Editorials
Thursday, December 24, 1998

China reverts to harsh
treatment of dissidents

ANY hope that President Clinton's visit to China last May would produce an easing of Communist repression of dissent has been extinguished. The regime of President Jiang Zemin has adopted an even harsher policy.

This week three critics of the regime who had tried to form an opposition party were given long prison sentences after summary trials. Although dissidents are rarely mentioned by the official news media, national newspapers published reports of the prison terms of 13, 12 and 11 years given respectively to Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin and Wang Youcai as a warning to the people.

The sentences followed a nationwide roundup of party members, who first applied to register the group on the day that Clinton's visit began. The U.S. embassy called the 13-year sentence for Xu Wenli "deplorable" and said the United States was "deeply disappointed" with both the verdict and sentence in the case.

Jiang signaled that China will sustain the crackdown on dissent throughout next year. In his second hard-line speech in six days, Jiang vowed to crush any challenges to Communist rule and preserve "social stability."

Last week, Jiang used the 20th anniversary of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms to make clear the Communist leadership would never tolerate Western-style democracy. "The Western political system model must never be copied," Jiang said in a speech in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

"From beginning to end, we must be vigilant against infiltration, subversive activities, and separatist activities of international and domestic hostile forces," Jiang said. Such activities should be "nipped in the bud."

This is hard-line language unheard for years in China, threatening a return to the atmosphere that produced the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Beijing has responded to Clinton's pro-democracy overtures with defiance. Washington will have to reassess its China policy in the light of Beijing's latest pronouncements.

Drug forfeitures

U.S. Attorney Steven Alm is using the government's forfeiture authority to combat drug trafficking in the vicinity of a Chinatown building. Abusive forfeiture laws allow the government to seize property because of criminal activity without having to prove that the property owners were involved.

The forfeiture action is the second taken by Alm in Chinatown. In 1995, the government seized two buildings because of alleged drug dealing, although the building owner was not accused of wrongdoing. The city eventually purchased one of the buildings and converted it into a police substation.

In the present case, Alm sent notices to building owner Anchor Ltd. complaining about "illegal activity" in the area of the building. Undercover agents were involved in 64 crack cocaine purchases at three businesses in the building -- Swing Video, Dave's Amusement and Amy's Place -- since Sept. 5. In addition, there were 73 drug arrests in or around those businesses in the past three years, Alm said.

Anchor Vice President Christy Vicari-Coito says the drug trafficking is "the element on the street" that recurs regardless of who the tenants happen to be. "You close one down, and another business comes in and it's the same problem," she said. The building is valued at $2 million.

Forfeiture of the building would be, in essence, a $2 million fine for illegal activity in which the property owner and tenants may have had no involvement. Although federal law allows such action, Alm should carefully consider the consequences before using a law in unfair ways.

Israeli elections

THE Israeli parliament's overwhelming vote for elections two years before required by the constitution puts the Middle East peace process in limbo for months. The government has already frozen the Wye River accords. Moreover, it appears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not win re-election. In the atmosphere of uncertainty that has been created, relations between the Israelis and Palestinians are at risk of further deterioration.

The release of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, so-called spiritual leader of the Hamas Islamic militants, from two months of house arrest could inflame the situation. Hamas agents have killed scores of Israelis in suicide attacks. Yassin was placed under house arrest six days after Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu signed the Wye River agreements, after Hamas claimed responsibility for a car bomb attack in the Gaza Strip aimed at Jewish settler children.

The release was sharply criticized by Israel, which contends Arafat is not doing enough to curb anti-Israeli violence. An Israeli government spokesman accused Arafat's Palestinian Authority of adopting a revolving-door policy by arresting Hamas officials and then quickly releasing them.

The Wye accords, accepted by Netanyahu under heavy pressure from the Clinton administration, led to the collapse of his ruling coalition, which included conservatives opposed to territorial concessions to the Palestinians. The opposition Labor Party supported Netanyahu as long as he stuck to the Wye pact, but abandoned him when the prime minister froze a scheduled troop withdrawal from 5 percent of the West Bank.

Although Netanyahu is highly unpopular, there is no clear indication who his successor may be. A host of candidates of both the left and right appears likely to enter the race. The behavior of the Palestinians in the interim could be a major factor in the outcome. In this context, the release of the Hamas leader does not bode well for the election of a moderate.

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Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership

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