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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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011689
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01168900.018
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1990-09-17
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WORLD, Page 38CHINAThe Fallout from NanjingAn ugly brawl leads to a fissure in Sino-African relations
Officials called it an "isolated incident" when a brawl between
African scholars and university security guards in Nanjing two
weeks ago sparked street protests by Chinese students. But charges
that the foreign students were beaten and tortured surfaced in
Nanjing last week, and that ugly episode was followed by further
anti-African demonstrations. The outburst of racism has stirred
international concern and exposed a fissure in the special
relationship that China once enjoyed with African nations.
After the initial Nanjing fracas, some 140 African and other
foreign students were held under protective guard at a guesthouse
for ten days. On Dec. 31, provincial authorities sent paramilitary
police into the guesthouse to arrest "ringleaders" among the
Africans. Armed policemen allegedly herded coatless students
outside in zero-degree weather, then pummeled them and jabbed them
with electric cattle prods.
Word of the Nanjing violence set off further outbreaks. In
Hangzhou, African students boycotted classes. In Wuhan and Beijing,
hundreds of Chinese students staged anti-African demonstrations.
The Gambia government registered a formal protest, and diplomats
from Ghana and Benin voiced displeasure over Chinese treatment of
their nationals. But overall reaction from the continent was
restrained, reflecting the conflicting nuances of Africa's dealings
with China: gratitude for decades of Chinese support; familiarity
with Chinese racism, which has been intensified by economic
frustrations; and worries about how to protect existing links with
Beijing.
Although thousands of Africans have studied in China since
1950, the relationship has frequently been marred by the hosts'
cultural prejudice. The latest round of confrontation also has a
more mundane source: envy. Most of the 1,400 African students
currently in the country get free tuition and room and board plus
a stipend from the Chinese government. They live better and eat
better than their Chinese counterparts. Says a U.S. official who
is a frequent visitor to China: "There is tremendous discontent
(about foreign privilege) among students and intellectuals."
But among Africans, there is fear that Beijing's largesse to
their continent will shrink. While commercial ties are strong,
China has sharply reduced its economic assistance to African
countries as it has concentrated on closing the gap with the
industrialized West.
Some sinologists find it difficult to understand what China
could gain by permitting open displays of xenophobia. But one
Chinese foreign policy expert offered a pragmatic geopolitical
explanation: "As of ten years ago, we changed our policy and
normalized relations with the U.S.," he said. "Soon we will also
normalize our relations with the U.S.S.R. So the relative
importance of the African countries to China is diminishing." There
is little in that view to reassure anyone worried about future
anti-African resentment.