 |
Home - Yahoo! - My Yahoo! - News
Alerts - Help |
 |
| NEW
- News Corrections Page |
 Click Here! |
| |||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
| Top Stories - Reuters - updated 12:16 AM ET Apr 7 |
| |
Reuters |
AP |
AP U.S. |
The New York Times
| ABCNEWS.com |
 Photos |  Videos
| ||
|
China Dampens Anti-US Protests, Frustrates Students
By Jeremy Page BEIJING (Reuters) - When U.S. warplanes bombed the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia two years ago, student Chen was among the first at his university to tie a bandana round his head and rush to throw rocks at the American mission in Bejing. But when the 23-year-old mathematics student heard that a Chinese jet fighter crashed into the sea after colliding with a U.S. spy plane last weekend, he stayed in his dormitory at Peking University chatting quietly with friends. ``If people were running around putting up posters and organizing protests, I would probably join in,'' said Chen, who would only give his surname. ``We want an apology from the United States, but our feelings are not so strong this time and I don't think the authorities would allow it.'' Despite rousing rhetoric in official media, Beijing appears to be dampening protests on the streets and campuses of China in an attempt to keep anti-U.S. sentiment in check. This is in marked contrast to the official response to the bombing of China's Belgrade embassy in the 1999 Kosovo conflict, when the authorities bused in protesters, and police even helped mobs find rocks to throw at the U.S. mission in Beijing. Now, after a tense standoff this week over the plane and its 24 crew held on the southern island of Hainan, U.S. and Chinese leaders' actions appear to be aimed at cooling a crisis that had threatened to spin out of control. ``China has to tread carefully when encouraging protests,'' said one Western diplomat. ``It's easy to fan the flames but it's harder to put them out.'' Police Stop Protests This week, police quickly hustled away three people carrying a Chinese flag near the U.S. ambassador's residence and led away a lone Chinese man who tried to flash an anti-U.S. protest banner at the American embassy. ``I heard several students planned to organize some demonstrations the day after the collision, but they were stopped by their teacher immediately,'' said one Peking University student surnamed Zhang. There were isolated protests in Haikou, the capital of Hainan, where U.S. diplomats held a second meeting with the plane's crew on Friday. Students at Hainan University said they had seen small anti-U.S. demonstrations of about 50 students on campus on Wednesday morning and at least 10 students on Thursday afternoon. ``They were going round and round, holding two or three signs and shouting. It seemed like nobody else wanted to join in,'' said Chen Sifei, a second-year student who saw Thursday's protests. There was also a small demonstration of around 12 people outside the U.S. consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu on Thursday, a U.S. diplomat said. He gave no details. ACCIDENT OR ATTACK? Foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi declined on Thursday to comment when asked whether the authorities were blocking anti-U.S. protests. ``The right of Chinese citizens to hold public demonstrations is enshrined in the constitution, but they must seek permission before holding a demonstration,'' he told a news conference. Dissidents and government critics say that they are invariably refused permission to demonstrate. ``To be honest, in China, whether to hold protests is decided by the government,'' said Wang, a graduate student at Peking University. ``If there are no such indications in official statements, nobody would dare to take any radical actions,'' said Wang. ``This time it seems the government wants to be cautious.'' For many students raised on a steady diet of anti-U.S. propaganda, the restrictions against protesting are frustrating. ``We are a little bit disappointed with the government attitude toward the issue,'' said another Peking University student named Xu. ``Their words sound so weak and no concrete and effective actions have been taken up to now.''
|
| ||||||||||||||
Full
Coverage
| Search News |
|
| ||||||||||||
|
| Copyright © 2001 Yahoo! Inc., and Reuters Limited. All
rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Questions or Comments Privacy Policy - Terms of Service |