News of the Weekend (June 2-4)

Tiananmen Square remembered: Tao Jun, one of the leaders of the Tiananmen spring, talks to the Epoch Times about the protests, the hopes, and the bloody massacre of eighteen years ago.

Former State aide throws around accusations at pro-Taiwan officials and gets his facts wrong: Lawrence Wilkerson, former aide to ex-Secretary of State Colin Powell and a leading "engagement" supporter, has claimed "administration neoconservatives" (Congressional Quarterly) "encouraged Taiwanese politicians to move toward a declaration of independence from mainland China." Said "neoconservatives" vehemently denied Wilkerson's charge, and Wilkerson managed to accidentally impugn himself with this spectacularly bad analysis of Taiwan's elected President "Chen Shui-bian, whose entire power in Taiwan rested on the independence movement." This will comes as quite a surprise to the Taiwanese people, who elected him twice based not on the independence issue but on the fact that he was the most anti-Communist candidate in 2000 and 2004. Then again, for "engagement" types like Wilkerson, anti-Communist and "pro-independence" are practically the same thing.

Democratic presidential candidates ponder Olympic boycott: While no one stepped up to openly support staying away from Beijing next year, Bill Richardson and John Edwards were willing to consider it due to the Communists' bankrolling of the brutal Sudanese regime (Santa Fe New Mexican). Meanwhile, the Epoch Times and Boycott 2008 examines several other reasons to consider staying home.

Communist China rise anything but "peaceful": Shen Chieh (Taipei Times, h/t Boycott 2008) lists the victims of the Communists' "peaceful rise." William R. Hawkins of the U.S. Business and Industry Council sounds another badly needed warning on Communist China's geopolitical ambitions (Asia Times), while the Center for Hemispheric Policy focuses on the Communists' plans for Latin America (Latin Business Chronicle).

FDA says steer clear of Communist Chinese toothpaste as sewage-raised seafood exposed: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration "warned consumers to avoid using toothpaste made in China" (BBC) - or as Steve Janke put it, "'Product of China' means 'Throw in the garbage', at least when it comes to toothpaste." Meanwhile, World Net Daily reported this bombshell: "China, the leading exporter of seafood to the U.S., is raising most of its fish products in water contaminated with raw sewage and compensating by using dangerous drugs and chemicals."

More on Communist China and the United States: Chen-Yuan Tung, vice chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (in other words, one of the people Lawrence Wilkerson would rather throw under the bus), has this to say about Communist China vis a vis America, "Beijing's criticism of the human rights situation in the United States only further highlights the guilty conscience and absurdity of the Chinese government in this regard" (Manchester Union Leader, h/t Boycott 2008); labor activists in Communist China take aim at Walmart for "abandoning American values in favor of its 'cozy business relationship with China'" (Cybercast News).

Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners warn Taiwan against "one country, two systems": Readers of this blog will know I refer to the situation in Hong Kong as one country, one-and-a-half systems; Falun Gong practitioners explain why to the Taiwanese people (Taipei Times, h/t Between Heaven and Earth), and everyone else (Epoch Times).

On the plight of Korean refugees in Communist China: Refugees tell their story to Daily NK; South Koreans march in support of refugees and against the Communists (Daily NK); and Japan shows that not all of Korea's neighbors are as cold and cruel as Communist China (Daily NK).

More news from "another China province": The Beijing surrender continues to descend into farce (Daily NK and Washington Times); South Korea holds firm, for now (United Press Int'l via Washington Times), but few expect that to last very long (Daily NK, Daily NK again). One Free Korea catches Stalinist propaganda worming its way into a South Korean media report. The United Nations wants to know where its money is going in Stalinist North Korea (UPI via Washington Times).

More on Communist China and the rest of the world: Refugees from Communist China living in Putinist Russia fear being sent back (Epoch Times). The Vancouver Sun has more on the British Columbia schools towing the party line in Communist China (h/t, BH&E). The cadres unveil their plan to "fight" global warming - namely to blame everyone else for it (BBC and Times of London).

Investment climate in Communist China goes south: The imposition of a new stock tax (Epoch Times) has merely added to the usual burden of dealing with a Communist regime (Times of London).

Huang Ju is indeed dead: The Politburo Standing Committee member and high-ranking member of Jiang Zemin's "Shanghai clique" died over the weekend (BBC), at least according to the Communists - there was a report claiming that Huang had died early last month.