However, their pleasure was tempered by the visit of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader and symbol of Chinese oppression, to Taiwan. The visit united two of the Beijing regime's least favorite people, the Dalai Lama and Taiwan's President Lee Teng-hui. Lee provoked the Communists' fury by making a so-called unofficial visit to the United States over Beijing's opposition. They responded by waging a propaganda campaign against Lee's popular election a year ago and even firing missiles in the direction of Taiwan to punctuate their protest.
The Dalai Lama maintains that his visit is religious, not political, in nature, but the Communists aren't buying that. They view the Dalai Lama and President Lee as subversives working for the independence from China of Tibet and Taiwan.
China is too powerful to be ignored, so it is sensible for the vice president to be making this trip. He is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Beijing since former President Bush's visit in 1989 four months before the Tiananmen massacre. However, the Chinese Communists are masters of manipulation. They will exploit the visit to insinuate that the Clinton administration is willing to overlook their shortcomings. Gore, who has been embarrassed by disclosure of his questionable campaign fund-raising activities, is in no position to object.
The U.N. force is scheduled to depart at the end of July, and Haitians are concerned that full-scale violence will erupt. That would be an enormous waste of the investment made by the international community and should not be allowed to happen.
The symphony is getting back on its feet, but its efforts cannot succeed without strong community support, particularly with the state government unable to provide funding at the former level.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor