Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / May 25, 1989, edition 1 / Page 2
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' 2TTie Tar kelTfarsfday, Way 23, 1989 World and Nation Li losing io Chinese power From Associated Press reports BEIJING One million people in Beijing and tens of thousands in other cities marched Tuesday to demand that Premier Li Peng resign, and there were signs he might be losing a power struggle with liberals in the leadership. Foreign Minister Qian Qichen, in the first official revelation of the backstage contest since Li declared martial law Saturday in parts of the capital, said Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang remained in office. Zhao, a comparative liberal, fa vored meeting with university stu dents who occupied Tiananmen Square on May 13 demanding talks on democratic reforms. He was said to have offered his resignation just before Li ordered soldiers into the city. Wan Li, head of the Chinese People's Congress, cut a U.S. visit short Tuesday after meeting with President Bush and American offi cials said they expected him to press for Li's ouster. The Congress is the national legislature. Qian's comment to European Community ambassadors, reported by diplomatic sources, was the first of ficial word on Zhao's status. In other indications Li may be losing his power struggle with Zhao's faction, a military officer was quoted as saying troops ordered into Beijing have been told to withdraw. He did not say how far. The official Xinhua News Agency also reported public demands for Li's ouster for the first time in its report on Tuesday's march in BeijingThe THE AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION MEMORIAL PROGRAM WERE FIGHTING FOR MDURUFE American Heart Association This space provided as a pubNc service. VA VA VA 6 Gold Connection HAS GREAT PRIGES EVERY DAY! plus 20 OFF to all summer school students! So come on in! 128 E.Franklin St. Downtown Chapel Hill overwhelming majority of the slo gans of the parade were directed against the chief leader of the State Council," Xinhua said, referring to Li but not by name. The State Coun cil is China's cabinet. Hong Kong commercial radio reported the party Politburo decided to strip Li of both his government and party posts and that Zhao would resume his duties. The report could not be confirmed and was one of many contradictory reports on China's murky political situation. However, Li's failure to enforce martial law four days after declaring it in a harsh speech broadcast nation wide seemed to indicate he lacked adequate support within the govern ment and party. Also uncertain is the status of senior leader Deng Xiaoping, 84, believed to be behind the crackdown. "Dear students, your final goal is not far away," a student announcer said over a loudspeaker to the 30,000 students still occupying Tiananmen Square. U.S.-Chimia From Associated Press reports NEW YORK China's political upheaval has prompted many U.S. companies to postpone visits or evacu ate some staff and dependents until the crisis eases, but none yet appear to be rethinking long-term strategies for doing business there. "There's a lot of hand-wringing going on. But companies are intelli gent enough not to make decisions in that environment," said Roger Sulli van, president of the U.S. -China Business Council, a Washington based association of American com panies that trade with China or are partners in Chinese factories. "Com panies don't react to something like this until they see the longer-term implications," Sullivan said. Nonetheless, he said, business requests for advice and information from the council have grown to 50 or 60 daily since the crisis intensified, versus the normal two or three que ries a day. The unprecedented mass demon strations in China for democratic political reform come against a back ground of broadening U.S. business operations in the world's most popu 967-GOLD The protesters originally sought a dialogue with the government on press and other reforms, but since martial law have demanded Li's resignation. Out-of-town students continued to flock to Beijing to join the protest even though many of the original Beijing strikers left the square in exhaustion after a weeklong hunger strike. Beijing residents continued to defy martial law regulations against march ing, making speeches, distributing pamphlets and other political activi ties. Students, teachers, government workers and intellectuals led the big gest march since martial law was declared, chanting: "Li Peng, step down!" and "Withdraw the troops, lift martial law!" Xinhua put the number of march ers at 1 million and reported the chants against Li in sharp contrast to other official reports of the past few days that have insisted order is being main tained in Beijing and life is returning to normal. lous country, with such ventures as coal mining, aircraft assembly and nuclear power plant construction. The United States is a leading for eign investor in China and one of its most important trading partners. More than 600 U.S. -Chinese joint ventures have been established since the coun tries normalized relations a decade ago. Although none of the protests are directed at foreigners, many have been surprised and unnerved at how quickly the veneer of government stability unraveled in recent weeks. Telephone interviews Monday and Tuesday with business consultants in the United States, China and Hong Kong suggested many executives with plans to visit Beijing had delayed their trips by anywhere from a few days to indefinitely. They attributed most postpone ments to a U.S. State Department travel advisory and uncertainty over whether the demonstrations would turn violent. "We're very concerned with the outcome up in Beijing, but we don't know what it will be thus far," said Jerome Cohen, a Chinese law expert Depressed and Need Help? The Department of Psychiatry at UNC-CH invites you to participate in a drug study that can provide inpatient and or outpatient treat ment. Men and Women (ages 18-85) with clinical depression can receive without ex pense, a diagnostic interview, physical exams, eye exams, ekgs, clinical lab tests, and possibly free anti-depressant medication. For more information on how this program can help you or someone you care about, call Robin Some aspects of Beijing life did become more normal Tuesday, with about half of the city's bus routes resuming service for the first time since Saturday. The subways also reopened and many people went to work, although traffic broke down again during the afternoon march. About 100,000 people also marched Tuesday in the southern city of Canton, and tens of thousands of students and workers marched in the east-coast city of Shanghai, with about 200,000 people watching. Shanghai students plastered post ers calling for a strike all over the city, but despite support from the workers for the students cause, there was no indication that much heed was paid to the strike idea. During the march in Beijing, three men in their 20s hurled black and red paint at the 30-foot-high portrait of revolutionary leader Mao Tse-tung that hangs in the square. Students hustled the three away and later turned them over to police. The government removed the stained business as usua with the firm Paul Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, one of the few with offices in China. "Nothing terri bly serious has occurred but the po tential is there." In an interview from Hong Kong, Cohen said, "the only advice we're giving out at this point is on immedi ate problems, such as, should you hold a reception scheduled for 10 days from now or should you postpone it. "If the reception is something that can be held another time, I think it's worthwhile to wait. If it's a question of abandoning offices. I think that's premature, I think that would be unwise." Among U.S. companies with of fices in Beijing, Bechtel Group Inc. said three expatriate employees tem porarily had left the country and United Technologies Corp. said one had, partly because the protests para lyzed traffic in much of the capital, making ordinary work nearly impos sible. "It's really not business as usual there," said Larry Miller, a spokes man for Bechtel. "So we sent our three non-Chinese employees to Hong Kong on a temporary basis, until straggle portrait with a crane and hung a simi lar one. Other embarrassments have been less easily eliminated. The party newspaper, the People's Daily, said soldiers were "greatly humiliated" when their convoys were surrounded by residents since Saturday to keep them from entering the city. The paper quoted an unidentified colonel as saying superiors had or dered the troops to withdraw. Many have pulled off the streets into mili tary and compounds in recent days, and it was not clear if the colonel meant they would withdraw further. Beijing television news said one soldier was killed when his military vechicle was hit by another, and he fell off. It was the first confirmed death under martial law. Several soldiers, students and resi dents were hurt Monday night when the two sides pelted each other with stones and bricks at a miliary convoy in southwestern Beijing that was immobilized by the civilians for three days. normal business conditions return to Beijing." IBM spokesman Tim Sheehy said the computer giant's 50 non-Chinese employees in Beijing were taking what he described as prudent precau tions. "We just make sure the employ ees are using good sense," he said. "If you can't get to work, don't come to work." Preston Torbert, a partner and Chinese legal expert at the Chicago based law firm Baker & McKenzie, said he was unaware of any clients withdrawing plans for investment or business negotiations with the Chi nese. Torbert, whose firm represents the Chinese government in this country and was one of the first to establish offices there after relations were nor malized, said many business repre sentatives in Beijing were privately rooting for the protesters' cause of greater freedom and democracy. "In fact, people are excited to be there," he said. "It's such an exciting moment. What are you going to tell your grandchildren, that you left?" x-x-x-x-x-x-X"X-x-x-x-x-x-x- Mil 95$ Introductory Emirate's' Open 24 Hours 114 VV. Franklin St. 967-0790 Dean at 966-4476. JUS. t
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