News of the Day (January 11)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth has the latest on the battle between Communist China and the Internet, and how U.S. technology companies are on the wrong side. BHaE also has the latest on the cadres' plan to destroy Falun Gong before the 2008 Olympics (all the more reason not to go).

The Canada file: Two pro-democracy activists in Beijing tried to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Zhao Ziyang, the Communist Party boss who resigned and was placed under house arrest for over fifteen years for refusing to endorse the Tiananmen massacre. The cadres' responded by arresting Li Jinping and placing Liu Jingsheng under house arrest (Epoch Times). To date, the only Western official to pay his respects at the Zhao home is Canadian Conservative MP Jason Kenney. Meanwhile, have you asked the CRTC not to air Communist Chinese propaganda yet?

Communist Chinese military talks nice to United States: Communist Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan told a visiting Congressional delegation that "his country is ready to expand military ties with the United States" (United Press International via Washington Times). There was, however, no mention of the Communist militry cutting its ties to terrorists such as al Qaeda and Iranian mullahcracy. Charles R. Smith, Newsmax, provides some badly need context in that vein in a thumbnail sketch of the Communist-owned Norinco.

Stalinist-in-chief in Shanghai as Vershbow talks up South Korea: Kim Jong-il, the ostensible leader of Communist China's would-be colony, was in Shanghai as part of his trip to the base regime (Washington Post). Meanwhile, Alexander Vershbow, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea, talked up the dovish ally in a speech to the Korean-American Association (Washington Times).

India, spurned by Burma for Communist China, looks for deals with cadres: Indian Energy Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar is in Communist China looking for "an end to the rivalry with China for energy resources" (UPI via Washington Times). The Communists don't appear to be receptive; they managed to convince the Burmese dictatorship to jeopardize a Burmese-Indian pipeline and make a deal with the Communist-owned PetroChina "for gas from the A1 block in Bay of Bengal" (UPI via Washington Times).

Communist Foreign Minister in Africa: Communist Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has begun his visit to Africa (ninth item). The trip will largely be driven by energy deals (BBC).

Communist Chinese trade surplus passes $100 billion: Communist China's overall trade surplus with the rest of the world "more than tripled to $102bn in 2005" (BBC). No exact figures were given for the trade surplus with the United States.

As bird flu continues to grow, expert appears to buckle under Communist pressure: Bird flu claimed two more lives in Communist China (BBC), but it was the Communist attempts to cover-up the extent of the disease that had more people wondering. Guan Yi , a microbiologist at Hong Kong University, has started to back away from earlier assertions that the cadres were covering up the virus' breadth in Communist China (sixth item), leading one Hong Kong legislator to ask if Yi "has any undisclosed problems" (Epoch Times). If said legislator had followed this quarter, he would have known the Communists shut down Yi's laboratory in retaliation (fourth item).

On the state of education in Communist China: Communist China's financial commitment to educating its young people is so paltry that it "does not even match that of the poor African country, Uganda" (Epoch Times). However, in one area, the Communists have a keen interest in education - Party members are using positions of power to demand sexual favors from students looking to advance in college. An unnamed female medical students reveals the sordid "sex bribery" dealings in an account published by the Epoch Times.