Documents / Official release
This Clinton Presidential Library folder holds NSC cables from January 1999 to December 2000, filed under the heading "Flying Saucer or UFO". A withdrawal sheet lists eleven cables that were withheld in full or in part under Presidential Records Act and FOIA restrictions. The released cables include an FBIS summary of a Bogota TV newscast, which notes that a UFO photograph printed by El Espectador was a hoax. They also include a US Embassy Beijing report on Quanzhou, Fujian, and a Vladivostok cable on Governor Yevgeniy Nazdratenko.
“Harder”1 page
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NANFANG RIBAO [GUANGZHOU] ON NOVEMBER 12, 1998. IN SOME AREAS, THE CONTRACT SYSTEM HAS HELPED ATTRACT FOREIGN INVESTORS IN CHINESE AGRICULTURE. 17. CHINESE LEADERS ALSO WANT FARMERS WHO, GIVEN THE PRC'S HISTORY OF RADICAL POLICY SWINGS, DOUBT THAT ANY POLICY WILL LAST FOR LONG, WILL BE ABSOLUTELY CONVINCED THAT THEY ARE SECURE IN THEIR LAND CONTRACTS. THEY SEE THESE MEASURES AS THE KEYS TO BOOSTING CHINA'S LOW AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY. BUT THERE ARE MANY OBSTACLES. ONE IS THE LACK OF A LAND REGISTRATION SYSTEM TO PROVE TITLE AND MAP OUT A LAND CLAIM. THE THIRTY YEAR CONTRACT TERM IS WRITTEN INTO THE NEW LAND MANAGEMENT LAW [TUDI GUANLIFA]. THE NEW LAW ALSO STRENGTHENS LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR FARMERS BY REQUIRING HIGHER LEVEL REVIEW OF ANY CONVERSION OF AGRICULTURAL LAND TO A NON- AGRICULTURAL USE. 18. THE EXTENSION OF THE LAND CONTRACT TERM FROM 15 TO 30 YEARS PROVIDES SOME BUT NOT ALL OF THE INCENTIVES OF LAND OWNERSHIP. SINCE THE FIRST FIFTEEN YEAR CONTRACTS WERE EXTENDED TO THIRTY YEARS IN THE MID 1990S, THE PRC MASS MEDIA HAS REPORTED ON THE BENEFITS OF LONGER TERM CONTRACTS FOR BOOSTING LONG-TERM INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURAL LAND. IN SOME AREAS WITH MARGINAL LAND, INHERITABLE CONTRACTS FOR AS LONG AS 80 YEARS HAVE BEEN GRANTED. COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP: A SACRED PRINCIPLE IS QUESTIONED 19. TWO CHINESE UNIVERSITY PROFESSORS WHO SPECIALIZE IN ENVIRONMENTAL AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STUDIES HAVE TOLD ESTOFF THAT THAT THE REAL SOLUTION TO LOW INVESTMENT IN AND LOW PRODUCTIVITY IN AGRICULTURE IS TO GIVE THE FARMERS CLEAR OWNERSHIP OF LAND. THE PROFESSORS ALSO SAY THAT WHILE MANY CHINESE ACADEMICS BELIEVE THE RESTORATION OF PRIVATE PROPERTY IS NECESSARY, THEY CAN TALK ONLY AROUND THE EDGES OF THIS THESIS. CHINESE SCHOLARS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO PUBLISH ARTICLES OR PRESENT PAPERS IN CONFERENCES CALLING FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE PRIVATE OWNERSHIP OF LAND. 20. THE STANDARD CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY EXPLANATION OF WHY MARKET METHODS ARE BEING USED BY CHINA IS THAT CHINA IS USING WESTERN METHODS TO STRENGTHEN SOCIALISM RESEMBLES THE ZHONGTI XIYONG "CHINESE IN THE MAIN, BUT THE WESTERN FOR THE USEFUL" FORMULATION FAVORED BY NINETEENTH CENTURY CHINESE CONSERVATIVES. THE COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP OF LAND IS A BEDROCK PRINCIPAL OF COMMUNISM AND SO MOST RESISTANT TO CHANGE. YET IN CHINESE PUBLICATIONS ON NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AS WELL AS IN AGRICULTURE CAN BE SEEN A GROWING RECOGNITION THAT THE COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP SYSTEM IS THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM. THE CHINESE UNCLAS SECTION 06 OF 09 BEIJING 000475 WHITE HOUSE FOR OSTP/DBEHRING AND OVP DEPT FOR EAP/CM AND PRM/POP/MARGARET POLLACK
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Official release, from the nara collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 64 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.