News of the Day (December 13)

Intellectuals send open letter condemning Shanwei Massacre: The Shanwei massacre has caught the attention of intellectuals within Communist China, some of whom wrote "an open letter condemning the shooting of protesters" (BBC). In the letter, the unnamed scholars demanded the Communists reveal the names of the victims, conduct an outside investigation, and allow unfettered reporting. Instead, the Communists arrested nine villagers and were looking for more (United Press Int’l via Washington Times, which for some reason is following the Communist line in calling the protests "riots." The cadres’ brutality was once again a subject for China Freedom Blog Alliance member One Free Korea, as well as the editors of the Washington Times and Kevin Steele of the Western Standard (link from the Friendly Blog Shotgun).

More from the China Freedom Blog Alliance: OFK offers his thoughts on Cold War II, and approves of the continuing emphasis on human rights in Stalinist North Korea from Bush Administration officials (see also Washington Times), South Korea’s lawyers, and its Christians. He also relays Andrew Natsios’ accounts of mass graves in SNK.

Communist China passes U.S. in high-tech exports and reports $90B trade surplus: Perhaps now the combination of a deliberately devalued currency and a complete lack of independent labor unions will get more attention; for it has now made Communist China "the world's top exporter of high-tech communications and information products such as cell phones, laptop computers and digital cameras" (Washington Times), passing the U.S. in high-tech exports last year. Meanwhile, the Communist trade surplus for 2005, with December still to be counted, is already over $90.5 billion (BBC).

Hack attack from Communist China believed to be led by military: Cybersecurity expert Alan Paller told the media, including Agence France Presse (via Breitbart), that a wave of cyber attacks from Guangdong Province against U.S. military computers is "unlikely to come from any other source than the (Communist) military." Paller also thinks it "possible they stole 'extremely sensitive' information."

U.S. judge may take up case of Guantanamo Uighurs cleared by Pentagon: Federal District Judge James Robertson "said yesterday that he will consider allowing two detainees at the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to appear before him in court to challenge their confinement" (Washington Post via MSNBC). The Uighurs have been cleared of any alleged ties to al Qaeda, but sending them back to occupied East Turkestan would mean certain torture or death, and to date, no other country has been willing to take them in, including the U.S. That may change is Judge Robertson has his way.

Pastors meeting in Henan to help AIDS victims arrested by Communists: A meeting of "100 major church leaders from Henan and Anhui . . . discussing how the house churches could help a large group of peasants who had contracted AIDS" (World Net Daily) was raided by Communist police in Henan. It should be noted the Henan "is widely known as 'the AIDS Disaster Area' because many peasants became infected when they sold their blood to local blood centers contaminated with the AIDS virus."

"One child" outrage – Dalian cadres tell family to give up their son or their house: Chi Fuqing and Sun Jing had a baby boy in January 2002. Unfortunately, it was their second child, so cadres in Dalian insisted "the child must be taken away, or else the house would be torn down" (Epoch Times). In a panic, the couple agreed to give up the baby for adoption. However, rather than going to an orphanage, the cadres told the father to "leave the baby on a bench" at a hospital. Given what we know about Communist baby-selling networks (fourth item), one can only assume the worst.

Communists announce plan to close 4,000 mines: In reaction to the Heilongjiang Longmei Mining Group mine explosion (twelfth, third, and sixth items), Communist China "vowed to shut down at least 4,000 coal mines that do not meet work safety standards before the end of 2005" (UPI via Washington Times). This corner would like to know how 3,000 mines avoided the ax promised to them this summer (sixth item).

Czech officials tried to bribe Falun Gong protestors, then attack them: As Communist Premier Wen Jiabao was visited Prague, officials from the Czech Republic were so eager to rid the streets of Falun Gong practitioners who were protesting that they "offered them money (up to $1500 USD), if they left the spot" (Epoch Times). When that didn’t work, the "embassy group . . . violently pushed the Falun Gong practitioners aside and took the banners away."

Practitioners protest Dongchengfang rapes at Communist consulate in New York: Meanwhile, practitioners in New York had a much easier time staging a protest against "the recent torture and rape of two Falun Gong practitioners, Ms. Liu Jizhi and Ms. Han Yuzhi, in a detention center in China" (Epoch Times, see also third and second items).

On Communist China and Japan: Time Asia has two columns on the rising tension between Asia’s largest dictatorship and its wealthiest democracy. Jim Frederick’s rather bizarre unwillingness to note Japan’s justified concern over Communist China’s lust for more regional and global power earns him the Ignorant Comment of the Day. Matthew Forney, by contrast, examines the Communists’ ulterior motives in spreading virulent anti-Japanese hatred, and thus scores Enlightened Comment of the Day honors.