Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003212190
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: BEIJING LENGTH: Medium
Li, opening the annual session of the National People's Congress with a speech comparable with the U.S. president's State of the Union address, also warned of a threat from unnamed "foreign hostile forces," an apparent reference to the United States and some West European nations.
He blamed the deterioration of U.S.-Sino relations in the last year on American sanctions - which were imposed after the Chinese army crackdown on a democracy movement last June - and on other "hegemonistic" attempts to interfere in China's internal affairs.
"We must intensify dictatorship by the socialist state apparatus," said Li, adding that judicial departments should "be on the alert to crush infiltration and subversion attempted by foreign and overseas hostile forces."
Li, considered a hard-liner and one of China's most unpopular leaders, said Western "bourgeois" ideas on philosophy, politics, journalism, literature and art should be resisted and criticized. But he stressed that China, which has in the last few years slowed economic reforms launched in the 1970s to transform the centralized economy, will remain open to Western technology and trade.
Li delivered a nearly 2 1/2-hour speech to more than 2,700 delegates in the Great Hall of the People on the western side of Tiananmen Square. It was the first session of the congress since the crackdown, which left hundreds dead.
Li expressed no official remorse over the crackdown, terming it instead a victory for socialism. The premier called for "protracted struggle" against those trying to overthrow the communist system "under the banners of freedom, democracy and human rights."
He also said recent events have shown China "never yields to external pressure and that no one can succeed in isolating China." He claimed some Western nations realize the importance of restoring normal ties with China and that their relations with Beijing have improved.
Li said China wants to maintain friendly relations with the rapidly changing East European nations, even though the Beijing government, internally, has criticized the liberalization in what was once the Soviet Bloc and blamed much of it on Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev.
In his speech, Li made clear that China will continue on "the socialist road."
Li stressed a need to tightly control Chinese society, the economy and the political system, but also acknowledged that the anti-inflationary austerity program initiated about 1 1/2 years ago had created problems.
In China's cities, hundreds of thousands of workers have been laid off. Li said the government has decided to relax a curb on money supply, increase loans to state-run enterprises, and readjust interest rates.
In dealing with the economy, Li's tone was pragmatic rather than ideological.
Western diplomats said Li's "more realistic" approach toward the economy adopted in the speech reflected a need to cope with a sharp drop in growth rate of industrial production brought on by the austerity program.
They said it was also a sign that senior leader Deng Xiaoping, 85, who was absent from Tuesday's congress proceedings but who is noted for his pragmatism in economic matters, still exerts enormous influence over affairs of state.
by CNB