News of the Day (December 20)

From the China Support Network: Founder John Patrick details the bloody history of the Chinese Communist Party; Spain Director Demetrius Klitou cites the Shanwei-Dongzhou Massacre as evidence to maintain the European Union arms embargo on Communist China; Executive Director Curry Kenworthy advises on how to avoid gifts from Communist China ruining the Christmas/Hanukkah/Insert-holiday-here season.

Human Rights Watch calls for independent probe of Shanwei Massacre: Communist China's cover-up of the Shanwei massacre has earned the regime the wrath of Human Rights Watch, which "urged China to immediately invite the United Nations or another independent body to investigate the killings" (Boxun).

Gao Zhisheng wins more support, but humbly deflects praise for his efforts: Human-rights attorney Gao Zhisheng, who faces the end of his law practice and his freedom for his work on behalf of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, and second items), won more support from the exiled dissident community, in this case Wang Bin (Epoch Times). Gao himself reacted humbly: "Don't give me too much credit. We should praise those who survived the 'tiger bench.' They are the true hopes and glories of the Chinese nation" (Epoch Times). Dr. Jiao Guobiao, who joined Gao in his investigations of the persecution, explains what "tiger bench" means, in very graphic and painful terms, in the Epoch Times.

Communist sale of organs from executed prisoners to British patients exposed: Richard Spencer, London Telegraph, conducted an extensive investigation of a network selling organs from executed prisoners in Communist China to patients in Britain, with the operations to take place at Communist military hospitals in order to bypass ordinary citizens in Communist China on "long local waiting lists" for transplants.

Communists claim economy even bigger than they thought: Communist China now claims its economy "was 16.8% larger in 2004 than initially calculated" (BBC). This makes the Communist economy the world's sixth largest at least. It could be as high as fourth, ahead of Great Britain (Bloomberg), assuming, of course, that the Communists have somehow stopped inflating statistics and building useless factories (fifteenth, twenty-ninth, thirtieth, tenth, sixth, last, last, and seventh items). Meanwhile, despite the supposedly roaring economy, real estate vacancy is through the roof, a sign that rents and housing prices are too high (Epoch Times). Can you say "real estate bubble"?

Ignorant Comment of the Day: Jim Frederick, Time Asia, wins the dubious prize for the second time in eight days (last item) for a piece on Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi which focuses more on Koizumi's trips to the Yasukuni Shrine than Communist China’s geopolitical machinations against the sixty-year ally of the United States.

More Commentary on Communist China: Benjamin Youngquest (Epoch Times) follows up on New Tang Dynasty Television's report on Wal-Mart's ties to Communist China (tenth item). Guan Guimin, a performer at the NTDTV New Year Global Gala, talks to the Epoch Times about how the Chinese Communist Party damaged morals and art at home while it spreads fear to ethnic Chinese abroad, including in the United States.

Stalinist North Korea to restart nuclear plant construction: The Communists' would-be colony upped the ante by announcing plans "to resume building two nuclear reactors" (BBC), in reaction to the cancellation of the plants from the 1994 Agreed Framework fiasco. Now the Stalinists have another card to play in the game of nuclear diplomacy, while this quarter wonders how long it will take for the U.S. to switch to liberation.

More on Stalinist North Korea: China Freedom Blog Alliance Member One Free Korea provides a counterfeiting update, and comments on religion's role in the lives of refugees from SNK; OFK guest blogger Andy Jackson has the latest from the Seoul conference on human rights in the Stalinist North. Meanwhile, Guy Dinmore and Anna Fifield, Financial Times (UK), have a largely useless and panicked analysis of the battle within the Bush Administration over SNK policy, with this exception: "Robert Joseph, under-secretary for arms control, did not believe in the use of negotiations." Apparently, Joseph has the wisdom of his predecessor, John Bolton (fifth item); this is fantastic news.