News of the Day (March 31)

From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth has updates on the Han Guangsheng case (third and last items) and UN reaction to Sujiatun (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, fifth, last, and second items), . The Korea Liberator also comments on Sujiatun, praises the White House for calling Communist China to the carpet for sending back a Korean refugee, critiques Jay Leftkowitz's interview with Donga Ilbo, has the latest on the six-party debacle, finds some good anti-Stalinism in the Senate immigration bill, and laments what may have been some overdone hype on the reaction to Yoduk Story (last item). China Intel debunks the Communists' insistence that they have never occupied foreign territory.

More from the Canada file: Canada's Green Party calls for an investigation into Sujiatun and, if the worst fears about it are true, a possible Canadian boycott of the 2008 Games (Epoch Times). The new government is hinting about its plans for head tax apology and compensation (sixth, lead, second, second, second, and third items), and the non-Communist activists involved are very happy with what they see so far (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Ric Dolphin (Western Standard) let loose this whopper on the democratic world and Communist China: "for western countries, it's in our interest to make nice." Where does one begin?

More on Sujiatun: The Epoch Times gauges the reaction; Stephen Gregory (Epoch Times) gives a quick history of the organ trade in Communist China; and an unnamed "veteran military doctor" tells the paper that there are many more camps in the northeast and throughout Communist China.

Daughter of escaped Korean war POW defects: Lee Bok-hee, daughter of escaped prisoner of war Lee Ki-choon, "arrived at a Seoul airport with her two-year-old son and a three-year-old nephew on a flight from China" (United Press International via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Daily NK has more on the defectors in Hungary (last and lead items).

More on the Communists' Korean colony: The aforementioned Mr. Leftkowitz (who is the special U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights) criticized the Kaesong Industrial Park, and had his criticism quickly validated - the dovish South Korean government let him have it (UPI via Washington Times). Meanwhile, John J. Miller reprints CNN founder Ted Turner's unbelievably silly comments on Stalinist North Korea in National Review Online's The Corner.

Taiwan is observing the Vatican-Zhongnanhai discourse and pondering when it will lose its lone diplomatic ally in Europe. However, if Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen hinted the recognition switch must come with "real religious freedom" (Cybercast News). Something tells me those moving vans will be in the garage for a very long time.

As ex-Japanese PM visits Beijing, suicide notes of Shanghai diplomat are revealed: Former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto is in Beijing for talks with Hu Jintao in "another attempt to patch up their tattered relations" (BBC). However, Yomiuri Shimbun shed more light on a case sure to make Hashimoto's efforts much harder: the Japanese diplomat in Shanghai who took his own life rather than give in to pressure from the Communists to turn spy (UPI via Washington Times, see also seventh item).

U.S. and EU go to WTO over Communist car parts tariffs: The United States and the European Union "have accused China of imposing illegal tariffs to prevent foreign components being imported for use in Chinese car assembly plants" (BBC); they took their accusation to the World Trade Organization.

On human rights and the prospects for freedom in China: The Epoch Times interviews human-rights attorney Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, eighth, seventh, fifth, and fourth items). The rampant use of the death penalty in Communist China is even making some academic cadres nervous (Asia Times Online). Finally, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a conference in the possibility of freedom in China (Voice of America).