News of the Day (January 20)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth calls for the Communist "Same Song" propaganda show (sixth item) to be shut down (the Epoch Times also has three good pieces on the outrageous perversion). One Free Korea, meanwhile, comments on the Sanjiao crackdown (third item, Panlong is the village within Sanjiao where the protest was put down with bullets), dovishness in South Korea's educational establishment, and the U.S. treatment of refugees from Stalinist North Korea.

Canada file: Judi McLeod (Canada Free Press), nearly wins Enlightend Comment of the Day for her missive against Microsoft's self-enlistment in Communist China's anti-blog crackdown - Richard Cohen (Washington Post) narrowly edged past her with his broader and more cutting slap against Microsoft and Yahoo; Christine Chiao (AsiaMedia) weighed in on the blogosphere's reaction.

Cyberjournalists in prison: Internet writer Zheng Yichun (seventh, ninth, tenth, and sixth items) was sentenced to seven years in jail for "subverting the state" (Epoch Times). The Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN ripped the sentence (Boxun). Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (via Boxun) revealed that fellow cyberdissident Yang Tianshui (last item) has been in a Communist jail for nearly a month.

More on Communist use of technology: United Press International, which tends to be a bit slow on noticing Communist China's darker side, misses the point on Communist China's desire to use and control telecommunications and other technology not once, but twice (both links via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Peter Warren (Guardian, UK) provides a chilling overview of Communist China's strategy of espionage via computer hacking.

More Communist actions against the free press: Three journalists at New China Youth "reported clashes in Lishui in May 2005 involving peasants who were protesting against the confiscation of their land" (Boxun); off to jail they went. Meanwhile, the Southern Metropolis News (a.k.a, Southern Metropolitan News: twentieth, nineteenth, and sixth items) and Beijing News (sixth and second items) have become shells of their former selves, thanks to "the Chinese authorities' hounding" of the papers' liberal reporters (Boxun). Finally, Edward Cody, Washington Post, gives some badly needed context on the arrest of Fuzho Daily reporter Li Changqing (sixth item). It turns out Li was a supporters of whistleblower Huang Jingao (seventeenth, eighteenth, and seventh items).

Public "disturbances" up in Communist China; Premier obliquely criticizes land grabs: Communist Premier Wen Jiabao finally noticed the surge in peasant anger over cadre land-grabs. In a speech given before Sanjiao (third item), but after Taishi, Shanwei, and Sanshan (fifth item), Wen called on his fellow Communists to avoid "an historic error over land problems" (BBC). Wen's speech happened to be published just after a new report revealed that "disturbances," as the Communists call them, rose to 87,000 - that's events, not people - in 2005 (BBC, Asia News).

More on the Shanwei massacre: Ding Xiao, Radio Free Asia, interviewed Jiang Guangge's widow. Jiang was "the first to be killed" (Epoch Times).

Communists look to "revitalize" Marxism: You read that right, the Chinese Communist Party "pledged 'unlimited' funds for reviving Marxism on the mainland" (Asia News). It's not as if the party has lost millions of members who have resigned in disgust lately - whoops, yes it has.

Taiwan releases satellite photos of Communist military buildup: The island democracy took the unusual step of releasing satellite photos showing "images of Chinese military bases which they said underscore the threat the island faces" (BBC). Said photos included apparent images of "Chinese fighter aircraft based across the Taiwan Strait and evidence of war gaming for an attack on Taiwan." The photos were released by the elected government to help convince the Parliament, controlled by the Nationalist-led opposition, to approve more arms for Taiwan (Asia News).

Other Taiwan news: President Chen Shui-bian appointed his former chief Su Tseng-chang, who is a former human rights lawyer (BBC). Meanwhile, the Chinese New Year mainland-Taiwan civilian flights are back on again (BBC).

Chi Mak's attorney on spy charges - who, him? Attorneys for Chi Mak, brother of Phoenix TV engineering/broadcasting director Tai Mak (second item), insisted the documents found at his home "dealt with electric power technology and not nuclear and weapons data" (UPI via Washington Times). Mak has already admitted to "passing data on U.S. Navy arms technology to China for 22 years, including information on next-generation destroyers, an aircraft carrier catapult and the Aegis weapons system" (third item) before being busted by the FBI.

Commentary on Communist China: The indomitable Lev Navrozov (Newsmax) provides another reminder as to Communist China's ambitions for the globe, and what they're willing to do to satisfy them. He Qinglian (Epoch Times) speaks up for human-rights attorney and would-be assassination victim Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, and fifth items). Daniel Kadlec (Time Asia), examines Communist China's thirst for U.S. dollars in its foreign reserves (eleventh item).

On the would-be colony (Stalinist North Korea): The "Kim Jong-il wants to reform" crowd is at it again - recent history notwithstanding (eighth item). This time it's Heejin Koo (Bloomberg) who falls for it. Meanwhile, Andrew Salmon (Washington Times) talks to Park Bu-seo, a secret de facto special forces veteran from South Korea, whose trying to get recognition and benefits for his fellow vets, and is getting the cold shoulder from South Korea's dovish government.