News of the Day (August 29)

Former Communist military officer says troops in East Turkestan want to go home: For all of us who have lamented the brutal occupation of East Turkestan (“Xinjiang”) by Communist China comes news from former military officer Li Qike on the views of the forces the cadres have stationed there. According to Mr. Qike, morale is low, many of the troops “are stationed . . . for life” (Epoch Times) and unable to go home, and the Communists “basically turned the corps into a concentration camp where they persecute innocent people.” Thus not only to the people of East Turkestan want the occupiers to leave, the occupiers themselves are desperate to get out and go home.

More on the Uighurs: There can be no better way to see the differences between the United States and Communist China their reaction to the outrage over the treatment of Uighurs in Guantanamo. The U.S. “moved five ethnic Uighurs into a less restrictive area of the prison while the United States tries to find a way to free the Chinese separatists in a third country” (Washington Post). The cadres smeared longtime Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer (fifth item) “of engineering a terrorist plot” (Weekly Standard, second item).

Able Danger “restructured” over chart on Communist China links: According to the New York Post, the contractor working Able Danger data-mining program – which its staffers say tagged 9/11/01 hijacker Mohammed Atta over a year before the terrorist attack occurred – was fired in May 2000 due to “a particularly controversial chart on proliferation of sensitive technology to China” that traced “Chinese strategic and business connections in the U.S.” – and included current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ex-Defense Secretary William Perry. The chart “was separate from the counter-terrorism assignment” that nailed Atta, and made “no suggestion that Rice or any of the others had done anything wrong.” It simply included the officials “by linking their associations at Stanford, along with their contacts with Chinese leaders.” While the Post seems to focus Rice’s mention as the red flag, the timing leads this quarter to believe Perry’s name may have been the problem. In any event, that would be a chart worth seeing.

On Communist Chinese espionage: Time’s Nathan Thornburgh gives a detailed view of Communist China’s massive cyberhack operation – dubbed Titan Rain. Meanwhile, India – a longtime Communist rival – is looking into “a highly classified report from its China experts warning against allowing the Chinese to surge into the country’s strategic sector without putting in place a foolproof mechanism of checks and balances” against Communist spying (Rajeev Sharma, The Tribune, India).

UPI notices Communist refurbish of Russian carrier – two weeks later: United Press International (via Washington Times) cited MosNews in reporting the Communists’ plans to turn the dilapidated Russia Varyag aircraft carrier into “China's first aircraft carrier.” Of course, readers of this blog have known about that for two weeks (fourth item).

More on Communist China and the United States: Admiral Gary Roughhead, commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, asks Richard Halloran (Washington Times), “What do [the Chinese] see as the intended use of that navy?” Albert Santoli, of the Asia America Initiative, testifies before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on Communist China’s growing influence in Latin America, and what it means for the U.S. Lev Navrozov, Newsmax, is appalled at American Joseph Bosco’s willingness to parrot Communist propaganda. Nathan J. Muller, For the Cause, examines how Communist China’s use of piracy and extortion as political weapons. Finally, the Asia-Pacific Post (Canada) runs a Mata Press Service column on the history of Hu Jintao – soon to visit the U.S. and Canada (although it forgot the Hanyuan County Massacre).

Falun Gong practitioners released in Hebei; fate of Ling Na Rong still up in the air: Two Falun Gong practitioners, Mr. and Mrs. Huang Wei, were released from jail due to the bold action of their attorney, Gao Zhisheng, who captured international attention with an open letter to the cadres (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Ling Na Rong, the practitioner Britain almost deported back to Communist China, is still in the UK, but her fate is uncertain. Simon Veazey, Epoch Times, calls on Britain to grant her asylum.

European Union talks with Communist China on textiles end: The European Union “concluded five days of talks in Beijing” (BBC) on Communist textile exports after an earlier deal to limit imports (sixth item) went awry. Communist China’s textile exports to the EU surged after worldwide textile trade restrictions ended on January 1 (fifth item), crowding out several developing nations in the process (fifth, fourth, and second items). This round of talks left the Europeans “hopeful,” but without a deal.

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Former 610 officer Hao Fengjun “outlined a plan that the Chinese government has hatched to attack and neutralize foreign media as part of its overall efforts to control public opinion outside of China” (Epoch Times). Liu Zongqi, Epoch Times, finds the Royal Bank of Scotland’s investment in the corruption-plagued Bank of China (eleventh, sixteenth, nineteenth, sixth, seventh, last, and tenth items) to be sadly typical.

Blind peasant to lead class-action against Communist China’s “one child” policy: Chen Guangcheng, a blind peasant in his thirties, has chosen to represent women forced into having abortions and men forced into sterilizations in a class-action lawsuit against the cause of these crimes: the Communists’ hideous “one child” policy. Philip P. Pan, Washington Post via MSNBC, presents his story, and those of the victims he champions.

Resignations from CCP inspired by Nine Commentaries approach four million: A rally in their honor was held in Los Angeles a week ago (Epoch Times).

Bishop Xie dies: Bishop Xie Shinguang, a leader in the “underground” Catholic Church who “served four separate prison terms” (BBC) in Communist China, has died. Bishop Xie was pressured to enter the Communist-run “Patriotic” church; he chose jail rather than putting the Party between himself and his God. The news comes as the Catholic Church is hinting at a possible reconciliation with the Communists.

More on religious persecution inside Communist China: Feng Changle, Epoch Times, examines the battle between Communist China and the “underground” Christians who, like the late Bishop Xie, refused to submit to its dictates on faith.

Has the Communist media had enough? There are rumblings in the Communist-controlled media: “editors of The Beijing Economic Observer collectively resigned from their posts” (Epoch Times), while the senior editor the China Youth Daily publicly called out the regime for “the movement to enslave and vulgarize reporters of the China Youth Daily.” Meanwhile, the Communists “succeeded in preventing any first-hand media coverage of an environmental protest in which thousands of villagers clashed with riot police” (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times) in Zhejiang.

Communists likely to kill Pop Idol next year: Communist China’s version of Pop Idol (called American Idol here, Super Girl 2005 over there) is not likely to have a repeat performance due to “censors . . . concerned that the democratic methods used to select the winner from 120,000 entrants could stir trouble” (London Telegraph).

On the “China bubble”: Andrea Mandel-Campbell, Macleans (Canada), concludes her two-part series on Communist China (for part one, see fourteenth item) by casting her eyes on the impoverished, and seething, peasantry.

On Jiang Zemin: The editors of the Epoch Times release Chapters 14, 15, 16, and 17 in their biography of the former cadre leader and author of the Falun Gong crackdown.

SNK postpones talks, rips U.S. envoy on human rights: Stalinist North Korea pushed the start of the next round of six-party talks on its nuclear weapons into mid-September “at the earliest” (BBC). Stalinist Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun “blamed the delay on military drills taking place between the US and South Korea” (for more on the exercises, see second item). The Stalinist press also ripped the Bush Administration for appointing Jay Leftkowitz as the official U.S. envoy on human rights in SNK (Cybercast News). However, Communist China once again insisted a deal was “very close” (Washington Times), as if that was good news.

More on Stalinist North Korea: More South Koreans are growing weary of Stalinist double-talk on prisoners of war and abductees – there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Koreans from the democratic South that the Stalinists have kidnapped (UPI via Washington Times). Sadly, this didn’t stop some South Koreans from becoming Stalinist propaganda tools – ahem, “tourists” (Washington Times). Will they never learn?