News of the Day (June 14)

Support for Chen and Hao spreads worldwide: Rallies around the world have been held for defectors Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun (Epoch Times) – the cadres whose fates are still in the hands of the Australian government after they presented (third item, fourth item). Chen, who first presented accounts of the Communist espionage network in Australia, sent a message of thanks to a rally in Sydney (Epoch Times). Hao, meanwhile, gave an interview to the Epoch Times, while his attorney insisted he receive asylum before he divulge any more information about the Communist spy networks (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Caylan Ford and Jonathan Browde (Epoch Times), summarizes the information Chen and Hao provided, with a tease for what’s next: “How China’s spy networks monitor and harass ordinary Americans.” Meanwhile, the Epoch Times editors call the asylum applications “a test for the free world to show their determination to defend freedom.” Indeed, our call for the U.S. to grant them asylum still stands.

Microsoft-on-Communism: Microsoft has launched its internet service in Communist China – but without the words “freedom,” “democracy,” “demonstration,” “human rights,” and “Taiwan independence” – all blocked by the firm itself “as a concession to the Chinese government” (BBC).

U.S. Ambassador wants Jude Shao free: Clark Randt, U.S. Ambassador to Communist China, is calling for the early release of Jude Shao, “an American citizen serving 16 years in prison on tax-fraud charges that his supporters say were fabricated because he refused to pay bribes to Chinese officials” (Washington Times).

Intel to throw $200 million more into Communist China: Meanwhile, Intel is putting $200 million into a “venture-capital fund to invest in Chinese technology companies developing hardware, software, and services” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times).

European Union tweaks U.S. on Communist China trade: Fresh off its textile import deal with Communist China (sixth item), EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson “criticized the United States for taking what he called a less-than conciliatory approach toward Beijing” (UPI via Washington Times). The U.S. slapped restrictions on Communist textiles to slowdown a major import surge due to the deliberately weak currency and the lack of independent unions (fifth item, second item). Meanwhile, Deliang, Epoch Times, reveals another reason for the surge in exports from Communist China to the rest of the world – Communist-run banks are actually paying to build them.

Resignations approach 2.3 million: Among those joining the “ex-Communist” Party are a slew of northeasterners and a police officer from Dalian so racked by guilt he is even prepared to stand trial for his crimes (both links from the Epoch Times).

Communist China claims to understand AIDS: Communist Vice Health Minister Wang Longde “said discrimination against people with the HIV-Aids virus in China is rife” (BBC) amid reports of a proposed law “to protect those with the virus.” This corner will believe it when help comes to the one million victims in Henan (fourth item).

Communist-owned bank to sell shares in Hong Kong: Bank of Communications – whose biggest stockholder is the Communist Finance Ministry – will sell roughly 13% of itself in a Hong Kong initial public offering (Dow Jones via Yahoo). The IPO is sponsored in part by HSBC (BBC), the bank’s second largest shareholder.

Dalai Lama thinks he’ll be able go back to Tibet: The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leaders, believes Communist China will allow him to revisit his homeland (UPI via Washington Times). He also continued to swear off any ambition for his nation to return to the independence it enjoyed before the Communists conquered it in 1950.

UN envoy criticizes Communist China on SNK refugees: Vitit Muntarbhorn, the United Nations special envoy for North Korean human rights, criticized Communist China for its deliberate policy of returning any refugee from Stalinist North Korea it can find. Muntarbhorn “said at a conference in Malaysia that the fleeing refugees were not “hunger cases” but refugees who feared persecution if returned home” (Cybercast News).

President Bush meets defector from SNK: Kang Chol Hwan, a former Stalinist prisoner and now director of the Democracy Network Against North Korean Gulag, met with President Bush yesterday in “a move that could provoke Pyongyang just as it was reviving stalled nuclear talks” (not trying to slant the story, are you, Washington Post?).

Jenkins back in United States: Charles Robert Jenkins, Army sergeant-turned-defector to SNK-turned-Stalinist prisoner (fourth item, seventh item, last item), is back in the U.S. after forty years to see his mother (BBC).

Kim-Kim summit remembered on fifth anniversary: Roughly 300 South Koreans, including about 40 officials in its dovish government, went north to commemorate the summit between Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il and then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung (BBC). Not everyone is so nostalgic; Dr. Norbert Vollertsen, who saw the horrors of Stalinism up-close (fifth item), spoke to Cybercast News about it.

Roh Moo-hyun confident talks will resume: Dovish South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun “sure that multinational negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear programs will resume” (Voice of America via Epoch Times). Then again, he thinks that’s a good thing.

On Stalinist propaganda: T.A. Frank, The New Republic, notes of the day’s bromides.

Will they never learn? Today’s installment comes via the Washington Times, in which Michael O'Hanlon, of the Brookings Institution, calls for the U.S. to expand the talks on SNK’s nuclear arsenal and “test North Korea's willingness to reform economically and even politically, Vietnam-style.” Vietnam-style?