The World - News from May 12, 1989

Student activists in Beijing said they plan to ask Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev to discuss freedom and democracy with them during his visit to China next week. Members of Beijing University’s protest-organizing committee intend to take an open letter to the Soviet Embassy in Beijing inviting Gorbachev to deliver a speech at their campus, student sources said. The sources said they had collected 1,200 signatures on the invitation to Gorbachev. Organizers said they hope most of the university’s more than 10,000 students will sign by mid-weekend. Students also said they plan to stage a demonstration in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square at noon Monday to coincide with Gorbachev’s arrival.