Editorials.

The article presents some political updates as of July 14, 1997. One of the updates discusses the independent labor unions in Hong Kong, China. On May 12, Chinese President Jiang Zemin promised a visiting Japanese trade union delegation that Beijing would respect Hong Kong's independent unions. Yet the Chinese government has already moved to undermine the independent unions, stripping the free union federation of two legislative seats held by its leaders. Another update says that in the Amsterdam conference, the European Union looked too disunited to produce any pattern, though it may also be suggested that the unexpected Socialist victory in France has introduced a potentially creative period of disarray.