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February 14, 1996 - Image 10

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The Michigan Daily, 1996-02-14

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10 - The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, February 14, 1996

NATION/WORLD
;Chinadeploys 150,000
troops to warn Taiwanese

0

The Washington Post
BEIJING - As it massed troops for
military exercises on its coast, China
brushed aside a conciliatory gesture
from Taiwan yesterday and warned that
Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui is
playing "children's games" with the
lives of the island's 21 million resi-
dents.
The government in Taiwan an-
nounced creation of a special cabinet
council charged with easing relations
with China. At the same time, however,
the Defense Ministry announced an in-
creased alert level by Taiwan's armed
forces in response to the Chinese troop
movements.
The upshot was another increase in
the volume of saber rattling across the
Strait of Taiwan as the island heads into
its first democratic presidential elec-
tion, scheduled for March 23. Beijing,
which regards Taiwan as a renegade
province, has expressed concern that
the vote will be an outlet for prd-inde-
pendence sentiment and enhance
Taiwan's efforts to gain greater inter-
national recognition.
Despite the exercises and stiffrheto-
ric, Western military experts say they
doubt China will launch a military at-
tack against Taiwan because, they say,
any attack would be likely to fail politi-
cally and militarily, disrupting China's
trade relations and economic stability.
Moreover, China lacks the military

equipment or skilled manpower to in-
vade Taiwan; less-drastic military mea-
sures might fail to bring Taiwan to heel
and could fan Taiwanese separatism,
many experts say.
Nonetheless, emotions among Chi-
nese officials are running high. The
official People's Daily and other major
Chinese newspapers yesterday carried
a New China News Agency report that
accused Lee of pushing for Taiwan's
independence and paying lip service to
his Nationalist Party's avowed goal of
reunification with China.
Lee "is squashing his own foot with
a rock and treating the lives of the
Taiwan people as children's games,"
the commentary said. "Lee Teng-hui
has never hoped for reunification.
"The Taiwan authorities want to de-
lay the reunification process until
changes take place on the mainland to
achieve their sinister purpose of split-
ting the motherland," a separate New
China News Agency commentary said.
"The tortuous and fluctuating relation-
ship between the two sides can no longer
be tolerated."
The veiled threats come as China is
preparing to launch one of its largest
military exercises in the 100-mile-wide
Taiwan Strait, which separates main-
land China from the autonomous is-
land.
Taiwan's Defense Minister Chiang
Chung-ling told Taiwanese lawmak-

ers yesterday that China has 150,000
troops stationed in Fujian Province,
across the strait from Taiwan. China
keeps five divisions of 15,000 troop
each in the province, according to
Chiang. A division was deployedre-
cently from China's north, and a divi-
sion of airborne troops was brought
from Hubei, to the northwest, bring-
ing the total number of troops to no
more than 150,000, according'to
Chiang.
The number of aircraft stationed on
Fujian's I1I airfields recently climbed
from 138 to 226, including 18 heli*
copters, and two landing craft were
added, at Lungtan and Xiamen on the
coast.
Western military specialists say,
however, that most of China's mili-
tary forces are land-based and inca-
pable of acting against Taiwan. The
People's Liberation Army, dominated
by infantry, does not have enough
boats to move many men across the
strait. The top marine unit has onlo
700 men, analysts said. Most coastal
exercises have involved only 10,000
to 15,000 people.
The greatest dangers, Western ana-
lysts said, would be missiles or inter-
diction of shipping in an effort to apply
greater psychological pressure on Tai-
wan and force the Taipei government to
the negotiating table with Beijing to
discuss reunification.

AP PHOTO
Arthur Hiller (left), president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and Quincy Jones, producer of this year's
Oscar telecast, announce the best actor nominations in Beverly Hills, Calif., yesterday morning.
iv of most Ocrnomninations

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) -
Oscar voters chose movies of heroism
and humor like "Braveheart" and
"Babe" as best-picture nominees yes-
terday, while confining dark and dis-
turbing films like "Leaving Las Vegas"
and "Dead Man Walking" to acting and
directing categories.
"Braveheart," the Scottish war fable
starring Mel Gibson in a kilt, domi-
nated with a surprising 10 nominations.
including best picture and best director
for Gibson. However, most of its nomi-
nations came in the less-glamorous tech-
nical categories such as sound and
makeup.
The other best-picture nominees were
"Apollo 13," "Babe," "Sense and Sen-
sibility" and "The Postman."
"I do believe that the American pub-
lic has plenty of darkness to deal with
and it's probably nice to go into a film
and come out feeling happy," said
Kathleen Quinlan, nominated for sup-
porting actress for her depiction of as-
tronaut Jim Lovell's wife in "Apollo
13."
Harvey Weinstein, whose Miramax
Films released "The Postman," said:
:"This year, the Academy has chosen to
embrace films that express truths about
the indomitability of the human spirit."
Trailing "Braveheart" with the most
nominations overall was "Apollo 13."
with nine. "Babe," about a talking pig
who thinks he's a sheepdog, and "Sense
and Sensibility," Jane Austen's 1811
=romance, got seven apiece. "The Post-
man," an Italian film about a mailman
enchanted by poetry, received five.
Gibson was in the middle ofa take for
his new movie "Ransom" when an as-

sistant flashed 10 thumbs and fingers.
"I thought he was pulling my leg. I
went right ahead with the scene. It re-
ally didn't hit me at first," Gibson said
from New York. "As far as celebrating,
forget it. I don't do champagne any-
more. Real pain is my addiction. I'll
just keep on working."
The nominations, as always, were
notable for what was passed over.
Tom Hanks, winner of the last two
best-actor Oscars - for "Philadelphia"
and "Forrest Gump" - failed to earn a
third consecutive nomination in that
category for "Apollo 13."
Ang Lee, who directed "Sense and
Sensibility," was left off the director
list, as was Ron Howard, who was be-
hind the cameras for "Apollo 13."
And even though it was selected best
picture by the Los Angeles and New
York film critics associations, "Leav-
ing Las Vegas" failed to get an Oscar
nomination in that category. Mike
Figgis, however, was nominated for
directing the movie, the disturbing tale
of an alcoholic on his last bender.
In the best-director category, Figgis
faces Gibson; Chris Noonan for"Babe":
Michael Radford for "The Postman":
and Tim Robbins for "Dead Man Walk-
ing," which traces the last steps of a
condemned man.
Emma Thompson was nominated for
best-actress and also was nominated for
adapting Austen's novel for the screen
- the first time the same person has
ever been nominated for best actress
and best screenwriter.
The 68th annual Oscars will be pre-
sented March 25 in Los Angeles. The
host will be Whoopi Goldberg.

68th Annual
Academy Award
Nominees
Best Picture:
"Apollo 13"
"Babe"
"Braveheart"
"II Postino (The Postman)"
"Sense and Sensibility"
Best Director:
Mike Figgis, "Leaving Las Vegas"
Mel Gibson, "Braveheart'
Chris Noonan, "Babe"
Mike Radford, "II Postino (The
Postman)"
Tim Robbins, "Dead Man
Walking"
Best Actor:
Nicolas Cage, "Leaving Las
Vegas"
Richard Dreyfuss, "Mr. Holland's
Opus"
Anthony Hopkins, "Nixon"~~
Sean Penn, "Dead Man Walking*
Massimo Troisi, "II Postino (The'
Postman)"
Best Actress:
Susan Sarandon," Deod Man
Walking".
Elisabeth Shue, "Leaving Las
Vegas"
Sharon Stone, "Casino"
Meryl Streep, "The Bridges of
Madison County"
Emma Thompson, "Sense and
Sensibility"

Bosnian Serb officials decry war
crimes inter-rogation of officers

The Washington Post
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Bosnian Serb officials yesterday
decried the delivery of two Serb army
officers to the International War
Crimes Tribunal as they sought to
respond to what one top minister de-
scribed as the "biggest crisis we've
ever had" in the Serbs' secessionist
government.
The tribunal's planned interrogation
ofthe officers-arrested two weeks ago
by the Bosnian government without the
backing of the tribunal - has frightened
many Serbs in Bosnia and shaken confi-
dence in the Dayton peace plan, Bosnian
Serb Information Minister Dragan
Bozanic said in an interview.
In Serb-held neighborhoods of
Sarajevo, the transfer of the officers
from Bosnian government custody to
The Hague clearly unnerved some
former soldiers, who described the ar-
rested officers as "good men."
"For the Muslims, everybody from
our side is a war criminal," said Zoran,
a 40-year-old soldier who did not want
his full name revealed. "Nobody feels
secure or safe. After this past event,
there's no one who can protect a com-
mon civilian."
Bosnian Serb Foreign Minister
Aleksa Buha warned in a letter sent to
the chief U.N. representative here that
the detentions could lead to a "new
tragedy." Vice President Nikola
Koljevic. in a statement from the north-
ern Bosnian town of Banja Luka, said
the men's imprisonment could "endan-
ger the Dayton agreement," according
to a report from the Bosnian Serb news
agency SRNA.
"I fanybody expects that the govern-
ment and the leaders (here) are going
to convince our people that they are
completely secure within the borders
of Bosnia-Herzegovina, they are com-
pletely wrong. Nobody feels secure.
Tensions are very high," Bozanic said.
The highest-profile leaders - the
Bosnian Serbs' political leader,

.j"74.. 7 ~U-

1 0

AP PHtOTO
Sgt. Mark Patterson of Irvington, N.J. shakes hands with 9-year-old Bosnian
Ibrahim Jahic through the fence of a U.S. Army base in Bosnia. t

WednesdayOme join

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Radovan Karadzic, and their military
leader, Gen. Ratko Mladic, both of
whom have been indicted by the Hague
tribunal - were silent.
Mladic ordered his troops to stop
cooperating with NATO peace en-
forcers in the region last week, pro-
testing the Bosnian government's ar-
rest of the two officers and a number
of enlisted men from the Bosnian Serb
army. NATO officials said coopera-
tion by low-level staff continues, but
they added that contacts with top-
level military officials are "spotty."
European monitors said that, for the
second time since the officers were ar-
rested in Sarajevo, Bosnian Serbs did
not attend a meeting in the Bosnian
capital to discuss elections to be held
underthe peace agreement. Bosnian Serb
media reported that the government
would not be attending arms-control talks
in Vienna with the Organization for Se-
curity and Cooperation in Europe.
The investigation by the Hague tri-
bunal comes two weeks after the

Bosnian government arrested the men
on suspicion of war crimes. Their
arrests, and the detention of as many
as eight other Serb men in the past
month, threatened to derail the imple-
mentation of the Dayton peace accord
that ended 3 1/2 years of fighting in
the Bosnian capital.
The Bosnian government said last
night that four bf the men continued
to be detained pending review by th*
tribunal.
U.S. Secretary of State Warren Chris-
topher telephoned Bosnian President
Alija Izetbegovic Tuesday to "remind
him of the commitment made by the
Bosnian government" to release the four
men, State Department spokesperson
Nicholas Burns said.
"Under the new rules of the road that
were committed to (Monday), if th
War Crimes Tribunal is not interestes
in people who are being detained under
suspicion of war crimes, then they must
be released. We have a commitment,
and it's not happened," Burns said.

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Survey finds teachers think computer
skills more important than Shakespeare.

Hard work, citizenship
considered essential
for success
WASHINGTON (AP) - Computer
literacy, citizenship and basic skills are
more important than learning
Shakespeare or Hemingway, a survey
of public school teachers says.
Less than 25 percent of 1,164 teach-
ers listed classic works from
Shakespeare and Plato, or writings by
American authors, such as Ernest
Hemingway or John Steinbeck, as "ab-
solutely essential."
Instead. at least 70 percent of the

Among the survey's other findings:
Of factors that might determine ca-
reer success, teachers place "an excellent
academic education" a distant third, with
only 21 percent saying it is the most
important factor. Persistence and inner
drive, and knowing how to deal well with
people rank first and second.
® Some 27 percent of the teachers
think "A" students are "much more
likely" to get good jobs, while 46 per-
cent say they are "somewhat more
likely" to do so.
The survey also showed that teachers
support higher standards for students,
but raising them is not their most urgent
goal. They are more concerned about

gave kids those concepts so that they
would be thinking and knowledgeable,
they could learn about computers later,"
she said.
Keith Geiger, president of the Na-
tional Education Association; the
nation's largest teacher union, said he
was glad to see that the teachers and
general public both put basic readingy
writing and math skills at the top of th
list of "absolutely essential" curricu-
lum items.
Ranking computers over classics re-
flects teachers' pragmatism, he said.
"I think teachers believe they have a
lot more students in their classrooms
who will have jobs that require dealing

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