Policy makers in Washington were clearly concerned as the Fang Lizhi episode threatened to further disrupt Sino-American relationship beyond its current strains. This morning intelligence summary leads of with a discussion of Chinese media reports about the affair, noting that "the article takes care to limit blame to 'certain US personages,' 'a handful of people in the United States,' 'some US media, particularly the Voice of America,' and the 'US Embassy in Beijing.'" The document also reports on fears in Hong Kong over how the colony will be governed after returning to mainland Chinese rule in 1997. "Locals are worried that Beijing could in the future limit civil rights in Hong Kong by declaring martial law or a state of emergency."
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Original source: http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/documents/index.html#d28
