The cracks are showing

Already one top Communist Party theoretician has been removed and an academic magazine is being shut down, moves that take the campaign significantly beyond the usual relentless persecution of the dissident community.

The crackdown could frustrate a US-China meeting on human rights in Washington scheduled for January 11-12. The get-together was billed as a success of the summer summit involving US President Bill Clinton and Chinese President Jiang Zemin.

Jiang 8212; whom Clinton hailed as a visionary 8212; is seen asthe prime mover behind the crackdown. In three speeches in the past three weeks, Jiang promised to eliminate challenges to the Communist Party-led system.

8220;These are not the moves of leaders who are feeling secure,8221; said one Chinese academic, who asked not to be identified by name. A State Department official said yesterday that the conference will go on. 8220;We have our concerns on human rights and we are going to raise them,8221; said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Jiang and his colleagues are motivated by economic and political fears, said scholars and party officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. Asia8217;s 18 months of economic trouble has slowed China8217;s economy, increasing the potential for unrest among millions of laid-off state industrial workers.

The political casualties of the Asian turmoil 8212; Indonesian President Suharto8217;s downfall and protests against Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad 8212; have made Chinese leaders more nervous abouttinkering with their successful mix of market economics and Leninist control.

And 19998217;s calendar is full of politically dangerous anniversaries, from uprisings in Tibet to stillborn reform movements. Two milestones stand in particular contrast: the 10th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement, with its violent end by the military, and the 50th anniversary of Communist Party rule.

8220;If they are not going to thoroughly transform the Communist system, then their only choice is to maintain it,8221; another liberal academic said, also on condition of anonymity.

In less than two months, Chinese leaders have moved to squelch the most remarkable features of the debate for change. A series of books that discussed how crime, corruption and income disparities are undermining China8217;s Communist system has been discontinued.

An internal study of western democracy ordered by Jiang also has been dropped, one participant said.

The man behind both projects, Liu Ji, has been removed from his post as vicepresident of the government-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Although billed as a retirement, academy insiders said the 63-year-old Liu was outmaneuvered by a fellow vice president, conservative party propagandist Wang Renzhi, who is 65.

An academic magazine which featured essays on democracy, Fangfa

, has also been ordered to suspend publication after the January issue, an editor and a contributor said.

Dissidents have been the chief targets, especially organizers of a would-be opposition political party. Since its debut in June, the China Democracy Party has managed to draw at least 200 members in 11 provinces and cities, despite police harassment and without any coverage by the state-controlled Chinese media.

Now at least six members have been imprisoned, and another five are in police custody or under house arrest. The group8217;s most influential activists 8212; Xu Wenli, Qin Yongmin and Wang Youcai 8212; were sentenced to at least 11 years in jail for subversion.

Theirs were among theharshest sentences given to dissidents this decade. To make sure the public got the point, national newspapers carried brief reports on their sentencings, a rare mention of both dissidents and the China Democracy Party.

A labour rights activist, a dissident poet and young writer also have received long prison terms in recent weeks, also for subversion. Despite the crackdown, China remains more open and pluralistic than perhaps it has ever been under Communism. As the numbers who work for the private sector grow, the government controls fewer aspects of daily life. Intellectual salons have continued to meet openly in bookstores.

8220;Chinese society has already changed too much. It8217;s no longer a society in which everyone does what the leader says,8221; said Liu Junning, a politics expert and editor of a provocative highbrow book series.

8220;It doesn8217;t matter how many magazines they close or newspapers they control, people will still find a way to make their views known,8221; he said.