October 30, 1997

BOSTON Chinese President Jiang Zemin is expected to be wined and dined by business leaders in Boston on Saturday shortly after being jeered by thousands of protesters at Harvard University, organizers said on Thursday.

John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co., its eye on the huge Chinese market, has sponsored a luncheon at a posh downtown Boston hotel for about 250 senior executives and state politicians to meet the president.

Representatives from some of the top companies in New England, including Fidelity Investments, Digital Equipment Corp., Raytheon Co. and BankBoston, have reportedly been invited to dine with Jiang.

While human rights activists and as many as 100 hunger strikers will be winding down their protests at Harvard, the business leaders are expected to engage Jiang in business matters and the Chinese economy.

"Certainly those people should be heard and I think they have legitimate issues," John Hancock Chief Executive Stephen Brown said in an interview. "I think sometimes it's forgotten how much progress they have made from the past," he added.

One of the world's largest life insurance companies, John Hancock has said it plans to open a joint venture in China within the next three years.

"When you look at the enormous potential for both insurance and financial services in that part of the world, it really is quite spectacular, and unlike many parts of the world, it is not saturated," Brown said.

But the Boston luncheon is expected to be in sharp contrast to the Harvard visit, where the largest number of protesters at any of Jiang's stopovers during his one week swing through the United States are expected to gather.

Cambridge Police said they expect from 3,000 to 4,000 protesters on hand.

During his morning speech at the prestigious university, student protesters plan to standup and turn their backs, displaying the words "Free Tibet" scrawled across the back of their T-shirts, organizers said.

"There are some Harvard students there who don't plan on just sitting there quietly," said Barbara Ayotte, a spokeswoman for NobelPrize winning Physicians for Human Rights, which is also protesting Chinese policies during the visit.