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The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 8, 1995 - 11
China to delegates:
Worry about your
own countries first
BEIJING (AP) -- China may be
sorry it ever asked the United Nations
t hold a women's conference here.
Stung by critics including Hillary
Rodham Clinton, the government
bluntly told conference delegates yes-
terday to pay attention io the prob-
lens in their own countryes instead.
Bt even as the Foreign Ministry
wasadmonishing outspoken foreign-
ers, a group of conferees staged a
silert protest in the heart ofChinese
pow---the Great Hall ofthePeople.
Fol Chinese authorities, the site is
espedally sensitive, as it adjoins
Tianamen Square, scene of the
blood 1989 crackdown on pro-de-
mocrty activists.
Chita is also growing increasingly
irritatelby criticism of heavy-handed
securiti and nightmarish logistical
problens at the sprawling, muddy
site it povided for non-governmen-
tal wonen's groups in Huairou, 30
miles ontside Beijing.
Yesterday the official Xinhua
News Agency said Western media
had "male a fuss over trifles" and
"wantony distorted" conditions at
the privac forum, which ends today.
This, andearlier testy Chinese com-
mentary,have been the only hint to
ordinary Chinese of foreign criticism
at the sesions.
Delegaes to the gatherings in
Beijing ani Huairou have repeatedly
raised subjects embarrassing to
China, challenging Beijing's posi-
tion on issues ranging from its one-
child policy to its security practices.
China has reluctantly allowed pro-
tests on the Huairou conference
grounds, though it has monitored and
sometimes intimidated activists.
Earlier today police arrested three
Hong Kong television journalists
covering a small human rights pro-
test in the complex where the U.N.
meeting was being held.
Nuclear testing by the Chinese and
the French, who exploded a test blast
in the South Pacific on Tuesday, has
been the target of frequent demon-
strations.
Yesterday's silent protest, how-
ever, was the first outside the grounds
of either gathering - and the first
involving delegates in their official
capacity as U.N. conferees.
At a conference-connected meet-
ing with Chinese lawmakers, nine
Danish lawmakers wore T-shirts em-
blazoned with a picture of an atomic
blast and the words "Stop" in Chi-
nese and "No" in French. Then they
posed on the steps of the hall while
Chinese security hurriedly shoved
reporters away.
At %he U.N. gathering - formally
known as the Fourth World Confer-
ence on Women - China has been
embarrassed by the heavy emphasis
on human rights, over which it fre-
quently spars with the Clinton ad-
ministration.
China's detention of Chinese
AP PHOTO
Two Algerian delegates to the U.N. women's conference cover their faces to avoid being identified as they march in protest
of Islamic fundamentalism.
American activist Harry Wu - who
was eventually expelled - nearly
scuttled Mrs. Clinton's trip to
Beijing.
During the two days Mrs. Clinton
was in town, China stayed silent on
her speech Tuesday to delegates, a
rallying cry in favor of human rights
worldwide and a rebuke to China
over activists in Huairou.
As soon as she left town, though,
the government let loose a blast of
criticism - and a veiled warning.
"Some people from some coun-
tries have made unwarranted remarks
or criticism of other count-ries," said
Foreign Ministry spokesman Chen
Jian, in response to a question about
Mrs. Clinton's speech.
"We would like to caution these
people to pay more attention to the
problems in their own countries," he
said, adding that the criticism ran
counter to the spirit of the U.N. gath-
ering.
Today, though, the U.S. delega-
tion was keeping up the pressure.
"By now you've heard our mes-
sage loud and clear: this conference
is about human rights," said
Geraldine Ferraro, the U.S. ambas-
sador to the U.N. Human Rights Com-
mission.
Tensions between delegates and
host China were stealing the spot-
light from the real work of the con-
ference: crafting an ambitious plan
to improve the lot of women every-
where.
Working behind closed doors, del-
egates were said to be making slow
progress in resolving disputes over
gay rights, abortion and artificial con-
traception.
Negotiators acknowledged there
will have to be some hard bargaining
in the conference's remaining nine
days. A full one-fifth of the platform
remains in dispute.
"The range of views is very great,"
said negotiator John Mathieson.
UC Berkley
reveals plan
for racial
diversity
Los Angeles Times
OAKLAND, Calif. - Despite the
abolition of affirmative action at the
University of California, UC Berkeley
officials pledged yesterday to maintain
racial diversity at the flagship campus
by helping minority students long be-
fore they reach college age.
"We want all students to know they
still have an opportunity to receive the
finest education at Berkeley -no mat-
ter whether their skin is white, black,
brown or yellow," said UC Berkeley
Chancellor Chang-Lin Tien. "We
pledge to keep the opportunity alive."
Speaking to a group ofinner-city Oak-
land students, Tien unveiled "The Ber-
keley Pledge,"a program to helpprepare
disadvantaged students to meetadmis-
sion requirements at UC Berkeley.
The initiative, designed to avoid con-
troversy by targeting students according
to family income and education level
rather than race, also will provide $60
million in scholarships for diadvan-
taged students accepted for admission.
The Berkeley campaign is tlie- first
concrete step taken by any University of
California campus to maintain racial di-
versity since the UC Board of Regents
voted in July to ignore recommenda-
tions by the UC president and the heads-
of its nine campuses and end race-based
preferences in student admissions.:
Tien insisted that the "Berkeley
Pledge" is consistent with the regents'
action and is a way of helping Minori-
ties without relying on the racial and
ethnic criteria used under current affir-
mative action programs that graqt pref-
erence to students from undertrepre-
sented minority groups.
"As a public university, our campus
has a historic responsibility to serve all
ofCalifornia," Tien said. "Ourcommit-
ment has made Berkeley an iiterna-
tional model for 'excellence through
diversity.' We do not intend to-retreat
from our commitment."
UC Regent Ward Connerly, who led
the fight to dismantle UC's affirmative
action policies, said he was thrilled by
the Berkeley program and pledged to
raise $50,000 for the scholarship fund.
"This is exactly the kind of initiative
that I certainly contemplated vhen I
offered the resolution about eliminat-
ing the use of race and ethnicity and
other factors," he said.
Allied planes bomb rebel Serb
ammunition dumps, key base
Los Angeles Times
SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina
- Striking at Bosnian Serb headquar-
ters, Americanand European warplanes
yesterday bombed ammunition dumps
and a key military base as NATO offi-
cials widenedtheiraircampaign agaist
the separatist rebels.
The bombing raids, which continued
early today, came as diplomats in
Geneva prepared to negotiate a U.S.
peace initiative that includes the draft-
ing of a map to divide Bosnia.
The Geneva talks-the first face-to-
face, high-level meeting of Balkan en-
emies in two years - are crucial to
finding asettlementforthewarinBosnia
but may be doomed by continuing
Bosnian Serb military defiance and the
West's forceful response.
Massive puffs of white and gray
smoke filled the sky above Pale, the
nountaintop Bosnian Serb stronghold
ine miles southeast of Sarajevo, after
ckets plunged into a munitions depot.
allied bombers also attacked the
bsnian Serb army base at Lukavica, a
Sb-held suburb of Sarajevo, for the
seond time and targeted bridges along
suply routes.
't's high time that something was
dot for Sarajevo," said Salem Bajtal,
50, n unemployed factory worker as
he ad his neighbors sat outside their
owntomb-damaged apartment build-
ing itSarajevo and craned their necks
at plaes overhead.
In Pie, terrified women rushed from
their himes, sobbing and rounding up
their hildren, as NATO bombs
droppot Secondary explosions of
warehc sed ammunition reportedly
damag4 several civilian homes in the
area.
Despie stepped-up raids made pos-
sible bylear weather, the Serbs con-
tinued tconfound NATO and U.N.
officialsvho want them to move their
heavy w4pons at least 12 miles from
this capiti and other U.N.-designated
safe area, The Serbs refuse, appar-
ently unwhing to budge on their siege
of Sarajep, a probable negotiating
chip. }
"It appers they have not yet had
sufficient pin inflicted on them," said
U.N. militar.spokesman Lt. Col. Chris
Vernon. "B daily that pain must be
growing becuse ... gradually, slowly,
(the Serbs')ilitary capability is being
eroded."
On the eve f the Geneva talks, the
Bosnian govenment continued inter-
nal debate ove a U.S. peace initiative
that essentiallydivides Bosnia along
ethnic lines an allows the Serbs to
estabish an "etity" on most of the
tetav ,e ive r,. nne ., n th
rangement resembles the Greater Serbia
whose creation was a major impetus to
the war. There is also wide disagree-
ment on how the "entity" would be
administered.
"Bosnia's integrity will not be en-
dangered by the existence of the so-
called Serb entity," IvoaKomsic, a mem-
ber ofthe Bosnian presidency, saidyes-
terday, "but it would be endangered if
the Bosnian Serbs were allowed to cre-
ate a confederation with Serbia."
Attending the meeting, from which
nomajoragreement is expected, are the
foreign ministers of Bosnia, Croatia
and, in representation of the Bosnian
Serbs, Serb-dominated Yugoslavia.
U.S. officials have argued that the
aerial bombardment does not threaten
the negotiations but, rather, puts pres-
sure on the sides to talk. But the
Yugoslav government yesterday urged
an end to the air strikes, which it called
"a direct attack on the current negotia-
tions."
Since launching air attacks Aug. 30
in retaliation for a Serb shelling of
Sarajevo's main market, NATO has
flown more than 2,100 sorties, target-
ing Serb military command centers,
radar, communications and weapons
and ammunition storage areas. NATO
maintains that all of the targets are
military, but the Bosnian Serbs insist
there have been numerous civilian ca-
sualties.
Biljana Plavsic, a hardline Bosnian
Serb civilian leader, told Bosnian Serb
television that NATO and the United
Nations were trying to force Serb "ca-
pitulation."
"We, of course, would not accept
that," she said.
That continued defiance has appar-
ently surprised Western alliance offi-
cials, who expected the Serbs to more
readiy obey the demand to withdraw
their weapons.
U.N. officials said they were trying
to exploit potential dissension among
local-level commanders who might be
more inclined to comply.
"We've double-checked and triple-
checked, and we can't find any trace of
compliance," said U.N. spokesman
Alexander Ivanko said. "We had hoped
they would have complied much ear-
lier. They have not."
AP PHOTO
A British U.N. soldier scans the Bosnian Serb stronghold in Pale as NATO planes
roar overhead. A local boy sits nearby.
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