
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 25, 1990                   TAG: 9004250012
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: MOSCOW                                LENGTH: Short

THE SOVIET UNION AND CHINA SIGNED AN AGREEMENT

The Soviet Union and China signed an agreement Tuesday for more troop cuts along their 4,300-mile common border in a goodwill gesture that diverted attention from their widening ideological differences.

The agreement came on the second day of a visit by Chinese Premier Li Peng, who ordered the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing last year.

Relations between Moscow and Beijing have cooled in recent months because of Chinese suspicions over Gorbachev's reform program.

Several hundred protesters staged a noisy demonstration opposite the Soviet Foreign Ministry on Monday, waving banners denouncing Li as a "hangman" responsible for the deaths of hundreds of students. The Moscow City Council, now controlled by radical groups, adopted a resolution accusing the Chinese leader of having "blood on his hands."

by CNB