Miffed by Library Exhibit, China Forces Switch in Summit Location
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NEW YORK — China on Monday demanded that the site for today’s U.S.-Chinese summit meeting be moved from the New York Public Library because the exhibit in the library’s main hall refers to the “bloody repression” in 1989 of protesters in Beijing’s Tian An Men Square.
The exhibit, called “What Price Freedom,” provided the backdrop Sunday night for President Clinton’s reception for international leaders attending the United Nations’ 50th anniversary celebration.
It describes 20 contributors to freedom, including Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Margaret Sanger, Vaclav Havel--and the Tian An Men Square protesters.
The exhibit praises the demonstrators for resisting “totalitarianism” and says that “an estimated 5,000 protesters were massacred.” Most other estimates put the death toll at no more than 1,000.
“We only heard [about the problem] this morning from the White House,” said New York Public Library President Paul LeClerc. “It [the exhibit] has been going on since May, and suddenly everyone’s paying attention.”
U.S. and Chinese officials agreed that Clinton and President Jiang Zemin of China will meet instead at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
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