News of the Day (January 28)

The real Hu Jintao (again): Perhaps I should start Jintaholics Anonymous, for recovering admirers of the Communist leader – then again, I wouldn’t qualify as a member since I never believed the hype. In any event, let’s welcome Julie Chao, Cox News (via Washington Times). For those who still can’t bring themselves to admit they have a problem about the “reformer” Hu, I have three words: Hanyuan County Massacre.

Communist to hold limited Zhao funeral: Communist China will hold a small and very restricted funeral at 9PM this evening (9AM Saturday Beijing time) for Zhao Ziyang. Whether of not the Communists will rip Zhao for opposing the Tiananmen crackdown at his own funeral is still up in the air, but the regime is “forbidding current government officials from all levels from attending” (BBC), which while expected is certainly not a good sign. Several dissidents remain under house arrest, and thus unable to attend the “body farewell ceremony.” Among them are Bang Tao, Zhao’s former top aide; Ding Zilin, founder of the Tiananmen Mothers, and AIDS activist Hu Jia (Epoch Times 1). The Communists also removed nearly all wreaths – and mourners – from Zhao’s courtyard, where hundreds had lined up to pay their respects (Epoch Times 2).

Rally held in Los Angeles: A large collection of dissident groups, including two exiled leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests, gathered last week in Los Angeles to mourn Zhao and call on the Communist Party to surrender power (Epoch Times).

More on Zhao: Epoch Times columnist Chen Yangchao weighs in on what Zhao’s death means for Communist China.

Communists write fake “Nine Commentaries”: In a desperate attempt to stem the support for the Epoch Times’ Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party, Communist China has created a falser version of the commentaries. What exactly the false commentaries say was not mentioned in the Epoch Times report.

The plight of the Uighurs, as told through an exile: Ehrling Hoh, Washington Times, speaks to Sultan Kurash a leading activist for Uighur people of occupied East Turkestan, before and after he was sent into exile. East Turkestan, just north of Tibet, was an independent country until the Communists invaded in 1949. The occupation has been beyond brutal. Adding insult to injury, Communist China claims the overwhelmingly Muslim Uighurs are bin Ladenite terrorists, whereas in reality they are arguably the most pro-American Muslims on Earth (see News on Communist China, East Turkestan, and the Terrorist War in these links: here, here, here, and here).

Japan gets tougher on SNK, but U.S. Congressman wants softer rhetoric: As Japan’s government gave “its clearest signal yet that it might impose economic sanctions against North Korea” (Voice of America via Epoch Times) for its heinous treatment of the issue of eight missing Japanese abductees (next to last item), one of the leading supporters of a 1994 Agreed Framework redux with the Stalinist regime – Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Curt Weldon – publicly called for President Bush to whisper sweet nothings into Kim Jong-il’s ears during the upcoming State of the Union address. According to the Washington Post, “he hopes the reference to North Korea in the speech will sidestep the problems in the country and focus instead on ‘the need for dialogue to resolve the problems.’” Three previous attempts at “dialogue” resulted nothing but in U.S. concessions. This, in part, is why this quarter sees only one real solution: liberation.