News of the Day (March 30)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth reprints the commentary of Chin Jin, chairman of the Federation for a Democratic China's Australian division, on Australia's planned uranium sale to Communist China (sixth and eighth items, see also AAP via Epoch Times). China Intel wonders why "our Navy is cutting back our submarine fleet, even as China is building up their's (sic) and equipping them with multiple nuclear warheads." CI also joins the call for an explicit U.S. pledge of protection to Taiwan.

Enlightened Comment of the Day - Jay Nordlinger makes me cry: The National Review Online columnist talks to Jin Zhong (formerly Mr. R), the reporter who broke the Sujiatun story. Even though yours truly has known about Sujiatun for nearly to weeks (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, fifth, and last items), Nordlinger still managed to bring tears to my eyes.

Communist China gets UN Security Council to remove teeth from "statement" on Iran: The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to ask the Iranian regime "to suspend its uranium enrichment program within 30 days" (Washington Post). However, thanks to Communist China - a longtime supporter of the Iranian mullahcracy - the call was a "nonbinding statement" that has absolutely no teeth. Anne Bayefsky of the Hudson Institute has the details on the fiasco in National Review Online.

Communist China upset about Stalinist counterfeit notes: This has to be embarrassing for Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il. According to the Wall Street Journal (cited by Daily NK), Communist China's central bank "sent official notices to every local branch bank and commercial bank, which are saying 'watch closely all actions to distribute counterfeit money.'" The cause of this was the rampant Stalinist counterfeiting of American currency.

More on the satellite regimes: Former British diplomat Carne Ross explains why economic sanctions by themselves are unlikely to change the Iranian mullahs' behavior (Washington Post). National Review Online blogger Jim Geraghty finds fault with the Democrats' plans for Iran and Stalinist North Korea. Back to the Communists' Korean colony, Daily NK has the latest on the efforts of Stalinists to get a piece of the "special profit of the Economic Special Region."

Communist China's opposition to U.S.-India nuclear deal exposes regime's hypocrisy: Communist China's public opposition to the nuclear deal between the U.S. and India (second item) has caught the eye of Dr. Mohan Malik of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. In China Brief, Malik points out how the Communist China, who claims to worry about India and nuclear proliferation, has been a major proliferator itself. Malik also addresses the Communists' claim that the U.S. wants a friendly India to "contain" the regime, which "flies in the face of the reality of China’s own four-decade-old policy of building up Pakistan to contain India."

Here comes the "stakeholder" talk again: This time it was Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, talking about bilateral trade, who used the new word of choice for what they hope Communist China will become on the world stage (United Press Int'l via Washington Times). The "hostile takeover" jokes can write themselves.

Benedict XVI speaks up for Hong Kong democrats: The leader of the Roman Catholic Church met with Martin Lee, the head of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, and urged him "to continue fighting for democracy in Hong Kong" (UPI via Post Chronicle). Disagreements on Taiwan or mainland strategy aside, events like this make clear that the Pope has not forgotten the trials anti-Communists face; for that he is to be commended.

As Hu prepares to visit U.S., reformers pan his tenure at home: Hu Jintao "will surely exude confidence and zeal about reforms in areas ranging from the Chinese currency to the country’s open-door policy" (Willy Lam, China Brief). However, most of it will ring hollow to folks under Communist rule; Hu himself is hearing it from "forward-looking cadres and intellectuals that economic, and especially political, liberalization has lapsed since he and ally Premier Wen Jiabao took power in late 2002."

Hu Jia released after "ordeal" in prison: Those aren't scare or sarcasm quotes, but rather a cite from the Washington Post (second item): "A prominent Chinese AIDS activist, Hu Jia, who disappeared after staging a hunger strike to protest violence against dissidents, has returned home from what he described as a six-week ordeal in police custody, his wife said" (see also twenty-first, seventeenth, second, and eighth items).

Songhua River cleanup cost magically reduced to $1.2 billion: The Petrochina chemical explosion that dumped "100 tonnes of benzene and nitrobenzene into the Songhua" (BBC) and became a glaring indictment of the Communists' ecological policies (seventh, fourth, ninth, fourth, fourth, fifth, fourth, fifth, third, seventh, tenth, and twelfth items) will cost $1.2 billion, according to the cadres. How it fell from $3 billion was not discussed.

More on Communist China: The Epoch Times catches the Communists hiding the truth on bird flu; Nazery Khalid, of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia, examines Communist China's domestic port boom and what it means for some of its neighbors (China Brief).