CHINESE EDITION OF PRESIDENT TUDJMAN'S BOOK LAUNCHED IN BEIJING

( Editorial: --> 5019 ) BEIJING, Aug 22 (Hina) - The Chinese edition of Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's book "Bespuca povijesne zbiljnosti" - whose English version is titled "Horrors of War: Historical Reality and Philosophy" - was launched in Beijing on Friday. The book launch was attended by prominent guests from the Foreign Ministry, the Chinese society for friendship with foreign countries, the Academy of Social Sciences, universities, scientific institutions and media circles. Addressing the gathering after an introduction by the local Chinese publishers were Chinese Society for Foreign Affairs president Mei Zhaorong, the book's translator Yang Dazhou and the Croatian Embassy in Peking authorised minister Zoran Andric. The Chinese speakers said the book was a welcome opportunity for readers to be informed by Tudjman, as a historian and politician, on the series of historic events which have occurred in a region which still commands interest today, and whose past is not sufficiently known. Andric said from the perspective of Croatian-Sino relations, the book was now available to Chinese readers five years after President Tudjman's state visit to China and his talks with President Jiang Zemin, which established the foundations for stable and friendly bilateral relations and fruitful and universal cooperation. In this light the Chinese edition of "Bespuca", in which Tudjman writes an introduction dedicated to Croatian-Sino relations and Croatian cultural history, is a contribution to better mutual knowledge and understanding, Andric said. Emerging after the German and American editions, the Chinese version of "Bespuca" has the name of the author and book in both Chinese and Croatian on the cover, as well as photographs of the Croatian island of Korcula, the birthplace of Marco Polo who is also mentioned in the introduction. The publisher, the Central Publishing Firm for Translations, also last year printed a selection of Ante Stamac and Ivo Sanader's anthology "U ovom strasnom casu" ("At This Terrifying Moment"). This book was also translated by Yang Dazhou, a former Zagreb university student and long-time journalist, analyst and translator. Three thousand copies of the Chinese version of "Bespuca" have been published and at Tudjman's request, author royalties from sales will be donated to university libraries and Chinese scientific institutions. (Hina) mbr 221516 MET aug 98