News of the Day (August 22)

Another Falun Gong practitioner deported: Unless someone knocked some sense into the British Home Office, practitioner Ling Na Rong was sent back to Communist China yesterday (Epoch Times). The Home Office “asserts that she does not face danger, as she is not a Falun Gong leader.” Have the bureaucrats in that office heard of the late Gao Rongrong? As the Epoch Times notes, she wasn’t a Falun Gong leader, either.

Russia-Communist China military exercises continue: The joint military exercises between Communist China and Russia (second item) continued into the weekend (Washington Times). Meanwhile, the editors of the Washington Times note the “better-coordinated and more formidable counterweight” to the United States in East Asia.

Woe Canada! PetroKazakhstan agrees to CNPC takeover: Canadian oil firm PetroKazakhstan chose the China National Petroleum Corp (parent company to Petrochina – eighth item) over two other takeover suitors (BBC). It was yet another move forward in Communist China’s Canada energy grab (third and third items).

Disney to examine conditions at factories in Shenzhen: A factory in Shenzhen that produces book for the Walt Disney Company forced staff to work “up to 13-hour days for less than the minimum wage”, according to the National Labor Committee (cited by the BBC). Disney “said it planned to launch a full investigation.”

Singapore joins Malaysian effort to strong-arm Epoch Times: The government of Singapore extended the Epoch Times’ license, but “the extension period was reduced from one year to three months.” A Singapore official blamed the paper’s content for the reduction in the license renewal. Meanwhile, Li Rulan, Epoch Times, rips Malaysia for caving into Communist China by banning the paper (ninth item).

Ignorant Comment of the Day: Today’s winner is Dan Griffiths, BBC, for his piece on “China's information revolution” that is breathless in style, and thoughtless in content.

On Hao Fengjun: Zeng Zheng, Epoch Times, followed in awe of the former anti-Falun Gong 610 officer in Australia as he continued to expose Communist China abuses against its own people and its overseas espionage network.

More on the China bubble: Peter Goodman has two excellent pieces on the hazards of doing business in Communist China (Washington Post and Post via MSNBC). Liu Zongqi, Epoch Times, finds the Yahoo! investment in Alibaba (fifth item) to be a lot less than meets the eye. On the flip side, Chen Pokong, Epoch Times, examines the motives behind the cadres’ Western corporation shopping spree.

An open letter to the UN Commissioner for Human Rights: Over six hundred and fifty extremely brave dissidents call on UN Human Rights Commissioner Louise Arbour to demand the Communists improve the treatment of their own people (Boxun).

More commentary on Communist China: Jose Rivera, Epoch Times, interviews Ethan Guttman, author of Losing the New China and Member since 2004. Raza Naqvi, Washington Times, examines the troubling rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (third item). Eric Margolis, Toronto Sun, becomes one of the few observers of the rising tension in East Asia to avoid blaming Japan for it all (Ignorant Comment of the Day).

On Stalinist North Korea: As President Bush took the very important step of naming Jay Lefkowitz as his special envoy on human rights in North Korea (Washington Times), the Stalinists “reactivated a nuclear reactor that could be used to refine materials for nuclear warheads” (Voice of America via Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Communist China managed to score some political points when Hu Jintao “urged Pyongyang to accept a Chinese plan that called on it to dismantle not only all its nuclear weapons but also strictly limit peaceful use of nuclear power” (Chosun Ilbo, South Korea) – never mind that the Stalinists have already demanded the “peaceful use of nuclear power” as part of their price for nuclear disarmament. If that wasn’t enough to turn the stomach, Christopher Hill, the lead U.S. negotiator in the six-party “process” (Washington Times) on the Stalinists’ nukes, actually called it “a sort of embryonic structure for Northeast Asia It can serve to create new ties – new bilateral ties and a new multilateral momentum for the region.” We have asked before, but must ask again: Will they never learn?