SWB
FE/0540 A1/1
A. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
1. GENERAL AND WESTERN AFFAIRS
21 Aug 89
CHINESE PREMIER SAYS WORK WITH PORTUGAL ON MACAO ISSUE “UNAFFECTED"
BY TURMOIL
Xinhua in English 1131 gmt 18 Aug 89
Excerpts from report
Chinese Premier Li Peng today [18th August] expressed satisfaction over work on the Macao issue which, he said, was unaffected by the recent turmoil in Peking. With efforts on both sides, the friendly relations between China and Portugal, and the work of implementing the Sino-Portuguese joint declaration on the Macao issue were unaffected by the counter-revolutionary rebellion, he said. Moreover, the meeting of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Liaison Group on Macao also has proceeded normally, he noted.
China is willing to expand Sino-Portuguese friendly relations and continue co-operating closely with Portugal to implement the joint declaration on Macao and to maintain Macao's prosperity, Li told Portuguese outgoing ambassador to China Octavio Valerio...
Valerio said Portugal and China have successfully settled the difficult problem of Macao through dialogue and talks, and achieved the goal of guaranteeing Macao's stability and development through common efforts. Portugal won the "full and close co-operation” of China in this respect, he added. “In the course of settling the Macao issue and implementing the joint declaration, Portugal has all along felt the sincerity of the Chinese side, he said.
In an assurance on the continuity of China's foreign policy, the Chinese Premier said, "We believe the general international situation remains characterised by a turn from tension to relaxation and from confrontation to dialogue." Based on such an analysis, he said, “We continue to follow our independent foreign policy of peace. And this policy will not change for temporary, individual events.” China is willing to maintain and develop relations with all nations in the world on the basis of the five principles of peaceful co-existence, Li reiterated.
The Portuguese diplomat said China's stability is essential to world peace. Valerio conveyed good wisl.es to the Chinese government and people from his government and people, wishing China stability and development.
XU JIATUN VIEWS WORLD ECONOMY, WESTERN INFLUENCE AND HONGKONG'S
Editorial report
FUTURE
The Hongkong-based newspaper Ta Kung Pao' (in Chinese) on 17th August published an article by Xu Jiatun, Director of the Hongkong branch of the Xinhua News Agency, entitled
"Taking up the new challenge of peaceful international economic competition preface to 'Book series on the world economy' ". It was also published in the ‘Hongkong Standard' (in English) on 17th and 18th August, and excerpts appeared in the Peking newspaper 'Guangming Ribao' on 20th May. An author's note, published before the article, said:
"This preface was written in March of this year. Excerpts from it were published by Peking's ‘Guangming Ribao' on 20th May. Although there have been some changes in the economic and social conditions in China, in Hongkong and in the external world, I still maintain the optimistic opinion on the future prospects expressed in the preface. I hold that under the conditions of "one country, two systems", Hongkong's future will first be contingent on the efforts of Hongkong residents themselves. So long as all Hongkong compatriots continue to carry forward the glorious tradition of loving the motherland and loving Hongkong, continue to maintain unity and carry forward the self-strengthening spirit, and continue their unremitting efforts for building Hongkong, then Hongkong's future prospects will be bright and Hongkong will continue to be a good place for living and working in peace and contentment.
"However, the Peking incident should make us further deepen our understanding of the current international situation and especially the relationship between China and the Western powers. We always hold that the socialist system and the capitalist system can coexist peacefully and compete with each other peacefully, and can learn from the strong points of the other side through peaceful coexistence and competition. However, the development of events is not always determined by our wishes. Some Western countries have never given up the attempt to bring the socialist countries onto the capitalist tracks, and one of the major means they have used is to effect the so-called "peaceful evolution”. They tried hard to turn China "peacefully" into a capitalist country in the course of reform and opening up. This thus reminds us from the other aspect that when studying and learning from capitalism, we must adhere to the grand strategic objective of building socialism with Chinese characteristics. We should learn from the Western practices and absorb all useful experiences that are suited to our national conditions and must also reject things that are not suited to our national conditions and resist things that are harmful to socialism. It is inadvisable to copy all Western things indiscriminately without analysis and criticism."
In the article, Xu noted the more relaxed situation in international relations and said that old economic systems were changing as "Western capitalist countries have enhanced governmental regulation... while socialist countries are developing market mechanisms. The two different economic systems are learning from each other in peaceful competition." Xu suggested that the world economic and political situation would "provide more opportunities for China to develop an export-orientated economy and to increase import and export
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