News of the Day (April 24)

While I was away . . .

From the China Support Network: The parent org reprints a heartfelt letter from the mother of Shi Tao (fourteenth, fifth, lead, third, eighth, seventh, third, fifth, eighth, last, third, fourth, and fourth items) to President Bush and Worldrights Executive Director Tim Cooper's comments on Hu Jintao's visit to Washington; CSN also quotes two more letters (one to Bush, the other to Hu Jintao) and runs founder John Kusumi's praise of Dr. Wang Wenyi.

FROM THE CHINA FREEDOM BLOG ALLIANCE
Between Heaven and Earth comments on the new Canadian government's reversal of their predecessors' denial on Communist espionage.

China Intel focuses on Communist China's arming of Iran (cited piece is Charles R. Smith in Newsmax) and its Taiwan political games.

The Korea Liberator: Regarding Communist China, TKL has Part 4 of their China Hype Series, the reaction in the Seattle area to Bill Gates hosting Hu Jintao; Congressman Steve Chabot's Taiwan salvo, the State Department's comments on Sujiatun, the plight of Hu Jia as told by Rebecca MacKinnon (here's the original Washington Post piece), and reviews the Bush-Hu summit, including the issue of Korean refugees. As for the Communists' Korean colony, TKL posts some well-deserved reminders about North Korea Freedom Week and the latest news; they also comment on Ambassador Hill's latest on the Stalinists' "creative financing," survey the think tanks, rip the silliness of a UNICEF flack, note with heavy irony SNK's plans for an "IT revolution," and lament the state of South Korean politics.

Shaun Kenney asks some serious questions about a missile import scheme.

Dr. Wang Wenyi brought up on charges for speaking truth to power: The Good Doctor presented her reasons for taking such a public stand in a compelling piece for the Epoch Times, the paper that granted her a press pass for the press conference (and did some perfunctory backpedaling). Dr. Wang called her action "not a crime but an act of civil disobedience" (Epoch Times). The charges, which included possible jail time for "harassing" Communist leader Hu Jintao (CNN), were panned by the editors of the Washington Post as "an action that affronts American values." The cross-town Washington Times went further, hailing The Good Doctor as the Noble of the Week. Michelle Malkin was also gushing with praise. The president felt the need to apologize to Hu (CNN), which led the Shotgun's Darcey to say this: "George Bush is a liberal. A girly man." Zing. Meanwhile, Communist media, of course, sent the whole thing down the memory hole (BBC, CBS). Also reporting: Cybercast News, London Times, New York Daily News, Washington Times, and World Net Daily

As for the summit itself, after The Good Doctor was forced to cut her point short, the substance of the summit between Hu Jintao and President Bush went as expected - Bush pushed gently and Hu refused to budge (Weekly Standard, BBC, Washington Times). One topic that seems to be omitted was the spate of arrests of Christians in Yunnan Province (World Net Daily, Boxun). The style, however, had a rather large snafu: a reference to Hu as leader of the Republic of China (the Communist regime goes by the name of People's Republic of China, BBC).

Other parts of Hu's trip inside the United States: Before reaching Washington, Hu was in the Pacific Northwest, lunching with Bill Gates and visiting Boeing (CNN, BBC) - that would be the Boeing caught selling missile computer chips to Communist China (fourth item). After Washington, he went to Yale University, which treated him with way too much respect (National Review Online - Phi Beta Con blog), while a CNN producer "was kicked out of a private reception this morning at the Yale President Richard C. Levin's office for asking a question about protests against Chinese leader Hu Jintao" (Epoch Times).

Parts of Hu's trip outside the United States: The Communist leader went from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia "to negotiate new oil supplies" (London Sunday Telegraph via Washington Times), and then to Africa (BBC).

Trip inspired commentary - the good: Hu's visit sparked the pundits the pen several analyses, among the best were Jed Babbin in The American Spectator on the "Pacific Cold War," Congressman Trent Franks (World Net Daily), the editors of the Washington Post, Al Santoli of the Asia America Initiative, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Los Angeles Times). Also good were Don Feder (Washington Times) regarding Taiwan, the editors of the Epoch Times, regarding the cadres' hopes for domestic exploitation of the trip, Wes Pruden (Washington Times) for the effects here at home, and the Washington Times editors for a rather clear-eyed look at Sino-American relations. Meanwhile, Christian Lowe (Daily Standard) examined Communist China's military ambitions; Rich Lowry (National Review Online) and the editors of the Washington Times highlight the intellectual piracy issue. William F. Buckley weighed in (National Review Online), as did some leading Taiwan analysts (Taipei Times). Lin Dan, Xie Zongyan, and Chen Xiuwen examine Hu Jintao's plans for the U.S. - and their not good (Epoch Times). Gary Schmitt , of the Project for the New American Century, takes a broader - but no less concerned - view in the Weekly Standard, as does Peter Brookes in National Review Online and Li Tianxiao in an interview with the Epoch Times. Worldwide Standard threw in with the pro-democracy crowd (no real surprise, as it's the Weekly Standard's blog). Philip Sherwell and Peter Goff (London Daily Telegraph) examine Communist China's energy ties to some of the world's worst thugs. Eve Fairbanks, blogging for The New Republic, finds a sea of pro-Communist demonstrators, and concluded "They must be paid" - she may have no idea how right she is (fourth item). Finally, Jai Singh (Foreign Policy) contrasts this summit with the much warmer one between President Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Trip inspired commentary - the not-too-bad: Gary Bass of Princeton University detailed Communist China's ties to "unsavory friends" in the Washington Post, but sadly refused to recognize the deeper meaning of them. Melinda Lu (Newsweek) does quite well in detailing the "quiet battle of ideas" between Communist China and the U.S., but misses the direct geopolitical role of the cadres' make-the-world-safe-for-dictators policy. Jim Hoagland is his usual, maddening self (Washington Post). Fellow Post columnist David Ignatius examines the effect of Communist China on the commodity markets, while the editors of the Washington Times focus on oil.

Trip inspired commentary - the not-so-good: The BBC has two authors (Justin Webb and Steve Schifferes) who focus on trade disputes, but not security issues. Ming Ya's heart is in the right place, but yours truly can't quite place her head (Weekly Standard). Lanxin Xiang, director of the China Center at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, uses a little misdirection to cover a minor hatchet job against most anti-Communists in the Washington Post. Sebastian Mallaby (Washington Post) is bullish on the U.S., but somewhat Pollyannaish about Communist China. Meanwhile, Elizabeth Economy and Adam Segal, both from the Council on Foreign Relations, hold fewer illusions about the cadres', but still make a weak call for "engagement" in the Washington Post. Simon Elegant (Time Asia) sought the opinion of ordinary Chinese on the U.S., and actually believed the people inside Communist China could honestly answer his questions. The editors of the Washington Times, so good on Dr. Wang, blow it badly on the state of the workers in the workers' state. Finally, John Tamny has see-no-evil column in National Review Online.

United States moving in a more anti-Communist direction: Meanwhile, the U.S. government "has adopted a bold new strategy for countering the emergence of a threatening China with policies that were drawn up several years ago and started being implemented in the past several months" (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). The main driver for this was apparently Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Yahoo caught helping the Communists imprison a third dissident: The tech firm that helped the Communists find and capture Shi Tao (fourteenth, fifth, lead, third, eighth, seventh, third, fifth, eighth, last, third, fourth, and fourth items) and Li Zhi (third, eighth, and eighth items) has been exposed by Reporters Without Borders as being instrumental in the arrest of Jiang Lijun (Boxun).

Other U.S.-Communist China News: Senator Dianne Feinstein (up for re-election this year in California) told "a gathering of Chinese-American business leaders in San Francisco" (Newsmax) that America has no real commitment to Taiwan, infuriating Taiwanese-Americans there. The House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations held a pre-summit hearing on Communist China's human rights abuses (Epoch Times). The Communist-owned China Construction Bank is looking for a piece of Bear Stearns (Newsweek). Bill Gertz, Washington Times, interviews Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick on Communist China. Gertz also reported regime links to the missile smuggling CFBA member Shaun Kenney was pondering. Communist China's central bank head says the world should worry about our currency, not his (CBS). Finally, Senator Norm Coleman asks the Communists to be an "energy partner" (Newsmax). The editors of the Washington Times examine Communist China's plans "to compete with the United States in the realm of space supremacy, if not now, then in the near future."

Canada file: Foreign Minister Peter MacKay went public with his government's "concern" over Communist espionage (CTV, Small Dead Animals), one of the key matters the previous government largely ignored. Meanwhile, the Communist regime ripped the Great White North for taking in Lu Decheng (Boxun, see also seventh item), and Judi McLeod (Canadian Free Press) sees what Canadian Commie-phile Maurice Strong is doing these days.

New German government focused on Communist espionage, too: Canada isn't alone; Germany's new Interior Minister Wolfgang Schauble "ordered . . . a special report on the Chinese spies in the country, activity of which he considers as threatening as the activity of radical Islamists" (Axis).

More on Communist China and Iran: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization is close to granting the Iranian mullahcracy full membership (Cybercast News); the East Turkestan Government-in-exile weighs in on the mullahs' nuclear ambitions.

More on Stalinist North Korea: As the regime prepares to "survive U.S.-led sanctions" (United Press Int'l via Washington Times) and made more threats about a nuclear stockpile (Washington Post, fourth item), families of Japanese abductees called on the U.S. to "pressure North Korea so they can finally learn the truth about the whereabouts of the missing" (Washington Post), while dovish South Korea tried the carrot-and-carrot approach for its abductees (Washington Times, second item). The BBC details many Stalinist "ways to raise money" - such as "smuggling liquor into Islamic countries, and trafficking horns and ivory out of Africa to sell to Chinese businessmen." Daily NK adds another - drugs. The regime is also busy banning "private employment" (Daily NK) and running crackdowns on Christian missionaries (Daily NK) and Shinuiju (Daily NK). A defector credits South Korean radio broadcasts with giving him the incentive to flee (Daily NK), while Jim Frederick (Time Asia) present the story of a prisoner who escaped. In South Korea, meanwhile, former President Kim Young Sam rips his dovish successor (Kim Dae Jung) for "feeding the dying Kim Jung Il dictatorship with the tax of South Korean citizens" (Daily NK), while a dovish Assemblyman plays astonishingly fast and loose with the facts surrounding a defector's story (Daily NK).

Dovish South Korea decides to send Falun Gong practitioners back to Communist China: As if the $un$hine debacle wasn't enough, the dovish South Korean government has decided there is "insufficient evidence to prove the terror of the (CCP's) persecution (of Falun Gong)" and has ordered practitioners to be sent back. Even more troubling, of the 200 or so refugees from Communist China in South Korea "no one has obtained asylum status authorized by the Korean government" (Epoch Times).

As Lien Chan visit continues, Chen meets mainland dissidents: Lien Chan continued his return visit to Communist China (lead and third item), and got another audience with Hu Jintao (BBC). President Chen Shui-bian, the fellow who defeated Lien in the latest Taiwanese presidential election, responded with "a carefully timed meeting with Chinese pro-democracy activists" (Washington Times, second item).

More talk on the Vatican ditching Taiwan: This time it comes in the Washington Post, and the most worrying part about it is this: "Apart from Taiwan, the other main dispute between Beijing and the Vatican, over the power to choose Chinese bishops, has moved close to resolution as well, according to Ren Yanli, a specialist in church-state relations at the government's Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Under an informal system, he said, the Chinese government has taken to naming clerics it knows already have been named by the Vatican." The Church, which still has millions of followers who risk arrest by refusing to worship in the Communist-controlled version of the Catholic faith, has already said "it is willing to break with Taiwan and set up diplomatic relations with Beijing as part of an overall accord guaranteeing the church's role in China." Yours truly's spiritual journey remains unfinished.

Communists deny Sujiatun; State Department finds nothing, but probes go on: The cadres' sent an open letter to the world insisting everything in Sujiatun (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, fifth, last, second, third, lead, second, fifth, fifth, last, and last items) was on the up and up, and got the State Department to agree (well, sort of - Small Dead Animals). Yours truly still believes Sujiatun was real (I'll explain my reasoning later in the week), while the Epoch Times stands by its story, as do its sources (Epoch Times). The Epoch Times also took some unveiled, but well-deserved, shots at the rest of mainstream media for refusing to pay much attention to this, and were joined in that by the Toronto Sun's Peter Worthington. The story has shown one Epoch Times reporter the truth behind the axiom: "China is a reporter's heaven, yet at the same time it can be a reporter's hell." By the way, the supposedly self-assured Communists still won't let an independent investigator into the country (Epoch Times), and Hu Yaobang's former secretary Lin Mu has called for an international investigation (Epoch Times).

More on organ "donations": Falun Gong has called for an investigation into all labor camps in Communist China (Epoch Times). Organ transplants in Communist China continue to surge (Epoch Times, Epoch Times). In Great Britain, the British Transplantation Society "accused China of harvesting the organs of thousands of executed prisoners every year" (BBC) "without the prior consent of either the prisoner or their family" (Guardian, UK). An unnamed former prisoner from Daqing Longfeng Detention Center claims organ harvesting went on there, too (Epoch Times). 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, fourth, last, fifth, seventh, next to last, fourth, and last items) also weighed in (Epoch Times).

More from Gao Zhisheng: The attorney wins the admiration of the aforementioned Lin Mu (Epoch Times) and loses a lease after his would-be landlord is tortured (Epoch Times), but he refuses to be silenced (Epoch Times).

More news and commentary on human rights in Communist China: Fellow attorney Guo Guoting, who escaped to Canada, details the horrors of the Communist "Reeducation Through Labor" system (Epoch Times). Russ Kuykendall (Western Standard) reminds Shotgun readers of the plight faced by Protestant believers in Communist China. A document from the 610 office calling for a "concentrated and bottom-up investigation" of Falun Gong in Hebei Province falls into the hands of the Epoch Times. Steven Mufson, Washington Post, examines how Communist China has been able to keep the pro-democracy netizens at bay (and in jail), while Congressman Christopher Smith proposes a way to stop that (National Review Online). Communist police in Shanghai shut down a press conference by parents angry over their children being infected with AIDS thanks to "a hemophilia drug (made with) HIV-infected blood" (Washington Post). Communist China accounted for 4 out of every 5 known executions on the planet last year (BBC). The editors of the Washington Times examine the fate of the regime's political prisoners. Another town in Guangdong Province loses a resident after an attacked by Communist police (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times). Reporters without Borders catches up with former prisoner Huang Qi (Boxun). A cadre tries to defend the hideous "one child" policy (UPI via Washington Times). The number of ex-Communists passes ten million (Epoch Times).

Communist China bans shipping near gas field claimed by Japan: The cadres' move to block shipping "while Chinese workers lay pipelines and cables in the area" (BBC) around the Pinghu gas field is greatly troubling to Japan, which also claims that field.

Communist China blocks any UN sanctions against Sudan: The Communist regime plainly stated through its UN envoy that "the time was not right for the measures proposed by the UK and the US" (BBC).

Communists put Mao statue in Tibet and bar Dalai Lama from Buddhist conference: That the cadres' would ban Tibet's spiritual leader from the World Buddhist Forum is no surprise (Epoch Times), nor would the move to build a statue honoring the man who force the Dalai Lama into exile be any real shock (BBC). However, if the intent is to erode the support for the Dalai Lama within Tibet, the account of Phuntsog Nyidron in the Washington Times makes clear it is not succeeding.

On the economy Communist China: Communist China's economy is still roaring - if we are to believe the statistics (BBC). This is troubling to Hu Jintao - if we are to believe him (BBC). However, much of that growth comes from public investment that according to the World Bank has a failure rate of "as high as 30%" (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency (via Epoch Times), Communist China's continuing purchases of Boeing airplanes may be about more than the missile chip add-ons: the cadres have apparently let their own aircraft construction industry atrophy.

On the ecology Communist China: Is Communist China cleaning up? Stephen Hayward of the American Enterprise Institute says yes (National Review Online); the victims of the 792 Uranium Mine say otherwise (Epoch Times).