Copyright, The Times Mirror Company; Los
Angeles Times 1989all Rights reserved)
UC Irvine officials and Chinese university
students in Orange County and much of the Southland reacted with
surprise and alarm Friday to President Bush's veto of a bill
that would have waived the mandatory return of Chinese students
to their country after studies in the United States.
UC Irvine Chancellor Jack W. Peltason and the
eight other chancellors in the University of California system
on Wednesday fired off a letter to the White House protesting
the anticipated veto, warning of dire repercussions for any
Chinese students who are forced to return to the hard-line
regime of their native land.
"As you are aware, many of these
visitors feel apprehensive, indeed personally at risk, as they
contemplate a return home," the letter signed by Peltason
and the other UC chancellors read. About 1,500 Chinese students
are enrolled in the UC system, including 110 at UC Irvine.
"These are our students and faculty
colleagues. . . . We feel a special responsibility for their
well-being as well as for their education."
The chancellors' letter implored the
President, if he did veto the legislation, to consider
alternative action that would protect the students.
Bush did. Although he refused to sign the
bill Thursday, saying he was opposed to "congressional
micromanagement of foreign policy," he announced as a
compromise that he would grant the students many of the same
protections the bill offered. Specifically, students would no
longer be required to return to China after completing their
studies.
Therein lies the confusion. For some, the
protection offered by the President's move is a welcome relief.
But others worry that the lack of ironclad legislation leaves
their future just as cloudy as before.
UC Irvine officials said Friday that UC
chancellors still oppose the President's actions. And Jeff Ge,
president of UC Irvine's Assn. of Chinese Students and Scholars
from the People's Republic of China, said he and fellow Chinese
students are worried that the protection may not last.
"We don't feel really safe," Ge
said. "Bush was pressured by the Chinese government not to
sign the (Chinese immigration) bill. And he may yield to the
pressure again."
Ge, a third-year engineering student with one
more year of study, said he would almost certainly face
repercussions at home because he spoke out against the Chinese
government's June 4 massacre of students in Beijing.
"I would probably be thrown in
jail," he said.
Dan P. Danilov, a Seattle immigration
attorney who has represented a number of Chinese student cases
in the Orange County-Los Angeles area, said the President's
action has created anxiety for most of the estimated 40,000
Chinese students and scholars in this country. By far the
largest group of students from any foreign country, about 70% to
80% of the Chinese students have come with visas that require
them to return home for at least two years after their studies
are completed.
"Now they are very apprehensive that
they may have to return to China," Danilov said.
Danilov added that the veto is not a
"catastrophe" because Bush is directing the U.S.
Immigration and Naturalization Service to give special attention
to each Chinese request for a "green card."
At Caltech in Pasadena, graduate student Liu
Gang, who would have had to return home next year, said:
"If I think about just myself, I am actually pretty happy.
I am grateful he didn't just veto the bill."
But, he added, unlike a law, Bush's promise
could be revoked at any time. "All these things are
promises," Gang said. "It's better than nothing, but
how long will it last? What if he changes his mind?"
Wang Youqi, another Caltech graduate student,
said that many Chinese students, despite the protection of
Bush's administrative action, are outraged at the veto. The
perception among many students, he said, is that Bush killed the
legislation because of pressure from the Chinese government to
return the students.
"It's very scary," Wang said.
"Students here have been intimidated by the mainland
Chinese government. Now they see the Bush Administration
intimidated too."
"If he really wanted to help us, why
didn't he just sign the bill?" Wang asked. "It's that
simple. Now it's like something hanging over your head, and you
don't know when it's going to drop."
Feng Hui, a graduate student at UCLA, said
the veto has already had a chilling effect on the efforts of
Chinese students in the United States to support the democracy
movement in China. He said one woman has already resigned from a
UCLA Chinese student group because of fear that she may have to
return to China when her studies are over.
"Everyone is going to be silent,"
he said. "Who will speak out when they don't know what will
happen in the future?"
Liu Yongchuan, the president of the
Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars, the
national student group that spearheaded the lobbying effort to
pass the bill, said only legislation will be able to provide a
real guarantee of protection for these Chinese students.
Liu said he was disappointed at the veto of
the bill but is confident that Congress will either override
Bush's veto or send another version to the President in the next
session.
"We'll try it again," Liu said.
"We have no confidence in Bush now. He always wants to
satisfy the Chinese government."
The bill, sponsored by Rep. Nancy Pelosi
(D-San Francisco), was unanimously approved in the House and
passed by voice vote in the Senate. And in addition to messages
of support from other cities, Los Angeles City Councilman
Michael Woo on Friday sent telegrams to congressional leaders
condemning Bush's veto and urging legislators to take up the
issue again.
