Friday, December 16, 2005

News of the Day (December 16)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: One Free Korea tracks the Stalinist funny money case (see also United Press Int’l via Science Daily and the Washington Times), and is pleasantly surprised by the State Department. Meanwhile, OFK guest blogger Andy Jackson offers well-earned praise to South Korean opposition MP Kim Moon-soo.

Communist China challenging U.S. technology, unless it helps them crush dissent: Communist China is becoming "a hotbed for some of the most talented scientists and engineers" (Washington Times), leading the Hudson Institute’s Ken Weinstein to warn the U.S. about the Communists' plans for "a high-tech superstate." Of course, the cadres still find American technology quite useful, especially when it can help them silence the Chinese people, as Harvard Law School fellow Derek Bambauer details in Legal Affairs.

Gao Zhisheng continues to document Communist abuses: Human-rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, whose law practice has been closed by the Communists (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, and eighth items), is unbowed. He wrote yet another open letter to Communist leader Hu Jintao detailing Communist abuses of Falun Gong practitioners (Epoch Times), and railed against the regime in an interview with Sound of Hope Radio: "The Government Doesn't Take the Law Seriously at All. This Breaks our Hearts" (Epoch Times). Gao did win the support of Lin Mu (Epoch Times). Lin was secretary to the late Hu Yangbao – the reformist whose death triggered the 1989 Tiananmen protests.

Falun Gong war overseas - Thai surrender, Argentine beating, San Diego's fury: Thailand did it again. After disrupting a demonstration by Falun Gong practitioners at Communist China’s request (third item) banners and posters, Thai police arrested the practitioners on flimsy immigration charges (all are UN-designated refugees) because "the Chinese embassy . . . directed the police to stop the protests" (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, practitioners in Argentina who filed suit against visiting cadre Luo Gan "were beaten by a gang of Chinese men, who are believed to have been hired by the Chinese Embassy" (Epoch Times). It wasn’t all gloomy news, however: San Diego City Council "passed the Yantai Resolution, an act of conscience condemning more than six years of torture and murder of Falun Dafa practitioners in Yantai, San Diego's sister city in China" (Epoch Times). For once, "sister city" nonsense was finally put to good use.

Low-level cadre put on trial for Shengyou thuggery: The assault by "some 300 unidentified men" (BBC) on protestors in Shengyou village this summer has resulted in a city-level cadre facing trail for "intentional injuries." It appears this cadre, He Feng, is taking the fall for the attack which killed at least six protestors, who were demanding proper relocation compensation for land seized for a power plant (lead, third and seventh items). Similar protests in Hanyuan and Shanwei were met with Communist gunfire.

Commentary on Communist China: Krishnadev Calamur, UPI (via Washington Times), notes how the Communist-Kazakh oil pipeline (fifth item) "helps China feed its . . . seemingly endless quest for global influence." Meanwhile, Jen Haberkorn, also in the Washington Times, details Communist China's near-total dominance of the toy market.

No comments: