@ Out of the Norm ¢ THEY’RE COUNTING heads in China. Seven million census takers began knocking on China’s doors this past Sunday to tally up the numbers. They want to know by how many this nation, which had already surpassed 100 million people in the early 16th century, has gone over the one billion mark. But amongst those missing in that count will be the hundreds, if not thousands, who lost their lives last summer in the Tiananmen tragedy, in what became known in the western media as the Tiananmen Square massacre. Last month marked the first anniver- sary of this tragic event. Like most — if, indeed, not all — of you now reading this, I watched the Tiananmen story un- fold from the safety and comfort of my living room couch. I read the daily reports in my newspa- pers, and saw the China news bits on my television screen. But when it was all over, and the initial shock of the bloody ending had passed, I was left with the unsettl- ed feeling that I had not been given the complete and accurate accounting of this tragedy as it has really happened. What I had failed to read and see was the proper balance and perspective I had come to expect from an informed and free western press. I had expected the responsible accuracy of intelligent and logical deduction, the justice of journalistic reason, and the fair-minded tolerance of unbiased neutrality, free from the journal- ist’s primary no-no of swift and unchallenged assumption. What I got instead was borderline hysteria and propaganda. Everything had been reduced to a simple 1950s style of arithmetic in terms of black and white, where my side is never wrong, and your side is never right. The tell- ing of the Tiananmen story from a uniformly singular but collec- tively biased point of view has become more important than the story itself. Political advantage against truth and reason, and the latter lost. The Tiananmen story as told here raised more questions in my mind than answers. Not the least of these was how seriously signifi- cant a role had the western leaders and media played in contributing to the ultimate blood-letting on Tiananmen’s killing ground. Oh, there was a questioning voice or two faintly whispering from within the wilderness. There was, for example, the June 12 report, buried deep in the middle of a television story on the TV page in a Vancouver newspaper. Jenny Clayton, a producer-direc- tor with the BBC, speaking then at a recent international con- ference in Edmonton for public broadcasters, questioned the role the western media had played at Tiananmen Square. “As the weeks went on, more and more placards in the square were written in English for the benefit of the (western) television cameras,” said Clayton. ‘‘] think (the Chinese students) felt the world was really on their side, and that spurred them on to continue their demonstration. “*The students might not have stayed in Tiananmen Square quite as long if they felt they hadn’t had the attention of the western world. (And) It may have spurred the (Chinese) government on to act more aggressively than it perhaps intended to.”’ And that was more or less it. A year earlier, Richard Gwyn, writ- ing from London for the Toronto Star, and reprinted in the Van- couver Sunon June 9, had also spoken of western blame and guilt. ‘*Amid our shock and horror at the slaughter of the children in Tiananmen Square we should leave some space to reflect on how we ourselves helped to contribute to what happened,’’ he wrote. Yes indeed! But did we? After that interesting first paragraph, Gwyn then went on to recount how, in his opinion, the west had contributed to the Tiananmen tragedy by not taking a tougher stand against the Chinese gov- ernment for its ‘‘earlier offences against civil rights — press cen- sorship, the jailing of dissidents, restrictions on people’s travel,’’ and so on. My questions were still largely unasked and unanswered then, and remain so today. Like Diogenes with his lamp, I still seek after the Tiananmen truth. I have the western view- point as told by the dissident Chinese students and their sym- pathizers, including the western media, who, it would seem, had too largely and almost singularly depended upon the student voice for their own reports. Some statements on the Chinese gov- ernment’s position on the 1989 tragedy had been carried in the western media. But these reports were brief at best, and too often treated in an offhand manner. It was with this in mind that I found myself standing alone in front of the heavy iron gates of the People’s Republic of China Consulate on Granville Street, late one afternoon in fate June. After explaining my reason for being there, | was welcomed inside where I met with Pu Jubao, a charming and attractive young woman who is the cultural consul attached there to China’s consul- ate general. When ! left a half hour or so later, I had the Chinese government’s official version of the Tiananmen tragedy tucxed under my arm. I now had some of the answers I had been seeking. And I'll share these with you in my next column. Shep at home service only. ays a Open 7d week i for your convenience. : From Sam to 9pm. wa 9 - Wednesday, July 11, 1990 - North Shore News CANADIAN CLOSET SHOPS 986-4263 Free home estimates SEGN & PRINTING FROM CONCEPT TO FINISHED PRODUCT Recvcied paper available 2427 Marine Drive, West Vancouver 922-0247 Bemcn 947-9745 DE save-on-blinds 3 WHY BUY RETAIL WHEN YOU CAN B agp YOU CAN BUY DIRECTLY Qu ALITY FROM THE MANUFACTURER! I Verticals — Over 300 Colours Horizontals — Over 100 Colours Nobody can beat our low prices!! save-on-blinds & draperies nc. Cail for a FREE ESTIMATE today 929-5477 pezsatt Tri City ares Vancouver SPORTS SALE and position were measured SEE a 0% OFF* BASEBALL FOOTWEAR — SPORTSWEAR — SALE ENDS JULY 22, 1990: COQUITLAM * VANCOUVER * NORTH VAN. COQUITLAM - * VANCOUVER’ * NORTH:VAN: ese“ 16th & Lonsdale, N.Van., 985-9161 38th & W.Blvd., Kerrisdale, 266-1061