News of the Day (November 28)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Member One Free Korea comments on Communist China’s treatment of refugees from the Stalinist North, and America’s refusal to follow its own law to help them. OFK also examines SNK’s ties to Iran, denial of public executions (see also Cybercast News), its effect on South Korean politics, how it gets away with genocide, and the U.S. Ambassador speaking to a South Korean dove haven. More on the Communists’ would be colony can be found at the end of this post.

U.S. asks Communist China to push Iran to stop nuclear weapons program: Does Gregory Schulte think the SNK “agreement” debacle is a model? The U.S. ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency actually called on Communist China “to put pressure on Iran to abandon its efforts to develop nuclear weapons” (Washington Times, last item). Perhaps is Schulte saw this, he’d realize he’s wasting his time.

Communist espionage could lead U.S. to cut back on foreign researchers: Due to the intelligence community’s concern that “China in particular could be using some of its more than 150,000 students in the US to spy on behalf of Beijing” (Financial Times, UK, via MSNBC), the U.S. “is poised to propose rules that could restrict the ability of Chinese and other foreign nationals to engage in high-level research in the country.”

Oregon “evangelist” ripped for comments sympathetic to cadres: Luis Palau, a self-styled evangelist based in Oregon, told a cadre-sponsored event in Communist China that “underground” churches there “can't get away with defying order” (Washington Times) and should register as official churches. The fact that registered churches are controlled by the cadres seems to mean nothing to him, but it means quite a bit to his many critics.

Founder of Senate Taiwan Caucus meets President Chen: Senator George Allen (R-Virginia), a co-chairman and co-founder of the Senate Taiwan Caucus, visited President Chen Shui-bian in Taipei over the weekend (Taiwan News).

Woe Canada! Pro-Communist organization gets $12.5 million: The Canadian government’s efforts to atone for a 19th Century Chinese “head tax” have the Chinese-Canadian community up in arms. The money slated for compensation - $12.5 million – will all go to one organization: the National Congress of Chinese Canadians. NCCC has a history of toeing the Communist line, and just happens to be close to Multiculturalism Minister Raymond Chan. Report: Epoch Times

Japanese investors shifting away from Communist China: It’s not just American investors (third item); Japanese investors have “slowed the pace of new investment in China because of rising labour costs, yuan appreciation, and the rising cost of utilities such as water and electricity” (Bangkok Post, Thailand). Investors looking to make a profit are now focused on Southeast Asia instead.

Communist China hands more arms over to Nepalese King: Communist China “provided guns and ammunition” (BBC) King Gyanendra, Nepal’s absolute ruler. Nepal was a democracy until the king dissolved the Parliament, claiming it had been corrupt and incompetent in a civil war with Maoist rebels. The cadres are his only arms supplier.

Paul McCartney launches boycott of Communist China over animal abuse: Dogs and cats “packed by the dozen into wire cages little bigger than lobster pots” (BBC) and “being thrown from a bus, and into boiling water” – all part of Communist China’s fur industry – has infuriated singer/songwriter Paul McCartney so much that he has “vowed never to perform in China” and plans “to stay away from the 2008 Beijing Olympics” (Observer, UK) – which we applaud. Speaking of boycotting the 2008 Games . . .

Communist cover-up on Jilin explosion exposed; waterless Harbin furious: The cadres’ attempt to cover up the explosion at a Petrochina plant in Jilin – and the subsequent pollution that made the water in three-million-strong Harbin undrinkable – already sprang a leak last week (seventh and fourth items). Over the weekend, it blew wide open (Epoch Times, Time Asia, BBC, Washington Post), despite Premier Wen Jiabao’s complete silence on the subject when he visited the city (Washington Post). Water has now been restored (BBC), but the locals are not happy. Even the national cadres have been spooked enough to throw their local counterparts under the bus (BBC). Meanwhile, the Communists apologized for the spill – to Russia (BBC), which will soon feel its effects (CNN, BBC). Elizabeth Economy, of the Council on Foreign Relations, examines the aftereffects of the explosion in Time Asia.

Japanese virologist says he hears bid flu deaths in Communist China at 300: At the University of Marburg in Germany, Dr. Masato Tashiro, a leading Japanese virologist, told a meeting of fellow virologists that has reports of 300 bird flu deaths in Communist China, with roughly 3,000 infected overall, “including seven cases of human-to-human transmission” (Epoch Times). The doctor refused to confirm the information he heard, but he didn’t give much credence to the Communist line on the disease either (only three deaths – Ming Pao News via Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Dr. Lili Feng, a Baylor University Associate Professor, talks to the Sound of Hope Radio (via Epoch Times) about the Communist mishandling of the bird flu outbreak.

Communist China conducting probe of Gao Zhisheng: Having found that closing Gao Zhisheng’s office has not silenced him, Communist China is resorting to “a series of secret investigations” (Epoch Times) against the human rights attorney. They have also sent nearly two dozen policemen to watch him (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Gao’s wife resigned from the Chinese Communist Party (Epoch Times), joining the nearly 6 million who have left the Party since the publication of the Nine Commentaries (Epoch Times).

Another Communist-owned mine explodes, killing over 130: An explosion at a mine owned by the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Group has killed at least 134 people “with 15 miners still trapped underground” (BBC) as of 10:30 this morning. Heilongjiang Longmei is the latest of several cadre-owned firms that suffered the consequences of unsafe mining conditions (last item).

Taikonauts on propaganda visit to Hong Kong: Communist China sent astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng to Hong Kong “for a visit aimed at boosting Chinese nationalism” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). The visit comes as the city’s Communist-appointed regime is in the midst of a battle with pro-democracy groups (second, sixth, and ninth items). Meanwhile, Communist China’s space program continues apace, as noted by Jing-dong Yuan, Ph.D., of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies, in the Jamestown Foundation’s China Brief.

Enlightened Comment of the Day: Today’s winners are Dan Blumenthal and Tom Donnelly, of the American Enterprise Institute, for their excellent column on what the U.S. should do about Communist China in the Washington Post.

More on Communist China and the United States: Willy Lam, China Brief, examines the differences between the U.S. and Communist China the surrounded the Bush-Hu summit. Sarah Shenker, BBC, looks at the modern “Great Game” in Central Asia.

On Communist China and the Rest of the World: Duncan Freeman, in China Brief, examines Hu Jintao’s recent visit to Europe. Ian Story, Assistant Professor at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, reviews Communist China’s relations with Brunei, and how Brunei’s oil has strengthened said relations, in China Brief.

More Commentary on Communist China: Rémi Fidèle, Epoch Times (France), revisits the Communists’ “self-immolation” spectacle (sixth item). Yun Feiyang, Epoch Times, examines the “change” in Communist China over the years, and finds “that China really has not changed much, at least not in the areas I was thinking about, such as political parties, systems, and state dictatorship.” Exiled dissident economist He Qinglian, also in the Epoch Times, finds that Communist China’s export driven economy “is harvesting the crops of future generations, destroying their future, plundering workers' lives and abusing their human rights.” Edward Cody, Washington Post, revisits Taishi, and finds reason for hope: “outraged local farmers for the first time received help from outside political activists and Beijing-based intellectuals whose politics were shaped in part by the 1989 democracy movement.”

On Stalinist North Korea: As the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization finally ended the light-water nuclear reactor project in SNK (Washington Times, second item), Dmitry Kosyrev, of RIA Novosti, takes the Pollyannaish view of SNK (UPI via Washington Times), and David C. Kang, of Dartmouth, makes the case for reunification, which he assumes would also include liberation for the north, in the Washington Post.