish as much tax as possible. Let us therefore not be surprised then, if the right is already shouting victory based on opinion poll results." But quite a lot of Bertinotti's allies are also distancing themselves, and not hiding their irritation and embarrassment at a move which could boomerang. Or, in the words of Socialist Fabrizio Cicchitto, an "exercise which is good only for losing votes for the progressive front." After Mussi's "political" clarification, the PDS is letting the voices of its technicians be heard: "There is no need to intervene with new taxes on treasury bills," Vincenzo Visco, responsible for PDS tax policy, |
FBIS3-39956_0 | Population, Costs Threaten Social Security System | Language: Portuguese Article Type:CSO [Article by Carla Aguiar: "The End of Social Distribution"] [Excerpts] The very foundations of social security are threatened by an earthquake of gigantic dimensions called "aging." The system for financing social security presently rests on the contributions of 3.5 active citizens per retired worker, a situation already responsible for large state deficits. Were the system to continue unchanged, however, prospects are even more disquieting, given that in 60 years, barely 1.3 active workers will pay the costs for each retiree. This means that in the year 2050, each worker will bear alone the almost entire amount a retiree costs. Within this scenario, the system's financial burden may "grow 7.5 times," from 300 million contos distributed in 1990 in old age pensions to almost 2.3 billion contos, meaning that the system's deficit will rise to "unconscionable heights." This is the point of departure chosen by the authors of the book Financing Retirement: The Contribution of the Insurance Sector to reach alternative solutions. [passage omitted] They advocate the adoption of a mixed, noncompulsory system at the company or individual level, leading to the accumulation of funds. The management of the these funds may be entrusted to entities specializing in this type of activity, such as, for instance, insurance companies or pension fund managers. While three other types of theoretical solutions are possible, "their practical applications entail difficulties": pensions can be reduced, the retirement age can be pushed back, or contributions can be increased during a worker's active life. Despite the fear expressed by the specialists with regard to the first two solutions, given the Portuguese social reality of "small pensions with companies increasingly resorting to early retirements," the government did not hesitate to postpone the retirement age and modify the basis for computing retirements, an initiative that resulted in smaller pensions in a number of cases. The new social security law also increased the contributions of self-employed workers. |
FBIS3-39962_0 | Social Democrats Issue Pro-EU Manifesto | Article Type:CSO [Editorial Report] On 3 February the Social Democrats for the EU [European Union] presented their manifesto of arguments for EU membership. According to an article by Ewa Stenberg in the 3 February DAGENS NYHETER on page 9, the kickoff of the Social Democratic campaign for membership ends what some SDP [Social Democratic Party] members had criticized as a period of passivity in which the party left it to the conservatives to argue for membership. Anders Lindstrom, a member of the group's board, said that this passivity gave many Social Democratic voters the impression that "the European Union is a rightist project that will require reduced social benefits in Sweden." The manifesto tries to convince voters otherwise, arguing that EU membership is necessary to maintain the welfare state. Sweden can only take measures to stimulate the economy and eliminate the high unemployment that threatens the welfare state in the context of a larger market; the massive speculation during the 1992 currency crisis showed that a small country cannot keep the economy in balance by itself. The manifesto also cites a common security policy and joint action on the environment as benefits of membership. Lindstrom believes that if Europe had had a common security policy, "the war in the former Yugoslavia could have been prevented." Even the liberal DAGENS NYHETER praised the Social Democrats' manifesto. In an editorial on 4 February on page 2, the paper said: "The program is aggressive and modern. It focuses not on the Swedish exception but on a radical ambition to join in and improve Europe's employment situation, welfare, environment, and security together with other countries and parties." |
FBIS3-39972_0 | PKK Says 57 `Enemy' Soldiers Die in Ambush 17 Feb | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] Some 57 enemy soldiers died and three of our ARGK [People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan] guerrillas were martyred during a clash on 17 February between our guerrillas and the colonialist enemy forces, which were on a reconnaissance mission around [name indistinct] village in the Silvan district of Diyarbakir. Amed [Diyarbakir] district command officers at [words indistinct] briefed our correspondents in Amed on the incident. The officers said they ambushed an 80-man unit of the colonialist army [words indistinct] and 57 of them were killed. The following military hardware was captured during the operations: Twenty-eight G-3 guns and their bullets, seven MG- [word indistinct] guns and their bullet feeders, three rocket launchers and their rockets, two flamethrowers, a [word indistinct]-16 gun, 18 military kits, [word indistinct] four radios, [word indistinct], and numerous military [word indistinct]. An air operation was launched in the early hours of 18 February against Commander [name indistinct] Muhammad's unit, which had ambushed the enemy force. The operation is continuing with every intensity. The commander said planes dropped [word indistinct] and phosphorous bombs. He also said the artillery shelling is continuing. ARGK [word indistinct] Army Command told our reporters that their forces suffered no losses during the enemy operations and that so far.... [passage unmonitorable] |
FBIS3-39973_0 | Bomb Attack on Iraq-Turkey Oil Pipeline in Sirnak | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Announcer-read report over still of regional map] [Text] A bombed attack has been perpetrated on the Iraq-Turkey crude oil pipeline near Sirnak's Idil District. According to information received by the BOTAS [Pipeline and Petroleum Transport Cooperation] Press and Public Relations Office, the bomb, which was placed on the pipeline by unidentified persons, exploded yesterday night at around 2115. It was reported that the fire resulting from the explosion is continuing but that the loss will be minimal due to the reduction of the pressure in the pipelines. |
FBIS3-39980_0 | PKK Says 57 `Enemy' Soldiers Die in Ambush 17 Feb | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Text] Some 57 enemy soldiers died and three of our ARGK [People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan] guerrillas were martyred during a clash on 17 February between our guerrillas and the colonialist enemy forces, which were on a reconnaissance mission around [name indistinct] village in the Silvan district of Diyarbakir. Amed [Diyarbakir] district command officers at [words indistinct] briefed our correspondents in Amed on the incident. The officers said they ambushed an 80-man unit of the colonialist army [words indistinct] and 57 of them were killed. The following military hardware was captured during the operations: Twenty-eight G-3 guns and their bullets, seven MG- [word indistinct] guns and their bullet feeders, three rocket launchers and their rockets, two flamethrowers, a [word indistinct]-16 gun, 18 military kits, [word indistinct] four radios, [word indistinct], and numerous military [word indistinct]. An air operation was launched in the early hours of 18 February against Commander [name indistinct] Muhammad's unit, which had ambushed the enemy force. The operation is continuing with every intensity. The commander said planes dropped [word indistinct] and phosphorous bombs. He also said the artillery shelling is continuing. ARGK [word indistinct] Army Command told our reporters that their forces suffered no losses during the enemy operations and that so far.... [passage unmonitorable] |
FBIS3-39981_0 | Bomb Attack on Iraq-Turkey Oil Pipeline in Sirnak | Language: Turkish Article Type:BFN [Announcer-read report over still of regional map] [Text] A bombed attack has been perpetrated on the Iraq-Turkey crude oil pipeline near Sirnak's Idil District. According to information received by the BOTAS [Pipeline and Petroleum Transport Cooperation] Press and Public Relations Office, the bomb, which was placed on the pipeline by unidentified persons, exploded yesterday night at around 2115. It was reported that the fire resulting from the explosion is continuing but that the loss will be minimal due to the reduction of the pressure in the pipelines. |
FBIS3-39993_0 | ICO Urges NATO To Maintain Airstrike Threat in Bosnia | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] Brussels, Feb 24 (AFP) -- The Islamic Conference Organization [ICO] alled on NATO Thursday [24 February] to extend its threat of airstrikes to other regions of Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to secure a ceasefire there. ICO Secretary General Hamid Algabid warned officials of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization of the "urgent necessity of reopening the airport at Tuzla which provides a vital route for the supply of humanitarian aid to the stricken populations," the organisation said in a statement issued here. NATO has indicated that it would be "premature" to seek to apply the Sarajevo ultimatum -- in which besieging Serbs were ordered to withdraw their heavy weapons or face airstrikes -- to other besieged areas of Bosnia. The ICO expressed its concern at the deployment of Russian peacekeepers in Sarajevo, the statement said. It noted that the 51 member nations of the ICO were also willing to send troops to serve with the UN Protection Force in former Yugoslavia. Algabid "urged NATO to maintain its pressure on the Serbs until they ceased their aggression and a fair peace is established over the whole of Bosnian territory and in the sub-region," the statement added. |
FBIS3-39996_0 | Aircraft Industry Denounces U.S. Attitude in Saudi Bid | Language: French Article Type:BFN [Patrick Marx report: "GATT: Aeronautics Back on the Scene"] [Text] Jean Pierson, managing director of Airbus Industrie, feels that the American attitude toward the Saudi contract proves that, in their view, "GATT is just a piece of paper," valid only "for other people." Aerospatiale Director Louis Gallois feels that American political pressure should ecourage Europeans to examine this very revolutionary way in selling airplanes. In effect, the Saudi contract revives the U.S.-European dispute about international trade in airliners, an issue that was not resolved during the recent marathon of GATT negotiations, since the United States preferred not to make any conclusions on this point until they could find a chink in the armor of European defenses. It refused to include the 1992 agreement as one of the exceptions to the GATT general rules, and it is still seeking to limit Airbus influence in the world while attacking the consortium for the reimbursable advances which its industrial partners receive from the four countries involved in the the project (France, Germany, Great Britain, and Spain). At the same time the United States defends tooth and nail their own system of indirect support through military research programs which lead to civilian spin-offs. It was hoped that the agreement reached in 1992 between Washington and Brussels on direct and indirect public aid to the civilian aviation industry would calm moods. The Saudi affair shows that this is simply not the case. By referring to GATT, the leaders of the European aeronautics industry are baulking at Washington's argument, because Article 4 of the text concerning the trade in airliners expressly states that "the signatories shall refrain from subjecting airlines (...) to excessive pressure for the purpose of buying civilian aircraft of a given origin, which would entail discrimination against suppliers from another signatory." By announcing the signature of the Saudi contract, Bill Clinton provided the Europeans with a weighty argument during the negotiations on the aeronautics section of GATT which are to enter a crucial phase this year. |
FBIS3-40008_0 | Cetin Holds News Conference | Language: English Article Type:BFN [Text] The Hague, Feb 24 (AA) -- Foreign Minister Hikmet Cetin on Thursday [24 February] said that Turkey is in a position to influence the solution of the Bosnia problem, adding he "sees no reason why Turkish soldiers would not go where the Russian soldiers went." Currently in The Hague on an official visit and addressing a group of foreign reporters, Cetin said Turkey has sent troops to Korea and Somalia and he sees no reason why it should not send any to Bosnia. He said Turkey wants peace and stability in the Balkans, underlining the fact that a plan to reach peace in Bosnia and proposed 20 months ago was refused. "It was later understood that Turkey was right in its point of view, but it was too late," Cetin said. Turkey was since the start of the conflict favoring limited military air intervention in Bosnia. Answering reporters' question on terrorism, Cetin said in Turkey there is no such thing as a "Turkish-Kurdish problem," citing as example the northern Iraqi Kurds. "Who else except Turkey helps the Kurds in northern Iraq," he said adding Kurdish origin Turkish citizens would escape to Holland and not other Turkish provinces, if there was such a problem. On Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia -- FYROM] issue, he said Greece should refrain from escalating the tension, adding the embargo imposed on the former cannot be compared to the ones imposed to Iraq or Bosnia-Herzegovina. Last week Greece announced it would let only humanitarian supplies of food and medicine across the border with FYROM and would deny its neighbour the use of the port of Salonika. Cetin said Turkey will provide humanitarian help to FYROM and try to meet its need for oil, adding it is not sending that country any arms, artillery or soldiers. Foreign Ministry spokesman told the press on Wednesday Turkey will give gasoline and diesel fuel to the FYROM at favorable prices to meet its vital and urgent needs, adding Turkish sea ports will be opened to the FYROM's sea transportation. On the Cyprus issue, he said Turkey favours a lasting and just peace, to be reached by way of dialogue, adding both sides should not be influenced by provocations from other countries. |
FBIS3-40017_0 | Bonn, Iran Plan To Intensify Cultural Relations | Language: German Article Type:BFN [Martin Winter report: "Iran and Bonn Plan To Revive Cultural Relations"] [Text] Bonn, 24 February -- Germany and Iran want to approach each other cautiously again in cultural policy. During a meeting between Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Mahmud Va'ezi and Foreign Ministry State Secretary Dieter Kastrup, the discussion focused on the establishment of an institute to promote the German language in Tehran, the reestablishment of a German archaeological institute, and the opening of a German school in the Iranian capital for children from German-Iranian families. According to the Iranian minister, the language institute could perhaps be considered as a first step toward the reopening of the Goethe-Institute. Today, Friday, Va'ezi will also be received by Chancellor Helmut Kohl. Agreement was reached on having the German-Iranian Cultural Commission, which met in December 1991 for the last time, convene again. According to the Foreign Ministry, this was primarily the wish of the Iranians. Va'ezi's statement that the commission members are to meet this year have not been confirmed in Bonn. The Foreign Ministry wants to think about a date only if there is "movement" in Tehran, which means, for instance, that children from mixed marriages get access to the German school. Va'ezi said after the talks that his government is willing to make this concession. Agreement was reached on holding a joint seminar on human rights issues in Tehran in April. In particular lawyers, judges, and "practical workers" are to participate in it. Over the next few weeks experts are to negotiate on the German language institute and the archaeological institute. According to the Foreign Ministry, State Secretary Kastrup broached the persecution of British writer Salman Rushdie by a death sentence in connection with Tehran's desire for closer ties with the European Union. As long as this sentence is upheld, there cannot be any normal relations. According to the Foreign Ministry, Kastrup rejected Va'ezi's claim that the matter is exclusively the business of Iran and Great Britain by pointing out that this is something that concerns the entire European Union. |
FBIS3-40023_4 | Government Divided Over Angolan Arms Embargo | supporters of Jonas Savimbi were beaten to death in cold blood in Luanda, via the terrible pogroms in January 1993 against the Bakongo, people originating from around the border shared with Zaire, to the acts of violence orchestrated last December against Lebanese, Senegalese, and Mauritanian traders. The Angolan authorities have taken every opportunity to unload their responsibility onto scapegoats, at the cost of thousands of deaths. However, the misery is caused not only by the war, but -- as one official from the World Bank put it -- also by the government's incompetence, which "is aggravating the difficulties facing the Angolan people." Today, these "difficulties" are such that in some areas of Luanda, into which 3 million inhabitants are now crammed, people are dying of hunger in the streets. According to the price index drawn up by the highly official National Institute of Statistics, inflation in the capital reached a level of nearly 700 percent in 1993. Meanwhile, the state, remaining impervious to the suffering of the poorest citizens and open to all forms of trade, is self-sufficient. For instance, the government presented a new Audi car as a "gift" to each deputy of the National Assembly, now dubbed the "auditorium." Moreover, the "national" character of the Parliament is becoming the subject of increasing caution, for UNITA controls -- or rather, is rendering unsafe -- 70 percent of Angolan territory, ranging from the south east to the north, via the central plateau. Like the government with its oil wealth, largely invested offshore, the rebels led by Jonas Savimbi are financing the pursuit of the war thanks to diamonds excavated by Zaire, where they have their home base. However, there too, what suffices for the purchase of arms is in no way enough to enable them to administer the "liberated areas." In Huambo, which has been the site of UNITA headquarters since last March, the number of children afflicted by vitamin deficiency is legion. In several provinces, according to humanitarian sources, the level of acute malnutrition is higher than 20 percent. And yet today, like never before, the civil population is being held hostage and humanitarian aid is being hijacked and used for blackmailing purposes. In Luanda, in preparation for the visit to France by the Angolan president, Michel Roussin, the minister of development cooperation had stated that this aid had become "an instrument of pressure." Like the call for arms? |
FBIS3-40040_2 | Knudsen CAlls EU Proposals `Disheartening' | system of support that is based on the number of growing days -- that is, the number of days every year when there is enough sun and warmth for agricultural produce to grow. One hundred and ninety growing days or less has been proposed as the limit. Finnish Foreign Minister Heikki Haavisto said that Finland would ideally like to have everything north of the 60th parallel defined as Nordic agriculture, and 180 growing days as the limit. Norway and Finland are coordinating their policies in this area. Nor is Knudsen satisfied with the EU's latest initiative in the field of regional policy, even though we are here probably much closer to a negotiated agreement. The EU has proposed that the four northernmost provinces in Norway -- Finnmark, Troms, Nordland, and Nord-Trondelag -- should receive regional support from the EU's structural fund. The EU wants to introduce a completely new target category for regional support for the three Nordic countries. The so-called Objective 6 category will be in addition to the five categories the EU already has today. Ideally, Finland and Norway would like the countries to be covered by the Objective 1 classification that is the EU's main tool for support for regions where people have an annual income lower than the EU average. In practice support is given to areas where the average income is less than 80 percent of the EU average, and Norway takes the view that this is why this classification should be used. "If Objective 6 embraces the same as we want -- Objective 1 -- then it makes no difference what it is called," Grete Knudsen said. Like her Nordic counterparts, she will now take a closer look at the effect this will have on Norway, but the prospect is for a 10-percent-lower level of support with Objective 6 than Objective 1 would have given. The EU is proposing a 175 million ECU -- around 1.5 billion kroner -- framework for regional support in the Nordic area. Norway would probably receive around one-third of this money. Negotiations have not even started on the most difficult problems in the agricultural sector -- such as the demand for introduction of EU prices for agricultural produce from day one of membership. These problems are being saved up until the upcoming "superweekend," but the fronts seem deadlocked. Here Norway is standing shoulder to shoulder with Finland and Austria. |
FBIS3-40050_1 | Urbain Interviewed on Maastricht Treaty | in keeping the essentials. European Commission President Jacques Delors has formulated this strategy more than once. If the economy permeates the whole of society, he once said, then politics will have to follow. Of course there are dark sides too. Citizens, who were situated in their own familiar national politics with all their roots, were out in the cold. With Maastricht the people suddenly discovered that Europe had grown into an enormous machine. [passage omitted] [KNACK] Will Schengen change things much for citizens? [Urbain] At the national borders it will be symbolic rather than anything else. Nevertheless, the Germans want to take things as far as possible and clear all barriers and toll houses. The difference will be noticeable mainly in the airports. Therefore, in Zaventem we will have to distinguish between domestic, now European flights, and international flights. [KNACK] What is the main motivation for the free movement of people? Is it political emancipation or is it a way of crowning consumers? [Urbain] Free movement is an ambiguous concept. The fact that controls are disappearing is de facto recognition of European citizenship. In a federal European state everyone must be free to move about fully. That is absolutely obvious. Therefore there is a marked political dimension. The Treaty of Rome had insisted already on the need for free movement in its economic sense -- the idea that workers must be able to move freely. The Single European Act dealt with many obstacles, like the problem of the equivalence of qualifications. With that, the economic restriction was finally broken and economically inactive people and students suddenly were given access to the European space. Police checks also must be stopped to realize a truly European citizenship. For me, that is why Schengen is so important. We are gradually reaching a situation like in the United States. With an identity document issued in New York or Miami you can cruise through the whole country without being checked. [KNACK] What use is European citizenship without a social statute? [Urbain] Europe started as an economic project and the social aspect was only an appendage to that. Workers could move only if it was to the good of industry. The social aspect was discovered only much later. And even then, only a fraction of politicians attach any importance to it. Citizenship is a purely political concept. And a very nineteenth century, liberal one at that: |
FBIS3-40052_12 | Juppe Views Feasibility of Bosnian Peace Plan | kind of exercise, there must be an agreement between the Americans, Russians, and us on the basis of an overall settlement. [Trean] What, for you, is a "feasible" plan? [Juppe] The best peace plan is a plan that can be accepted by everyone. [Trean] Does this exercise between great powers also involve Croatia, Kosovo, and Macedonia? [Juppe] It will have to, but what we are currently discussing is a settlement in Bosnia. The rest will be the topic of a large conference. The situation is actually more stable in Krajina and there are Croat-Serb talks which, according to President Tudjman, are tending to make progress. As for Kosovo and Macedonia, things will be more difficult. The international community recognizes the sovereignty of Serbia in Kosovo. We will have to obtain the guarantee that the rights of minorities in Kosovo will be guaranteed and respected. This will have to be obtained within the framework of, say, another exercise, such as the large conference on the Balkans. [Trean] Can we tackle the problem of Macedonia, while Greece is president of the European Union? [Juppe] That has not stopped practically every country of the European Union from expressing a certain amount of displeasure at the recent Greek initiatives. All this is unreasonable. The Greeks must be encouraged to resume the negotiation process. Of course, Macedonia too must make some gestures. But such gestures will not be obtained by a blockade. [Trean] In your opinion does France have a particular responsibility in this region? [Juppe] As the president of the Republic said: "It regards us." Indeed, it concerns us for many reasons: Because it is in the middle of Europe; because there are enormous risks of it spreading; because the conference on stability in Europe advocated by the prime minister would have much more weight if we managed to unblock this matter; and because it calls into question the entire policy of enlarging the European Union to include the countries of central and eastern Europe. The two big problems in European integration by the year 2000 will be enlargement and security. We cannot suppose that there will be a sort of enclave in the Balkans that does not concern us. I truly think that our interests -- perhaps not our vital interests, but certainly our essential interests -- are at stake in this affair, and that justifies us devoting time and energy to it. |
FBIS3-40063_4 | Xu Jiatun's Hong Kong Memoirs Continued | like weeds" for a time. These guerrilla forces grew, with the large eating the small, and the strong gobbling up the weak, to gradually merge into a large guerrilla force, and even into a "regular" army. And this group development in Hong Kong could also take a similar path to grow into a political party. But as most of the upper bourgeoisie had not yet awakened, while the middle and lower strata had already gone into action, society lacked organized checks and balances. As to Li Hou's proposal that the future Hong Kong SAR Government practice "the separation of powers," this was based mostly in Western nations on political-party politics, with multiparty elections and majority-party rule. As these governments had majority-party support in congress, they could ensure that their political orders were passed. But Hong Kong had no political parties, with the big and middle bourgeoisie essentially not yet having organized. Even if they had organized, it would have been hard to achieve the right climate in a short period of time. Meanwhile, the democracy radicals representing the middle and lower social strata were organized in embryonic form (after the 4 June incident, the democracy radical forces did certainly further expand to appear in a political party form). I estimated at the time that the continuation of this could very likely lead to a general situation before 1997 of one-party legislation, with antagonism after 1997 among the Chief Executive, the administrative sector, and the Legislative Council, making it impossible or hard to pass any bills, leaving nothing of the Hong Kong administration's original efficiency, and touching off political, social and internal-administration turbulence. This meant that the "separation of powers" plan was out of line with Hong Kong's realities. Before long, on 16 April 1987, Deng Xiaoping publicly disagreed in a meeting with the Hong Kong [Basic Law] Drafting Committee with the "separation of powers," showing that this idea of Li Hou and others did not conform to the Central Government spirit. Li Hou and Lu Ping also publicly stated at the time that they did not approve of the emergence of political parties in Hong Kong. This [the emergence of political parties in Hong Kong] was also out of line with Deng Xiaoping's thinking and Hong Kong's realities. So when reporters asked me about Li Hou and Lu Ping's statements, I could only respond that "those are their personal views." |
FBIS3-40067_6 | Revitalizing Jiangsu Machinery Industry 1. Correctly handle the relationship between strengthening macroeconomic regulation and control and developing the industry. 2. Correctly handle the relationship between the total production increase and the three kinds of tied-up funds. 3. Correctly handle the relationship between production speed and product quality. 4. Correctly handle the relationship between product development and the optimization of product mix. 5. Correctly handle the relationship between the development of the industry and the development of advantages and characteristic conditions in various localities. 6. Correctly handle the relationship between developing "small but specialized" enterprises and promoting conglomerates. 7. Correctly handle the relationship between introducing technology and capital from outside and making self-improvement. 8. Correctly handle the relationship between developing the domestic market and exploring the international market. 9. Correctly handle the relationship between the transformation of government functions and the transformation of enterprises' operational mechanism. 10. Correctly handle the relationship between reform and development | percent, respectively. This shows that product quality is a problem worthy of concern. Therefore, while production is developing quickly, great attention should be devoted to the question of quality. By taking the current drives to transform enterprise operational mechanism and modify government functions as an opportunity, we must seriously carry out the "Product Quality Act" and use the market as a mechanism to gear up quality control and supervision so as to ensure a sound and fast development of production. It is necessary to rely on progress in science and technology to raise our product quality in an effort to catch up with the advanced world standards as soon as possible. 4. Correctly handle the relationship between product development and the optimization of product mix. Now, Jiangsu's machinery industry turns out nearly 20,000 different varieties and specifications of products. Among them, close to 3,000 are main products. Recently my department has made an analysis of the development levels of 7,821 products made by the machinery industry and found that only 8.34 percent of them are up to the world's standard of the 1980s. Those meeting the standards of the "late 1970s and early 1980s" account for 21.63 percent, those up to the standards of the 1970s, 55 percent; and those below the standards of the 1960s, 15.03 percent. As can be seen, the proportions of products in terms of their levels of development are not so rational. Further, products meeting high standards have been developed slowly, while most products being turned out are of low standards. Such a state of affairs neither meets the needs of our economic development nor is in the interest of achieving a sustained, quick growth of the machinery industry itself. For this reason, in developing new products, we should not only pay attention to expanding the variety and categories of products and increasing the models and specifications in each category, but also attach great importance to improving their quality. We should strive to develop products made by high and new technologies, products that are a combination of machines and electric equipment, and other products belonging to the technology-intensive category. Meanwhile, we should constantly adjust and optimize of our present product mix. With the market condition as a guidance and using brand-name and competitive products as model commodities, we should strive to transform, reorganize, and reform our lines of production so as to boost the percentage |
FBIS3-40071_2 | Liaoning To Implement Water Permit System | the central part of Liaoning, the province's economic lifeline, having the most serious shortage of water supply; and fourth, there is a lack of balance in developing sources of water supply among the various rivers and tributaries; in the case of the Liao river (flowing through the central part of Liaoning), 67 percent of its water sources were developed, but in the Yalu river and the various tributaries in Liaodong peninsula, only 5 to 20 percent of water sources were developed. In addition, there are widespread phenomena of man damaging water sources and wasting water supply. Because of excessive drawing of underground water, wells are drying up in rather large areas in parts of Shenyang and Liaoyang. In such places as Dalian, Yingkou, Jinzhou and Jinxi, also because of over-drawing of underground water, an increasingly large area is affected by sea water seepage, which has created great difficulties in terms of water usage for industrial and agricultural production as well as people's livelihood. Some specialists are predicting that if any problem develops in Liaoning's "second stage of development," it will very possibly be over "water." Xiao Zuofu said this is no mere alarmist talk but is the fact. The entire body of cadres and masses of Liaoning must strengthen their sense of urgency and responsibility to preserve and protect the sources of water supply. Xiao Zuofu said that the purpose of the government implementing a water permit system which will control usage of water drawn directly from underground, rivers or lakes is to strengthen the macro-controls over water resources in order to achieve an optimum balance between water supply and water use for national economic development and for meeting the increasing need for water in people's daily livelihood, to perfect a unified management system of water resources, to promote planned and economical usage of water in order to make maximum use of the limited water resources. At the symposium, many water conservation specialists and major water users submitted constructive views and opinions on Liaoning's proposed implementation of a water permit system. At present, the Liaoning Water Conservation Bureau and other concerned departments are conscientiously working out the details for carrying out the "Implementation Procedures for Water Permit System" issued by the State Council. Liaoning Water Conservation Bureau Vice Director Wang Jiancheng [3769 1696 2052] told reporters that Liaoning Province will begin to implement the water permit system early next year. |
FBIS3-40076_4 | Problems in Public Security Secrecy Work Vice Minister on Policy Secrecy Work Has Always Formed an Important Component of Public Security Work The New Situation Created by Reform, Opening Up Presents New Needs Regarding Secrecy in Public Security Work Public Security Organs Must Continue To Serve as Exemplars of Strict Safeguarding of State Secrets | as "a hundred flowers blossom and a hundred schools of thought contend": Registered publications alone number over 1,000 nationally. Thus the environment secrecy work confronts is much more complicated than it was before reform and opening up began, and this makes the work more difficult. Third, change has occurred in the administrative mechanism for secrecy work. Public security organs used to be responsible for handling most routine secrecy work throughout the country. Once the State Secrecy Bureau was established, that agency assumed charge of the work and has discharged the functions accorded it by law, subject to unified guidance provided by the Central Secrecy Commission. In the areas of preventing, investigating, and handling leaks and in combatting theft of state secrets, various administrative, legal, and other related agencies perform their respective duties in cooperation with the bureau and each other. Thus a new administrative mechanism for secrecy work has begun to emerge. Fourth, there has been change in the focus of this work. With the conclusion of the cold war, the prolonged stress on stealing military secrets began to change; more and more countries now recognize that science and technology form the most important productive force; and intelligence agencies in various countries, especially Western industrialized ones, have begun to emphasize collection and theft of economic, scientific, technological, and trade intelligence. To respond to the international situation and struggle, departments engaged in secrecy work must make appropriate readjustments in their thinking, work assignments, organizational structures, and staffing, and place greater emphasis on economics, science, and technology. Fifth, there has been marked change in the way in which secrecy work is conducted. On 5 September 1988 China promulgated her first relatively complete law on secrecy, the PRC Law Governing Safeguarding of State Secrets, development of which signified that her secrecy work had reached a new stage in which that effort is conducted according to law. The Enforcement Regulations for that law were issued a year later, and another 10-odd supplementary measures have since followed, thereby progressively completing legislation on secrecy and enabling all such work to be conducted in accordance with law. Public Security Organs Must Continue To Serve as Exemplars of Strict Safeguarding of State Secrets Our ability to carry on and enhance the party's fine tradition and to strengthen secrecy work during this new era will affect overall performance in reform, opening up, and the four modernizations. Public security organs, |
FBIS3-40077_3 | Problems in Public Security Secrecy Work Theft, Leaks Outlined | common sense when it comes to maintaining secrecy or familiarity with communications equipment, confusion of open and secret communications and exchange of unencrypted secret information in wired and wireless communications occur frequently, such that transmissions containing state secrets are sent openly and thus are easy for crooks or external intelligence agencies to intercept, thereby seriously threatening the security of state secrets, including codes. In February 1992, a border guard operator repeatedly transmitted unencrypted the contents of secret documents over shortwave radio, resulting in interception thereof. A certain city's traffic control department openly radioed deployment orders for a vehicle inspection operation that were overheard by a trucking firm, thereby affecting the success of the effort. Fourth are publication leaks. This most often occurs in public reports or news accounts of successful criminal investigations and in instructional, scientific, and technological works. The vast majority of these leaks occur because the people who commit them do not understand what constitutes a state secret in public security work and or stem from absence of strict clearance procedures. Then there is that extremely rare individual who, for fame and fortune, deliberately evades review by appropriate agencies and publishes materials involving secrets without authorization. A public security academy openly issued instructional materials compiled for internal use only that contained data relating to secret party work during the revolutionary war and to public security work after the founding of the PRC. Although remedy was immediately effected, some of the materials had been sold to the public, with some ending up abroad and irretrievable. Publication leaks are serious due to breadth of dissemination, inability to determine where the leaked information destinates, and the frequent tendency of ignorant news media to pass the information on. Therefore, the serious threat posed by this kind of leak cannot be underestimated. The fifth category involves leaks occurring from office automation equipment, including copying machines, typewriters, and personal computers. Owing to a lack of strict control systems or to failure to enforce such, copying machine use is unrestricted in many units, so people reproduce things at will. Some personal computers holding sensitive information lack security measures, diskettes and ribbons are deposited or disposed of indiscriminately, and so on. While public security organs have yet to discover a single instance in which such situations have led to leaks of secrets, potential peril remains, trouble could occur at any time, so careful attention is warranted. |
FBIS3-40082_1 | Article Notes `Criticisms' of Television | to extremes in every way to discredit the abilities of the opposition parties. The subtle aspect of this was that although the ruling party was constantly expressing views on the mass media (such as the need to scrupulously adhere to neutrality, and avoid exaggeration and incitation), the three stations did not change their ways. Instead, they pontificated instead at length on their demands that critics "not let political power interfere with reporting" as if vicious manipulators who interfered with television news reporting had never before existed. Most who criticize television fall into a morass of news reporting principles such as subjectivity and objectivity, neutrality and balance, which appear clear but are actually vague. I am listing here two commonly seen criticisms with analysis of the "delusions" behind them. Criticism one: As soon as elections come around, the television news takes on a distorted approach to discredit the abilities of the opposition powers. Wrong! Television news is always quite distorted. Whenever a sensitive topic arises which is of great controversy or which has created conflict between two political parties (such as the vote on the No. 4 Nuclear plant case or the Gu-Wang talks), the three television stations' willing role as mouthpieces for the government becomes especially obvious. The most disastrous example of this was during the Gu-Wang talks when the reporting style of some television journalists caused some people to worry about the lack of distinction between the enemy and ourselves. It is not only during election time that the voices of the opposition powers are neglected. They have always been merely an optional "news source" in television news. Criticism two: Excessive publicity for Kuomintang candidates in the television news during the elections can only have an opposite effect. Voters who actively participate in political affairs and are concerned about the elections will find excessively slanted reporting offensive. However, don't forget, in this society there are still a large number of "politically indifferent groups" who have no interest in politics. They see voting as a periodic ritual and lack independent political decision-making ability and adequate political knowledge. These people also tend to be loyal television viewers, relying on the "reality" described on television to construct their external world. The images carved by the television news of the opposition parties long ago became deeply engraved in their minds. To these people, so-called excessive exaggeration merely enhances already existing impressions. [passage omitted] |
FBIS3-40089_2 | Experts Forecast Social Trends for Youth in 1994 The Blue Collar Tide Will Cause a Million Young Peasants To Leave Their Villages and Fields Protection of Young Workers' Rights and Interests Is Leading To Disputes Between Labor and Capital Guard Against Secular, Aristocratic, and Mercenary Tendencies on Campus Big Income Gap Leads Youth to an Unbalanced State of Mind Regarding Society's Fairness It Is Urgent We Strengthen Youth's Overall National Knowledge and Unified Ethnic Knowledge Criminal Actions of Youth Are Obviously Directed at the Economic Area | agricultural labor resource which were not of a high quality before. Analysis shows that in 1994, the region which will be under attack by the tide of peasant laborers will still be Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, and the coastal open cities, these crowded cities cannot bear such a heavy burden any longer. Shortages of funds have caused sharp cutbacks in construction projects, leaving a large group of peasants with no work to do, so they will become a blind flow of people. These circulating peasant laborers are carried by rail. If in 1994 rail travel continues to be as rough as it has been, it is possible that extremist activities directed at railroad departments may occur in individual areas where there are tie-ups. Protection of the rights and interests of young peasant laborers is steadily becoming a greater problem, as nearly every day brings new instances of illegal employment of workers and threats to the rights and interests of young peasant workers. In Beijing's Chongwenmen illegal labor market, traders in human beings abducted and sold to Qingzhou, Shanxi, more than 1,800 young female peasants who had gone to Beijing to find jobs. It can be said that this large-scale transfer of the surplus rural labor force will be a troublesome problem in urban and rural construction and administration in 1994. Whether we let it go or block it, whether we transfer it to other places or try to accept it locally, there should be a scientific and practical plan for resolution. Protection of Young Workers' Rights and Interests Is Leading To Disputes Between Labor and Capital As enterprises increase their reform, smashing the old system, implementing various contract systems, joint-stock systems, and perfected reorganization, it is urgent that the rights and interests of both employers and employees undergo major adjustment. Because enterprise reform is at present still incomplete, the rights and interests of enterprises and young workers are still not in conformity, leading to frequent conflicts. In state-owned enterprises, disagreements between young workers and enterprises are concentrated chiefly in the system for using labor; in foreign capital enterprises, the disputes lie for the most part in the area of interpreting and implementing contracts; in privately owned enterprises, disputes mostly center around threats to rights and interests. During the first half of the year, the Shanghai Labor Arbitration Department handled a total of 319 cases, an increase of 43.7 percent over the |
FBIS3-40089_4 | Experts Forecast Social Trends for Youth in 1994 The Blue Collar Tide Will Cause a Million Young Peasants To Leave Their Villages and Fields Protection of Young Workers' Rights and Interests Is Leading To Disputes Between Labor and Capital Guard Against Secular, Aristocratic, and Mercenary Tendencies on Campus Big Income Gap Leads Youth to an Unbalanced State of Mind Regarding Society's Fairness It Is Urgent We Strengthen Youth's Overall National Knowledge and Unified Ethnic Knowledge Criminal Actions of Youth Are Obviously Directed at the Economic Area | same period last year. In foreign capital enterprises throughout the country, there were 2,000 worker strikes during the first quarter of 1993 alone. Many young employees of privately run enterprises went to court seeking legal protection for their rights. Of these, the abuse suffered by the Chinese crew of the foreign ship "Acadia" was a shock to society. It is forecast that in 1994 cases to labor arbitration departments seeking legal resolution will tend to increase. It is a matter of urgency to accelerate the formulation of labor laws and regulations, providing a legal foundation to protect the rights and interests of both enterprises and young people from encroachment and threat. This will avoid and reduce this destabilizing factor in society. Guard Against Secular, Aristocratic, and Mercenary Tendencies on Campus According to a survey, more than 60 percent of college students and young teachers lack confidence about going into society, establishing themselves and building the country through what they have learned. Two-thirds of those surveyed considered teaching, scientific research, and public affairs as dangerous roads to take. This kind of phenomenon may include the dissatisfied mood of intelligent young people who have lost a balanced state of mind. What deserves more vigilance is the depreciation of knowledge that has led to secular, aristocratic, and mercenary tendencies on campus. Secularization is expressed in a lack of concern for politics, pandering to popular culture, and viewing popular taste as fashion. Aristocratic tendencies are expressed as a lack of concern for the masses, and regarding the main stream of Chinese culture of China with contempt. Mercenary tendencies appear when the value judgements of intelligent people tend toward material desires and money in a great degree, their awareness of civilization's development shaken. The campus definitely provides an excellent base for supplying the talent China needs to succeed in its strategy of catching up with world trends by the end of this century. However, the current situation is that people engaged in business, teaching, and studying lack vigor, with future problems difficult to foresee. Reliance on morality alone to solve this problem is far from sufficient; it is urgent that the State invest more in education and provide favorable policies for education. Rising Prices Affect Young People's Financial Benefits Economists forecast that the inflation rate for the cost of living in 1994 will still be around 10 percent, and the government will put its limited |
FBIS3-40096_3 | Review of Liaoning's Development Zones Like the Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea, Each Showing Special Prowess | Qingyang MDI project, and the Liaoning linen and polyester project. It coordinated construction of the three projects, which will bring a large amount of high and new technology and products into Liaoyang. It's digestion and absorption of advanced technology, and its in-depth development of new products have become a major advantage for Liaoyang. In this connection, the Liaoyang high and new technology industry development zone established the principle of taking the chemical industry, chemical fibers, and plastics as the three main industries to be developed. Jinzhou City did not attempt across-the-board development. It concentrated its energies on the building of high and new technology industrial parks in an effort to make them into new growth points for the whole city's economic development. It developed leading edge forward positions for new and high technology industries. Currently, a large number of high level technical products, including membrane separation technology, quma [2575 7456] multiple analgesia, and titanium dioxide powder technology have been brought to fruition in the science and technology parks. The steel capital, Anshan, has abundant natural resources. It has one-fourth of the country's recoverable iron ore reserves, and one-fourth the world's magnesite reserves. Its talc and soap stone are renowned in China and abroad. The Anshan Iron and Steel Corporation has an annual 8 million tons aggregate production capacity. Therefore, the Anshan high and new technology industry development zone will make new materials, new energy, and high performance energy saving technology, automation technology, electronic information technology, biotechnology, environmental protection, and static electricity technology its six major technological areas for priority development. The Qixianling Industrialized Base in Dalian's high and new technology industrial zone is the city's key development project. Since the famed Dalian Economic and Technology Development Zone is located in the city, projects coming into the base start from a higher threshold. Using an overall development strategy of building a "northern Hong Kong," the park administration decided during 1993 to attract both domestic and foreign high and new technology by expanding its opening to the outside world in order to make major breakthroughs in the technical fields of electronic information, electromechanical integration, new materials, high performance energy conservation, and on environmental, maritime, and biological projects. It is making an effort to achieve within five to 10 years the formation of an industrial system that is distinctive to that city and at a substantial scale. The Nanhu Science and Technology Development |
FBIS3-40101_1 | State Adjusts Tobacco Policy, Prices Commission Proposes Policy | year does not drop, and to essentially maintain the existing tobacco-product tax level, while basically not raising cigarette-enterprise production costs. II. Strict Control of Tobacco Production To control unchecked tobacco production, all provinces and autonomous regions, when purchasing tobacco, will conscientiously implement the provisions in the State Council National Document No 7 (1993) on "all taxes on tobacco exceeding state planned procurement being paid into Central revenues, and the purchasing prices of tobacco sold to the state that exceeds plans or is unplanned floating downward 20 percent," with taxes on all tobacco that exceeds state-assigned annual procurement plans being calculated according to the average tax per dan (50 kg) of flue-cured tobacco for the year in the province (autonomous region), and paid into Central revenues. When arranging particular procurement plans, we will implement the principle of supporting excellence, in order to gradually cut back on the area planted to tobacco that is not suited to tobacco cultivation. III. Adjusted Tobacco Procurement Prices As flue-cured tobacco standards are now in a stage of transition from 15 to 40 grades and, in line with the principles of market demand and price based on quality, tobacco procurement prices are correspondingly adjusted to the two separate flue-cured tobacco standards of 15 and 40 grades (See attachments 1 and 2). The former state-set tobacco production support charge will be incorporated into the tobacco procurement price. IV. The Adjusted Tobacco Product Tax Rate The tobacco-product tax rate is based on the adjusted tobacco-procurement price, being lowered from 38 percent to 31 percent in line with the principle of essentially maintaining the current tobacco-tax level. The Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation will draw up the particular regulations on the adjustment of taxpayment links. V. Deregulated Tobacco Allocation Prices In line with the needs of establishing a socialist market economy and based on our current realities, we are deregulating tobacco-allocation prices. The specific means of application will be drawn up by the pertinent commercial department of the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau. These regulations will take effect for 1993's new tobacco listings, with white-rib tobacco, perfume tobacco, and sun-cured tobacco implementing the adjusted plan for flue-cured tobacco. As Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, and Jiangxi province (autonomous region) tobacco is in the latter stage of procurement, the respective provincial (autonomous regional) People's Governments will decide whether these provinces (autonomous region) will implement in 1993 the new flue-cured |
FBIS3-40102_0 | State Adjusts Tobacco Policy, Prices Notice on Procurement Prices | Language: Chinese Article Type:CSO [Report: "Circular Issued by State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau, State Planning Commission on Perfume Tobacco and White-Rib Tobacco Procurement Prices"] [Text] To adapt to socialist market economy development, deal well with the relations among the interests of tobacco farmers, local governments, and tobacco enterprises, and tighten macroeconomic regulation and control over tobacco production, and based on the plan for implementing the economic policy on tobacco, the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau and the State Planning Commission issued a joint document on 12 August 1993 to the Zhejiang, Hubei, and Sichuan province Pricing Bureaus and Tobacco Monopoly Bureaus, giving the following notifications on perfume tobacco and white-rib tobacco procurement prices and related matters: 1. This procurement-price adjustment merely incorporates the state-set tobacco-production support charge into the procurement price and, premised on overall price levels remaining essentially unchanged and based on the principle of price based on quality, appropriately adjusts the price differences among grades (See attachments 1 and 2). Perfume tobacco is adjusted in price from the average per 50 kg of 222.11 yuan (not including the production-support charge) to 245.18 yuan (incorporating the production-support charge into the procurement price), for an increase of 10.39 percent; and white-rib tobacco is adjusted in price from the average per 50 kg of 114.38 yuan (not including the production-support charge) to 132.43 yuan (with the production-support charge being incorporated into the procurement price), for an increase of 15.78 percent. 2. The State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau will issue a separate circular on the benchmark prices for perfume and white-rib tobacco allocation. 3. These perfume and white-rib tobacco procurement prices will take effect the day on which this document is issued, with Farm Price Document No 166 (1990) issued by the former State Pricing Bureau and the State Tobacco Monopoly Bureau being annuled at the same time. Appendix 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1993 White-Rib Tobacco Procurement Price List | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Grade |Price (Yuan Per D-|Grade |Price (Yuan Per D-| | |an) | |an) | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Medium 1 |255.00 |Top 1 |190.00 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Medium 2 |210.00 |Top 2 |140.00 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Medium 3 |160.00 |Top 3 |100.00 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Medium 4 |120.00 |Top 4 |55.00 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Medium 5 |65.00 |Top 5 |30.00 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Medium 6 |40.00 |End Grade |15.00 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Appendix 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1993 Perfume Tobacco Procurement Price List | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Grade |Price (Yuan Per D-|Grade |Price (Yuan Per D-| | |an) | |
FBIS3-40125_11 | `Excessive' Financial Burden Burdens Peasants | and satisfy their own greed. Concocting various contexts and relying on their power and position, some power organs at the township and town level force peasants to part with their hard-earned money, even compelling them to sell their livestock and deducting money from the sums payable to the peasants in return for the grain they turn over to the government. Some municipal, county, and township agencies try to outdo one another. Whatever one jurisdiction levies, others want to do likewise. The idea is to collect the most fees and charges and offer the most benefits. As a result, fees and charges overlap one another, expenses are apportioned indiscriminately, and funds are raised in a disorderly manner. All these trends have become commonplace. 2. Many public welfare projects are being undertaken with no bearing to reality. With the introduction of the household responsibility system of linking remuneration to output in the countryside after the 3d Plenum of the 11th CPC Central Committee, the peasants' living standards have indeed risen markedly. On the whole, however, most peasants have just enough to eat and wear; the truly affluent peasants are few and far between. In some localities, the officials overestimate the extent of wealth among the peasants and consequently mistake unripe conditions to be just the opposite. Divorcing themselves from reality and ignoring objective conditions, with no regard for the level of development of the local economy, they blindly pursue big projects and grand projects and indiscriminately go after "upgrading," all in the name of reaching some standards in everything they do, whether it be building an elementary school, a nursing home, or a nursery school. Even after a project meets the standards, there are new demands. For instance, after a school was built according to specifications, there were demands for "six coordinations" or "ten coordinations" and calls for the construction of a school of the garden style. Where does the money come from? Since the government refuses to pay, the costs have to be passed onto the peasants. Caught up in the social climate of putting money before everything else, some departments and units have come to regard as a commodity what should rightly be provided as a service and demand that peasants pay for it. 3. Organizational over-staffing. The emphasis in institutional organization on having an identical lineup of agencies or departments at every level is an important reason why fee-collection, |
FBIS3-40126_0 | National Tobacco Area, Output | Language: Chinese Article Type:CSO [Summary] In 1993 the actual tobacco area was 22,400,000 mu, and output will reach 2,850,000 tons. Including the 2,250,000 tons of tobacco in storage at the end of June, gross output will exceed 5 million tons. The domestic cigarette industry consumes over 1.8 million tons annually, and annual tobacco exports are about 150,000 tons. At present there is enough tobacco to meet the needs of the cigarette industry and exports for the next two and a half years. |
FBIS3-40130_0 | Article Views Role as Asian `Operations Center' | Language: Chinese Article Type:CSO [Article by Kuo Ta-wei (6753 1129 1792): "Century-Spanning Fight to the Death"] [Text] The Asia-Pacific Operations Center beckons loud enough to wake the dead. Some say it is necessary to Taiwan's survival. Others ridicule it as a quixotic scheme; they see it as an impractical plan. Does Taiwan indeed have an opportunity to become a regional headquarters for transnational businesses? What are Taiwan's advantages and disadvantages for becoming an Asia-Pacific operations center? What major changes are needed to attain the goal? A large market holding hidden vitality lies along the Pacific Rim of the Asian continent. This area has an annual 6 percent economic growth rate, and forecasts call for one-half of the world's gross output to come from here by 2040. Transnational businesses in advanced nations are anxious to establish a bridgehead here. At the same time, Taiwan, which is a way station in the area, is working hard to break out of an economic development stalemate by importing high value-added industries to accelerate internal transformation and to stimulate the desire to invest. In 1992, however, outside investment in Taiwan for the year fell to a new four year low of only $1.5 billion. A "national construction program" that seeks to vault Taiwan into the ranks of a modern nation, the Asia-Pacific Operations Center Plan, took shape during the surge to accelerate internal transformation and stimulate investment. The Asia-Pacific Operations Center is no new topic. This hope has attracted businesses from many nations to set up regional headquarters in Taiwan. Very many businesses long ago began to plan tactical alliances whereby their Asia-Pacific branch corporations engage in procurement, production, marketing, technical assistance, research and development, and the collection of information. Economic considerations aside, as a result of these tactical alliances, Taiwan will make itself a part of the global economic network, which will enable it to improve its international standing and national security. This is not a bad tactical conception; the question is whether the tactic is feasible. To go from Europe and the Americas to Southeast Asia and Mainland China does not require going via Taiwan. Countries other than Taiwan -- notably Singapore and Hong Kong -- can provide added value that Taiwan does not provide. Just what value does Taiwan add as a springboard for cooperation with the west? Can existing administrative regulations be reformed in time? Can the necessary infrastructure be put |
FBIS3-40134_5 | Asia-Pacific Region, `Good Neighbor' Policy Viewed | the first visit to Vietnam by a Chinese premier in 21 years. In the first half of the year, Philippine President Ramos, Malaysian Premier Mahathir, and Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong all visited China, while Thailand Premier Chuan Leepai visited China in late August; not long ago, Central Committee Chairman Qiao Shi visited Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and the Philippines. These important mutual visits strongly promoted the development of relations between China and ASEAN. Meanwhile, a delegation from the party and government, led by standing members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, visited North Korea to foster friendly and cooperative relations between China and that nation. These good political relations provide considerable impetus to the development of economic and trade relations. In 1991, trade between China and Japan grossed nearly $23 billion, 10 times what it was prior to the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations. In 1991, trade between China and South Korea was up to $5.8 billion, and in 1992, it was up to $8.2 billion. This year, it is expected to reach $10 billion. In 1978, trade between China and the ASEAN countries was only $859 million; in 1988, it increased to $3.818 billion, a 3.4-fold increase for the decade. There have been further large increases in recent years, reaching $8.466 billion in 1992, 15 times again what it was in 1975. There is still tremendous potential for future development: At present, trade between China and ASEAN constitutes only about 5 percent of China's total foreign trade and just a little over 2 percent of that of ASEAN. There are terrorital questions which remain between China and some nations, legacies of history. China has always taken a very cautious attitute concerning these matters. Early in 1957, former Premier Zhou Enlai fully laid out for the National People's Congress China's principal considerations in resolving terrorital issues, saying that, "We want to resolve terrorital questions, with the goal of stabilizing our borders, to alleviate the international situation in a way that is beneficial to modernization, but without making our relationship with our neighbors tense." He went on to say that resolution of territorial questions must be linked with expanding the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence; we should seek resolution of these questions on a basis of treating both sides as equals, favorable to each other and to friendship. The |
FBIS3-40140_9 | Dai Qing on Han Dongfang as Workers' Leader Lenin Changed Welfare Union Movement Into a Political Activity | social reform, going down amongst the workers, and arousing them, organizing them.... This time, the intellectual's actual educational pedigree, and occupation, including his consistently vainly hopeful moderate positions and reasonable dialogue, have already become not important, and the part he plays is the role more than 70 years ago of Zhang Guotao and that played by Liu Shaoqi (exactly like the May Fourth Movement and 9 December Movement hero images compiled by the CPC and studied by Wuerkaixi and Chai Ling). This is the first layer. Second, at that time the CPC was arousing the workers, arousing the students, and those in power constituted the "KMT reactionary regime," therefore this was right. Now, however, with the peoples' regime under the leadership of the CPC, what you are doing resembles, and again is modelled on the complete teachings of the CPC, which, in this case, I beg your pardon, is counterrevolutionary!! The reader I'm afraid still remembers those days in 1989, those two characters meaning "patriotism," and how justly and forcefully the students demanded, how justly and forcefully Li Peng would not give, making the whole world as a result feel injured and resentful, and that the truth lay here. Third, any of those in power know that in arousing the students, even if those aroused to take the lead cherish the most utilitarian of political goals, it is also possible to have nothing extraordinary occur--the South Korean students and the police have fought day after day, while the nation's power all the same has continued to increase. Arouse the workers, and they can cut off water supplies, electricity, cut off transportation, their power to disrupt society is too great. A movement to gain material benefits uses just this type of deterrent to achieve its goals. But economic demands also have a finite end, and the capitalist side goes to extremes to declare that it will go bankrupt. Political demands are difficult to deal with, and if as luck would have had it, they had been in compliance with the CPC's political demands of that year, would the movement have been of any size? Among these people, who is there that has an even clearer stand than the CPC itself? Would the authorities be able to contain you as you carried political motives in arousing the workers? Fourth, I will form a movement for material gain, is this allowed or not? |
FBIS3-40145_1 | Railroad Transportation Capacity Faces `Bottlenecks' | of the most serious periods ever for a shortage of railroad transportation. The average rate of satisfying of applications for rail carriages for freight use was around 40 percent, more than 10 percentage points below a normal year. It was hard to ensure transportation of some state plan and key commodities. For example, in May 162,000 tons of coal was under plan contract for use in the chemical industry nationwide. Actual arrangements were made for 87,000 tons and the actual amount transported was less than 80,000 tons. Transportation was a major external cause affecting shortages of state steel contracts in the steel industry nationwide. Economic development was unusually rapid in the southeast coastal area in 1993, and investment has doubled, creating a large volume of goods and passengers flowing southward, and meaning even more prominent already over-capacity Beijing-Guangdong and Beijing-Shanghai lines. Goods headed south for Guangdong can only be one-forth of applications. Many mining enterprises along some coastal lines have restricted or ceased production because there is no way to guarantee railroad carriages. The passenger transportation shortage situation also is extremely serious; main trunk lines commonly are more than 50 percent over capacity. In some areas there is no choice but to scatter passengers by using commodity cars for travelers. According to transportation sector explanations, in recent years the stress of highway construction mainly has been on roads for vehicle use to realize the goal of a nationwide "two vertical and two horizontal" network. The trend has been led by localities with central government assistance, full utilization of accumulated funds and loans, opening up a modernized highway transportation network. There have been great successes. Nevertheless, there is a relative shortage of passenger and commodity resources, road conditions are rather poor and highway transportation prices are too high compared to rail because of the rapid increase of vehicles in society. Transport capacity is relatively overbuilt, meaning severe waste. According to statistics, in the first half of 1993 the quantity of civilian vehicles recovered throughout society had reached nearly 7.5 million units, a net increase of more than 1.2 million units over the same period in 1992, a 19 percent increase rate. The corresponding passenger and freight transportation rates were 3.63 billion people and 3.86 billion tons, respectively, up only 5.2 percent and 6.4 percent over the same period in 1992. On the other hand, vehicle utilization rates dropped. According to a |
FBIS3-40153_1 | Public Reaction to "Through Train" Issue | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3. Do you consider it important to specify the objective criteria for the | |through train prior to 1975? [Response /%] | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Survey Date |Important |Not Important |Not Sure/Don't Kn-| | | | |ow | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |18-20 Oct 93 |79.4 |7.7 |12.9 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |4. Is it reasonable to disqualify a person from riding the through train f-| |or actions which "subvert the PRC Government?" [Response /%] | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Survey Date |Reasonable |Unreasonable |Not Sure/Don't Kn-| | | | |ow | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3-4 Nov 93 |18.9 |54.8 |26.3 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |5. Should the "subverting the PRC Government" criteria be back dated to be-| |fore the signing of the Joint Declaration? [Response /%] | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Survey Date |Should Do So |Not Important |Not Sure/Don't Kn-| | | | |ow | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3-4 Nov 93 |21.7 |53.7 |24.7 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |6. Should the through train include members of the District Boards and two | |Municipal Councils? [Response /%] | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Survey Date |Should Include |Unimportant |Not Sure/Don't Kn-| | | | |ow | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |18-20 Oct 93 |65.9 |19.3 |14.8 | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |7. Before 1997, would there be more advantages or more disadvantages for | |Hong Kong's development without the through train? [Response /%] | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Survey Date |More Advantag-|No Effect |More Disadvan-|Don't Know | | |es | |tages | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |18-20 Oct 93 |6.1 |20.5 |60.0 |13.3 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |8. After 1997, would there be more advantages or more disadvantages for H-| |ong Kong's development without the through train? [Response /%] | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Survey Date |More Advantag-|No Effect |More Disadvan-|Don't Know | | |es | |tages | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |18-20 Oct 93 |12.8 |14.5 |51.1 |21.6 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |9. Considering all the criteria, do you think the following Legislative Co-| |uncil members should "get off the train" in 1997 (assuming they win their | |seats in the 1995 direct legislative elections)? [Response /%] | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |3-4 Nov 93 |Should Get Off Tr-|Should Not |Don't Know | | |ain | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Szu-t'u Hua [0674 |24.0 |51.7 |24.3 | |1778 5478; Seto W-| | | | |ah] | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Li Chu-ming [2621 |20.2 |53.6 |26.2 | |2691 6900; Martin | | | | |Lee] | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Liu Hui-ch'ing [04|10.3 |59.4 |30.2 | |91 1979 0615; Emi-| | | | |ly Lau] | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
FBIS3-40154_1 | Thaw Literature In Soviet Union, China Compared | the most important reason is that people have lost their spirit of honest self-examination. The overwhelming majority of mainland intellectuals have grown accustomed to the dogmatic self-righteous Marxist way of criticizing the world. We cannot expect Chinese intellectuals to regain on their own the self-doubting spirit of the modern theory of knowledge overnight. Moreover, the mainland having been isolated for years, not only was there a lack of communication with the outside world, but the two generations of intellectuals have completely lost their foreign linguistic abilities. In the early days of openness, therefore, the mainland was a society with an extremely limited capacity for interacting with the rest of the world. Having said that, China is a vast country with much living space for the above-mentioned intellectuals. Moreover, eventually the world must wake up to China's existence. In a sense, therefore, international exchange had a negative result in that it encourages parochial arrogance, complacency, and conservatism among Chinese intellectuals. Third, because they speak the same language and with their capacity for healthy change that comes from being part of the world, Chinese intellectuals in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas should have been a powerful driving force and catalyst for change in the intellectual world on the mainland during this brief transitional period. That, however, has turned out to be wishful thinking. Instead, it is Hong Kong and Taiwan which are being engulfed in a wave of "mainland fever." Only a handful of insightful scholars have pointed out, politely, the errors of mainland intellectuals. But even they fail to understand why mainland intellectuals could have made such obvious mistakes. In reality, "mainland fever" points up some of the problems in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the overseas Chinese community. "Mainland fever" has directly contributed to the apathy and arrogance of some mainland intellectuals. Even as the diehard faction of the CPC forced them out with guns following the collapse of the democracy movement in 1989, they still have not done any soul-searching or established any serious contacts with Hong Kong, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese scholars during their visits to Taiwan and other countries in order to find out how the latter approach or research an issue. They remain engrossed in expansive specious arguments about the masculine principle and other stuff. Compare them to the human rights movement in Eastern Europe, to intellectuals like Havel and you see a most striking difference. Ma |
FBIS3-40160_0 | Wei Jingsheng on `Predicament' of the People | Language: Chinese Article Type:CSO [Article by Wei Jingsheng (7614 0079 3932): "Savior or Malefactor? On the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Mao Zedong"] [Text] This subject is a very large one, but we don't have to go into it at great length. At first glance, it seems that we are talking about the achievements and faults of Mao Zedong, but actually we are discussing our predicament as Chinese people, and the causes. To use the oft-repeated formula, currently popular among the masses on the mainland, we can speak of "the inveterate evil-mindedness" and the "vileness" of the Chinese. For the last hundred years, or since even more remote times, our several hundreds of millions of fellow countrymen definitely have been living in hellish misery. Not only has food and clothing been a problem, but even minimal human rights could not be guaranteed. To describe it in colloquial language, "the rich and powerful didn't treat us poor folks like human beings"; but, in fact, were the rich and powerful treated like human beings? They themselves had no such expectation, so slavish formulas like "I wish to labor like a dog or a horse" were fashionable politenesses, and remained in common use for a long time. In a country as large as China, were there no men? There is more. Starting two thousand years ago, with the first time that a totalitarian and despotic dynasty was overthrown, wise men have continually appeared in China, and sounded the clarion call of human rights. Their slogans and ideals were of various kinds, but they had one thing in common, and that was the demand that farmers and convicts, who were at the lowest strata of society, be treated as equals. "Are there any noblemen, or generals or great officials, who are worth anything?" The problem of food and clothing was of secondary importance. They were not things to be received as a matter of course; they had to be won through the effort of each individual. Only under the system of slavery, under feudalism, did people receive food and clothing, or get treated like human beings, as a matter of course. But people are not ordinary animals. What they demand first is to be treated like human beings, by others, and by themselves. To use the expression that is in vogue right now, they demand, first of all, that their human rights be |
FBIS3-40165_1 | List of Second Batch of Revoked Internal Documents | Temporary Regulations on Borrowing and Transferring Economic-Aid Goods and Materials and Personnel for Use in Contracted Engineering Projects Abroad ([79] Foreign Economics Code 5 No. 1072) 8. Circular on Promulgating the Temporary Method of Providing Daily Necessities To Personnel in Foreign Contracted Engineering Projects and Other Paying Projects ([80] Foreign Economics Code 4 No. 151) 9. Circular on Gradually Changing the Situation of Excess Overtime and Extra Hours Claimed by Our Workers ([81] Foreign Economics Code 4 No. 832) 10. On the Method of Using International Mail To Deliver Workers' Personal Mail ([81] Foreign Economics Code 4 No. 862) 11. Circular on the "Temporary Regulations on Contracting Engineering Work and Providing Technical Services in Hong Kong and Macao" ([81] Foreign Economics Code 4 No. 740) 12. Temporary Regulations on Requiring Foreign Contract Companies To Obtain Licenses When Setting Up Offices Abroad ([82] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 1) 13. Circular Relaying the "Summary of Consultations on Engineering Project Bids and Labor Price Quotations" ([83] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 123) 14. Circular on Contractors, Workers, and Joint Venture Personnel Implementing the "Regulations on Clothing Cost of Personnel Traveling Abroad on Foreign Aid Missions" ([84] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 178) 15. Reply Regarding Wages Paid to Domestic Contract Workers ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 115) 16. Circular on the Trial Implementation of "Examination and Approval Procedure and Management Method for Setting Up Nontrade Joint Venture Enterprises Abroad" ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 19) 17. Circular on the Trial Implementation of the Method of Paying Foreign Wages to Our Chefs Working in the United States ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 82) 18. Circular on Setting up Offices Abroad To Coordinate Contracted Labor and Services Projects ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 108) 19. Circular on the Matter of International Economic and Technological Cooperation Companies Setting Up Offices Abroad ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 107) 20. Circular on Matters Concerning Chinese Companies Contracting Labor and Service Projects in the United Arab Emirates ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 123) 21. Relaying the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Notice on Entry Procedure ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code 1 No. 42) 22. Circular on Matters Concerning the Contracting of Engineering and Other Labor and Service Cooperation Projects in Czechoslovakia, Dong Lian [phonetic], and East European Nations ([85] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 119) 23. Suggestions on Contracting Engineering and Labor and Service Cooperation Projects in Iraq in the Future ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code |
FBIS3-40165_3 | List of Second Batch of Revoked Internal Documents | No. 10) 24. Circular on the Publication of "Request for Instruction on Several Urgent Problems Regarding the Setting Up of Joint Venture Enterprises Abroad and in Hong Kong and Macao" ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 16) 25. Circular on Consolidating Our Contracting Companies in Thailand ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 51) 26. Circular on Matters Regarding the Contracting of Engineering and Labor and Service Cooperation Projects in the Soviet Union ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 54) 27. Circular on Matters Regarding Cooperating With Philippine Companies ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 80) 28. Circular on Rectifying and Consolidating Joint Venture Enterprises Abroad ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 75) 29. Circular on Improving the Quality of Bid-Tendering Documents ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 90) 30. Notice on Progress Made in Labor and Service Cooperation with the Eastern European Nations ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 71) 31. Circular on Matters Regarding Chinese Companies Contracting Engineering and Labor Service Cooperation Projects in Singapore ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 119) 32. Letter Reiterating Several Matters Concerning Our Sending Chefs To Work in the Federal Republic of Germany ([86] MOFERT Cooperation Code 2 No. 105) 33. Several Suggestions on Contracting Engineering Projects in Nepal ([87] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 19) 34. Circular On Relaying the Temporary Method of Supplying Machinery and Electrical Goods Needed by Import-Export Companies in Their Foreign Contracted Engineering Projects ([87] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 81) 35. Letter Regarding the Publication of "Guide To Actual Expropriation Payments" ([87] MOFERT Cooperation Code 2 No. 68) 36. Circular on Matters Concerning the Equipment and Materials and Workers' Daily Necessities Related to Foreign Contracted Engineering Projects and Enterprises Abroad Brought Out of the Country by International Economic and Technological Cooperation Companies ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 82) 37. Response to the Question of Economic and Trade Cooperation With Taiwan in Zaire ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 44) 38. Circular Regarding Chinese American Zheng Sheng [6774 5116] (John Cheng) ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 125) 39. Letter Regarding Prompt Report on Contracting Engineering Projects and Labor and Service Cooperation Businesses in the Soviet Union ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 2 p 117) 40. Circular Reiterating the Need To Strengthen Foreign Affairs Discipline and Education of Workers Involved in Foreign Labor Contracts ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code 2 No. 120) 41. Notice On Experiences and Lessons From Labor Cooperation Projects in the Fishery Industry in Some African Nations ([88] |
FBIS3-40165_4 | List of Second Batch of Revoked Internal Documents | Cooperation Code No. 19) 34. Circular On Relaying the Temporary Method of Supplying Machinery and Electrical Goods Needed by Import-Export Companies in Their Foreign Contracted Engineering Projects ([87] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 81) 35. Letter Regarding the Publication of "Guide To Actual Expropriation Payments" ([87] MOFERT Cooperation Code 2 No. 68) 36. Circular on Matters Concerning the Equipment and Materials and Workers' Daily Necessities Related to Foreign Contracted Engineering Projects and Enterprises Abroad Brought Out of the Country by International Economic and Technological Cooperation Companies ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 82) 37. Response to the Question of Economic and Trade Cooperation With Taiwan in Zaire ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 44) 38. Circular Regarding Chinese American Zheng Sheng [6774 5116] (John Cheng) ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 125) 39. Letter Regarding Prompt Report on Contracting Engineering Projects and Labor and Service Cooperation Businesses in the Soviet Union ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 2 p 117) 40. Circular Reiterating the Need To Strengthen Foreign Affairs Discipline and Education of Workers Involved in Foreign Labor Contracts ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code 2 No. 120) 41. Notice On Experiences and Lessons From Labor Cooperation Projects in the Fishery Industry in Some African Nations ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code 2 No. 126) 42. Circular Requiring Our Personnel Working on Foreign Labor Contracts To Comply Strictly with the Laws and Regulations of Nations Where They Are Stationed ([88] MOFERT Cooperation Code 2 No. 162) 43. Circular on the Temporary Implementation of "Letter of Approval For Importing Goods By Contractors of Engineering or Labor Cooperation Projects and by Joint Ventures in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe" ([89] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 11) 44. Circular on Rectifying and Consolidating Investment Enterprises Abroad ([89] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 53) 45. Circular on the Matter of Seeking Advice From Our Embassy in the Soviet Union on Setting Up Non-Trade Joint Venture Enterprises in the Soviet Union ([89] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 99) 46. Circular on Matters Regarding Sending the First Batch of Ordinary Technical Workers to Hong Kong ([89] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 101) 47. Circular on Properly Adjusting China's Policy Toward Contracting Labor and Service Projects in South Africa ([89] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 103) 48. Circular on Matters Regarding the Opening of the Labor Service Contract Market in Saudi Arabia ([89] MOFERT Cooperation Code No. 151) 49. Circular on Matters Needing Attention Regarding Mutually Beneficial Economic Cooperations With |
FBIS3-40176_1 | Machine Industry `Problems' With Joint Ventures The Problem of Increasing Pressure at Every Level and Pursuing Quantity in a One-Sided Manner Is Serious Internal, External Management of Foreign-Funded Enterprises Is Not Strict Quantity, Quality of Trained Personnel Cannot Meet Demands of Development | weak links of the machinery industry, and the improvement of the overall standards of the machinery industry depends on the rapid development of basic parts and basic machinery. However the basic parts sector has utilized only $200 million in foreign direct investment, accounting for 4 percent; the average amount of foreign capital involved for the projects is only $630,000. Basic machinery mainly refers to machine tools. The machine tool sector has utilized only less then $300 million in foreign direct investment, accounting for 6 percent; the average amount utilized for the projects is only $650,000. In the two basic sectors, the scale of utilization of foreign capital and the average amount of foreign capital utilized for the projects are both small, and the technological content of products is low; the two basic sectors are far from meeting the demands of the overall development of the machinery industry. Therefore it is necessary to accelerate the development of the two sectors. The Problem of Increasing Pressure at Every Level and Pursuing Quantity in a One-Sided Manner Is Serious The purpose of developing foreign-funded enterprises is to make up for the insufficiency of domestically gathered funds, accelerate the optimization of economic structure, accelerate resource development, and promote technological progress. Nevertheless, some localities seek to increase the number of foreign-funded enterprises in a one-sided manner, increasing pressure at every level; they have made the quantity of foreign capital utilized an item of performance evaluation. As a result, in whatever areas foreign businesses have shown interest, there will be negotiations on those areas, and projects in those areas will be carried out accordingly. Joint ventures are established in a blind manner. "Whatever is put into the basket is considered vegetable." There is no bargaining with cooperation partners, neither is there any strategy or blueprint. Also, there is a lack of macro-level guidance. Pre-project Decision Making Is Ineffective Currently, when making preproject decisions on foreign-funded enterprises, many localities have failed to form strong teams to conduct investigation, study, surveying, and supporting analysis, and have instead operated in a perfunctory manner, grabbing everything available indiscriminately. The main manifestations include: 1) A failure to select cooperation partners carefully; 2) a failure to conduct extensive market investigations and a tendency to join the action in a hurry, resulting in redundant projects; 3) a failure to acquire adequate information about foreign businesses' credit status, resulting in being defrauded in some |
FBIS3-40177_2 | Chemical Industry Restructuring Reported | The practice, prevalent at the previous years' production planning conferences, of haggling over plan targets with directors of chemical industry departments or bureaus of the localities, resulting in the Ministry of Chemical Industry being eventually forced to impose plans on its subordinates, was changed. According to a source, this year's plan, made by the Ministry of Chemical Industry in view of market demand and the actual situation of enterprises, was based on the superior's working in concert with its subordinates and was deeply welcomed by the localities and various quarters. Leading comrades of many localities said that this change on the part of the Ministry of Chemical Industry was not only conducive to making production in line with demand, but also conducive to adjusting the product structure of the chemical industry and improving economic efficiency, and that thus the change had won profound support from the people and enterprises. In the process of transforming the function of government, the Ministry of Chemical Industry has given particular emphasis to providing services for the "two ends," providing services both for the localities and enterprises and for foreign businesses. Since its establishment, the new Ministry of Chemical Industry has dispatched investigation groups to conduct investigation at the grass roots on many occasions, and has also held symposiums of various kinds so as to hear enterprises' appeals and demands and to keep enterprises informed, thereby helping enterprises resolve a series of practical problems in development. With the rapid development of our national economy, some large chemical enterprises abroad have been shifting their attention to China in terms of their investment plans. In view of this development, the Ministry of Chemical Industry informed enterprises of the said situation in a timely manner, and informed foreign businesses of the state of development of chemical industry across China, thereby making the two sides very happy. Since the beginning of this year, the Ministry of Chemical Industry has signed comprehensive cooperation agreements with 12 large chemical companies such as Japan's Asahi Chemical Industries, Eastman Chemical Company of the United States, and Germany's Bayer AG and the Economics Ministry of the Netherlands, and has signed project cooperation agreements with General Electric of the United States and Germany's BASF AG, involving 122 projects of exploratory activity and cooperation. Recently, the ministry also signed agreements with the Mexican Government on economic and technological cooperation on petrochemical and chemical industries. The Ministry |
FBIS3-40188_9 | Prospects for Relations With Central Asia I. China's Reform, Opening Up to the Outside World, Economic Situation II. The Situation After Central Asian Countries Became Independent and the International Effect III. Prospects for Cooperation Between China and Central Asian Countries | industrial base, and a gradually forming vast market. Their weak point is that they have a one-product economy, and they must import from abroad articles for use in industry and articles for daily use, and must import foreign capital and technology to develop processing industries and to exploit natural resources. At the same time Central Asia is an inland region; it lacks seaports, and its land communication depends on enhancement of its cooperation with surrounding neighbor countries. Because it has had more than 10 years of successful reform and opening up to the outside world, China has established a diversified industry with complete categories. It has a very strong capability in its processing industries, and it can export large amounts of light industry and textile, electronic, and daily-use products. Its building, mining, agricultural and plantation technologies have entered the world ranks, and it possesses the conditions for wider economic cooperation. The economic and trade cooperation between China and Central Asia is just beginning, and it may be conjectured that there are vast prospects for its development. China is accelerating its opening up to the outside world and its construction of its western inland and border regions, with the focus on developing the infrastructure for communication and transportation. In the next three years China will invest 8 billion yuan in newly building or rebuilding the railroad network in its northwest region. From now until the year 2000, China will build some trunk lines of a high-grade national highway that will crisscross the country east, west, south, and north. This will be advantageous to China's internal unblocked transportation, and will be even more convenient for enhancing its cooperation with neighboring countries. China and Central Asia also have more conditions to put into effect a joint communication network, thereby causing the renewal of the Silk Road to become a reality. C. In international affairs, China and the Central Asian countries have many common points. We belong to the developing countries and our fundamental interests are identical. The contacts, talks, and meetings of leaders of our countries prove that, on many major international issues, the Central Asian countries and China have identical views and positions and have similar stands. The position and role of Central Asian countries in international affairs are growing daily, and the relations of cooperation in foreign affairs between China and the Central Asian countries are becoming closer and closer. In |
FBIS3-40189_12 | Paper Interviews College Students on Mao We Are Concerned About the Present; We Are the Generation Holding the Relay Baton | about the people's pains"; "they each created an era of their own in China. Mao Zedong made the Chinese people stand up, and Deng Xiaoping made the Chinese people rich." On the "Mao Zedong craze" in recent years, the "new collegians" have different opinions. A majority viewpoint is that it is a reflection of the people's spiritual need in a changing society. People are dissatisfied with the adverse phenomena that accompany reform and open up: corruption, unfair distribution, poor social morals, the tendency to put money above everything else, and the erosion of human relationship. Some people are at a loss spiritually; they know not what to do. They miss the clean, honest, and simple life of the Mao Zedong era. Eighty percent of the "new collegians" expressed satisfaction with today's living standards, but they also understand the above-mentioned adverse phenomena. Although they did not experience the Mao Zedong era first hand, they too yearn for that kind of rich, uplifted spirit. In the survey and during the informal discussions, they expressed their own dilemma and thoughts. In fact, they are the same dilemma and thoughts of all contemporary Chinese men and women. Of course we cannot return to the poverty, backwardness, and closed society of the past, but is there no compromise between the two extremes of economic development and deteriorating social standards? How do we uphold the mainstream of reform and open up while effectively eliminating its undesirable by-products? Perhaps this is where we must "continue to work hard" in our leg of the race. When we first put the concepts of "Mao Zedong" and the "new collegians" together, we felt a sense of professional excitement. Yet at this point, the pen in our hands has become heavy. Our thoughts have transcended "Mao Zedong" and the "new collegians" to travel back to the last century and the century before and to race ahead into the next century and the century after that. Isn't this how the Chinese nationality goes from history to the future? DAXUESHENG would like to thank the CYL Hunan Provincial Party Committee School Department and the CYL party committees and student unions of the following colleges for their support in this survey: Xiangtan University, Hunan Normal University, Zhongnan Industrial University, Hunan University, Beijing University, Qinhua University, Beijing Normal University, Beijing Post and Telecommunications Institute, Beijing Agricultural College, Chinese People's University of Public Security, People's University |
FBIS3-40190_28 | `Gist' of Deng's Southern Tour Speeches | the two decades we ourselves lost! It will be an extraordinary achievement if we build our country into a moderately developed country within a century starting from the founding of New China in 1949. The period from the present to the middle of next century is a crucial one. Let us immerse ourselves in hard work, as we are shouldering heavy burdens and bear major responsibility. NOTES: 1. In July 1979, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the State Council agreed to experiment with establishment of special export zones in Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou of Guangdong Province and Xiamen of Fujian Province. In May 1980, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council decided to rename the four as special economic zones. In August of the same year, the 15th Session of the Standing Committee of the Fifth National People's Congress approved Regulations Concerning the Special Economic Zones in Guangdong Province. This was followed by the successive establishment of these special economic zones. In 1984, Deng Xiaoping inspected the three zones at Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Xiamen. Aiming mainly at absorbing and utilizing foreign capital, the zones have adopted special economic policies and management systems. Their economic ownership system features a pluralistic structure dominated by socialist public ownership. Their economic activities are based on market regulation guided by state macroeconomic control. Foreign investment is facilitated by preferential treatment. The zones enjoy-comparatively greater rights of economic management. Prior to 1985, the four concentrated mainly on infrastructure construction in order to create a good investment environment. Starting from 1986, they strove to develop export-oriented economies based on industry and characterized by the combination of industry with foreign trade and the simultaneous promotion of agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and tourism. In April 1988, the First Session of the Seventh National People's Congress passed a resolution approving the designation of Hainan Island as the Hainan Special Economic Zone which implemented more flexible and open economic policies. The existing five special economic zones function as opening windows for China's socialist modernization drive. They also constitute trials of the nation's economic structural reforms. 2. When Hu Yaobang passed away on 15 April 1989, the public gave vent to their grief in various forms. During the mourning activities, a handful of people, with ulterior motives, concocted rumors to confuse and poison people's minds with demagogy. They used big and small character posters to |
FBIS3-40190_29 | `Gist' of Deng's Southern Tour Speeches | economic ownership system features a pluralistic structure dominated by socialist public ownership. Their economic activities are based on market regulation guided by state macroeconomic control. Foreign investment is facilitated by preferential treatment. The zones enjoy-comparatively greater rights of economic management. Prior to 1985, the four concentrated mainly on infrastructure construction in order to create a good investment environment. Starting from 1986, they strove to develop export-oriented economies based on industry and characterized by the combination of industry with foreign trade and the simultaneous promotion of agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries and tourism. In April 1988, the First Session of the Seventh National People's Congress passed a resolution approving the designation of Hainan Island as the Hainan Special Economic Zone which implemented more flexible and open economic policies. The existing five special economic zones function as opening windows for China's socialist modernization drive. They also constitute trials of the nation's economic structural reforms. 2. When Hu Yaobang passed away on 15 April 1989, the public gave vent to their grief in various forms. During the mourning activities, a handful of people, with ulterior motives, concocted rumors to confuse and poison people's minds with demagogy. They used big and small character posters to slander and rail at the Party and state leaders, instigating opposition to Communist leadership and socialism. On April 26, Renmin Ribao (People's Daily) published an editorial entitled "A Clear-Cut Stand Must Be Taken Against Turmoil." The connivance and support by Zhao Ziyang, then general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, encouraged the turmoil. On May 13, the Beijing Autonomous Students Union, an illegal student organization, instigated the inception of a hunger strike by some individuals and occupied Tiananmen Square for a long period. To ensure social stability and restore normal order, the State Council decided to enforce martial law in part of Beijing from May 20. Taking advantage of the great restraint exercised by the government and the army, the organizers and plotters of the turbulence continued to occupy Tiananmen Square and organized various illegal activities. The unrest eventually developed into a counter-revolutionary riot. On June 4, the Party and government, relying on the people, adopted resolute measures and suppressed the counterrevolutionary riot. 3. The Eighth Plenary Session of the 13th CPC Central Committee was held from November 25-29, 1991 in Beijing. The plenary session examined and passed the Decision of the CPC Central Committee on Further Strengthening Work in |
FBIS3-40200_8 | Electric Power: Another Bottleneck in China's Economy Energy Bottleneck in Economy | It is estimated that at least a third of the country's productive capacity stands idle as a result of power shortages. Comrades of the Ministry of Electric Power state that our annual electric power shortfall is about 15 to 20 percent. In 1992, for example, the total electric energy shortfall for the year was between 111.7 and 148.9 billion kWh. If we assume that each kWh used by industry represents an output value of 4.9 yuan, then last year the country lost between 547.33 and 729.61 billion yuan of output. This constitutes an immense economic loss. In addition, electric power cutbacks cause harm to electrical equipment, product quality, and production management. In certain industrial and mining enterprises, even if conscientious preparations are made after receiving notification of a power shutoff, some harm to equipment and products is unavoidable. In addition, serious power shortages also affect China's opening to the outside. Experience with the development of China's "three capital" enterprises shows that a sufficient supply of energy is an important precondition for attracting business and capital. Other conditions being equal, foreign investigators always "go where the lights are on." The Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, the first to be developed in this country, has consistently taken emergency measures to assure a sufficient, uninterrupted supply of electric power. In addition to buying electricity from Hong Kong, at the end of 1991 alone it commissioned 10 small fossil-fired power plants (which are very uneconomical) with a generating capacity of 500,000 kW, investing more than 1.6 billion yuan for the purpose. Even so, electricity shortages put a great deal of pressure on Shenzhen. Electric power shortages cause a great deal of inconvenience in the daily life of the masses and have an adverse effect on the prestige and credibility of the party and government. Initially, the reform and opening to the outside caused a great improvement in the people's standard of living, with televisions, refrigerators, electric fans and the like finding their way into homes. But the numerous electric power cutoffs and voltage cutbacks have rendered televisions and refrigerators unusable and have made fans into nothing more than decorative objects. People who want to read have to light candles. Many complain that "the power goes off when it's time for supper; the power comes on when it's time for bed," and basic-level cadres frequently report to their superiors that "when the lights go off, the |
FBIS3-40201_4 | Electric Power: Another Bottleneck in China's Economy The Light-Bringers: Pressing Forward Under a Heavy Burden | for a week without returning to their homes. A power plant director under the North China electric power office, who had spent several days and nights riveted to the site of a rush repair job, collapsed from exhaustion after the generating set finally rumbled back into operation. An accident resulting from a violation of regulations at the Hefei heat and power plant shocked the Ministry of Electric Power. Four persons were killed. But the comrades of the investigating board could hardly bring themselves to take action. At the time, two generating sets at the plant were being overhauled, and a mass of coal slag suddenly became hung up in the one unit that was still in operation. If the generator had stopped, there would have been a major emergency. As a consequence, the plant directory and the operating crew put themselves in harm's way, trying to prod loose the suspended slag inside the hot furnace. The slag, at a temperature of over 1000 degrees, fell down and crushed them. The situation in the power grid is even more difficult than that in the power plants. The country's urban and rural low-voltage power distribution network is universally outmoded. A considerable fraction of China's old municipal power networks have been in operation for 25 years or more, and some have been operating for 40 years. The bustling city center of Shanghai is still using power distribution equipment left over from the 1920's and 1930's; 30 percent of the utility poles are at or above the maximum rated load, voltages are too low, and breakdowns are frequent. In Dalian, Fushun, Shenyang, and Changchun, power distribution equipment left over from the Japanese puppet regime continues in use. In Beijing, emergency shutdowns caused by the aging power delivery facilities are almost a daily occurrence. The seriously aging power lines in Tian'anmen Square are now carrying five times the load for which they were designed. The insulation is peeling from wires that have been in operation for more than 30 years. Six years ago, the electric power departments proposed a program to replace this equipment, but it was shelved owing to lack of funding. People not in the industry have difficulty in comprehending that every success in the onerous task of power delivery is ultimately the result of "human wave" tactics in which personnel at all levels pitch in together. When the Asian Games were held |
FBIS3-40201_7 | Electric Power: Another Bottleneck in China's Economy The Light-Bringers: Pressing Forward Under a Heavy Burden | under their crushing indebtedness and its steadily compounding interest. It should be noted that for several decades, the electric power enterprises were well off. But since the policy of replacing allocations by loans was instituted in the 1980's, and especially since the second stage of replacing profit payments by taxes was instituted, the tax rate on the electric power industry has been increased from 15 percent to 25 percent; the combination of a high tax burden, high operating costs, and low prices have made the state-owned electric power enterprises increasingly hard pressed. As of 1990, the ministry's electric power enterprises were able to retain only 8.2 yuan of every 100 yuan of earnings. At the same time, prices for coal, oil, rail haulage and other transport were repeatedly adjusted upwards, and the prices of water, materials, and equipment rose steadily, so that the cost of producing electric power skyrocketed. In 1978, the cost of producing 1000 kWh of electric energy was 31.55 yuan, but by 1992 the cost of producing 1000 kWh in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan power system had risen to 96.03 yuan; meanwhile, the prices charged for electric power remained basically unchanged. As a result of high taxes, high costs, and low prices, in the course of a decade the profitability rate of funds in the state-owned electric power enterprises declined steadily, from 12 percent in 1980 to 3.7 percent in 1991. The enterprises' borrowed funds correspondingly lost their ability to generate earnings sufficient to repay principal and interest, and the indebtedness of the large state-owned enterprises mounted rapidly, at a rate of 15 to 20 billion yuan a year, snowballing into a loan that could never be paid off. Since the bad practices of the old enterprises are so difficult to eradicate, can new construction projects bring about a beneficial cycle? The repayment period for Gezhouba is 24 years, with an annual principal and interest payment of 300 to 500 million yuan, but the total profit of the Gezhouba power station since it went into operation has been no more than 200 million yuan. The Dahua hydroelectric station and the Heshan fossil-fired power plant, newly constructed in Guangxi, have made a significant contribution to alleviating the electric power shortage in the area, but the annual loan interest alone for the two plants is 150 million yuan while the annual profit of the entire Guangxi power grid is only 60 |
FBIS3-40202_8 | Electric Power: Another Bottleneck in China's Economy Electricity Prices: How Are We To Understand Them? If State Electricity Prices Are Not Adjusted, the Electric Power Industry Will Lose Money Across the Board The Climate Is Excellent for Raising Funds for Electric Power; Prices Are the Key to Loan Repayment Experience Shows That the People Can Bear Electricity Price Reforms | price of electric power would have to increase by only 34 percent above the 1992 price, or about 0.05 yuan. Assuming that a family of three consumes 60 kWh of electricity a month, an increase of 0.05 yuan per kWh would mean an additional outlay of 3 yuan per month, equivalent to one serving of ice cream per family member. In the case of the enterprises, an adjustment of the price of electricity would have a large effect only on those with high power consumption, but these represent only a small fraction of all enterprises nationwide, and since their product prices have already been allowed to float and to come into line with international market prices, they are fairly well situated to bear an adjustment of the price of electricity. In certain economically developed regions with significant power shortages, people are well acquainted with "high electricity prices." To meet the needs of economic development, these regions have made extensive use of small fossil-fired power plants. The fuel consumption of these plants is an order of magnitude higher than that of large fossil-fired plants, and the prices that they charge for electricity are correspondingly higher. Guangdong Province has 1 million kW of kerosene-fired generating equipment, and the cost of the electricity produced by these plants is as high as 1 yuan per kWh. Shenzhen instituted new prices for electricity as early as 1989, and users all stated that the price reform was necessary and that they could tolerate it. Experience shows that the more highly developed a region's economy, the greater the ability of the users to tolerate increased electricity prices. Adjust Electricity Pricing, But Rectify It Well Electricity prices vary from place to place; this is acceptable, because at present the distribution of primary energy resources is not in balance (electricity produced by fossil-fired power plants is a secondary energy resource that has been converted from coal and other primary energy resources). If loan-repayment electricity prices are instituted, a rational average nationwide electricity price level would be about 0.30 yuan per kWh; a price level of 0.5 to 0.6 yuan would be very high. At this point, some readers may exclaim, "Our electricity prices are well above that!" It is true: in many areas of the country, primarily rural areas, the prices that users are actually paying for electricity have long exceeded the loan-repayment price. It is reported that rural |
FBIS3-40203_1 | Electric Power: Another Bottleneck in China's Economy The Huaneng Group: An Attractive New Mechanism The Huaneng Phenomenon: A High Starting Point, High Speed, High Standards, and High Benefits, Exemplifying the Best, the Most Successful, and the Most Valuable Huaneng's Advantage: Two Strong Legs from Birth, Use of Investments and Financing Strength To Increase Its Vigor, Rational Electricity Pricing that Moves It Rapidly Toward the Market Economy The Huaneng Mechanism: A Strong Loan Repayment Orientation and Close Ties of Each Individual to His Job as Prerequisites to Overall Vitality Huaneng's Path: Still Expanding, Standing the Test of the Steadily Improving Socialist Market Economy, Continually Improving Itself | installation and adjustment, and the high degree of automation of generating set operation and control and the overall high technological standards not only make the plant a pace-setter in this country, but put it on a par with the world state of the art. Its high-efficiency operation and low coal consumption continue to be astonishing. This exemplifies the high starting point of Huaneng projects. At Huaneng's Dezhou power plant, two domestically produced 300,000-kW generator sets were connected into the grid and started producing power within a year; its Fuzhou and Dalian power plants, with imported 350,000 kW generator sets, were built and put into operation in only 24 months. In the past, the domestic construction cycle for a power plant of this size was usually about three years. This exemplifies the high speed of Huaneng's construction projects. According to previous state staffing standards, Huaneng's Dalian power plant should have required a staff of about 1,200; but Huaneng followed foreign management models and specified a staff of 488. After the plant was commissioned, this staff was decreased to 443 in 1991, and to 308 in 1992, and is now 280, but safe, high-efficiency operation is maintained throughout the plant, and it is a leader in many performance indicators. This exemplifies Huaneng's high management standards. At Huaneng's Shang'an power plant, the more than 150 persons who engaged in a concurrent construction and modernization effort brought the plant rapidly to full output and posted a high labor productivity figure of 240,000 yuan for all personnel. This exemplifies the high benefits obtained from Huaneng's operations. Every one of Huaneng's power plants has some unusual features. This is the attractiveness of the Huaneng Group. It has posted record after record for power plant construction and management in China. In addition, it has written a brilliant page in its own history. The organization of the group is as follows: it has 11 component corporations and nearly 200 component enterprises. Its total capital has increased from less than 2 billion yuan at registration to a current value of 39.9 billion yuan. The group's installed generating equipment includes a completed or under-construction capacity of more than 17 million kW, with 1.5 to 2 million kW of capacity commissioned each year; this year it will contribute about a fifth of the country's newly commissioned capacity. Over the course of three years, its generating capacity has increased by a factor |
FBIS3-40204_2 | Electric Power: Another Bottleneck in China's Economy Electricity From the Northwest Power Shortages: An Opportunity for Electric Power Development in the West Benefitting From Policies, and Using Others' Funds for Power Production | of a short construction cycle, low costs, and good benefits. Party secretary of the autonomous region Wang Qun [3769 5028] has repeatedly emphasized that "If the development of the energy industry can be done rapidly, it should not be done slowly, and if it can be done at a run it should not be done at a walk. We must make electric power lead the way, replace coal with electricity, have the coal industry stimulate the power industry, export more electric power outside the province, and convert resource advantages into economic advantages." As a result, the silent expanses of Mongolia have become the scene of bustling activity in the construction of an electric power base. Between 1988 and 1992, the region expended a total of 3.389 billion yuan to fund electric power construction. It installed 1.5098 million kW of new generating capacity, representing an average increase of 30 percent a year. Its total installed generating capacity has reached 4.103 million kW, and it has built 793 km of 220-kV transmission lines. In the western zone, the framework of a superhigh-voltage grid running eastward from Wulashan to Datong has been built, and power lines have been connected to the North China power grid and have been put into operation. In five years, a total of 81.787 billion kWh of electricity has been produced, yielding a profits tax of more than 1.6 billion yuan. Major electric power construction projects spread like wildfire, and "sun cities" sprang up across the land. In the course of five years, three 100,000-kW generating sets were added at Baotou, and the installed capacity at the Fengzhen power plant in the floodplain of the Yinma River reached 600,000 kW. The construction of the first stage of the Junggar power plant, with two 100,000-kW generating sets, has been completed. Work on the expansion of facilities at Hohhot, Yuanbaoshan, Tongliao, and Huiliuhe and on new construction projects at Haibowan, Yimin, Huolinhe, Youzhong, and Dalad has been whipped up to a superhigh pace. Magnificent blueprints for 17 large power plants with capacities of 100,000 kW or more have been issued. In the first six months of this year, Nei Monggol's electric power industry has experienced four gratifying events: a total output of 567.5 billion kWh and the transmission of 954 million kWh of electricity to North China, representing increases of 13.8 and 17.04 percent respectively over last year; payment of 255 |
FBIS3-40204_8 | Electric Power: Another Bottleneck in China's Economy Electricity From the Northwest Power Shortages: An Opportunity for Electric Power Development in the West Benefitting From Policies, and Using Others' Funds for Power Production | of the century in order to make electric power construction the "radiant center" that will bring prosperity to the western region. -- Make reform increasingly thorough, transform the mechanism, move toward markets, strengthen management, stabilize existing power generating facilities, implement capital construction investments of 1.83 billion yuan, commission 374,000 kW of generating capacity, and carry on effective preparatory work for new power plant construction. -- Make thorough use of advantages in resources, location, and policy, develop funding channels, attract large amounts of domestic and foreign construction investment. -- Jointly with large domestic power production groups, use such flexible and diverse forms as equipment investment partnerships to obtain domestically produced equipment. Concurrently, appoint experts to be responsible for obtaining equipment from the west and from Russia. Implement mutual guarantees for coal supply, power production, and transport, unite with organizations that use electricity to produce steel and aluminum, and assure that materials are delivered on time. The objectives are as follows: add 4.5 million kW of new generating capacity in the region by the end of the Eighth 5-Year Plan, with the total installed capacity reaching 8.25 million kW, and deliver 1.5 million kW of electricity to North China and 2.3 million kW to Northeast China; by the year 2000, bring the total installed generating capacity in the region to 21.369 million kW and deliver 5 million kW to North China and 6.5 million kW to Northeast China. A Japanese economist exclaimed in amazement that China is implementing a "concentric circle" strategy in its energy economy. As he expressed it, the Ordos is the inner circle, which will be the first to produce an effect and also the pivot which will receive the benefits first. The second circle, which radiates outward for 200 km, will constitute Nei Monggol's central economic region. Finally, using the world's most advanced technology, electric power will be transmitted outward over a radius of 1000 km. These radiating circles will thus encompass the central region, representing a third of China's area. Thus the radiating segments of circles or "gradient circles" produced by the relatively developed coastal regions will advance circle by circle into the interior, and the resource-rich great northwestern region will radiate its powerful electricity outwards in expanding circles. Ultimately, when the two sets of radiating circles coalesce into a network, the differences between northern and southern China and between eastern and western China will shrink rapidly. |
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