China Blue Smoke and Mirrors

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The elite minority of restive students is not the primary worry of the Chinese leadership in the wake of events in Eastern Europe. Of graver concern is the growing resentment among workers and peasants, who are increasingly strapped by the government's austerity policies. "We are not demanding democracy and freedom in the same way as those naive students who laid down their lives," said a worker at Beijing's state-owned Capital Iron and Steel plant. "However, our families are waiting for food. If we cannot receive our wages, we will certainly become indignant."

Like workers in ailing state factories across the country, this man was angered by management's failure to distribute anticipated bonuses. Many plants have had to cut production because of credit restrictions imposed by the government over the past year in an effort to cool the overheated economy. The post-massacre restrictions on aid and investment by Western countries and Japan have squeezed the economy further.

A secret Communist Party document has reportedly revealed that in more than 30 cities, workers hit by recession have applied for permits to stage demonstrations. One group in Chongqing, in southwestern China, gave as its proposed slogan, "We want food to eat." China's leaders are well aware that economic deprivation, at least as much as political repression, motivated the popular uprisings in Eastern Europe.

But Beijing may not find that easy to fix. Leaders of the U.S. Congress, where sentiment is strong for imposing new sanctions, were unmoved by China's modest gesture, and are likely to demand more concessions before restoring full ties. Michigan's William Broomfield, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, summed up the reaction when he called Beijing's announcement "more blue smoke and mirrors ((that)) would not fool anybody in Congress into believing that the Chinese leadership was moderating its oppressive rule." He might as well have said, "Wu suo wei."