News of the Day (March 25)

European people siding against their leaders on embargo: The European people continue to oppose the plans of their own leaders to lift the European Union arms embargo against Communist China (International Herald Tribune). They got some added support from the British Parliament, where “the defense, foreign affairs, international development, and trade and industry committees of the House of Commons” (Cybercast News) advised against lifting the weapons ban. France and Germany have been pushing for the ban to end, while Britain has recently been all over the place.

Communists warn Taiwanese on rally against “anti-secession law”: As President Chen Shui-bian prepares to lead hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese in a march against Communist China’s “anti-secession law” (Voice of America via Epoch Times), the cadres used their mouthpieces in the press to warn “that the protests could worsen already tense relations between the two sides” (BBC). Luckily, Communist China, which has never set foot on Taiwan, can’t arrest anyone – yet. Meanwhile, Taiwanese Premier Frank Hsieh loudly defended his country’s right to exist in the Washington Post.

Hu Jintao tells SNK cadre to stick to talks: The Communist leader supposedly told Stalinist Premier Pak Pong-ju “that dialogue is the only way to settle the dispute” (Washington Times). Given the history of the talks, this is less surprising than it seems.

Kyrgyz opponent to land giveaway to Communists named Attorney General: The downfall of Kyrgyzstan tyrant Askar Akayev has brought Azimbek Beknazarov, who became a dissident there due to his opposition to a treaty that gave 90,000 hectares to the Communists (twelfth paragraph), into the new government. He is now Attorney General (Zaman Online, Turkey). No reaction has come from Communist China, but as Stratfor noted (via Cybercast News) the cadres “have a tendency to view any upheaval in regions where they take interest as part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the United States.”

Canadian Foreign Minster hears it for silent at UN on Communist rights abuses: Canadian Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew refused to discuss Communist China during a speech “to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights” (Epoch Times). For that, Amnesty International, local Tibetan and Uighur groups, and Conservative MP Jason Kenney (the fellow who visited Zhao Ziyang’s family to pay his condolences, seventh item) ripped Pettigrew for his silence on the Communists.

Dr. Jiang Yanyong – SARS hero and Tiananmen critic – freed from house arrest: Communist China has released Dr. Jiang Yanyong from house arrest (Washington Post, fourth item). The good doctor blew the whistle on a 2003 SARS cover-up in Beijing, and a year later publicly called for the Communists to admit that the Tiananmen massacre was a mistake. He had been under detention of some kind for over nine months.

Two young workers in Communist China buried alive by cadres in cover-up: In order to cover up the role of a factory in poisoning five female workers, three of whom were “under 16, the legal age for factory work” (Washington Post), cadres in Xixuying, a town 200 miles southwest of Beijing, buried alive two of the five girls. The parents won a visit from “a team from the Public Security Ministry to exhume the bodies and conduct tests to confirm the cause of death.” However, the Beijing “team” left several questions unanswered, and the locals of Beixinzhuang, the home village of the deceased are not happy. The factory also best symbolizes the farcical nature of “private” ownership – its “owner” is Xixuying’s Deputy Mayor.

East Turkestan cadre resigns as Nine Commentaries spread throughout Beijing: A Vice-Department of Public Security for “Xinjiang” – the name the cadres have given East Turkestan during its nearly fifty-six year occupation of that nation) – has quit the Chinese Communist Party after 30 years. He rips his ex-colleagues for persecuting Falun Gong, slandering the Tiananmen massacre victims, and the mass murder of the Uighurs. Two university students – Feng Daosheng and Lu Siwen – talked to Sound of Hope Radio about the wave of resignations (now approaching half a million). Among others commenting on this were Chen Jun, Epoch Times (which has all the links in this item), and two ex-members who – for obvious reasons – prefer to be known only as Ms. Zhang and Mr. Guan. Meanwhile, the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party continue to spread in Beijing via short-wave radio.

Time Asia examines investing in Communist China: Somewhat surprisingly, they don’t bring rose-colored glasses to the subject (Jim Erickson). One banker, despite doing well, has deep, well-founded suspicions about Communist China, in part due to his suffering during the Cultural Revolution (Michael Schuman). Jim Huang, who has also succeeded, had this to say to Hannah Beech: “there are con artists everywhere. They will cook their books. They will lie during presentations.” The other three pieces (Schuman again, Susan Steptoe, and Susan Jakes) have the more Pollyannaish spin. In particular, Jakes completely ignores the fact that her subject may have succeed due to family ties.

Other Commentary and Analysis: Barton W. Marcois, of RJI Capital Corp., and attorney Leland R. Miller detail Communist China’s true intentions in the Middle East, and how they conflict with ours, in the Washington Times. Michael Elliot has a mediocre review in Time Asia of the continent’s geopolitical situation. Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, has a much worse piece in the magazine on what she thinks U.S. policy toward the Communists should be. William Green, also of Time Asia, talks about property prices in Communist China – and forgets to mention the role of corrupt cadres and land seizures in Communist “real estate.”