News of the Day (April 14)

Communist China claims it’s good on human rights: Communist China released a report boasting of the arrests of “1,595 government functionaries suspected . . . of infringement on rights” (Washington Post) against citizens. That of course, does not include citizens who practice Falun Gong, worship in unrecognized churches, would prefer to vote against the Chinese Communist Party, want to form independent labor unions, or would prefer to express opinions in support of any of the above.

NTDTV supporters take case to United Nations and President Bush: New Tang Dynasty Television, which will go dark in Communist China tomorrow due to Eutelsat’s unwillingness to broadcast its signal (sixth item), went to the United Nations Human Rights Commission to plead their case. They were joined by the Tiananmen Mothers (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, President Bush received a letter from 94 Congressmen calling on him to “urge Eutelsat to reconsider a decision to discontinue their contract allowing NTDTV to be broadcast into China” (Epoch Times).

Communist China angry at Japanese drilling move: Qin Gang – the same Communist mouthpiece who blamed Japan’s history for the riot and attack against the Japanese Embassy in Beijing last weekend (third item) took aim at Japan again for its decision to take applications for gas drilling rights in waters the Communists claim as their own (fourth item). Qin called it a “serious provocation” (BBC). So what was the riot, Qin?

More on Communist China’s radical nationalism: Exiled dissident Harry Wu, who is head of the Laogai Research Foundation, talks to World Net Daily about the Communist-driven nationalism, its similarities to that of earlier, imperial dictatorships, and the implications for the U.S. Eric Baculinao and Brian Newbury, MSNBC, give an analysis on East Asia that reveals much – about their ignorance of the Communist Party, that is.

Could container ships bring the Communist invasion to Taiwan? That is the question Frederick W. Stakelbeck, Jr. asks in Front Page Magazine.

Commentary on Stalinist North Korea from the Uri doves – Wait! That’s UPI: Jong-Heon Lee’s column on SNK’s “reforms” reads like soft Stalinist propaganda – or the typical Pollyannaish drivel that comes from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his dovish Uri Party (United Press International (via Washington Times).