TIME: Almanac 1990/1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso/time/052989/05298900.031

Text File | 1990-09-22 | 4KB | 69 lines

WORLD, Page 43

The View from the Guesthouse


    The sight was enough to give a Soviet advanceman heartburn.
There, in the Great Hall of the People, was a long table set up
with microphones and teacups. The rows of chairs were filled with
hundreds of journalists, all of whom had to dodge banner-waving
marchers, speeding ambulances and mazes of bicycles in Tiananmen
Square to make what was supposed to be a 5:45 p.m. press conference
by Mikhail Gorbachev. Then, just at showtime, came the news: the
session was being moved five miles away to the state guesthouse
where Gorbachev was staying in the Diaoyutai compound.

    For the fifth -- and by no means final -- time last week, the
Gorbachev schedule was changed to keep as much distance as possible
between the guest and the million Chinese cheering his policies of
openness and democratization. When the relaxed and smiling Soviet
leader finally made his appearance at 7:30 p.m., he was asked about
the demonstrations paralyzing the Chinese capital. "I've seen the
students," said a bemused Gorbachev. "But perhaps not as many as
you have."

    What began for Gorbachev as a diplomatic mission aimed at
normalizing relations with the People's Republic of China quickly
evolved into a diplomatic mission of another sort: how to pretend
your hosts are not trying to put down a revolution at the same time
they're teaching you how to use chopsticks. This scenario, alas,
was not covered in the slim white protocol books given to the
Soviet entourage and the 80 or so reporters who accompanied
Gorbachev from Moscow. What the book did cover often proved
useless. Gorbachev did not "arrive by car" at Tiananmen Square nor,
accompanied by two soldiers of the Chinese honor guard, did "the
distinguished guest" lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's
Heroes. And what about that passage on proper behavior at the
Beijing Opera? Mikhail and Raisa never enjoyed a night out.

    The Soviet delegation was careful not to do or say anything in
public that might offend the Chinese. When a briefing by Soviet
cultural luminaries was dominated by questions about the student
demonstrations, the director of the Soviet press center at the
Beijing International Hotel finally blew up. "You are putting us
in a difficult position," he snapped. "Ask questions about our
country." Foreign Ministry press spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov
resorted to irony when queried about the wreath-laying ceremony.
"We are guests and never argue with our hosts," he replied. "We
recognize that it would be physically impossible to carry out this
part of the program. But it is a matter for the Chinese."

    Even Soviet journalists proved to be diplomats at heart.
Despite persistent questions about Gorbachev's reaction to the
protests, a Soviet correspondent evaded the topic and kept
insisting that the real story was the renewed friendship between
two great countries. In private, however, Gorbachev could not
control his curiosity. Late Monday evening he summoned Soviet
journalists to his country's embassy and peppered them with
questions about what was happening in the streets.

    TV viewers back in the U.S.S.R. saw footage of the protesters
only on the day their leader left China, and even then the events
were presented as two completely different stories. During
Gorbachev's stay, Soviet television had blacked out the
demonstrations. However, within minutes after Gorbachev boarded the
plane in Shanghai and headed home, TASS carried its first detailed
story on the crisis. What the Soviet press has yet to report, of
course, is what Gorbachev, Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze and
the other members of the Soviet diplomatic team really thought
about their extraordinary visit. Quipped a Soviet journalist: "We
will never really know the true story until Shevardnadze retires
and writes his memoirs."