Subject: CND-US, December 9, 1993

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 9 Dec 1993 01:42:41 -0600

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+   C h i n a   N e w s   D i g e s t  +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                               (US Regional)

                          Thursday, December 9, 1993

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| CND-US, normally 1 or 2 issues a week, is a supplement to CND-Global and |
| has basically no overlap with the daily news.   CND-US provides in-depth |
| information concerning Chinese students/scholars in the United States.   |
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Table of Contents                                                 # of Lines
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1. News Briefs (7 Items) ................................................ 55
2. IFCSS Announces the Establishment of Education-Fund for China ........ 76
3. Addresses of Prisoners of Conscience Available from SVDC ............. 50
4. CSPA Update: Report from NAFSA Meeting at the Boston INS Office ...... 17
5. Follow-up and Responses to the Special Report on
   the Two Chinese Students' Re-entry Visa Denial in Belgium ............ 96
============================================================================

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1. News Briefs (7 Items) ................................................ 55
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CND Editor's Note: A general table of contents (TOC) for each year's CND-US
news is now available for reference in the anonymous site of cnd.org. The
current year's TOC will be updated monthly.
                             ___  ___  ___

Reporting from Hangzhou by Xinhua, China has its first electronic newspaper.
According to Xinhua, "Sitting before a networked computer, Hangzhou daily
subscribers can look through full pages on the screen" and "Using the index,
they can quickly get the prime news, sports news, and stock and foreign
exchange rates". "The paper's afternoon edition also started to be published
by electronic means today", said Xinhua. (From: Deming, 12/06/93)
                             ___  ___  ___

The International Chinese Chess Server (ICCS) is organizing the Winter 1993
International Chinese Chess Tournament (ICCT). The ICCT Rule will be
released at the beginning of the season.  Send your name and your e-mail
address to <[email-masked]> to join.  Please include the words 'ICCT
Application' in the 'Subject' line of your mail. There's no limit to the
number of players will be joining and applications will be open until Dec
25th, 1993. (From: <[email-masked]>, 12/07/93)
                             ___  ___  ___

The Chinese Civil Engineering Society in UK.(CCES) has reached an agreement
with a professional society in China to publish jointly a quarterly journal,
the "Optimization in Capital Construction".  The secretary general of the
CCES, Mr. Zhaoyang ZENG is the oversea editor-in-chief of the journal. If
you have any interest about this journal or the CCES , please send an e-mail
to <[email-masked]>.
(From: ZHAOYANG ZENG <[email-masked]>, 12/05/93)
                             ___  ___  ___

CBNet (Chinese Biotechnology Network) is a non-profit organization composed
of professionals in biological, chemical, medical sciences, engineering and
related fields.  The CBNet sponsors the Chinese Biotechnology Internet Forum
(CBIF) newsletter. To subscribe CBIF, please send an e-mail to
[email-masked] with the message body: Add CB-Net.
(From: <[email-masked]>, 12/05/93)
                             ___  ___  ___

Washington Chinese Business Association will sponsor a forum on China-
America Trade at 11:00, Dec. 11 at Business College (Room 1203), U. of
Maryland. The Director of Maryland World Trade Center, Ms. Pearl Chou will
give a talk.  More information is available from Ke Gang at (301) 422-4083.
(From: Gang Ke <[email-masked]>, 12/07/93)
                             ___  ___  ___

The First International Conference on Electronics and Information Technology
will be held in Beijing, China, August 3 - 5, 1994, sponsored by Chinese
Institute of Electronics (CIE) and Chinese- American Society of Electronics
and Information Technology (CASEIT).  For paper submissions, please contact
Hong Liu, Univ. of Massachusetts, at [email-masked] with Tel: (508)
999-8502 and Fax: (508) 999-8901; for exhibition, Phillip Y. Ong, AT&T, at
[email-masked] with Tel: (908) 949-6783 and Fax: (908) 949-0194; for
general information, C. Julian Chen, IBM at [email-masked] with Tel:
(914) 945-2935 and Fax: (914) 945-2141. (From: <[email-masked]>, 12/08/93)

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2. IFCSS Announces the Establishment of Education-Fund for China ........ 76
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Source: IFCSS NR E-Fund-001, November 30, 1993
Abridged by: CND

In their News Release on Nov 30, 1993, the IFCSS E-Fund Management Committee
announced the establishment of a IFCSS Education-Fund. According to the News
Release, the IFCSS E-Fund is designed to provide limited financial assistant
to students and teachers of high/mid and elementary schools in P.R. China's
rural and/or poor areas.

The News Release quoted an investigation conducted during the last three
months as indicating that high/mid and elementary school students and
teachers in China, especially those in the rural and poor areas, urgently
need helps both morally and financially.  "IFCSS, as the largest and
strongest Chinese Students/Scholars (CSS) organization overseas, not only
has the undeniable responsibility but the capability to provide limit
financial assistants", said the News Release. "We, Chinese Students and
Scholars overseas and members of IFCSS, dare not to forget our less
fortunated fellows in our homeland", the E-Fund Project Management Committee
stated in the News Release.

The Project Director has been appointed by the President of IFCSS and
approved by IFCSS Council. A 4 member Project Management Committee is
established for the project's daily operation. They are: Jinghong Li
(Director), Hong Gao, Anzhi Lai and Wanbing Li. Other three members of the
Management Committee are recommended by the Director and approved by IFCSS
President. The Project Director reports to IFCSS HQ on a quarterly basis.

According to the News Release, the initial funding for the IFCSS E-Fund
shall be designated by the President of IFCSS from the special project fund.
The amount for 1993-1994 academic year will be US$ 5,000.00. The money will
be presented to the recipients privately unless otherwise agreed with the
recipients. Two categories of assistantship will be given:

   --Teacher's Assistant Fund: US$100.00 per recipient, 20+ people
   --Student's Assistant Fund: US$ 40.00 per recipient, 75+ people

The assistantship recipient candidates are to be nominated by overseas CSS.
All Chinese students and scholars are encouraged to nominate their own high,
mid or elementary school teachers and/or student candidates from their home
town. Two recommendation letters with signatures are required. In case there
is only one, at least one verifiable witness' name and address is required.
For nominated teacher, a respectable reputation and at least three years of
teaching are required. A selected Teacher's Assistant Fund recipients can
also nominate one of his/her own students.

However, the News Release emphasized, "No one shall nominate his/her own
relatives", and "Student's academical achievement shall be considered only
if there are more than one candidates from the same area with similar
financial situations."

All recommendations will be initially processed by the Project Management
Committee and then be sent to a nine member committee for final selection.
The Selection Committee will include the four members of the Project
Management Committee, and an additional five members, which are yet to be
recommended by the Project Director and approved by the IFCSS President.

The Project Management Committee organizes public donation drives to collect
additional funds. "We call upon every overseas Chinese and peace-loving
people to join our effort in improving educations to the next generation of
China", said the News Release. "Each CSS, especially those have graduated
from school and working overseas, is called upon to donate US$10 or more",
it added.

Detailed information and the Recommendation/Application Form are available
upon request. Donations/Response/questions should be directed to:

        IFCSS E-Fund
        733 15th Street, N.W., Suite 440, Washington, D.C.20005

        e-mail: [email-masked]
        Phone/FAX: (Management Committee Member)
                   513-294-0970 804-877-4084 217-359-0806 703-430-3556
                   (IFCSS HQ) 202-347-0017 -0018(fax)

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3. Addresses of Prisoners of Conscience Available from SVDC ............. 50
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_From: Ignatius Ding <[email-masked]>, December 7, 1993

As SVDC has done in the past, names and addresses of prisoners of conscience
in China will be made available in several format on the net.  Everyone is
invited to support this once a year greeting card campaign.  Let us work
together to send messages to China during the holiday season to show our
love and care for the courageous people who took a stand and has suffered
persecution merely for expression of their political or religious belief.

We will conduct the campaign from December 11, 1993 (Worldwide Campaign
Kick-off) to the Chinese New Year.  Twenty-three cities will start the
campaign on the same day.

This year we group the address labels into the following categories:

  - Names and addresses of prisoners of conscience still in jail
  - Names and addresses of the family members of prisoners of conscience
  - Names and addresses of released prisoners of conscience
  - Names and addresses of Chinese government official

We encourage you to send greeting to the first three groups with as many
signatures on each card as you possibly can get.  Also send a simple letter
or card to the four group by asking them to revise the Chinese policy towards
human rights and follow the Chinese laws and the Constitution of the PRC to
respect Chinese citizens' rights to freedom of religion (Article 22), and
freedom of press, expression, association, assembly, and demonstration
(Article 35).  Abolish laws and penal codes that contradict with the
Constitution of the PRC as required (Article 5).

The address labels will be available in the following format, please indicate
the format in your request for a copy:

  - LaserJet printer-ready format (uuencoded - you must uudecode the files to
    unscramble before print them)

  - Postscript format (require access to Postscript printer)

  - Source files in BigFive format (you must have Chinese software to print
    them)

In exceptional cases, we can make hardcopy in peel-off label format
available to those who have no access to any of the pre-requisites listed
above.

Please send your request to this account clearly specifying your needs.  Let
us do it!
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4. CSPA Update: Report from NAFSA Meeting at the Boston INS Office ...... 17
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forwarded by: Chengyan Liu, December 8, 1993
Source: NAFSA

[Excerpt from the report on the December 8 NAFSA meeting with the Assistant
District Director, Schools Officer, and Officer from INS]

CSPA:  Applications for dependents are moving along smoothly. Please note
that dependents apply under the third-preference employment-based
classification; the priority date assigned is the same as the principal CSPA
applicant's priority date.  Dependents are subject to the immigrant waiting
list for China for EB-111 applicants.  As of December 1 the cut-off date is
07/01/93.

Dependents who must apply for Voluntary Departure in order to stay legally
in the United States do so by a letter addressed to Investigations,
Immigration and Naturalization Service, J.F.K. Building, Boston, MA 02203.
They will be called to the Boston INS Office.

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5. Follow-up and Responses to the Special Report on
   the Two Chinese Students' Re-entry Visa Denial in Belgium ............ 96
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
_From: Chengyan Liu, December 8, 1993

On the night of last Monday, I phoned Mr. Jinfu Hu, current President of the
Friendship Association of Chinese Students & Scholars at University of
Minnesota. He told me that the two Chinese students, Sun and Huang, DID
carry the State Department Cable -- Advanced Notification. However, that
cable has no help with their visa application. I'm also aware of some other
similar incidents that happened in the U.S. Embassy in Belgium, and those
incidents were resolved in a painful way.

Mr. Hu told me that Sun and Huang got some proofs from their relatives in
China that they have strong ties with their homeland and may go back to
China after their graduation. Chinese Consulate at Chicago also prepared a
document that the two Chinese students are registered at the Consulate.
Sun and Huang will try again on Tuesday (December 8th). However, I haven't
been informed of any further development as of Wednesday. Hu once cited
some success examples that someone get lucky when they went back China for
re-applying the re-entry visa. Nevertheless, there still are some unknown
factors if they decide to go back to China.

As the State Department already accepted the appealing from University of
Minnesota, I and Hu agreed that IFCSS HQ should get involved if the school
officials failed the appeal.

                             ***  ***  ***

_From: Yu Liangchen <[email-masked]>, December 5, 1993

Here's some advise to anyone of you if you ever get in a similar nasty
situation in Europe:

Since December 1st , this year, it is very easy to travel between any of the
countries of the European Community (Part of the Maastricht Treaty).
Basically, nobody will stop you, when going from one EC country to another,
just like going from one US state to the next. SO: If you get stuck with
this kind of problem in one city/country, it is VERY EASY to go to another
embassy or consulate. Most European countries have US consulates in addition
to an embassy, but the best thing to do is to go to another country and try
it there, since each US embassy sets its own set of standards for that
country for deciding on whether to issue a visa or not.  The 2 students from
Minnesota, can easily go to Luxemburg<Luxemburg>(1 hr trip), Paris<France>
(3 hr trip), The Hague<The Netherlands> (1.5 hr trip), Amsterdam<The
Netherlands> (2 hr trip) or Cologne<Germany> (3 hr trip) or even
London, England (5 hr trip) by train (which is relatively cheap in Europe)
and try for a visa there. Usually you get it the same day. I think it is
ridiculous that just because some embassy clerk, who is in a bad mood,
decides that "you have no ties with China" you don't get to go back to your
school (and family, for that matter), especially when your papers are all in
order.

                             ***  ***  ***

_From: J (A CND Reader), December 6, 1993

Regarding the 2 Chinese students did not get the re-entry visa to the US, it
is advisable that one should apply for an 'Advanced Notification' issued from
US State Department that is a specific document can assure academic
conference participants reentry the US. One can get the application form his
Campus ISO, fill it and send to the State Department along with a copy of
your F-1(or J-1) visa, plus a copy of conference invitation, usually you can
get the Notification in 2 weeks. Keep it while traveling. Show it to the US
consulate when you apply for the reentry visa abroad, you will get the visa
in a few minute. I have traveled in this way to Italy, France, Austria,
Britain, Netherlands and no any problem to get the reentry visa.

Moreover, the 'Advanced Notification' issued by State Department
is free of charge!

                             ***  ***  ***

_From: A CND Reader, December 6, 1993

(In response to the above reader's letter)
This doesn't seems helping much to the current situation of those two in
Belgium:

1. It's "ADVANCED Notification" (discussed in CND-US in 1990, in Q&A :-)
   it usually has to be issued BEFORE the beneficiary leaves U.S.

2. Per U.S. immigration law/State Dept. code, U.S. overseas consular office
   has the FINAL SAY on the visa matter, PURELY AT HIS/HER discretion, even
   the State Dept. issue a cable asking an embassy to "reconsider XXX's case"
   (the State Dept. can't say "please issue the visa" :-) The officer can
   still reject.  This was exactly the case in 1990-1993 with IFCSS family
   reunion plan, some visa applications were approved and some got rejected
   even with State Dept cable.

My another concern is, if they go to another EC country, say within 2-3 hours
train ride like some suggested, then the very natural question to be asked by
U.S. consular officer there would be: your visa was Belgium's, why don't you
apply in Belgium ? (or have you applied in Belgium)) The worse case could be
they pick up the phone call Belgium since it's so close. It is said that some
non-EC citizens are still required a visa to enter EC countries per official
regulation though in practice the EC countries usually don't ask for that.

Well, above are the worst case, usually State Dept cable should work in such
an individual case/ usually U.S. allows foreign student to return and
complete their study, and it's different from family reunion.

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|                 Coordinating Editor: Bo Xiong (Chicago)                  |
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