News of the Day (June 13)

Charles R. Smith knocks one out of the park: The Newsmax columnist’s piece on the Communist threat to the U.S. is easily good enough to put commentary in front today.

More commentary on Communist China and the United States: Fellow Newsmax columnist Wes Vernon echoes Smith’s warnings. Henry Kissinger does it again (sixth item), this time in the International Herald Tribune. Mark Steyn optimistically predicts the regime’s collapse, without “engagement” naiveté, in the London Sunday Telegraph.

Woe Canada! Ipsos-Reid conducted a poll of American and Canadian attitudes on Communist China – and found a majority of Canadians oppose trade with Communist China (Kevin Libin, Western Standard Shotgun weblog), as do a majority of Americans, again. Meanwhile, Peter Worthington, Toronto Sun, chronicles the long strange journey of Project Sidewinder – the report on Communist penetration into Canada scrapped by Parliament in the 1990s – without making a conclusion on its value (full disclosure: the author of Sidewinder has been a Member since 2004).

Chen Yonglin interview: The Communist consular officer who defected to blow the whistle on Communist overseas spying and persecution of ethnic Chinese communities worldwide talked to the Epoch Times about his inner political journey. Meanwhile, rallies all over Australia were held to support his bid for asylum there (Epoch Times, Voice of America via Newsmax). Help us press the U.S. to grant him asylum.

More Commentary on Communist China: The Epoch Times reprints a detailed examination of Falun Gong persecution central, a.k.a. the 610 Office, from Compassion. Songfa Liu, a Chinese expatriate in Australia, tells the Epoch Times of his family’s firsthand experience with the long arm of Communist tyranny. Edward Cody, Washington Post (via MSNBC), gives the unresolved epilogue to Hauxi’s pollution protests (fourth, eleventh, and sixth items). Jon Speller, former editor of East Europe, predicts the Communist Party will lose power in the number of resignations reaches 4 million (Epoch Times) – the number is now over 2¼ million. Finally, the China Support Network examines the state of pro-democracy movements across Asia.

Trade deficit rises over $3 billion in April, Communist China accounts for half: The U.S. trade deficit “increased to $57 billion in April” (Washington Post), an increase of $3.4 billion from the $53.6 billion recorded in March. Over half of the increase – $1.8 billion to be exact – came from Communist China.

Jackie Chan blames “some people” for flap over Taiwan election: Jackie Chan, who infuriated many Taiwanese by mocking their presidential election last year (twenty-fourth item), blamed “some people who purposefully took certain words from me and developed them without limit, twisted them and arbitrarily put charges on me” (BBC) for it all, and had the audacity to insist he “‘meant well’ to the Taiwanese people” in belittling the vote.

On Stalinist North Korea: James T. Hackett, Washington Times, joins those in praise of UN Ambassador-designate John Bolton for the anti-SNK Proliferation Security Initiative (next to last item). Donald MacIntyre, Time Asia, examines the approaching famine in SNK – although he’s a little weak on why the rest of the world is so reluctant to “help” (fifth, ninth, last, and next to last items) and the continuing disrespect the dovish South Korean government is giving SNK refugees. Robert Litwak and Kathryn Weathersby, of the Woodrow Wilson Center, examine Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il and his father’s obsession with SNK’s survival, and then call for “a credible assurance from the United States that the regime itself is not in danger” (Washington Post). Will they never learn?