News of the Day (October 7)

House Int’l Relations Committee Chairman not happy with SNK nuclear deal: Henry Hyde, Chairman of the House Int’l Relations Committee, had some choice words for the agreement on Stalinist North Korea’s nuclear weapons. The Illinois Republican coined a new phrase for the surrender: “Son of Agreed Framework” (One Free Korea) before cogently criticizing it in detail.

Arrests in Tiananmen Square in run up to “National Day” were in the thousands: According to petitioners – citizens who come to Beijing with grievances against local cadres back home – Communist China arrested “at least 30,000 to 40,000 people” (Epoch Times), or roughly “at least 10,000 each day,” prior to the October 1st anniversary of the founding of the “People’s Republic.”

Australian national deported for possessing Nine Commentaries: Xue-Jun Wang, an Austrlian citizen who was in Shanghai touring with the Sydney Dance Company, was interrogated by Communist officials and deported to Australia because he was carrying thet Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party. Despite the rude and threatening treatment, Wang feels lucky: “Because I’m an Australian citizen I was protected, if I was a Chinese citizen I can tell you – you wouldn’t be interviewing me now” (Epoch Times).

Taiwanese Vice President joins criticism of Google: Annette Lu, the outspoken Vice President of Taiwan, joined the chorus of Taiwanese (fourth item) calling on Google to “change the title of its Taiwan map so it no longer refers to the democratic island as a province of China” (Voice of America via Epoch Times).

Remembering Tiananmen Square: Photographer Charlie Cole recounted to the BBC how he was able to get the picture that for many defined the struggle for freedom in Communist China – the lonely man vs. the tank column.

On Communist China and the Free World: Russ Kuykendall, Western Standard, comments on Max Boot’s Weekly Standard column on Communist China (tenth item) on the Friendly Blog Shotgun.

On the Communist Chinese economy: Dr. Cheng Xiaonong, former advisor to the late Zhao Ziyang, brilliantly destroys the myths of the Communist Chinese economy and details how the “showcases” of Shanghai and Shenzhen are bleeding the impoverished rural interior dry. Chen Liming, Epoch Times summarizes Dr. Cheng’s speech at a business forum held at Kaohsiung Medical University.