The World - News from Oct. 16, 1987

Vietnam’s Communist Party chief told the country’s artists and writers that the party is preparing to reduce “undemocratic, despotic and overbearing” controls over the arts so artists and writers can fly “like liberated birds.” The party chief, Nguyen Van Linh, conceded that there are “many incorrect and unjust points” in policy on artistic expression. He indicated that the leadership plans to extend to the arts the liberalization it has brought to the economy and foreign policy since Linh became party chief last December.