News of the Day (October 31)

Communist China covering up young girl’s bird flu death: The first human bird flu causalty in Communist China – of which we are aware – came in Hunan Province, where a twelve-year-old girl died and her eight-year-old brother is underquarantine. The cadres have pulled out all stops to keep this news from reaching the outside world – to the point of cremating the girl’s body (Mingpao via Epoch Times) – but local villagers, “including people in the Shebu Town Clinic, were convinced that the girl died of bird flu” (Epoch Times). Said villagers are scared and angry, one saying “that the CCP never takes people’s lives seriously, and as a result, the people suffer.” Just call it SARS redux.

Communists panicked by five-million-plus resignations from Party: The reaction of the anti-Falun Gong 610 Office to the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party was revealed in what the Epoch Times called a “secret internal document.” Liu Jing, head of 610, apparently warned that the Commentaries “greatly challenged” the legitimacy of the Party. Meanwhile, the family of imprisoned dissident Wang Bingzhang added their names to the 5¼ million ex-Communists (Epoch Times).

Cadres digging up corpses when families can’t pay burial fees: Just in time for Halloween, cadres in Guangdong Province “arrived to exhume at least two bodies of recently deceased villagers” (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times), because their families couldn’t pay the burial fees of more than $1,250. Angry villagers “blocked local traffic and detained two officials,” demanding compensation for the reburial of their loved ones.

Communist-appointed Lama visits Shigaste: The “rare trip” for the cadre-picked Panchen Lama was mentioned in the Washington Times, which strangely enough omitted the fact that the Dalai Lama’s choice for the post has been imprisoned for over a decade.

Japan gets new, more anti-Communist, cabinet: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi reshuffled his cabinet, moving anti-Communist Shinzo Abe (BBC) into the number two slot of chief cabinet secretary (which is also the usual place for the next Prime Minister). Another anti-Communist Taro Aso, is the new Foreign Minister (BBC).

Hu Jintao leaves Stalinist North Korea: The Communist leader ended his visit to Stalinist North Korea (BBC), after promising “more co-operation” for the colonists’ disastrous economy and receiving high Stalinist praise (Washington Times, last item).

Thirteen SNK refugees at Qingdao school: Last weeks, thirteen Stalinist refugees from “sought refuge in a Korean school in Qingdao, China (Chosun Ilbo, SK, courtesy OFK).

U.S. not happy with SNK reactor demand: Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the lead U.S. envoy in the debacle that is the six-party talks on the Stalinists’ nuclear ambitions, insisted SNK would “deeply regret” (Washington Times) its recent light-water reactor demand. One can only assume Hill has quite the sense of humor.

South Korean opposition rips government decision not to vote on UN resolution: President Roh Moo-hyun decision to abstain on the United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning SNK’s human rights abuses (thirteenth and eighth items) was ripped by the hawkish Grand National Party (Chosun Ilbo, SK, courtesy OFK). More on the northern Korean colony after the commentary pieces on Communist China.

On persecution in Communist China: Attorney Gao Zhisheng spoke to Wu Ming (Epoch Times) about what inspired his open letter to Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao calling for an end to the Falun Gong War (sixth item). Zhang Xiaomin, Epoch Times, details the latest casualty figures, if you will, from that war, while Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun talked to Vincent Brossel of Reporters Without Borders and the Epoch Times about “the CCP’s infiltration, control and manipulation of the media in China and overseas, including its operation of the Internet blockade.”

From He Qinglian: The economist-turned-dissident spoke to Lin Heshun and Lu Qingshuang (Epoch Times) about the Communist/media myths of “reform.” She also wrote a column for the paper on the real Communist economy.

On Communist China and the United States: Richard Halloran, Washington Times, offers a vanilla analysis of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s trip to Communist China. Fred Hiatt, Washington Post, is equally bland in discussing Hong Kong regime leader Donald Tsang to Washington. Denis Charleton, Epoch Times, handles his topic – the Communists’ “white paper” on democracy (fifth item) – with much more zeal.

Woe Canada! Globe and Mail runs away with Ignorant Comment(s) of the Day: With so many contenders – all of whom meet te qualification of never mentioning the dangers to Western security about investing in Communist China – the winner, by a nose, was Gordon Pitts, whose Globe and Mail pieces on Nortel also ignores the role of ZTE Corporation and Huawei Technologies in helping Saddam Hussein integrate his air defenses. Meanwhile, G&M’s Heather Scoffield, Marcus Gee, and Bob Carrick do their own investment cheerleading for Communist China. Clearly, none of them talked to Professor Zhang Qingxi and Dr. Gao Weibang (twelfth item).

Yet through the darkness, a white knight steps forward: Ed Clark, head of Toronto-Dominion Bank, told the Globe and Mail this: “he has no interest in chasing the Chinese dragon . . . . TD once had a small presence in Hong Kong, but that has since been shuttered. The bank has no beachheads on the mainland.” After years of telling people where not to put or spend their money, we may finally have a haven in this bank (and its U.S. investment arm, T-D Waterhouse).

More on Communist China and Canada: Andrea Mrozek, Western Standard, details Canada’s support for the Communists’ hideous “one child” policy (lead, lead, tenth, second, ninth, ninth, thirteenth, and lead items) through its funding of the United Nations Population Fund (note: this would have won the Enlightened Comment of the Day, if she hadn’t quoted me and thus set me up for some conflict of interest issues). Ezra Levant, Calgary Sun, finds the governing Liberal Party’s fantasy of substituting Communist China for the U.S. as Canada’s major trading partner to be laughable (let’s hope he right). Paul Wells, author of the Macleans Inkless Wells Blog, notes the cost of repression in the cadres’ search for academic greratness: “an emerging theme in even the cheerleading journalism out of China: that even as it rises, it's rising a little . . . crooked.”

Doctor Norbert Vollertsen, one of the true heroes in the fight for northern Korea’s liberation, talks to Friendly Bog One Free Korea, who posted the interview in two parts.

More from One Free Korea: The Friendly Blog takes note of the Stalinist definition of diplomat, rips the South Korean police for risking the lives of thousands of defectors and their families, ponders the rift between dovish Koreans and nearly all Americans, and comments the recent South Korean by-elections.

More on Stalinist North Korea: David Jones, Washington Times, would have won the Ignorant Comment of the Day in a runaway but for the Globe and Mail fiasco above; his piece on his visit to the Stalinist regime was positively awful. James G. Zumwalt’s Washington Times piece is far better, but even he omits liberation from his “three options.” Andrew Salmon, Washington Times, reviews the 1968 U.S.S. Pueblo debacle.