China Curbs News About East Germans

Mindful that millions of Chinese protested for democratic reform only five months ago, the Chinese media have been careful in reporting the dramatic political changes in East Germany.

The media have reported some of the developments in East Germany without suggesting the reasons behind them. They have not reported on the mass exodus of East Germans to the West, or on crowds chipping away at the Berlin Wall with hand tools.

The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, gave a dry account Saturday of how East Germany had opened its borders to the West.

The paper said Secretary of State James A. Baker III hailed the East German move as a “very positive change.” But it quoted West Germany’s interior minister as urging people to “think hard about coming over because for a long time their living conditions will be worse than they have now.”

While Western leaders assert that leadership upheavals in East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria indicate the failure of communism, the Chinese reports depict communism as still commanding the faith of the people.

“Krenz Reelected After Politburo Resigns” said a headline Thursday in the English-language China Daily. The article noted that new East German leader Egon Krenz and seven Politburo members were retained in the new lineup.

Newspapers have not mentioned the internal political pressures that led to the resignation of East German leader Erich Honecker.

Pro-democracy demonstrations rocked about 80 Chinese cities last spring, culminating in the crackdown on protesters in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square on June 3-4. Hundreds and possibly thousands were killed during the crackdown. Thousands more have been arrested since, squelching overt dissent.

In London, the British Broadcasting Corp. said its broadcasts to China are being deliberately jammed, depriving millions of Mandarin-speaking Chinese of a primary source of Western news.

“The jamming is being directed at a number of the BBC’s frequencies carrying World Service programs in Mandarin. The interference starts a few minutes before the transmissions begin and stops shortly after they end,” said a BBC statement in London.

The Soviet Union stopped jamming BBC Russian Service broadcasts in 1987 and lifted its interference with BBC Polish broadcasts a year later. In the past, there has been no interference with BBC Chinese broadcasts, the BBC said.

The BBC increased its Mandarin broadcasts by a half-hour early in June, bringing the total to three hours daily.