
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 25, 1990                   TAG: 9005250084
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: TAIPEI, TAIWAN                                LENGTH: Short

RADIO SHIP WON'T BEAM TO CHINA

Organizers of the Goddess of Democracy radio ship said Thursday they have scrapped plans to beam pro-democracy messages to China because of setbacks in obtaining broadcasting equipment.

"It was a difficult decision," said Xu Tianfang, deputy secretary of A Boat for China, one of the main organizers. "We are forced to abandon the broadcasting project."

He said the ship would be sold at auction and tapes of the planned pro-democracy broadcasts would be distributed among radio stations that might be able to help transmit the messages to China.

Broadcast organizers earlier accused the Taiwanese government of bowing to pressure from the Chinese government to scuttle the project.

The 1,200-ton ship, sponsored by the French magazine Actuel and other publishing groups, left France March 17. The organizers had hoped to begin broadcasting before the anniversary June 4 of China's 1989 pro-democracy movement.

The ship arrived in Keelung harbor in northern Taiwan on May 13 to pick up supplies, including a transmitter. But Taiwanese customs authorities refused to release the equipment, which was sent from France, on the grounds that unauthorized radio broadcasts from the high seas would violate international agreements.

by CNB