Subject: CND-Global, June 9, 1993

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 9 Jun 1993 01:20:20 -0500

*  *  *   C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t   *  *  *

                               (News Global)

                          Wednesday, June 9, 1993

Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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1. News Briefs (3 Items) ................................................ 32
2. Chinese Refugees May Have a Chance for U.S. Asylum ................... 45
3. Gangster Won the "Golden Venture" at Card Game ....................... 40
4. US Lawmakers to Call for Immediate End to China's MFN Trade Status ... 48
5. Chinese Firm to Tap Wall Street ...................................... 68
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1. News Briefs (3 Items) ................................................ 32
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[New York Newsday, 6/8/93] NEW YORK -- U.S. officials believe that there are
about 24 more ships headed towards American coastlines, loaded with the
desperate human cargo of Chinese refugees.  Despite the possibility of being
detained and deported, Chinese have good reason to risk the journey.  Once
ashore, about 85 percent of those applying for political asylum in the
United States are successful.  A 1989 law grants refugee status to all
Chinese who say they have run afoul of their Country's one-child-per-family
law.
                                ___ ___ ___

[AP, 6/8/93] BEIJING -- Four dissidents who staged a hunger strike outside
the Shanghai police station were released Tuesday after calling off their
protest. But three of them -- Yang Qinheng, Wang Yonggang and Gong Xingnan
-- then issued an open letter to the Shanghai Public Security Bureau
reiterating their demand that veteran dissident Zhang Xianliang be released.
Zhang was detained Thursday, the day before he planned to meet with dozens
of dissidents at a park to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the
military crackdown on the 1989 democracy movement.  He was released Friday,
but was arrested again Saturday.  At least four other Shanghai activists
remain in detention.  (Forwarded by: Deming)
                                ___ ___ ___

[UPI, 6/8/93]  Beijing -- Chinese Premier Li Peng, recovering from a heart
attack, has resumed some of his work and is participating in crucial ongoing
government meetings on how to cool China's overheated economy, Chinese
sources say.  But the 64-year-old premier, who has been out of sight for
more than 6 weeks, has been told by physicians he should not resume a full,
high-pressure schedule in the near future, if ever, the sources said in
interviews in recent days. It was uncertain when the premier would reappear
in public, but the government has scheduled him to host an official
welcoming ceremony next Monday for Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad, who arrives in Beijing Sunday night.  (Forwarded by: A CND Reader)

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2. Chinese Refugees May Have a Chance for U.S. Asylum ................... 45
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Forwarded by: Deming
Source: AP
Date: 6/8/93

NEW YORK -- Barring a shift in U.S. immigration policy, the Chinese refugees
who jumped ship off New York are as likely to gain political asylum as their
countrymen who arrive legally aboard airliners, visas in hand.

And their chances are statistically much better than those of illegal
immigrants from most other countries -- 85 percent of Chinese applicants win
approval, compared with about 35 percent for immigrants as a whole,
according to the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

To win political asylum, applicants must prove they would face persecution
if forcibly returned. The cases typically take about 18 months, during
which many simply vanish into the ethnic communities of U.S. cities.

While the INS has no breakdown, immigration experts say the reason most
often cited by Chinese who seek asylum is their country's strict birth
control policy, which limits families to one child and includes forced
abortions and sterilization.

Lawyers say that policy became an acceptable basis for granting asylum
during the Reagan years, when the White House was pressured by
anti-abortion advocates.

"It came from the political right, from fundamentalist organizations,"
said Andrew Fair, an immigration lawyer. He said the policy was spelled out
in a memo by then-Attorney General Edwin Meese and remains policy.

White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, asked about requests for asylum
based on the sterilization policy, said, "We're reviewing the cases on an
individual basis and will make a determination on an individual basis."

Under normal procedure, most of the 288 Chinese who endured a brutal
three-month voyage aboard the rickety freighter Golden Venture to reach
the United States would be released to await court rulings. Meantime, they
would likely blend into the busy street life of New York's Chinatown.

But Edward J. McElroy, deputy director of the INS office in New York, said
the group would remain in federal detention as "an example of deterrence"
-- to the Asian gangs responsible for the human trafficking.

Chinese seeking to flee to the United States often agree to pay $25,000 to
$30,000 for passage on ships like the Golden Venture, and often spend years
in virtual slavery working off the debt to the smugglers.

Twenty-two percent of New York's illegal aliens now come from China,
compared with 2 percent two years ago, the INS says.

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3. Gangster Won the "Golden Venture" at Card Game ....................... 40
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Source: New York Newsday
Written by: Wendy Lin and Peg Tyre
Date: 6/8/93

NEW YORK -- The voyage of the Golden Venture, which crossed three oceans and
survived a mutiny before spilling its human cargo into the icy waters off
Rockaway, began when a Chinese gangster won the ship and its crew in a card
game, investigators said Monday.

As the captain and 10 of its 11 crew were arraigned in federal court in
Brooklyn Monday night, the story of the deadly and brazen smuggling
operation began to emerge in interviews with law enforcement sources.

The mastermind, sources told New York Newsday, is a 28-year-old Chinese
national who goes under several aliases, but is best known among the
Fujianese in Chinatown as Ah Kay.

Kay won the ship, the Golden Venture, and its crew in a Taiwan card game 18
months ago, they said.  He hatched the plan to smuggle more than 300 Chinese
to the United States, sources said, and planted among the crew an associate,
Kin Sin Lee, who led a mutiny of the Burmese and Indonesian crew members
once the Golden Venture was at sea.  In federal court papers, Lee said he
was hired by "Loo Sigh" to arrange for food and sleeping arranging for the
refugees, and was the liaison between the captain and the owner of the
freighter.

It is not, however, the first time that Kay, who fled Chinatown late this
winter, has trafficked in human flesh.  Sources say that smuggling
immigrants, enslaving them until they earn enough to pay off their $30,000
fee and extorting an additional $5,000 to $10,000 from their relatives in
China has made Kay a multimillionaire in his 20s.

"He has the money, he has the connections to the proper authorities all
over the world to operate his scheme," said one law enforcement official.

Said another, "He's a very bad guy.  He's a stone cold killer."  U.S.
authorities have had Kay under surveillance for three years, they say,
without much success.

Sources said it is believed that Kay held court at the Fujian Association,
a business group and unofficial headquarters for the 30 or so members of
the Fuk Ching gang.  It was not clear Monday how long the authorities have
known Kay was running the smuggling operation.

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4. US Lawmakers to Call for Immediate End to China's MFN Trade Status ... 48
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Forwarded by: Wenfeng
Source: Knight-Ridder
Written by: Gregory Wright
Date: 6/8/93

Washington -- A bipartisan group of lawmakers today called for immediate
revocation of China's most-favored-nation trade status, saying the Clinton
administration is not doing enough to press for human rights, trade and
weapons reforms by Beijing.

However, most lawmakers have said they support Clinton's policy to continue
MFN for another year because it allows continued trade ties with China but
does more to promote reforms there.

Rep. Gerald Solomon, R-N.Y., said he and Reps. Peter King, R-N.Y. and
Edward Markey, D-Mass., will introduce a resolution to take away China's
MFN for the next year. MFN allows China to ship goods to the US at the
lowest tariff rates--3 pct compared with the usual 70 pct.

Solomon, testifying at a House Ways and Means trade subcommittee hearing,
said despite continued MFN status given China, Beijing has done little to
stop human rights abuses.

China also has refused to open its markets wider to US goods, or stop
missile sales and nuclear technology transfers to hostile nations such as
Pakistan, North Korea and Iran, he said.

President Bill Clinton on May 28 announced he will extend China's MFN for
another year, but may limit it beginning in 1994 if Beijing has not
improved its human rights, trade and weapons proliferation.

But Solomon called the policy weak, saying it will give China another year
to cover up its abuses.

And in order to win renewed MFN for another year in 1994, China need show
real progress in only two areas under Clinton's policy, Solomon said. These
areas are freer emigration and halting the use of free prison labor to make
goods for export to the US, he said.

After China violently suppressed student democratic protests in 1989,
Solomon repeatedly went against former republican President George Bush and
introduced resolutions to revoke China's MFN. However, these resolutions
never gained enough support to override vetos from Bush.

Most lawmakers currently support Clinton's policy.

"We now have a policy on which Congress and the president can work
together," said Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who in the past was a strong
supporter of legislation to limit or revoke China's MFN.

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5. Chinese Firm to Tap Wall Street ...................................... 68
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Forwarded by: Deming
Source: Reuter
Written by Jeffrey Parker
Date: 6/8/93

HONG KONG -- Chinese enterprises' thirst for foreign capital has spawned yet
another approach to overseas fundraising -- a Wall Street listing of China
assets by a major Hong Kong investor.

Pioneering the approach is Hong Kong agri-industrial conglomerate
C.P. Pokphand, more than half of whose profits now flow from mainland China
investments.

Pokphand on Monday petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to list
on the New York Stock Exchange 4.42 million shares of Bermuda-incorporated
Ek Chor China Motorcycle, a mainland holding company it owns.

The flotation aims to raise US$80 million, Pokphand senior executive Erwin
Go said, and about US$65 million would flow back into China for expansion of
four Ek Chor joint ventures.

The chief beneficiary is Shanghai Motorcycle, equally owned by Ek Chor and
Shanghai Automobile Industry Corp, one of China's biggest car makers. Much
of the proceeds will finance a new Shanghai Motorcycle factory in the city's
Pudong district.

The move shows the creativity of China's investment-starved enterprises as
they circumvent the chaotic stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen to pursue
capital overseas.

"This is evidence that boundaries do not exist any more," said Pokphand's
Go. "Even for a company that is actively involved in managing (Chinese)
joint ventures it is possible to raise capital in the U.S. financial
system."

Frustrated in China, Ek Chor takes its lead from Brilliance China Automotive
Holdings, the Bermuda-incorporated listing vehicle of China's Jinbei
Automotive that in October pioneered the first mainland flotation in New
York.

"Ek Chor has been keen to list in Shanghai, but has been told it must wait,"
said China market analyst Lawrence Ang of SBCI Finance Asia.

"They thought it would be easier, more convenient and much faster to go to
New York after they saw Brilliance get a listing there."

Ang said he believes this is the first time a Hong Kong firm will have
raised cash by listing China assets on a major western exchange rather than
in the British colony.

Hong Kong will continue to dominate China fundraising.

Bilateral pacts to be signed on June 19 will allow Chinese listings in the
colony for the first time, easing pressure for "back-door" access secured by
takeovers of Hong Kong counters.

China has nominated nine state enterprises for Hong Kong listings, the first
of which is expected this month.

Pokphand planned a publicity tour for the Ek Chor listing next week and
hoped for a regulatory green light to complete it before July, Go said.

The price per share for the Ek Chor listing was expected to be between US$16
and US$18, Pokphand said in its announcement.

Of the 4.42 million shares to be offered, 3,632,000 will be issued by Ek
Chor and 788,000 will be sold by Pokphand, whose 98 per cent stake in Ek
Chor will shrink to 72 per cent.

Pokphand is a Thai-controlled investment holding company with subsidiaries
engaging in agricultural products, poultry, property and investment
holdings. It has a secondary listing on the International Stock Exchange in
London.

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