CHINA IN TURMOIL : Crackdown Sparks Worldwide Rallies of Protest and Cries of Condemnation

Political and religious leaders of the world on Monday condemned the massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing as protesters in Washington, D.C., and around the globe swarmed to rallies to denounce the bloodshed.

Several thousand Chinese students rallied at the U.S. Capitol and across the street from the White House, chanting, singing and listening to speeches appealing for international help to halt the bloodshed in Beijing.

The demonstrating students, largely from universities and colleges along the East Coast, held banners aloft in the steamy heat, displaying slogans that have echoed in American revolutionary and civil rights history: “Don’t Tread On Me,” “Live Free Or Die!” and “We Shall Overcome.”

After marching up Pennsylvania Avenue, the group gathered in Lafayette Park across from the White House to show support for “those brothers killed by troops.”

The massacre also sparked protests in for the second day across Europe and Asia.

Switzerland, which rarely criticizes foreign governments, summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest the brutal force used by troops trying to quell the student-led popular uprising.

Delegations from Australia, Denmark and Sweden canceled planned trips to China, and the 12-member European Community’s Executive Commission canceled talks today with China’s minister for foreign economic relations, which were aimed at boosting trade and economic cooperation.

A commission statement said it was “dismayed and shocked to learn of the particularly tragic events . . . It deplores the brutal repression of the people of Beijing, so sorely tried.”

Sunday’s killing of hundreds and possibly thousands of unarmed civilians in Beijing sent strong shock waves through neighboring Hong Kong and Taiwan, where sympathizers staged huge rallies.

Hong Kong, a British colony and bustling center of capitalism, is to revert to Chinese rule in 1997. The violence left its 5.7 million people fearing for the future. Many in Hong Kong wept as they watched televised reports of Sunday’s assaults.

British Foreign Secretary Geoffrey Howe summoned a senior Chinese diplomat to register Britain’s concern about the repression. But he said Hong Kong’s future remains “inextricably bound . . . with mainland China.”

The British government also canceled two ministerial visits with China and placed doubt over the scheduled visit of Prince Charles and Princess Diana to China in November.

Howe, in announcing the cancellation of a planned tour next week by China’s justice minister, called the official’s job a “contradiction in terms” under present circumstances.

The Portuguese Foreign Ministry, readying the transfer of Macao--its territory near Hong Kong--back to China in 1999, said it “totally rejects the use of violence against unarmed civilians.”

British newspaper magnate Robert Maxwell suspended publication of China’s official English-language newspaper in Europe, saying he wouldn’t honor the joint venture because of revulsion over the massacre in Beijing. Maxwell Communication Corp. PLC has been distributing the China Daily in Europe as part of an agreement with Beijing, which began the English-language paper several years ago.

In Taiwan, President Lee Teng-hui said the Chinese military’s attacks will bring down the Beijing government, Taiwan’s rival since the 1949 Communist revolution drove the Nationalist Chinese from the mainland.

Lonely voices of support for China came from Nicaragua, Cuba and in an official Vietnamese radio broadcast, which said troops in Beijing were attacked by hooligans and were justified in fighting back.

Cuba aligned itself squarely with China’s leaders, blaming the bloodshed in Beijing on “counter-revolutionaries,” while Nicaragua’s official Barricada newspaper quoted Chinese leaders’ claims that the attack avoided chaos and greater bloodshed.

And while Soviet television broadcast dramatic footage of clashes between Chinese troops and protesters, officials made no comment, apparently silenced by the fledgling friendship growing from last month’s historic summit between Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev and Chinese leaders.