News of the Day (October 4)

Over 100 arrests at Tiananmen Square on “National Day”: As the Communists celebrated the founding of their People’s Republic regime, “more than 100 appealers were arrested and taken away” (Epoch Times) from Tiananmen Square. Appealers are citizens who present petitions to Zhongnanhai for redress against cadres back home who have wronged them. The usual Communist response is apathy and arrest (ninth item).

Communist China wants more East Turkestani oil and natural gas: Communist China is planning to steal more oil and natural gas from occupied East Turkestan. Communist-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) will lead the efforts (AsiaNews.it). The Communists’ occupation of East Turkestan – independent until 1949 – has been beyond brutal.

Communist China targeted Japanese plane in disputed area: According to the Kyodo News Agency (cited by United Press Int’l via Washington Times), “a Chinese warship trained its artillery towards a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force P3-C surveillance plane.” The Japanese military wouldn’t go that far publicly, but did acknowledge “that the Chinese warship had actually ‘painted’ the aircraft with its target acquisition radar.” The incident occurred in the disputed area of the East China Sea (fourth item).

Taiwan angry at Google map: The internet search engine Google refers to the island democracy of Taiwan “as a province of China on its map web site” (BBC). Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry “is demanding a correction,” while the Taiwan Solidarity Union (Lee Teng-Hui’s party allied to President Chen Shui-bian) is “urging the public to e-mail Google in protest.” Google is among several high tech firms that have kowtowed to Communist China in order to gain entrée into its market (fourth item).

More on Communist China and the Internet: Washington Post blogger Jefferson Morley comments on Yahoo’s collaboration in Shi Tao’s arrest (fourteenth, fifth, lead, third, eighth, seventh, and third items). The Epoch Times reprints a paper delivered by Erping Zhang, Executive Director of Association for Asian Studies, on the cadres’ cyber war with the Chinese people. Shihoko Goto, UPI via Washington Times, writes on the argument over control of the world wide web, ignores the Communist China’s role (fourth, sixth, and fifth items), and thus scores the Ignorant Comment of the Day.

Enlighted Comment of the Day: With all due respect to the very good pieces directly below, Rimma Alekseyeva, Epoch Times, takes the prize for this heartfelt open letter to her President (Vladimir Putin) warning him of the danger of Communist China.

On Communist China and the United States: University of Maryland Professor Peter Morici has an excellent piece whacking the Bush Administration for having “failed to see current controversies over exchange rates, intellectual property and the like as part of a broader competition between the emerging Chinese model of authoritarian capitalism and our brand of market capitalism that empowers the individual rather than the state” (UPI via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Frank Gaffney, Jr., (Washington Times) rips the Administration for “ignoring China's arms and oil deals with our Islamist enemies.”

From One Free Korea: The Friendly Blog comments on a threat from Stalinist North Korea against kidnap victim supporter Choi Sung-yong, the Stalinists’ return to food rationing (sixteenth item), possible U.S. troop cuts in South Korea, and the debacle that is the dovish South’s “Human Rights Commission.”

More On Stalinist North Korea: UPI (via Washington Times) reports that said South “will repatriate more former North Korean spies in a bid to promote relations with its communist neighbor.” Jong-Heon Lee (UPI via Washington Times) has a puff piece with South Korean tourists in SNK; he also exmines the Stalinists’ obsession with slogans.