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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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052989
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1990-09-22
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WORLD, Page 45Watching from Offshore
In a different kind of week, the three U.S. warships that
sailed up the Huangpu River last Friday and docked in the waters
off Shanghai would have been the talk of the town. After all, this
was only the second time since 1949 that the U.S. Navy had visited
China. But the city's attention was riveted on the Bund, the broad
avenue along the river where 100,000 protesters marched. Thus the
ships neatly symbolized the peripheral role that Washington played
throughout last week. With the explosion of people power, the State
Department could do little but advise Beijing to use caution, and
it had only a few desultory comments about the historic handshake
between Mikhail Gorbachev and Deng Xiaoping. Finding American
officials who were even slightly uneasy about the freshly minted
Sino-Soviet friendship was almost impossible. Was George Bush
worried? "No problem," said the President. "A healthy development,"
said Secretary of State James Baker. Only Vice President Dan Quayle
displayed a hint of wariness. Yes, he said, last week's comradeship
was good news, but he added a sensible qualifier: "Provided that
any new relationship harms neither our own interests nor those of
our friends."
Any initiative that reduces global tensions deserves a cheer
or two. If warmer relations between Beijing and Moscow lead to
reduced military competition, to political liberalization and to
economic reforms that integrate both nations into the global
marketplace, make that three cheers. Indeed, given the domestic
changes launched in 1979 by Deng and in 1985 by Gorbachev and the
relationship the U.S. now enjoys with both countries, a return to
the threatening dogmas of the Stalin and Mao eras is difficult to
envision.
But reconciliation between the two Communist giants may offer
more trouble than Washington has acknowledged. That once
pre-eminent danger -- monolithic Communism -- may be gone, but that
does not preclude new and improved threats. Detente in the East
will allow Moscow to cut some of its 45 divisions stationed along
the Chinese border. That's good, but not if it relieves pressure
on the Kremlin to reduce troops in Eastern Europe. For Cambodia,
the relaxation has accelerated the pullback of Soviet-supported
Vietnamese soldiers. That's good, but not if it eases the return
to influence of the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge.
The most serious difficulties for the U.S. are likely to arise
in Japan and Korea. If the Sino-Soviet thaw endures, Moscow and
Beijing will promote closer North-South relations on the Korean
peninsula with an eye toward reducing the 40,000 U.S. troops
stationed in South Korea. That's good, but not if it leads to
intimidation of the South's burgeoning democracy. Japan, unsure
about its new global political role, will almost certainly be next
to receive the full brunt of the Gorbachev charm offensive. That's
bad only if it dilutes the Washington-Tokyo relationship and forces
the U.S. into a less central role in Asia.
So despite the reassurances, the political summit may prove to
be anything but "no problem." What really deserved welcome was less
the talks inside the Great Hall of the People than the protests
outside, in Tiananmen Square. Crackdown or not, the protests were
the "healthy development."