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Show THE DAILY HERALD, Provo, Page BIO l Uh. Wednesday. April 3, 1 China CuaDte doing busi- American corporations ness in China, including Amoco, Dow Jones. Ford Motor Co.. Johnson & Johnson, McDonnell-Dougla- s and Saloman Banners. Security agents entered the It was to be the BEIJING social event of the year, a charity fete to raise tens of thousands of dollars for Chinese orphans, featuring a speech by novelist Amy Tan. a Chinese- - American. But China's Public Security Bureau decided the gala arranged by the American Chamber of Commerce as a benefit to the Wisconsin-base-d Philip Hayden Foundation had sinister motives. The affair was muzzled before it could get under way. One hour before the scheduled g start of Saturday night's dinner. 40 plainclothes security agents marched into Beijing's Holiday Inn Lido and dramatically n rearranged the program. The i T . . : V Before the banquet could begin Hun-dre- nese mother. stunned the affair's 450 guests, all of whom were attired in evening gowns and dinner jackets and expected to contribute to the w elfare of Chinese children. Among the guests was U.S. Ambassador to China Jim Sasser. envoys from several other Western countries, the directors of two state-ruChinese orphanages, a mvriad of foreign diplomats and t Tan's address w as to be I the highlight of the evening. Dozens of people had been be turned aw ay from the sold-oevent, which had been highly publicized over the in the hotel ballroom, security agents ripped decorations, placards and banners off the walls. One banner said "Love children." Another "Help orphans." Hotel staffers were ordered to partition the ballroom into three separate sections to make it appear like a restaurant rather than the venue for a banquet. A blunt official, in the traditional gray suit and w hite shirt worn by public security agents, informed the hotel manager that the charity banquet w as lacking a gov ernment permit, a novelty in a city w here foreign and Chinese companies and organizations hold almost daily dinner parties. When hotel executives argued that their guests, the elite of Beijing's foreign community, already had paid $72 a head for dinner, the official agreed the meal could be n r for these orphans. There was tremendous enthusiasm among the foreign community in Beijing for this banquet." Security agents lurking against the ballroom walls made sure that Tan did not address the dinner. The author of novels including "The d Joy Luck Club" and "The Secret Senses," Tan had Chit brought along her crowd. hotel lobby while guests sipped cocktails, unaware that Chinese law enforcement had come to close dow n the banquet. shut-dow- 1. checks to the orphanages and author Tan could not address the Security agents entered the hotel lobby while guests sipped cocktails, unaware that Chinese law enforcement had come to close down the banquet. fund-raisin- in cuests, asked for anonymity. The w ife of one Western diplomat said, "For once we thought w could do more than just feel sorrj served nut that all speeches were banned. Moreover, he said, there were to be no presentations of doens of top executives from By UU SCHMETZER Chicago Tribune AO ffr orphans fund-rais- er ut weekend. defiant author instead faim table to table in the partitioned ballroom to discuss "life in China" privately with guests. She also spoke to Sasser. a former senator, who told his table guests with a wry smile, "and I was leaving for Washington in a fortnight to lobby Congress to support the renewal of China's Most Favored Nation status." The mov ed "We were all disgusted w ith this of how heav the Chinese can be. No one could understand what could possibly be bad about raising funds for kids w ithout parents," said an American businessman, w ho. like most of the new ev idence .Js IHPCUFE o (o ws o n w V.i .. AP Photo r Urban geyser Los Angeles City firefighters try to open a manhole to shut off the water to a fire hydrant that was knocked over by a car in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles Monday. No injuries were reported from the geyser, and officials say it could be Thursday - Saturday April 4- 6 rain-relate- d. Washington humor is coming to the forefront By WALTER R. MEARS AP Special Correspondent I'N been WASHINGTON stiff shirt season in Washington, to borrow an earlier president's line about the round of fornul dinners where gov eminent leaders plav it for laughs Barbs work better than bludgeons, as in President Clinton's sardonic best wishes to Sen. Bob Hole, his Republican challenger, referfollowed bv a double-edge- d ence to his own Whitewater problems. Analysis T '"And I have some land in Arizona I'd like to sell ou " Retirement propertv. presumably Then again, a Republican senator told Clinton this is the last year he'll have to attend such dinners, meaning he won't be president next time. Self-parois a proven course. Sen. Chris Dodd told Saturday night tales of his plav boy image he said he hadn't known about the Sunday morning TV talk shows before being invited as the lmo-crati- c chairman because he seldom home earl) enough to watch got These are touch) times on the belt way political coined) circuit since the dinner at which a New York radio show host turned his shock-tjl- k style on the president and Mrs. Clinton with insulting jokes involving his alleged affairs and her financial dealings. Don Inujs went on with crude jokes about television personalities, in a performance Clinton's spokesman later called tasteless. d Michael McCurrv asked not to rebroadcast the remarks, but the cable network went ahead, noting that Imus' at a dinner of radio and TV correspondents was the same kind of commentary he does on the radio. As was pointed out, an organization that doesn't want that kind of talk shouldn't invite a speaker who docs it for a li ing. And Clinton was no stranger to Imus. having appeared on his program as a candidate. The rebukes and the subsequent are no series of counter-joke- s problem for Imus. The) spell the name right and they raise his profile. As when White House chief of si.tfl Leon Panetta explained why Imus couldn't be at the Saturday night dinner of the Gridiron Club: "He's in London being treated DDHOS &(oW0LfD for mad cow disease." The stiff shirt season was Franklin D. Roosevelt's description of the late winter and springtime affairs at which politicians and the people who cover them joke about politics. Sometimes, one y ear's jokes can sound different a vear later. Take Clinton's line in llW5 that he was going to outdo the Republican Contract with America" with one of his own "The I hate the federal government more than you do' contract." he called it. This from the Democratic president who declared in this year's State of the Union address that the era of big government is over, leading Republicans to say he was trying to sound like them. That figured in one gag at the $ 3(p)(p) Save 20 A. r I twtvet glider beige, rose or blue. Reg. $500. sate $439 recline In mid-speec- mm bom Save 35 L k. Montana iota hai Beoutyreri innerspring teat cushions. Choose from 6 fabrics. Reg. $750. sole $525 Gcsvo Q3Z f 1 3J ; Dick a Republicans, was calling from the audience to sav there'd been a mistake. Lott had been handed the wrong text and was reading the speech Clinton was supposed to deliver. affair. Clinton At the radio-Tsaid he'd been apprehensive when Congress' GOP leaders came to the White House after Dole had clinched the GOP presidential nomination. He said Dole asked ""whether the roof leaked and when was the last time the kitchen was remodeled." Dodd had a crack about Dole's sometimes dour image: after winning the nomination, the Senate leader was so elated "he broke into a huge scowl." And about Pat Buchanan, defeated but not withdrawn as a GOP candidate: "Either vou love him ... or he hales vou." In his turn. Clinton said it wasn't true that he'd come to dinner onlv because he drew the short straw and Hillary got to go overseas instead. He said she was at work among the antiquities of Turkey and Greece. Uoking for "very, very old files" Sen. Alfonso D'Amato may vet demand in the Whitewater investigation. Dodd said he understand' D'Amato's persistence. "He just can't believe a person in a position of power could actually lose money on a deal." Walter R. Mean, vice president and columnist for The Asuniated Press, has reported on Washington JO years. U. a id r. 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