Deng Xioping

The question of the week in Beijing is whether Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who has not made a public appearance for months, will emerge from his seclusion to greet visiting Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister. While ostensibly retired, the powerful Deng, 87, stays out of sight in part to give the impression that younger men are running China.

The question of the week in Beijing is whether Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who has not made a public appearance for months, will emerge from his seclusion to greet visiting Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister. While ostensibly retired, the powerful Deng, 87, stays out of sight in part to give the impression that younger men are running China.

As Chinese officials continue to jockey to succeed the ailing Deng Xioping, Beijing is once again flexing its political and military muscles. Most recently Premier Li Peng repeated that China had not renounced the use of force to recover Taiwan, the Nationalist Party-ruled island off its southern coast. " .J.J. In the final analysis," he said, "we cannot promise to give up the use of force."

John Denver wondered out loud whether he or Oliver North more accurately reflects the spirit of America. The singer, who was viewed as an All-American boy during his heyday in the early-to-middle '70s, voiced skepticism over the popular perception of North as folk hero in reaction to the Iran- contra hearings. "Well, Oliver North and I are pretty much the same age," said Denver, 43, in a recent phone interview from his home in Aspen, Colo.