Bush and the repubs softpedalled the Chinese over T-Square; check out what a real leader does:
<<<<<By SETH FAISON
EIJING -- As evening fell on Yonganli Street, a crowded alleyway of small shops on the east
side of town, word was filtering from one doorway to the next about what had been on
television at noon: In a nationally televised news conference, President Clinton had come out and
said that the Chinese government's use of military force to suppress the 1989 Tiananmen
demonstrations had been tragic and wrong.
"Is it true?" said Huang Shubin, who sat behind a desk of messy papers at a machine repair shop,
smoking a cigarette. "A friend called and said it was on TV, but I didn't know whether to believe
him."
Since there was no advance warning by the Chinese news organizations about
the broadcast, and since Clinton's frankest comments were omitted from later
news accounts, only people who happened to be watching television at noon
on a Saturday actually saw Clinton make his comments. Yet with content like
that, there was no question about the word getting out.
Like many other residents of Beijing, Huang was genuinely surprised that the authorities allowed
Clinton's remarks to be broadcast on the air. Until now, references to the massacre by the state-run
news organizations have been rare, and have uniformly supported the "resolute measures" taken in
the 1989 crackdown, in which hundreds of civilians are believed to have been killed.
In ordinary conversation, though, people in Beijing speak quite freely about politics. Several
shopkeepers and customers here said without hesitation that they agreed with Clinton's assessment.
The massacre may still be a potent political issue, but nine years have passed, and some of the
emotion that once swirled through any discussion of the events of June 4, 1989, has inevitably
dissipated.
In a way, the government's decision to allow the broadcast of Clinton's comments, like so many
other changes in policy here, seems to reflect a situation where policy is catching up with the reality
already out on the street.
"Openly talking about it, that's progress," said Jin Hongli, who stopped to buy a magazine at an
outdoor stall. "People talk about it among themselves all the time. The government should too."
Like several other evening strollers and shoppers on Yonganli Street, Jin said he thought it was
unlikely that the government would change its official position on the 1989 events. Reversing the
official verdict would be a major political event, with potentially enormous consequences, and though
such a reversal is widely considered inevitable, predicting the timing is difficult.
A few doors down the alley, Li Hong expressed some displeasure about Clinton's remarks as she
waited to have her hair done in a tiny beauty parlor. Ms. Li, like people in many countries, seemed
to resent hearing her government being reprimanded by a foreigner, even if she agreed with what he
said.
"He shouldn't say those things," said Ms. Li, a young woman who described herself as an office
worker. "He's a guest in this country. He should be a little more polite, and then when he gets home
he can say whatever he wants."
Elsewhere in Beijing, seasoned political activists immediately saw the significance of letting Clinton
debate President Jiang Zemin freely on sensitive issues like the Beijing massacre and Tibet.
"Live coverage of the press conference enables Chinese people to better understand the different
styles and different political views of the two countries," said Xu Wenli, a veteran dissident who
spent 12 years in prison for publishing a non-official newspaper during the Democracy Wall period
in 1979. "These remarks have left a deep impression."
Xu said that Clinton's public voicing of concern, for the detention of four dissidents in Xian just
before his arrival, would encourage the authorities to restrict such practices in the future.
"That will make police in other places learn a lesson, if encroachment on human rights happens
during important international exchanges," Xu said. "It will become a major diplomatic issue. The
Chinese government should advise police to respect basic rights of all people, including dissidents."
Wang Lingyun, whose son Wang Dan was exiled to the United States in April, may not be a fully
objective viewer, but she said that she found Clinton's remarks more impressive than Jiang's.
"From my point of view, what Clinton said was much more reasonable, at least on the issue of
human rights," she told Reuters. >>>>>>
Zolt! You just don't get it. But your grandchildren will. Bill Clinton will go down as one of the more astute observers and implementers of U.S. Foreign Policy in the 20th century.
Lazarre
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