News of the Day (March 31)

Those on the e-mail list probably noticed a glitch in yesterday’s News of the Day. Apologies to all; here it is in full.

Communists arrest Catholic priest: Communist China’s persecution of religion continued with the arrest of Father Zhao Kexun, a Roman Catholic priest who was “among the more than 30 priests and other religious practitioners who have been imprisoned” (Voice of America via Epoch Times) by cadres in Hebei province. Roughly 10-12 million Catholics refuse to worship in the Communist-controlled “Catholic” church, choosing instead to risk arrest and remain loyal to Pope John Paul II.

Nationalist meet high-ranking cadre; DPP rips visit: As a delegation from Taiwan’s opposition Nationalist Party met with Jia Qingling, number four on the Communist Party hierarchy (United Press International via Washington Times), the secretary-general of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party ripped the trip, saying the Nationalist Party “has become the Chinese communists' propaganda tool” (BBC). Stunts such as this have turned millions of Taiwanese away from the Nationalists, who lost the presidency to DPP nominee Chen Shui-bian in 2000. Chen beat them against last year.

Panel rips “anti-secession” law, call for Taiwan to help mainland dissidents: At a reception in Taiwan for the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party, panelists blasted the “anti-secession law,” and pleaded for Taiwan to aid dissidents on the mainland, for both its own sake and for that of the Chinese people (Epoch Times).

Communist China rips EU arms opponents as “unreasonable”: Sensing some trouble in its efforts to lift the European Union arms embargo against it, Communist China decided to fire more rhetoric at critics of France and Germany’s efforts to lift the embargo, calling said critics “unreasonable” (Agence France Presse via EU Business, link courtesy Ron Vogel, member since 2000).

Communist Foreign Minister Meets Nepalese King: Communist Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing is having talks with King Gyanendra of Nepal, who recently dissolved his nation’s elected Parliament and is ruling by decree. Nepal has been sending back Tibetan escapees from Communist China for over three years (sixth item). Report: BBC

Vegetables from Communist China are polluted with heavy metals: Due to rampant, Communist-ordered overdevelopment, pollution in Communist Chinese vegetables includes “carcinogenic heavy metals” (Epoch Times) that “can poison the blood, liver and kidneys,” and “contribute to liver cancer and damage the nervous system.”

Commentary on Communist China: Tom Donnelly, Daily Standard, has high praise for the U.S. plans to build-up India (fourth item), and sees in the move a “signal that the president and his senior lieutenants are even thinking through the problem of how to assert the Bush Doctrine and deal with China” (let’s hope he’s right). Jay Nordlinger, in National Review Online (ninth item), excerpts and praises exiled dissident Wang Dan’s Financial Times column in support of the EU arms embargo against Communist China.

Stalinists call on U.S. to remove nukes that aren’t there: In a desperate attempt to change the subject, Stalinist North Korea is calling for the six-party talks on its nuclear talks to include the removal of American nuclear weapons from South Korea (BBC). There is one problem with that demand: the U.S. doesn’t have any nuclear weapons in South Korea (UPI via Washington Times).