News of the Day (March 4)

Communist Parliament to increase military spending, consider “anti-secession” law: Communist China’s rubber-stamp legislature, called the National People’s Congress, will begin its annual session tomorrow. Topping the agenda is a 12% military spending hike – the fifth straight double-digit rise in military funds (BBC) – and the long-awaited “anti-secession law” the Communists are pushing to “make the secession of Taiwan from China illegal” (CNN). Given that Taiwan is already a de facto independent democracy, many there are certain the law is merely a pretext for the Communists “to invade the island” (BBC). As such, a mass Taiwanese petition campaign to oppose it is underway.

Hu Jintao orders mass arrests of appellants: Communist China has begun a new policy of arresting any petitioners – usually known as “appellants” – that the cadres “are unable to handle” (Epoch Times). The new policy, which led to over 100 arrests in Beijing on February 28 alone, was “mandated by Chinese president Hu Jintao” – the supposed reformer who revealed his true colors during the Hanyuan County massacre.

Kyrgyzstan caves into Communist China on Falun Gong: The government of Kyrgyzstan, a small neighbor of Communist China, convinced its court system to ban Falun Gong as “a threat to the country’s security” (Epoch Times). It should be noted that the Kyrgyz government, under President Askar Akayev, is far from democratic – pro-government fraud was “massive” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) in recent elections. One bone of contention the democratic opposition has with Akayev was his decision to hand over a portion of Kyrgyz territory to the Communists (International News). The lead opposition figure on that issue, did manage to win a seat in the new Parliament.

Great Britain happy with Hong Kong now: Great Britain, citing Hong Kong's supposed “political maturity” (BBC), “concluded that the ‘one country, two systems’ approach was working well in practice.” Given Gordon Brown’s glowing approval of Communist China and Britain’s support of efforts to lift the EU arms embargo with the Communists (second item), this report should infuriate, but not surprise.

Snakehead or savior? That’s the question Michelle Garcia, Washington Post, asks about Tao "Andy" Lin, and his service helping escapees from Communist China. The piece did not mention if Lin’s clients are forced into indentured servitude for his services. As such, this quarter has no choice but to take a wait-and-see attitude on Mr. Lin.

More on Communist China: Lev Navrozov, Newsmax, wants to know why President Bush didn’t push Putin to stop selling weapons to Communist China? Jim Chapman, London Free Press (Canada), see America’s missile defense more as a shield against Communist Chinese threats than rogue states.

On Stalinist North Korea: The Los Angeles Times gets the rhetorical double-barrel from World Net Daily’s Kevin McCollough for an interview with a Stalinist “businessman” that reads much like a propaganda piece from SNK. Meanwhile, the Stalinists postponed the March 9 meeting of their puppet legislature, and gave no reason why. Report: CNN