WORLD : China Hints Force Against Ship
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BEIJING — China said today it “cannot tolerate” support for a radio ship that plans to transmit pro-democracy messages into the country, and did not rule out the use of force to stop the broadcasts.
“The activities of this ship are aimed at subverting the people’s government and are against the norms of international relations,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Li Jinhua told a news conference. “Therefore we cannot tolerate the support of that ship.”
The 1,200-ton Goddess of Democracy left France on March 17 for international waters off the Chinese coast, where it plans to broadcast music, news and pro-democracy reports to the mainland. The converted trawler’s mission is sponsored by a coalition of groups headed by the French magazine Actuel and with the cooperation of the Federation for a Democratic China, a Paris-based Chinese dissident organization.
China has protested to the French government, and sponsors of the ship have charged that it has been under “constant surveillance and intimidation by the Chinese authorities” since it left port.
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