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Replying letter to CBS




Mr. Lin Huang
National Coordinator
CBS Incident Committee
3044 Albany Crescent 1G
Bronx, NY 10463
(718)-548-9114

Mr. Eric Ober
President, CBS News
524 West 57th St.
New York, NY 10019

Dear Mr. Ober:

Most of us in the Chinese community watched, with great 
anticipation, the CBS clarification aired on October 21 
regarding the Chinese spy segment on May 19, which branded 
all Chinese people in the US as either spies or potential 
spies. After a few days of discussion across the country, we 
do feel that CBS has taken a sincere step in the right 
direction, a step we hope can indeed lead to a long-term 
constructive relationship between CBS News and the Chinese 
community in this country.

While we acknowledge and appreciate this positive move by 
the CBS management, we must, however, point out that the 
clarification falls far short of undoing all the damages 
that have already been done to us. This clarification lasted 
only several seconds, compared to the four minutes and 
fifteen seconds you used for the sensational story on May 
19. While the story was heavily promoted before its airing, 
the clarification came and went without any promotion. 
Besides, we cannot help but note the difference between the 
script in closed caption and what the reporter actually 
read. While the captions read "we apologize," the 
anchorwoman read "we regret it." This apparently deliberate 
difference shows insincerity by some in your staff but also 
sincerity at least by those who drafted the script.

As I write, there are still a lot hurt feelings and a lot of 
hurt people out there. A danger lingers on that members of 
our community will suffer in one way or another because of 
the libelous story five months ago. We wish balanced and 
professionally produced programs could be aired to undo the 
harm. We, and the staff at the Independent Federation of 
Chinese Students and Scholars, will do our best to cooperate 
and help.

I hope that our good will shall be reciprocated and that no 
similar incidents occur ever again. I am pleased to inform 
you that the ad hoc CBS Incident Committee is now being 
reorganized into a permanent body to help and monitor in 
future Chinese-related news coverage and other civil rights 
issues in the US. We are determined not to tolerate more 
than our fair share of racial stereotyping and 
discrimination.

May this unfortunate incident mark a turning point for the 
better in the relationship between the Chinese community and 
the CBS News. We appreciate much your very sincere letter to 
Ms. Ginny Gong, which has shown your personal integrity and 
principles. But there are much to be done to communicate 
with some people in your organization and few others such as 
Mr. Eftimiades, the person who lied to your people about his 
expertise.

Yours Truly,


Lin Huang
National Coordinator
CBS-IC

CC:

Vice President Lane Venardos
Producer Tom Anderson
Anchor Connie Chung
Anchor Dan Rather
Foreign Editor Allen Alter

P.S. You may call the following number to check Mr. 
Eftimiades and DIA's position,

Mr. Donal R. Lenker, Chief, Public Liaison Staff, DIA, at (703)-695-0071

And also U.S. Commerce Department to verify the following data:

	US Commerce Department (1986 -1993, Including Civil Cases)		
	Hong Kong Cases	       PRC Cases		All the Cases
	(Including East Bloc)  (Including via HK)       Around World
1986		0			0			21
1987		1			1			24
1988		3			4			38
1989		11			2			46
1990		3			0			41
1991		2			1			44
1992		2			2			49
1993		5			4			37

Total		27			14			300
		9.00%			4.67%			100.00%

Please note that, in Mr. Eftimiades's book and Mr. Lane 
Venardos' letter to IFCSS, you both mentioned "13.4% " or 
"one in eight" cases involving PRC. It is impossible unless 
you add all the East Bloc's and Hong Kong's cases to PRC. 
Otherwise, it is "5%" or "one in twenty". Furthermore, civil 
cases are not all espionage cases. When we look at Justice 
Department's record:

Significant Export Control Cases, January 1981 to October 1, 1993 
Justice Department

Iran          21% 
Russia         8% 
South Africa   6%
Libya          6%
England        4% 
P.R. China     3%  (2.9%, or 9 cases out of 309)
HongKong       3%  (Hong Kong 2.6% and Taiwan 0.3%, 8+1 cases)
Switzerland    3%
Iraq           3%
West Germany   2%
Cuba           2%
Japan          2%
Chile          2%

It is only 3%, or one in thirty. The convicted are not all Chinese.

Another list, looking at the time span, the cases involving China are:

81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93
 0  0  1  2  1  1  2  0  0  1  0  1  0

We have investigated each and every line in your program as well as 
in the book. There are numerous errors in both. They are hardly 
professional.