Sunday, March 11, 2007

News of the Weekend (March 9-11)

Communist military buildup gets more attention: Among those sounding the alarm include John Tkacik of the Heritage Foundation (via Worldwide Standard), the editors of the Boston Globe (via Boycott 2008), and Fang Jue (Trend via Epoch Times).

Communist China ready to use foreign reserves for its own purposes: The cadres are "creating an investment company to get better returns on its foreign currency reserves worth $1 trillion" (BBC); the move is already creating worries "that the fund could wield huge influence in global markets." The news came as American Treasury Secretary Henry Paulsen, obviously not understanding the cadres' geopolitical objectives, called on them to open up its capital markets (Washington Post).

Communist China shoots down sanctions on Iran: Despite concession granted to the mullahcracy by Britain, France, and the United States (Washington Post), the Communist regime would not agree to penalize its longtime ally (BBC).

Communist China's Korean colony gets into the acting business: Stalinist North Korea is now claiming to be tired of playing puppet to Beijing's master (One Free Korea isn't buying it).

Questions for America's consul in Shenyang: OFK continues to push (and rightly so) for answers about the consulate's behavior regarding Korean refugees (it should be noted that this was the same consul whose office claimed to find no evidence of organ harvesting at Sujiatun).

Speaking of organ harvesting, concern about the sources of organs provided by Communist China continues to reverberate in Singapore (Epoch Times), Canada (Between Heaven and Earth), the United States (BHaE), and Great Britain (BHaE).

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Indonesia arrests defector Jia Jia (Epoch Times). Foreign media gets more room to maneuver (but domestic media does not - BBC). Human Rights Watch calls on Communist China to ends its abuses of the Chinese people (Boycott 2008). Cardinal Zen discusses the Vatican and Communist China (Catholic News Service). Wang Xiaoning's wife is considering a lawsuit against Yahoo for its role in helping the Communists arrest him (San Francisco Chronicle).

Australia and Japan to sign security pact: It would only be the second of these pacts for Japan in 60 years (the other is with the United States). Australia's Prime Minister insisted it was not directed at Communist China (BBC).

Taiwan news: The opposition Kuomintang Party kicks out the nation's Defense Minister for following the will of the elected President (BBC). Joseph Quesnel (Winnipeg Sun) calls on Canada to stand by the island democracy; sadly, Richard Halloran (Washington Times) passes up a similar opportunity vis a vis the U.S.

Hong Kong - one country, one-and-a-half systems rolls on: The Communist regime imposes its own political litmus test on HK deputies to the rubber-stamp parliament (i.e., any political independence or support for democracy is strictly prohibited - BHaE).

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