Guo Feixiong on hunger strike as words spreads of Taishi crackdown: The latest confrontation between the cadres and the people – in Taishi village (fifth, tenth, and sixth items) – reached a “well-known Chinese bulletin board system” (Epoch Times) before all references to it were ordered deleted. Meanwhile, in Taishi itself, a letter from jailed Taishi activist Guo Feixiong reached two attorneys in the city of Guangzhou, who “immediately tried to see him, but were unable to do so.” Guo is now on a hunger strike.
Another journalists group blasts Communist media crackdown: The International Federation of Journalists joined Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists (ninth item) in ripping Communist China for its “systematic attack on press freedom and journalists' safety” (Boxun).
No textile deal: Talks between Communist China and the U.S. on the former’s surge in textile exports to the latter “ended Wednesday night without a deal” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times) on stemming the tide. The Communist China’s textile exports surge comes after worldwide textile trade curbs ended on January 1, and is crowding out several developing nations in the process (fifth, fourth, second, and fifth items).
Japan and Communist China open talks on disputed gas fields: Communist China and Japan are in the midst of two-day talks aimed at resolving a dispute over Communist drilling in the Chunxiao gas field in the East China Sea. Japan is worried the drilling is taking gas from the Japanese part of the disputed area. Communist China sent a small naval fleet to the area earlier this month. Reports: Epoch Times, BBC
South Korea will keep sending food to SNK: Dovish South Korea “will keep sending food aid to the rival North despite the communist regime's demand that international donors halt emergency food shipments” (Washington Times, second item). It should be noted that South Korea’s food is “essentially unconditional” (Washington Post), i.e., without any requirement that the food go to the people who need it rather than Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il’s cronies and his military (fifth, ninth, fifth, last, and lead items).
Uzbekistan picks Communist China over United States: Uzbekistan, which is to say the regime of President Islam Karimov, has “terminated cooperation with Washington on counterterrorism” (Washington Post), largely because his definition of terrorism includes democratic opposition in his country. Thus, Karimov “is shifting his strategic alliance toward Russia and China.” Communist China in particualr enjoys slapping the terrorist label an anyone who would prefer the end to the rule of the cadres (see also second item).
Friday, September 30, 2005
Thursday, September 29, 2005
News of the Day (September 29)
Christopher Hill just doesn’t get it: In speaking to the press on the next steps in the six-party talks on Stalinist North Korea’s nuclear weapons, the lead U.S. envoy “warned North Korea that it would have to answer to four other nations if it tries to, in his words, 'walk away' from further negotiations” (Voice of America via Epoch Times), apparently forgetting that Communist China and dovish South Korea (Korea Times via Friendly Blog One Free Korea) made him back down and accept its version of the overhyped agreement (even One Free Korea missed this). Hill also envisioned turning this long-running fiasco into “some kind of peace mechanism” for the Korean Peninsula.
More from the Korean Peninsula: Dovish South Korea continues to be more interested in making nice to the Stalinists (United Press Int’l via Washington Times) than the American military that has keep it free (One Free Korea). Then again, Europe and the U.S. are sending decidedly mixed signals of their own in lusting after “North Korea's mineral potential, particularly its tungsten supplies” (UPI via Washington Times). However, USAID has thankfully chosen not to play the Stalinists’ game on substituting “development aid” for food (One Free Korea).
Communist China slanders East Turkestan, again: This time, it was Luo Gan (the fellow Hu Jintao sent to oversee the Hanyuan County Massacre) who darkly hinted cadres in the occupied nation should “be prepared for danger in times of safety” (BBC). Communist China invaded East Turkestan in 1949, renamed it “Xinjiang,” and engaged in a brutal campaign against the Muslim native that has included razed mosques, political executions, and open-air nuclear tests that have killed over 200,000. The Communists have also smeared the native East Turkestani people as bin Ladenite terrorists, something repeatedly debunked by outside media (third, third, second, second, and second items). Meanwhile, the occupation has also led to an ecological crisis in Kazakhstan (BBC).
More on Communist China and the Terrorist War: Charles Smith, Newsmax, has the latest on Communist China’s military support for Iran, and notes how Communsist Chinese arms always seem to end up in the hands of the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Communist China now lead anti-American espionage actor: According to an unnamed “senior U.S. counterintelligence official” cited by Bill Gertz (Washington Times), “of nearly 100 nations whose spying has undermined U.S. military advantages,” the most active is Communist China.
Communist China rips Japanese preparation: As would be expected, Commuinst China accused the Japanese military of “ulterior motives” (UPI via Washington Times, last item) for their plans for defense against a possible Communist invasion (third item).
More on Communist China versus the internet: Craige McMillan (World Net Daily) and Patrick Goodenough (Cybercast News) weigh in on the Communists’ bid to wrest control of the web from ICANN (see also fourth, sixth, and fifth items).
Underground Christian released: Communist China released Zhang Yinan, a historian at an underground (i.e., non-Communist controlled) Protestant church (fifth and ninth item), from a labor camp (Washington Post, third item). His sentence had ended. Zhang was like millions of other Christians who face jail and torture for refusing to put the Communist Party between themselves and their God.
More on human rights abuses in Communist China: James Burke, Epoch Times, relays the information from exile Hao Fengjun on how the Communists are trying to stop the spread of the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party. Friendly Blog Democratic China laments the Party’s refusal to admit its mistakes in the Tiananmen Square Massacre and elsewhere. Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, examines the hardships facing defendants – and their attorneys – in Communist China. Edward Cody, Washington Post, details the cadres’ crackdown against Hong Kong and Taiwan slang.
More from the Korean Peninsula: Dovish South Korea continues to be more interested in making nice to the Stalinists (United Press Int’l via Washington Times) than the American military that has keep it free (One Free Korea). Then again, Europe and the U.S. are sending decidedly mixed signals of their own in lusting after “North Korea's mineral potential, particularly its tungsten supplies” (UPI via Washington Times). However, USAID has thankfully chosen not to play the Stalinists’ game on substituting “development aid” for food (One Free Korea).
Communist China slanders East Turkestan, again: This time, it was Luo Gan (the fellow Hu Jintao sent to oversee the Hanyuan County Massacre) who darkly hinted cadres in the occupied nation should “be prepared for danger in times of safety” (BBC). Communist China invaded East Turkestan in 1949, renamed it “Xinjiang,” and engaged in a brutal campaign against the Muslim native that has included razed mosques, political executions, and open-air nuclear tests that have killed over 200,000. The Communists have also smeared the native East Turkestani people as bin Ladenite terrorists, something repeatedly debunked by outside media (third, third, second, second, and second items). Meanwhile, the occupation has also led to an ecological crisis in Kazakhstan (BBC).
More on Communist China and the Terrorist War: Charles Smith, Newsmax, has the latest on Communist China’s military support for Iran, and notes how Communsist Chinese arms always seem to end up in the hands of the Taliban and al Qaeda.
Communist China now lead anti-American espionage actor: According to an unnamed “senior U.S. counterintelligence official” cited by Bill Gertz (Washington Times), “of nearly 100 nations whose spying has undermined U.S. military advantages,” the most active is Communist China.
Communist China rips Japanese preparation: As would be expected, Commuinst China accused the Japanese military of “ulterior motives” (UPI via Washington Times, last item) for their plans for defense against a possible Communist invasion (third item).
More on Communist China versus the internet: Craige McMillan (World Net Daily) and Patrick Goodenough (Cybercast News) weigh in on the Communists’ bid to wrest control of the web from ICANN (see also fourth, sixth, and fifth items).
Underground Christian released: Communist China released Zhang Yinan, a historian at an underground (i.e., non-Communist controlled) Protestant church (fifth and ninth item), from a labor camp (Washington Post, third item). His sentence had ended. Zhang was like millions of other Christians who face jail and torture for refusing to put the Communist Party between themselves and their God.
More on human rights abuses in Communist China: James Burke, Epoch Times, relays the information from exile Hao Fengjun on how the Communists are trying to stop the spread of the Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party. Friendly Blog Democratic China laments the Party’s refusal to admit its mistakes in the Tiananmen Square Massacre and elsewhere. Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, examines the hardships facing defendants – and their attorneys – in Communist China. Edward Cody, Washington Post, details the cadres’ crackdown against Hong Kong and Taiwan slang.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
News of the Day (September 28)
More reaction to the Stalinist North Korea nuclear deal: Friendly Blog One Free Korea wins the Enlightened Comment of the Day by virtue of the title of its post alone (“Peace In Our Time!’ Update”). Meanwhile, Roland Flamini ruins his analysis of the deal by insisting on grafting it to a missive against certain Bush Administration officials (United Press Int’l via Washington Times), and the Weekly Standard parodies the talks.
More on the Stalinist Regime: One Free Korea again warns of the upcoming Stalinist-induced famine in SNK, while Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea give the Stalinists a well-deserved tongue-lashing on the subject in the Washington Post. Meanwhile, reports that Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il had chosen a successor (second item) were apparently wrong (Korea Times).
Japanese military planning for “slight” chance of a Communist attack: Japan’s military forces “drew up the top-secret plan” (UPI via Washington Times second item) to stave of an invasion by Communist China. While an anonymous source called the chances of an invasion “slight,” it’s still good to see Japan is preparing for it.
Communist China rips U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan: The cadres, as expected, waded into the debate of Taiwan arms purchases (seventh, seventh, and third items) by ripping them as “wanton interference in China's domestic affairs” (UPI via Washington Times).
FBI to talk intellectual property and hacking with Communists in November: Lou Riegel, head of the FBI’s cyber division, has been invited by the cadres to “visit Beijing in November for talks with law-enforcement counterparts and military officials on a range of issues, including intellectual property theft and computer hacking” (Washington Times). Intellectual property theft is a huge, cadre-backed industry in Communist China.
Textile talks continue: The U.S. and Communist China are still trying to reach “a comprehensive textile agreement” (UPI via Washington Times). Communist China’s textile exports surged after worldwide textile trade curbs ended on January 1, crowding out several developing nations in the process (fifth, fourth, second, and fifth items).
Falun Gong practitioners call for U.S. to keep Communist Culture Minister out: Communist Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng “is expected to arrive in Washington to attend the China Festival, which will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during the month of October” (Epoch Times). Falun Gong practitioners called on the U.S. State Department to deny Sun a visa in response to his horrific persecution of the spiritual movement (third item).
More on Communist China and the United States: Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky and Joseph Barillari rip Communist China’s efforts to push UN control of the internet, and call on President Bush “to foreclose the possibility of it ever becoming the plaything of dictators” (National Review Online). Meanwhile, Lin Baohua, Epoch Times, examines the effects of Communist China’s spurious “strategic partnerships” on geopolitics.
On Communist China and the press: Shi Ming, China Electronic News (via Epoch Times) details the “Red Envelope Scandal” – a scheme by mine owners in Henan, i.e., local cadres (last and eighth items) – to buy media silence with a slew of bribes. Wang Hong and Christine Ni (Epoch Times France and New Tang Dynasty Television France, respectively) talks to Robert Ménard of Reporters Without Borders on why Communist China remains “the biggest prison for journalists.” The editors of the Epoch Times rip the Communists for the arrest of Zheng Yichun (seventh item), and the Committee to Protect Journalists (via Boxun) lament the new restrictions on online articles (eighth item). Finally, Sound of Hope Radio is circulating a petition calling for an end to the Communist clampdown on health crises reporting in Communist China.
Communists expanding repression to cell phones: The cadres would like us to believe they are “targeting cell-phone smut” (UPI via Washington Times). Few are buying it.
Communists labeling popular protests as “attacks”: As disputes between the cadres and the people they repress continue to grow (lead, sixth, and seventh items), the Communists are renaming them “attacks” (BBC).
A warning on the Communist economy: Li Hua and He Tian, NTDTV (via Epoch Times), relay the comments of Taiwan University Economics Professor Zhang Qingxi and Dr. Gao Weibang, president of The Victims Association for China Investors, on the real and dangerous nature on investing in Communist China.
Dalai Lama visits New York: The leader of the Tibetan people paid a visit to the Big Apple, during which Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented him with a key to the city (NTDTV via Epoch Times). Early in his first term, Bloomberg’s treatment of the island democracy of Taiwan was well short of his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani (second item), but “Mayor Mike” has improved quite a bit since then (sixth item).
More on the Stalinist Regime: One Free Korea again warns of the upcoming Stalinist-induced famine in SNK, while Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea give the Stalinists a well-deserved tongue-lashing on the subject in the Washington Post. Meanwhile, reports that Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il had chosen a successor (second item) were apparently wrong (Korea Times).
Japanese military planning for “slight” chance of a Communist attack: Japan’s military forces “drew up the top-secret plan” (UPI via Washington Times second item) to stave of an invasion by Communist China. While an anonymous source called the chances of an invasion “slight,” it’s still good to see Japan is preparing for it.
Communist China rips U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan: The cadres, as expected, waded into the debate of Taiwan arms purchases (seventh, seventh, and third items) by ripping them as “wanton interference in China's domestic affairs” (UPI via Washington Times).
FBI to talk intellectual property and hacking with Communists in November: Lou Riegel, head of the FBI’s cyber division, has been invited by the cadres to “visit Beijing in November for talks with law-enforcement counterparts and military officials on a range of issues, including intellectual property theft and computer hacking” (Washington Times). Intellectual property theft is a huge, cadre-backed industry in Communist China.
Textile talks continue: The U.S. and Communist China are still trying to reach “a comprehensive textile agreement” (UPI via Washington Times). Communist China’s textile exports surged after worldwide textile trade curbs ended on January 1, crowding out several developing nations in the process (fifth, fourth, second, and fifth items).
Falun Gong practitioners call for U.S. to keep Communist Culture Minister out: Communist Minister of Culture Sun Jiazheng “is expected to arrive in Washington to attend the China Festival, which will be held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts during the month of October” (Epoch Times). Falun Gong practitioners called on the U.S. State Department to deny Sun a visa in response to his horrific persecution of the spiritual movement (third item).
More on Communist China and the United States: Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky and Joseph Barillari rip Communist China’s efforts to push UN control of the internet, and call on President Bush “to foreclose the possibility of it ever becoming the plaything of dictators” (National Review Online). Meanwhile, Lin Baohua, Epoch Times, examines the effects of Communist China’s spurious “strategic partnerships” on geopolitics.
On Communist China and the press: Shi Ming, China Electronic News (via Epoch Times) details the “Red Envelope Scandal” – a scheme by mine owners in Henan, i.e., local cadres (last and eighth items) – to buy media silence with a slew of bribes. Wang Hong and Christine Ni (Epoch Times France and New Tang Dynasty Television France, respectively) talks to Robert Ménard of Reporters Without Borders on why Communist China remains “the biggest prison for journalists.” The editors of the Epoch Times rip the Communists for the arrest of Zheng Yichun (seventh item), and the Committee to Protect Journalists (via Boxun) lament the new restrictions on online articles (eighth item). Finally, Sound of Hope Radio is circulating a petition calling for an end to the Communist clampdown on health crises reporting in Communist China.
Communists expanding repression to cell phones: The cadres would like us to believe they are “targeting cell-phone smut” (UPI via Washington Times). Few are buying it.
Communists labeling popular protests as “attacks”: As disputes between the cadres and the people they repress continue to grow (lead, sixth, and seventh items), the Communists are renaming them “attacks” (BBC).
A warning on the Communist economy: Li Hua and He Tian, NTDTV (via Epoch Times), relay the comments of Taiwan University Economics Professor Zhang Qingxi and Dr. Gao Weibang, president of The Victims Association for China Investors, on the real and dangerous nature on investing in Communist China.
Dalai Lama visits New York: The leader of the Tibetan people paid a visit to the Big Apple, during which Mayor Michael Bloomberg presented him with a key to the city (NTDTV via Epoch Times). Early in his first term, Bloomberg’s treatment of the island democracy of Taiwan was well short of his predecessor, Rudy Giuliani (second item), but “Mayor Mike” has improved quite a bit since then (sixth item).
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
News of the Day (September 27)
U.S. capitulated to Communist China on SNK nuclear deal: The Bush Administration acquiesced to the overhyped agreement on Stalinist North Korea’s nuclear weapons because “it could end up blamed for the failure of the talks” (Time Asia). The American negotiators at the six-party talks had actually rejected the deal as proposed by Communist China, but reversed course and backed down after the Communist China’s negotiator, Wu Dawei, told them “This is the final draft . . . Take it or leave it” (Newsweek, who then drove the point home with this line: “America hewed to the Chinese line, not the other way around”). Meanwhile the dispute over when the Stalinists get the light-water reactor it wants finds the Communists (and the dovish South Koreans) taking SNK’s side (One Free Korea) Anyone still think this “agreement” was not surrender by another name?
More from One Free Korea: The Friendly Blog takes note of Communist China’s arrest of activists helping refugees from SNK (original source: Yonhap) and a video of a refugee being beaten by the Stalinists (original source: Chosun Ilbo), the vacillation of dovish South Korea’s human rights establishment (original source: Korea Times), and the Bush Administration freezing the assets of three Stalinist firms for “proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” (Korea Times).
UBS to invest in corrupt SNK-linked Bank of China: The Communist-run Bank of China shook off reports of its criminal ties to SNK drug running and counterfeiting to take in $500 million from Switzerland’s UBS (United Press Int’l via Washington Times).
More on Stalinist North Korea: Patrick Goodenough, Cybercast News, examines Kim Jong-il’s problems with international food aid and the monitors that come with it.
U.S. won’t let Communist China gets its hands on Internet: U.S. Ambassador David A. Gross bluntly told, the Washington Times that he “will fight attempts to put the United Nations or any international group in charge of the Internet.” A number of repressive regimes, especially Communist China, have been calling for the UN to take over administration of the web from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (fourth and sixth item). Meanwhile, Joseph Farah (World Net Daily) and Edward Lanfranco (UPI via Washington Times) remind their readers of how Communist China treats its internet users, and rips American companies for aiding in the repression.
Another round of textile talks begin: The U.S. and Communist China are holding more talks on the surge in Communist textile exports (UPI via Washington Times) that was sparked by the end of worldwide textile trade restrictions on January 1, and crowded out several developing nations in the process (fifth, fourth, second, and fifth items).
More on Communist China and the United States: Given the news on the North Korea deal, is it any surprise that Communist China is willing to stonewall the U.S. on its other axis-of-evil ally and nuclear client, namely Iran (Anne Bayefsky, Hudson Institute, in National Review Online)? Meanwhile, UPI (via Washington Times) examines the Communists’ plans for their rapidly expanding naval forces, and Dong Li, NTDTV (via Epoch Times), looks back at Communist leader Hu Jintao’s trip to the U.S.
Communist China puts on public access and anti-corruption charades: Communist China played to the public with “a parliamentary session open to the public for the first time” (BBC) that decided absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, the regime is claiming to be fighting corruption in mining (last item) by insisting cadres who won’t forfeit their stakes in the mines “will be removed from their posts” (UPI via Washington Times). The folks in Linyi would note that such “removals” should be taken with a grain of salt (third item).
Top Communist court to handle all death sentences: Communist China’s Supreme Court “is to regain its power to review death sentences” (BBC), ostensibly to cut down on the number of executions. Communist China, which includes white-collar crimes among its capital offenses, executed more people last year than the rest of the world combined.
Thai energy firm gets closer to Communist-owned counterpart: PTT Exploration & Production, a subsidiary of Thailand's state-controlled PTT, “signed a memorandum of understanding” (UPI via Washington Times, second item) with the Communist-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation. As part of the deal “the two sides will increase bilateral investment to $6.5 billion from the current $3.7 billion.”
Enlightened Comment of the Day: Jerome Keating has a detailed history of China that cogently establishes East Turkestan and Tibet as separate nations under occupation.
Ignorant Comment of the Day: How can I award such a prize to an analyst as learned as Michael Barone? When he writes this: “The increasing interweaving of China into the international economy suggests China may not be a military threat” (Washington Times).
Woe Canada! Terry O’Neill, Western Standard, provides a partial list of destinations for the $50 million in foreign aid Canada has given to Communist China.
Other Commentary on Communist China: Former Communist consular office Chen Yonglin exposes the real motives for Hu Jintao’s “game of the CCP attempting to exploit the fame of Hu Yaobang” (Epoch Times). Jay Nordlinger, National Review Online, reminds his readers of Communist China’s use of psychiatric institutions as torture chambers in his Impromptus column (third item).
More from One Free Korea: The Friendly Blog takes note of Communist China’s arrest of activists helping refugees from SNK (original source: Yonhap) and a video of a refugee being beaten by the Stalinists (original source: Chosun Ilbo), the vacillation of dovish South Korea’s human rights establishment (original source: Korea Times), and the Bush Administration freezing the assets of three Stalinist firms for “proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” (Korea Times).
UBS to invest in corrupt SNK-linked Bank of China: The Communist-run Bank of China shook off reports of its criminal ties to SNK drug running and counterfeiting to take in $500 million from Switzerland’s UBS (United Press Int’l via Washington Times).
More on Stalinist North Korea: Patrick Goodenough, Cybercast News, examines Kim Jong-il’s problems with international food aid and the monitors that come with it.
U.S. won’t let Communist China gets its hands on Internet: U.S. Ambassador David A. Gross bluntly told, the Washington Times that he “will fight attempts to put the United Nations or any international group in charge of the Internet.” A number of repressive regimes, especially Communist China, have been calling for the UN to take over administration of the web from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (fourth and sixth item). Meanwhile, Joseph Farah (World Net Daily) and Edward Lanfranco (UPI via Washington Times) remind their readers of how Communist China treats its internet users, and rips American companies for aiding in the repression.
Another round of textile talks begin: The U.S. and Communist China are holding more talks on the surge in Communist textile exports (UPI via Washington Times) that was sparked by the end of worldwide textile trade restrictions on January 1, and crowded out several developing nations in the process (fifth, fourth, second, and fifth items).
More on Communist China and the United States: Given the news on the North Korea deal, is it any surprise that Communist China is willing to stonewall the U.S. on its other axis-of-evil ally and nuclear client, namely Iran (Anne Bayefsky, Hudson Institute, in National Review Online)? Meanwhile, UPI (via Washington Times) examines the Communists’ plans for their rapidly expanding naval forces, and Dong Li, NTDTV (via Epoch Times), looks back at Communist leader Hu Jintao’s trip to the U.S.
Communist China puts on public access and anti-corruption charades: Communist China played to the public with “a parliamentary session open to the public for the first time” (BBC) that decided absolutely nothing. Meanwhile, the regime is claiming to be fighting corruption in mining (last item) by insisting cadres who won’t forfeit their stakes in the mines “will be removed from their posts” (UPI via Washington Times). The folks in Linyi would note that such “removals” should be taken with a grain of salt (third item).
Top Communist court to handle all death sentences: Communist China’s Supreme Court “is to regain its power to review death sentences” (BBC), ostensibly to cut down on the number of executions. Communist China, which includes white-collar crimes among its capital offenses, executed more people last year than the rest of the world combined.
Thai energy firm gets closer to Communist-owned counterpart: PTT Exploration & Production, a subsidiary of Thailand's state-controlled PTT, “signed a memorandum of understanding” (UPI via Washington Times, second item) with the Communist-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation. As part of the deal “the two sides will increase bilateral investment to $6.5 billion from the current $3.7 billion.”
Enlightened Comment of the Day: Jerome Keating has a detailed history of China that cogently establishes East Turkestan and Tibet as separate nations under occupation.
Ignorant Comment of the Day: How can I award such a prize to an analyst as learned as Michael Barone? When he writes this: “The increasing interweaving of China into the international economy suggests China may not be a military threat” (Washington Times).
Woe Canada! Terry O’Neill, Western Standard, provides a partial list of destinations for the $50 million in foreign aid Canada has given to Communist China.
Other Commentary on Communist China: Former Communist consular office Chen Yonglin exposes the real motives for Hu Jintao’s “game of the CCP attempting to exploit the fame of Hu Yaobang” (Epoch Times). Jay Nordlinger, National Review Online, reminds his readers of Communist China’s use of psychiatric institutions as torture chambers in his Impromptus column (third item).
Monday, September 26, 2005
News of the Day (September 26)
Reaction to the SNK nuclear deal poured in over the weekend, and created some tight competition for Enlightened Comment of the Day. The honorable mentions go to Jim Geraghty, author of National Review Online’s TKS blog, for being one of the few to note that the President’s increasing political weakness extended to the SNK “deal”: “the other great problem is that the elected leaders on “our” side, allegedly representing our worldview, don't seem to be all that interested in our ideas anymore . . . they’re telling us to trust them on that North Korean deal.” Jim Hoagland, Washington Post also made that point. Closest to the prize was Hoagland’s colleague Glen Kessler, whose interpretation of the “agreement” is as funny as it is infuriating (due to the topic, not Kessler himself). However, the winner is one of this quarter’s favorites, the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center’s Henry Sokolski, for his detailed takedown of the deal in Time Asia. Meanwhile, the Epoch Times reprinted yours truly’s post on the deal; Jefferson Morley, Washington Post, gauged the reaction from South Korea; and ex-State Department interpreter Tong Kim wins the more dubious Ignorant Comment of the Day prize for his Washington Post drivel on language. Making matters worse, the dovish government of South Korea is actually trying to use last week’s debacle as a bridge to “developmental projects geared toward North Korea's underground mineral resources” (United Press International via Washington Times). Altogether now: Will they never learn?
More on Stalinist North Korea: A father who lost his feet – that’s right, feet – to the Stalinist torturers managed to escape to Thailand with his son (Chosun Ilbo, South Korea). Friendly Blog One Free Korea weighed in thusly: “Explain to me again why the people of North Korea are programmed robots who lack the will to resist tyranny.” Zing.
Taiwanese march in support of stalled weapons buy: Over 40,000 Taiwanese marched through Taipei in support of an arms package proposed by the U.S. but blocked by the opposition pan-blue parties (Cybercast News). The opposition, which had no problem with the arms while they were in power before 2000, but has since held up the purchase for so long as to earn the Administration’s ire (seventh and seventh items).
Democracy advocates win in Macao: Former Portuguese colony Macao is always seen as the quieter, more accepting Communist Special Administrative Region (compared to Hong Kong, see below). In part, that’s because the city’s legislature has only 12 seats elected by the people (the other seventeen are controlled by the Communist-appointed city leader Edmund Ho and the pro-Communists “constituency groups”). However, the New Macau Democratic Association made the most of what they had, repeating their victory of 2001 (UPI via Monsters and Critics).
Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators visit mainland: Meanwhile, the entire Hong Kong legislature, “including 25 from the democracy camp” (BBC) visited Guangdong, where they were supposed to be impressed by “one of the most dynamic economic regions in China.” Instead, the pro-democracy lawmakers “held a contentious meeting Sunday with a member of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo about political reform and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre” (Washington Post). The cadre who hosted the meeting called the discussion a “waste of breath.”
Lawyer and reporter who fought Taishi crackdown are under arrest: Guo Feixiong, a reporter for Boxun who helped expose the Communist corruption and ensuing anti-democratic crackdown in Taishi village (fifth and tenth items), is himself under arrest, and may very well die in prison (Boxun). The Communists have also jailed Tang Jingling, an attorney who helped the locals conduct a village recall election – perfectly legal and still completely flushed by the cadres (Boxun).
Essayist sent to prison, as another already in is remembered: Freelance essayist Zheng Yichun was sent to prison for seven years for “subversion of state power” (Epoch Times) – which in this case meant writing anti-Communist web articles. The Committee to Protect Journalists railed against the arrest (via Epoch Times) and also reminded the world of the plight of Zhang Lin (also via Epoch Times), an essayist already in a Communist prison (see third and ninth items for Zhang’s comments on the late Zhao Ziyang), and currently on a hunger strike in protest (sixth item). Reporters Without Borders also highlighted Zhang’s plight (Boxun).
Communist China expands web crackdown to “social order” pieces: Communist China expanded its cyber-repression in order to “forbid content harming ‘social order’” (BBC), and take aim at “bloggers and other unofficial journalists and news sites” (MSNBC). Furthermore, all news sites “must be ‘directed toward serving the people and socialism and insist on correct guidance of public opinion for maintaining national and public interests’” (Cybercast News).
Appeals up “500-fold” in last two decades: The number of appeals – i.e., petitions to expressing grievances against the regime – “in the past 20 years . . . increased 500-fold” (Epoch Times), but “the ratio of the solved problems to the total amount of appeals was only 2 out of 1000.” Most appeals “not only were coldly received, but sometimes would be sent back after enduring such extremes as beatings and imprisonment.”
Falun Gong practitioner becomes first escapee to reach U.S. through Thailand: Li Weixun, a Falun Gong practitioner who “was arrested, expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), lost her job, and was detained and tortured” (Epoch Times) before escaping to Thailand, is now in the United States. Li’s case is “the first time the U.S. government has successfully relocated a Chinese Falun Gong practitioner residing in Thailand through the UNHCR.”
Communist China preparing for next space flight: Communist China announced its next space flight will launch “on 13 October at the earliest” (BBC).
Communist China rips Indonesia for fishing boat incident: The Communist regime called on Indonesia to rein in its navy” (BBC) after the latter fired upon a flotilla of fishing vessels from Communist China (eighth item), never mind that the fishing vessels ignored radio warnings and then tried to flee after fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.
More on Stalinist North Korea: A father who lost his feet – that’s right, feet – to the Stalinist torturers managed to escape to Thailand with his son (Chosun Ilbo, South Korea). Friendly Blog One Free Korea weighed in thusly: “Explain to me again why the people of North Korea are programmed robots who lack the will to resist tyranny.” Zing.
Taiwanese march in support of stalled weapons buy: Over 40,000 Taiwanese marched through Taipei in support of an arms package proposed by the U.S. but blocked by the opposition pan-blue parties (Cybercast News). The opposition, which had no problem with the arms while they were in power before 2000, but has since held up the purchase for so long as to earn the Administration’s ire (seventh and seventh items).
Democracy advocates win in Macao: Former Portuguese colony Macao is always seen as the quieter, more accepting Communist Special Administrative Region (compared to Hong Kong, see below). In part, that’s because the city’s legislature has only 12 seats elected by the people (the other seventeen are controlled by the Communist-appointed city leader Edmund Ho and the pro-Communists “constituency groups”). However, the New Macau Democratic Association made the most of what they had, repeating their victory of 2001 (UPI via Monsters and Critics).
Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators visit mainland: Meanwhile, the entire Hong Kong legislature, “including 25 from the democracy camp” (BBC) visited Guangdong, where they were supposed to be impressed by “one of the most dynamic economic regions in China.” Instead, the pro-democracy lawmakers “held a contentious meeting Sunday with a member of the ruling Communist Party's Politburo about political reform and the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre” (Washington Post). The cadre who hosted the meeting called the discussion a “waste of breath.”
Lawyer and reporter who fought Taishi crackdown are under arrest: Guo Feixiong, a reporter for Boxun who helped expose the Communist corruption and ensuing anti-democratic crackdown in Taishi village (fifth and tenth items), is himself under arrest, and may very well die in prison (Boxun). The Communists have also jailed Tang Jingling, an attorney who helped the locals conduct a village recall election – perfectly legal and still completely flushed by the cadres (Boxun).
Essayist sent to prison, as another already in is remembered: Freelance essayist Zheng Yichun was sent to prison for seven years for “subversion of state power” (Epoch Times) – which in this case meant writing anti-Communist web articles. The Committee to Protect Journalists railed against the arrest (via Epoch Times) and also reminded the world of the plight of Zhang Lin (also via Epoch Times), an essayist already in a Communist prison (see third and ninth items for Zhang’s comments on the late Zhao Ziyang), and currently on a hunger strike in protest (sixth item). Reporters Without Borders also highlighted Zhang’s plight (Boxun).
Communist China expands web crackdown to “social order” pieces: Communist China expanded its cyber-repression in order to “forbid content harming ‘social order’” (BBC), and take aim at “bloggers and other unofficial journalists and news sites” (MSNBC). Furthermore, all news sites “must be ‘directed toward serving the people and socialism and insist on correct guidance of public opinion for maintaining national and public interests’” (Cybercast News).
Appeals up “500-fold” in last two decades: The number of appeals – i.e., petitions to expressing grievances against the regime – “in the past 20 years . . . increased 500-fold” (Epoch Times), but “the ratio of the solved problems to the total amount of appeals was only 2 out of 1000.” Most appeals “not only were coldly received, but sometimes would be sent back after enduring such extremes as beatings and imprisonment.”
Falun Gong practitioner becomes first escapee to reach U.S. through Thailand: Li Weixun, a Falun Gong practitioner who “was arrested, expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), lost her job, and was detained and tortured” (Epoch Times) before escaping to Thailand, is now in the United States. Li’s case is “the first time the U.S. government has successfully relocated a Chinese Falun Gong practitioner residing in Thailand through the UNHCR.”
Communist China preparing for next space flight: Communist China announced its next space flight will launch “on 13 October at the earliest” (BBC).
Communist China rips Indonesia for fishing boat incident: The Communist regime called on Indonesia to rein in its navy” (BBC) after the latter fired upon a flotilla of fishing vessels from Communist China (eighth item), never mind that the fishing vessels ignored radio warnings and then tried to flee after fishing illegally in Indonesian waters.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
News of the Day (September 24)
I humbly apologize for not getting this out sooner.
Stalinist North Korea kicks out United Nations: The Stalinist regime “formally told the UN it no longer needs food aid, despite reports of malnutrition in the country” (BBC). The move would ensure a return to the crippling famine of the 1990s. Previously, the UN’s anti-famine arm, the World Food Program, has come under criticism for its lack of monitoring in SNK. The head of USAID openly expressed that the Administration “feared that food for vulnerable populations was being steered to the vast North Korean army” (Washington Times). Whatever monitoring the WFP had done was already enough to spook the Stalinists (last item), whose record on food distribution is, ahem, less than stellar (fifth, ninth, and fifth items). Friendly blog One Free Korea weighs in on the Stalinists’ move, while Sarah Buckley, BBC, details the reasons for the food shortage.
More reaction to the Stalinist North Korea nuclear “deal”: One Free Korea also weighed in on the SNK nuclear deal, and he’s not alone. Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, analyzes what Communist China gains from all of this – and without a few idiotic comments on the Communists using their “leverage” on SNK he would have had the Enlightened Comment of the Day. As it is, the title goes to the Helsingin Sanomat (via Washington Times). Austin Bay, also in the Washington Times, has a good piece on the subject until a silly suggestion that engineers from Communist China could force Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il to “his prison nation's cell door just a crack.” The editors of the Washington Times can’t seem to decide whether talking with the Stalinists is a good or bad (Will they never learn?). Meanwhile, SNK pressed its demand for a light-water reactor, but according to the Washington Post, it was nicer about it this time.
Russia and Communist China considering joint pipelines: Communist-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and Russia’s Gazprom “are discussing the construction of two gas pipelines across the Russia-China border” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Ariel Cohen, of the Heritage Foundation, examines the recent “Sino-Russian rapprochement” (Fox News) and calls on the United States to “monitor this emerging partnership carefully – and work to keep it from getting too cozy.”
U.S. rips IMF for letting Communist China deliberately devalue its currency: The Undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs blasted the International Monetary Fund for having “failed to enforce its own rules that bar member nations from maintaining artificially cheap currencies” (Washington Post). The chief culprit – and unnamed target – was Communist China, which has maintained an artificially cheap currency in reference to the dollar to damage American manufacturing and our allies’ exports. The cadres tried to assuage the financial markets with “further exchange rate changes” (BBC), but, tellingly, none applied to the currencies level against the dollar.
More on Communist China and the United States: Jerome Keating, Taipei Times (via Epoch Times) calls on the U.S. to take cadre General Zhu Chenghu’s threat seriously. Shi Da, Epoch Times, finds Hu’s trip to the U.S. to be a disappointment for the regime.
Europe softens on Iran, but Communist China still won’t budge: The three European nations leading the talks with Iran on its nuclear weapons “a draft resolution to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency Friday declaring that Iran had violated treaty obligations by secretly developing a nuclear program that could be used to build weapons” (Washington Post). The resolution “is slightly softer than an earlier version.” Despite this, Communist China still opposed it.
Tribunal calls for the arrest of Jiang Zemin: The International Tribunal to Judge the Chinese Communist Party’s Crimes Against Humanity issued what it called an “arrest warrant” (Epoch Times) against Jiang Zemin, the former Communist leader who authored the murderous crackdown against Falun Gong over six years ago.
Is the dissident community about to close the open hand to Hu Jintao? Meanwhile, the editors of the Epoch Times lament that the current Communist leader has “let down are all who had once banked on Hu to usher in reform.” While they still give him one last chance to do the right thing and “abandon the CCP, leading China on the road to a long and stable period of development,” they are clearly (and given the Hanyuan County Massacre, rightly) skeptical.
More on human rights in Communist China: Wu Cenxi, Epoch Times, finds Hong Kong’s Communist-appointed regime trying to claim Falun Gong practitioners from Taiwan were a security threat.
Cadres refuse to give up ownership in mines: Communists China’s latest attempt to improve safety in mining, namely an order to “local officials to give up their stakes” (BBC) in the mines, has fallen flat. Given the choice between saving the lives of their own people and preserving the corruption in the Party, what did Zhongnanhai choose? Do you really have to ask?
Stalinist North Korea kicks out United Nations: The Stalinist regime “formally told the UN it no longer needs food aid, despite reports of malnutrition in the country” (BBC). The move would ensure a return to the crippling famine of the 1990s. Previously, the UN’s anti-famine arm, the World Food Program, has come under criticism for its lack of monitoring in SNK. The head of USAID openly expressed that the Administration “feared that food for vulnerable populations was being steered to the vast North Korean army” (Washington Times). Whatever monitoring the WFP had done was already enough to spook the Stalinists (last item), whose record on food distribution is, ahem, less than stellar (fifth, ninth, and fifth items). Friendly blog One Free Korea weighs in on the Stalinists’ move, while Sarah Buckley, BBC, details the reasons for the food shortage.
More reaction to the Stalinist North Korea nuclear “deal”: One Free Korea also weighed in on the SNK nuclear deal, and he’s not alone. Charles Krauthammer, Washington Post, analyzes what Communist China gains from all of this – and without a few idiotic comments on the Communists using their “leverage” on SNK he would have had the Enlightened Comment of the Day. As it is, the title goes to the Helsingin Sanomat (via Washington Times). Austin Bay, also in the Washington Times, has a good piece on the subject until a silly suggestion that engineers from Communist China could force Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il to “his prison nation's cell door just a crack.” The editors of the Washington Times can’t seem to decide whether talking with the Stalinists is a good or bad (Will they never learn?). Meanwhile, SNK pressed its demand for a light-water reactor, but according to the Washington Post, it was nicer about it this time.
Russia and Communist China considering joint pipelines: Communist-owned China National Petroleum Corporation and Russia’s Gazprom “are discussing the construction of two gas pipelines across the Russia-China border” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Ariel Cohen, of the Heritage Foundation, examines the recent “Sino-Russian rapprochement” (Fox News) and calls on the United States to “monitor this emerging partnership carefully – and work to keep it from getting too cozy.”
U.S. rips IMF for letting Communist China deliberately devalue its currency: The Undersecretary of the Treasury for international affairs blasted the International Monetary Fund for having “failed to enforce its own rules that bar member nations from maintaining artificially cheap currencies” (Washington Post). The chief culprit – and unnamed target – was Communist China, which has maintained an artificially cheap currency in reference to the dollar to damage American manufacturing and our allies’ exports. The cadres tried to assuage the financial markets with “further exchange rate changes” (BBC), but, tellingly, none applied to the currencies level against the dollar.
More on Communist China and the United States: Jerome Keating, Taipei Times (via Epoch Times) calls on the U.S. to take cadre General Zhu Chenghu’s threat seriously. Shi Da, Epoch Times, finds Hu’s trip to the U.S. to be a disappointment for the regime.
Europe softens on Iran, but Communist China still won’t budge: The three European nations leading the talks with Iran on its nuclear weapons “a draft resolution to the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency Friday declaring that Iran had violated treaty obligations by secretly developing a nuclear program that could be used to build weapons” (Washington Post). The resolution “is slightly softer than an earlier version.” Despite this, Communist China still opposed it.
Tribunal calls for the arrest of Jiang Zemin: The International Tribunal to Judge the Chinese Communist Party’s Crimes Against Humanity issued what it called an “arrest warrant” (Epoch Times) against Jiang Zemin, the former Communist leader who authored the murderous crackdown against Falun Gong over six years ago.
Is the dissident community about to close the open hand to Hu Jintao? Meanwhile, the editors of the Epoch Times lament that the current Communist leader has “let down are all who had once banked on Hu to usher in reform.” While they still give him one last chance to do the right thing and “abandon the CCP, leading China on the road to a long and stable period of development,” they are clearly (and given the Hanyuan County Massacre, rightly) skeptical.
More on human rights in Communist China: Wu Cenxi, Epoch Times, finds Hong Kong’s Communist-appointed regime trying to claim Falun Gong practitioners from Taiwan were a security threat.
Cadres refuse to give up ownership in mines: Communists China’s latest attempt to improve safety in mining, namely an order to “local officials to give up their stakes” (BBC) in the mines, has fallen flat. Given the choice between saving the lives of their own people and preserving the corruption in the Party, what did Zhongnanhai choose? Do you really have to ask?
Thursday, September 22, 2005
News of the Day (September 22)
State Department No. 2 blows hot and cold on Communist China: Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, in a speech to the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, gave some of the harshest criticism of the cadres to come from an American official for quite some time. Zoellick demanded the Communists “openly explain its defense spending, intentions, doctrine and military exercises to ease concerns about its rapid military buildup” (Washington Post), end their “increasing signs of mercantilism,” fight counterfeiting, and drop plans to “‘maneuver toward a predominance of power’ in Asia.” Additionally, he also called on the Communists to open up their politics, saying the Communist regime was “simply not sustainable” as is. Yet, for all of that (and it is quite considerable), Zoellick’s speech was not without some stumbles. He echoed the silly notion that Communist China is not trying to reshape the globe to its advantage – perhaps if he read this he might reconsider – and maddeningly chose to “praise the ‘constructive’ role China has played in shepherding international talks on nuclear disarmament in North Korea” (Newsmax). Will they never learn?
Stalinist North Korea repeats assertion U.S. is planning attack: Speaking of Stalinist North Korea, the regime’s Korean Central News Agency accused the United States of “planning a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the country” (United Press International via Washington Times). Meanwhile, the regional press was taking stock of the overhyped deal, and after wading through the Communist mouthpieces, one finds the Enlightened Comment of the Day from Taiwan’s China Times (quoted by the BBC).
More on SNK: Friendly Blog One Free Korea has an excellent post on famine’s return to Stalinist North Korea, and the alarming lack of concern from the rest of the world.
Does Paul Martin know what his own government is doing? As Canadian rights activists lamented the deportation of Falun Gong practitioner Xiaoping Hu to Communist China – and try desperately to keep Canada’s Immigration Ministry from condemning fellow practitioners Fang Yaobin and Xiong Fengying to the same fate – Prime Minister Paul Martin chose to deny reality: “I can tell you that we are not in the process of deporting Falun Gong practitioners” (Epoch Times). I open the question to our Canadian readers: is Martin completely oblivious to what’s happening, or just a bald-faced liar?
On Communist China and Latin America: Bill Rodgers, Voice of America, examines the Communist regime’s ominously increasing ties in Central and South America.
Echo chamber moment: The Epoch Times reprints my analysis of Hu Jintao (original).
Stalinist North Korea repeats assertion U.S. is planning attack: Speaking of Stalinist North Korea, the regime’s Korean Central News Agency accused the United States of “planning a pre-emptive nuclear attack on the country” (United Press International via Washington Times). Meanwhile, the regional press was taking stock of the overhyped deal, and after wading through the Communist mouthpieces, one finds the Enlightened Comment of the Day from Taiwan’s China Times (quoted by the BBC).
More on SNK: Friendly Blog One Free Korea has an excellent post on famine’s return to Stalinist North Korea, and the alarming lack of concern from the rest of the world.
Does Paul Martin know what his own government is doing? As Canadian rights activists lamented the deportation of Falun Gong practitioner Xiaoping Hu to Communist China – and try desperately to keep Canada’s Immigration Ministry from condemning fellow practitioners Fang Yaobin and Xiong Fengying to the same fate – Prime Minister Paul Martin chose to deny reality: “I can tell you that we are not in the process of deporting Falun Gong practitioners” (Epoch Times). I open the question to our Canadian readers: is Martin completely oblivious to what’s happening, or just a bald-faced liar?
On Communist China and Latin America: Bill Rodgers, Voice of America, examines the Communist regime’s ominously increasing ties in Central and South America.
Echo chamber moment: The Epoch Times reprints my analysis of Hu Jintao (original).
Surrender in Beijing: On the North Korea Nuclear “Agreement”
Three years after Stalinist North Korea boasted of their uranium nuclear weapons program, the Stalinists won practically everything they wanted in the latest agreement at the six-party talks on said nuclear weapons program. I use the word “latest” because the agreement itself was so vague and broad they’ll need another round of talks in two months to iron out the particulars. To give an idea of how thin this “agreement” is, the Washington Post reported that the Stalinist demand for a civilian nuclear reactor before they completely dismantled their nuclear arsenal is not a violation of the deal, contrary to numerous reports. In actuality, each participant “could offer its own interpretation of the sequencing” of events (i.e., what comes first, the benefits to the Stalinist regime or the end of the regime’s nuclear weapons).
Obviously, this “agreement” isn’t really much of one, but it does represent something much more important: the complete diplomatic surrender of the Bush Administration to the Stalinist position. As Jim Robbins of National Review Online put it, “our negotiators seem to have beaten the North Koreans down to accepting what they originally proposed.”
The Stalinists came to the table demanding the U.S. normalize relations, provide energy assistance and/or economic aid, and promise not to use military force against them. They got an electricity offer from South Korea large enough to light up the entire North, and a promise from the U.S. to take normalization steps (CNN). Meanwhile, the Administration effectively ruled out liberation as an option for the long-suffering people of northern Korea. As for the civilian nuclear reactor, the agreement says the issue would be discussed “at an appropriate time.” For the Stalinists, that’s today. For the Administration, that’s November. For the rest of us, that’s a distinction without a difference.
In the meantime, Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il has had three years to establish and build his nuclear arsenal. More importantly, he has also had time to hide both the arsenal and the program that created them from future prying eyes. In fact, this “agreement” may be a sign that the Stalinists are now fully confident in their ability to hide their nuclear weapons from international inspectors.
The American progression from tough talk to weak words has been painful to watch. In 2002, the U.S. called for the Stalinists to completely dismantle their nuclear program before any aid would be sent. Now, the Stalinists only have to promise the dismantling. Then, the U.S. ruled out any pledge forswearing liberation. Now, they have effectively ruled out liberation. Then, the idea of the Stalinists getting the light-water nuclear reactors from the 1994 Agreed Framework fiasco was laughable. Now, it’s just a matter of “appropriate time.”
So, in exchange for two million kilowatts of electricity and heaven knows how much economic aid, a de facto promise that no one will try to knock over their regime, and a future civilian nuclear reactor, all the Stalinists had to do was promise to live up to their 1994 promise to live up to their 1985 promise to be a nuclear-free state – to be verified by an organization (the International Atomic Energy Agency) that couldn’t find Tehran’s nuclear weapons program for years (Washington Post: link archived). Whatever this is, it certainly isn’t a diplomatic triumph for the Bush Administration.
Critics on the President’s “left” will claim he could have made this agreement years ago and that it’s not very much different from Clinton’s 1994 disaster, and they’ll be right: this deal is largely Agreed Framework redux. Defenders of the President will insist that bringing Communist China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea to the table will make all the difference, and they, too, will be right, but not for the reason they think. The presence of the other parties does make this situation different – only it is now infinitely worse. It has added Communist China – a regime that has no interest in helping us, and every interest in protecting its Stalinist ally – as a participant, and given them a vested interest in preserving the deal – in particular the American obligations within it – no matter what Kim Jong-il does.
This brings us to the underlying flaw in this entire episode: the assumption that Communist China is helping the U.S. solve this problem. Lest we forget, Stalinist North Korea would not exist today but for Communist China – the oldest and most consistent ally the Stalinists have. In fact, Communist China sold its Stalinist ally tributyl phosphate – a chemical essential both to making plutonium and weaponizing uranium – mere months after Kim’s lackeys admitted to the uranium-based weapons program in 2002. Less than a month ago, the Communist-owned Bank of China was exposed having links to rackets in drugs and counterfeiting which were “helping to finance Pyongyang's nuclear program” (BBC).
To expect Communist China to help us make North Korea behave is a mistake that stems from a deeper and even more dangerous error: the belief that “engaging” Communist China will lead to peace, freedom, and stability. Communist China’s long history of ties to terrorism should be enough to disabuse Americans of that notion; sadly, many in this country are still unaware. As a result, there has been little or no pressure on the Bush Administration to take and hold a hard line on Communist China and its Stalinist allies, and that political vacuum was a major reason for this week’s “agreement” debacle.
The consequences of this “agreement” will be far, wide, and very damaging. Certainly, the Khomeinist regime in Iran (another beneficiary of Communist China’s military and nuclear aid) will take note of the Stalinists’ ability to win concession after concession from the U.S. So will Syria, Zimbabwe, the Sudan, and every other regime that is oppressing its own people. A quest for nuclear weapons and support from Communist China won Stalinist North Korea a complete diplomatic surrender from the United States. The forces of dictatorship, terror, and repression were watching, and learning. The lessons from this could be catastrophic for the United States and the free world.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: America will never be secure until China is free. There is no better example of this than the past week’s events. Without the Chinese Communist Party, there is no North Korea, no Stalinist famine, no nuclear weapons program, no blackmail, and no surrender. Until this is recognized, Communist China and Stalinist North Korea will continue to make false deal like this on with the United States while they plot against it. The Bush Administration, which has been so determined to end tyranny in Central and Western Asia, has become far too tolerant of it in Eastern Asia. With that tolerance comes great peril.
Obviously, this “agreement” isn’t really much of one, but it does represent something much more important: the complete diplomatic surrender of the Bush Administration to the Stalinist position. As Jim Robbins of National Review Online put it, “our negotiators seem to have beaten the North Koreans down to accepting what they originally proposed.”
The Stalinists came to the table demanding the U.S. normalize relations, provide energy assistance and/or economic aid, and promise not to use military force against them. They got an electricity offer from South Korea large enough to light up the entire North, and a promise from the U.S. to take normalization steps (CNN). Meanwhile, the Administration effectively ruled out liberation as an option for the long-suffering people of northern Korea. As for the civilian nuclear reactor, the agreement says the issue would be discussed “at an appropriate time.” For the Stalinists, that’s today. For the Administration, that’s November. For the rest of us, that’s a distinction without a difference.
In the meantime, Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il has had three years to establish and build his nuclear arsenal. More importantly, he has also had time to hide both the arsenal and the program that created them from future prying eyes. In fact, this “agreement” may be a sign that the Stalinists are now fully confident in their ability to hide their nuclear weapons from international inspectors.
The American progression from tough talk to weak words has been painful to watch. In 2002, the U.S. called for the Stalinists to completely dismantle their nuclear program before any aid would be sent. Now, the Stalinists only have to promise the dismantling. Then, the U.S. ruled out any pledge forswearing liberation. Now, they have effectively ruled out liberation. Then, the idea of the Stalinists getting the light-water nuclear reactors from the 1994 Agreed Framework fiasco was laughable. Now, it’s just a matter of “appropriate time.”
So, in exchange for two million kilowatts of electricity and heaven knows how much economic aid, a de facto promise that no one will try to knock over their regime, and a future civilian nuclear reactor, all the Stalinists had to do was promise to live up to their 1994 promise to live up to their 1985 promise to be a nuclear-free state – to be verified by an organization (the International Atomic Energy Agency) that couldn’t find Tehran’s nuclear weapons program for years (Washington Post: link archived). Whatever this is, it certainly isn’t a diplomatic triumph for the Bush Administration.
Critics on the President’s “left” will claim he could have made this agreement years ago and that it’s not very much different from Clinton’s 1994 disaster, and they’ll be right: this deal is largely Agreed Framework redux. Defenders of the President will insist that bringing Communist China, Russia, Japan, and South Korea to the table will make all the difference, and they, too, will be right, but not for the reason they think. The presence of the other parties does make this situation different – only it is now infinitely worse. It has added Communist China – a regime that has no interest in helping us, and every interest in protecting its Stalinist ally – as a participant, and given them a vested interest in preserving the deal – in particular the American obligations within it – no matter what Kim Jong-il does.
This brings us to the underlying flaw in this entire episode: the assumption that Communist China is helping the U.S. solve this problem. Lest we forget, Stalinist North Korea would not exist today but for Communist China – the oldest and most consistent ally the Stalinists have. In fact, Communist China sold its Stalinist ally tributyl phosphate – a chemical essential both to making plutonium and weaponizing uranium – mere months after Kim’s lackeys admitted to the uranium-based weapons program in 2002. Less than a month ago, the Communist-owned Bank of China was exposed having links to rackets in drugs and counterfeiting which were “helping to finance Pyongyang's nuclear program” (BBC).
To expect Communist China to help us make North Korea behave is a mistake that stems from a deeper and even more dangerous error: the belief that “engaging” Communist China will lead to peace, freedom, and stability. Communist China’s long history of ties to terrorism should be enough to disabuse Americans of that notion; sadly, many in this country are still unaware. As a result, there has been little or no pressure on the Bush Administration to take and hold a hard line on Communist China and its Stalinist allies, and that political vacuum was a major reason for this week’s “agreement” debacle.
The consequences of this “agreement” will be far, wide, and very damaging. Certainly, the Khomeinist regime in Iran (another beneficiary of Communist China’s military and nuclear aid) will take note of the Stalinists’ ability to win concession after concession from the U.S. So will Syria, Zimbabwe, the Sudan, and every other regime that is oppressing its own people. A quest for nuclear weapons and support from Communist China won Stalinist North Korea a complete diplomatic surrender from the United States. The forces of dictatorship, terror, and repression were watching, and learning. The lessons from this could be catastrophic for the United States and the free world.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: America will never be secure until China is free. There is no better example of this than the past week’s events. Without the Chinese Communist Party, there is no North Korea, no Stalinist famine, no nuclear weapons program, no blackmail, and no surrender. Until this is recognized, Communist China and Stalinist North Korea will continue to make false deal like this on with the United States while they plot against it. The Bush Administration, which has been so determined to end tyranny in Central and Western Asia, has become far too tolerant of it in Eastern Asia. With that tolerance comes great peril.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
News of the Day (September 21)
Administration tells SNK reactor demand is not consistent with deal (but it is): The Bush Administration’s response to Stalinist North Korea’s demand for a light-water nuclear reactor before it dismantled its nuclear arsenal was, sadly, laughable. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met with her counterparts from Communist China and Russia, and all agreed that “the agreement was the binding text, including the question of light-water reactors” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). The implication, of course, is that the Stalinists were violating the vague deal on their nuclear arsenal (CNN). White House spokesman Scott McClellan made that explicit: “The agreement spells out the sequencing . . . North Korea first has to abandon its nuclear weapons and eliminate its nuclear programs in a verifiable way” (UPI via Washington Times). The only problem with McClellan’s statement and Rice’s subtle hints is that they’re both wrong: as part of the deal, “each party could offer its own interpretation of the sequencing” (Glenn Kessler, Washington Post). Meanwhile, U.S. lead negotiator Christopher Hill is getting the usual, and maddening, man-who-made-the-deal coverage (Kessler manages to fawn over Hill at the same time he discovered that gigantic loophole in the deal), and David Frum, assessing the deal on his National Review Online blog, pens the Enlightened Comment of the Day: “it certainly looks like an attempt to relabel ‘failure’ a ‘delayed success.’”
Stalinist-in-chief chooses his successor: Kim Jong-il “has decided to pass the mantle of leadership of one of the world’s most repressive regimes to his second son Kim Jong-chul” (Chosun Ilbo, South Korea). The elder Kim, who calls himself “Dear Leader,” has taken to calling Kim Jong-chuk “the Commander” in his propaganda.
Communist China also looking at Canadian uranium: In amplifying this quarter’s alarm about Communist China’s recent forays into Canadian resources (third, third, and fifth items), Friendly Blog Small Dead Animals pointed to another Communist-coveted resource in the Great White North: uranium (Globe and Mail via The Mining News).
More on Communist China and Canada: The Epoch Times was honored as a “strong defender of human rights and democratic values” in Toronto last week.
Communist manufacturers using fake labels to avoid “Made in China” restrictions: Textile manufacturers in Communist China “are resorting to illegal transshipment to get their goods into the US and Europe” (BBC). Transshipment means sending the garments to “a third country” and sewing in labels stating the clothes were made in that third country to get them into the U.S. (Europe has no label requirement). The move comes in response to a surge in textile imports from Communist China fueled by the January 1 end of worldwide textile trade curbs (fifth, fourth, and second items).
More on Communist China and the United States: Charles R. Smith, Newsmax, tracks the journey of a Boeing aircraft sold to a “civilian” airline in Communist China from American plane to “flying command post for the Chinese army.” A rally in support of the nearly four and a half million Communist Party members who have resigned in response to the Nine Commentaries was held In New York (Epoch Times). In the Boston suburb of Cambridge, an Orphan Rescue Benefit Concert was held as a fundraiser for children of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned in Communist China (Epoch Times).
Taiwan opposition block purchase of arms they requested when in power: As noted yesterday, Taiwan’s “pan-blue” opposition has held up Taiwan’s purchase of U.S.-offered arms for years (seventh item). According to American Enterprise Institute fellow Dan Blumenthal, the opposition “asked the U.S. for the very same items” (Cybercast News) when it was in power before Chen Shui-bian’s election in 2000. Meanwhile, the Congressional Taiwan Caucus is publicly calling on the opposition to agree to the sale.
Indonesian navy captured fishing crew from Communist China: An Indonesian naval vessel “opened fire on a Chinese fishing boat” (BBC) which was illegally operating in the Arafura Sea and “tried to escape” when the vessel tried to make contact. The fishing boat was seized, and the crew was “taken to a naval base in Merauke.”
Communist China admits to income inequality in impoverished rural interior: Communist China, via the cadre-run Study Times, admitted that the “gap between rich and poor in China has reached dangerous levels” (BBC). The paper even went further and admitted many of Communist China’s wealthiest citizens “consisted of those who gained wealth through collusion with officials in power-for-money deals, or because they happened to work in monopoly companies or through stealing state assets.” However, the agency behind the report – the Ministry of Labor and Social Security – made no mention of fighting corruption to help alleviate the income gap.
On Taishi village and Communist “elections”: Boxun has a first-hand account of the Taishi village crackdown (fifth item). Among the interesting things here is that Taishi is one of the villages that has the overhyped “village elections,” which includes a recall option “if certain % of villagers wants to do so.” The villagers easily acquired the signatures of “enough people to make the changing leadership valid.” The cadres responded with the aforementioned water cannons.
On Hu Jintao: Wang Yifeng, Epoch Times, examines the rise of the Communist leader who authored the Hanyuan County Massacre.
Stalinist-in-chief chooses his successor: Kim Jong-il “has decided to pass the mantle of leadership of one of the world’s most repressive regimes to his second son Kim Jong-chul” (Chosun Ilbo, South Korea). The elder Kim, who calls himself “Dear Leader,” has taken to calling Kim Jong-chuk “the Commander” in his propaganda.
Communist China also looking at Canadian uranium: In amplifying this quarter’s alarm about Communist China’s recent forays into Canadian resources (third, third, and fifth items), Friendly Blog Small Dead Animals pointed to another Communist-coveted resource in the Great White North: uranium (Globe and Mail via The Mining News).
More on Communist China and Canada: The Epoch Times was honored as a “strong defender of human rights and democratic values” in Toronto last week.
Communist manufacturers using fake labels to avoid “Made in China” restrictions: Textile manufacturers in Communist China “are resorting to illegal transshipment to get their goods into the US and Europe” (BBC). Transshipment means sending the garments to “a third country” and sewing in labels stating the clothes were made in that third country to get them into the U.S. (Europe has no label requirement). The move comes in response to a surge in textile imports from Communist China fueled by the January 1 end of worldwide textile trade curbs (fifth, fourth, and second items).
More on Communist China and the United States: Charles R. Smith, Newsmax, tracks the journey of a Boeing aircraft sold to a “civilian” airline in Communist China from American plane to “flying command post for the Chinese army.” A rally in support of the nearly four and a half million Communist Party members who have resigned in response to the Nine Commentaries was held In New York (Epoch Times). In the Boston suburb of Cambridge, an Orphan Rescue Benefit Concert was held as a fundraiser for children of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned in Communist China (Epoch Times).
Taiwan opposition block purchase of arms they requested when in power: As noted yesterday, Taiwan’s “pan-blue” opposition has held up Taiwan’s purchase of U.S.-offered arms for years (seventh item). According to American Enterprise Institute fellow Dan Blumenthal, the opposition “asked the U.S. for the very same items” (Cybercast News) when it was in power before Chen Shui-bian’s election in 2000. Meanwhile, the Congressional Taiwan Caucus is publicly calling on the opposition to agree to the sale.
Indonesian navy captured fishing crew from Communist China: An Indonesian naval vessel “opened fire on a Chinese fishing boat” (BBC) which was illegally operating in the Arafura Sea and “tried to escape” when the vessel tried to make contact. The fishing boat was seized, and the crew was “taken to a naval base in Merauke.”
Communist China admits to income inequality in impoverished rural interior: Communist China, via the cadre-run Study Times, admitted that the “gap between rich and poor in China has reached dangerous levels” (BBC). The paper even went further and admitted many of Communist China’s wealthiest citizens “consisted of those who gained wealth through collusion with officials in power-for-money deals, or because they happened to work in monopoly companies or through stealing state assets.” However, the agency behind the report – the Ministry of Labor and Social Security – made no mention of fighting corruption to help alleviate the income gap.
On Taishi village and Communist “elections”: Boxun has a first-hand account of the Taishi village crackdown (fifth item). Among the interesting things here is that Taishi is one of the villages that has the overhyped “village elections,” which includes a recall option “if certain % of villagers wants to do so.” The villagers easily acquired the signatures of “enough people to make the changing leadership valid.” The cadres responded with the aforementioned water cannons.
On Hu Jintao: Wang Yifeng, Epoch Times, examines the rise of the Communist leader who authored the Hanyuan County Massacre.
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
News of the Day (September 20)
SNK still insistent on light-water reactor as part of deal: Stalinist North Korea ruffled a few feathers by repeating its demand for “a light-water nuclear reactor” (BBC) before it dismantled its nuclear arsenal. While the U.S. and Japan immediately ripped the Stalinists for their assertion, the deal itself merely calls for the reactor issue to be discussed “at an appropriate time.” The U.S. itself is ready for a “discussion” on the subject, so long as the Stalinists “come into full compliance with the NPT and IAEA safeguards” (Cybercast News). The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is the agency who missed Iran’s nuclear weapons program for years (third item). Meanwhile, praise for the deal poured in from people who should know better: Michael Hirsh of Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, and Shaun Waterman of United Press Int’l (via Washington Times). Parapundit founder Randall Parker (Member since 2003) and the editors of the Washington Post were more skeptical. However, the Enlightened Comment of the Day comes from James Robbins, of National Review Online: “After two years of effort, our negotiators seem to have beaten the North Koreans down to accepting what they originally proposed. This is the art of diplomacy – agreeing to your adversary's terms, but taking credit for the deal.” The rest of his column is just as good.
More on Stalinist North Korea: Bill Gertz, Washington Times, reports on the latest uncovered Stalinist illicit schemes: counterfeit money.
Cadres claim arrests in Linyi for “one child” atrocities; locals scoff: Communist China loudly boasted that cadres in Linyi Province were “arrested or sacked over claims that they forced people to have abortions or sterilizations” (BBC). However, in Linyi itself, where the atrocities were first exposed by activist Chen Guangcheng (tenth, second, ninth, ninth, and thirteenth items), a lawyer representing the victims of the abuses “said the government may have disciplined a few low-level officials but appeared to have refrained from punishing the local party leaders who ordered Chen's arrest and the population-control crackdown” (Washington Post). Chen, meanwhile, is under house arrest and the number two cadre for the Communist “national population and family planning commission” (Cybercast News) insisted “one child” would continue.
Communist China now top monthly exporter to the United States: Communist China replaced Canada as the largest exporter to the U.S. this past July (Globe and Mail, Cdn.).
CNPC buys up part of another Canadian oil firm: Meanwhile, the Communists continued their poaching of Canadian-owned resources (third and third items) with the Communist-owned China National Petroleum Corporation’s “$1.4 billion acquisition of the Ecuadorean oil assets of Canada's EnCana Corp. this week” (Washington Times).
Japan accuses Communist China of drilling in disputed area: Japanese Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa announced that Communist China has begun drilling for oil or natural gas in the disputed East China Sea, citing “flames (that) have begun burning on top of a chimney” (BBC). Japan fears “drilling in the area may tap into deposits on the Japanese side of the line.” Communist China, of course, has its own version of the border in that sea, one which is deep into Japanese maritime territory.
U.S. official rips Taiwan on lack of defense preparedness: Defense Department bigwig Edward Ross “sharply criticized Taiwan's government for not moving ahead with an arms buildup to counter a mounting threat from China” (Washington Times), and even implied the U.S. would not come to Taiwan’s defense in case of attack “if you cannot defend yourself.” Ross also noted “Taiwan's political stalemate over the defense budget” – which implies the real beef Ross has is not with President Chen Shui-bian, but with the opposition-controlled legislature that has stymied Chen’s efforts to buildup his nation’s defenses. Of course, the opposition may not have won control of the legislature had the Bush Administration not treated Chen so shabbily in recent years.
Commentary on Communist China: Gabriel Martinez Cabrera, of the China Support Network, summarizes a forum on Communist leader Hu Jintao. Lev Navrozov, of Newsmax, rages against the “experts” who refuse to see Communist China for the danger it really is. Finally, while Russia remains Communist China’s largest arms supplier, Russians themselves are increasingly becoming victims of “encountering hostility and even abuse from Chinese citizens and officials” (UPI via Washington Times), while “the Russian government and its consular officials have seldom been willing to intervene in defense of the rights of Russians visiting China.”
More on Stalinist North Korea: Bill Gertz, Washington Times, reports on the latest uncovered Stalinist illicit schemes: counterfeit money.
Cadres claim arrests in Linyi for “one child” atrocities; locals scoff: Communist China loudly boasted that cadres in Linyi Province were “arrested or sacked over claims that they forced people to have abortions or sterilizations” (BBC). However, in Linyi itself, where the atrocities were first exposed by activist Chen Guangcheng (tenth, second, ninth, ninth, and thirteenth items), a lawyer representing the victims of the abuses “said the government may have disciplined a few low-level officials but appeared to have refrained from punishing the local party leaders who ordered Chen's arrest and the population-control crackdown” (Washington Post). Chen, meanwhile, is under house arrest and the number two cadre for the Communist “national population and family planning commission” (Cybercast News) insisted “one child” would continue.
Communist China now top monthly exporter to the United States: Communist China replaced Canada as the largest exporter to the U.S. this past July (Globe and Mail, Cdn.).
CNPC buys up part of another Canadian oil firm: Meanwhile, the Communists continued their poaching of Canadian-owned resources (third and third items) with the Communist-owned China National Petroleum Corporation’s “$1.4 billion acquisition of the Ecuadorean oil assets of Canada's EnCana Corp. this week” (Washington Times).
Japan accuses Communist China of drilling in disputed area: Japanese Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa announced that Communist China has begun drilling for oil or natural gas in the disputed East China Sea, citing “flames (that) have begun burning on top of a chimney” (BBC). Japan fears “drilling in the area may tap into deposits on the Japanese side of the line.” Communist China, of course, has its own version of the border in that sea, one which is deep into Japanese maritime territory.
U.S. official rips Taiwan on lack of defense preparedness: Defense Department bigwig Edward Ross “sharply criticized Taiwan's government for not moving ahead with an arms buildup to counter a mounting threat from China” (Washington Times), and even implied the U.S. would not come to Taiwan’s defense in case of attack “if you cannot defend yourself.” Ross also noted “Taiwan's political stalemate over the defense budget” – which implies the real beef Ross has is not with President Chen Shui-bian, but with the opposition-controlled legislature that has stymied Chen’s efforts to buildup his nation’s defenses. Of course, the opposition may not have won control of the legislature had the Bush Administration not treated Chen so shabbily in recent years.
Commentary on Communist China: Gabriel Martinez Cabrera, of the China Support Network, summarizes a forum on Communist leader Hu Jintao. Lev Navrozov, of Newsmax, rages against the “experts” who refuse to see Communist China for the danger it really is. Finally, while Russia remains Communist China’s largest arms supplier, Russians themselves are increasingly becoming victims of “encountering hostility and even abuse from Chinese citizens and officials” (UPI via Washington Times), while “the Russian government and its consular officials have seldom been willing to intervene in defense of the rights of Russians visiting China.”
Monday, September 19, 2005
News of the Day (September 19)
Six-party talks yield de facto return to “Agreed Framework” fiasco: After making concession after concession to Stalinist North Korea, the United States threw in another big one – allowing SNK “the provision of a nuclear light-water reactor” (BBC) at “an appropriate time” to finally get the Stalinists to sign an agreement at the six-party talks on the regime’s nuclear weapons. The deal itself was, of course, very light on details, which will be hammered out at yet another session of talks in November. There are some who wonder about the permanence of this (Charles Scanlon, BBC, for one), but the Bush Administration is “cautiously optimistic” (CNN) about the deal (Text of deal via CNN), which, as Matthew Forney of Time Asia correctly notes, “If implemented . . . will yield an agreement nearly identical to the ‘Agreed Framework’ negotiated by the Clinton Administration in 1994.” So, eleven years after that disaster began (and three years after it ended), we have come all the way back to it: promises of energy aid, talk of normal diplomatic relations, and liberation effectively ruled out. Only now the Stalinists have several nuclear weapons they can hide from inspectors. Will they never learn?
More on Stalinist North Korea: Jill Dougherty, CNN, takes the guided tour of SNK, but knows full well it’s all a show. T. A. Frank, in The New Republic, has another edition of Today in Despotism (the Stalinist regime is at the bottom).
Enlightened Comment of the Day: Today’s winners of this new prize are the editors of the Washington Post for their part-confession, part-missive on Yahoo’s abysmal behavior regarding Shi Tao (fourteenth, fifth, lead, third, eighth, and seventh items):
This is not merely an abstract business ethics issue: Yahoo's behavior in China could have real consequences for U.S. foreign policy. Over the past two decades, many have argued – ourselves included – that despite China's authoritarian and sometimes openly hostile government, it is nevertheless right to encourage American companies to work there. Their very presence has been thought to make the society more open, if not necessarily more democratic. If that is no longer the case – if in fact, American companies are helping China become more authoritarian, more hostile and more of an obstacle to U.S. goals of democracy promotion around the world – then it is time to rethink the rules under which they operate.
More on Yahoo’s role in the Shi Tao arrest: Ellen Bork, in the New York Sun (via Project for the New American Century), comes a close second for ECOD honors as she rips President Clinton for his silence on Shi Tao (fifth item). Meanwhile, Shi’s lawyer tells the Epoch Times that the Communists came after him – “Chinese authorities stopped his business, took away his license to practice law, and held him under house arrest, ostensibly for posting essays on overseas websites” – before he could escape to Canada.
Communists disperse peaceful protest with water cannons: In Taishi Village (Guangdong), a number of angry peasants “started a peaceful sit-in and hunger strike in early September” (Epoch Times) to preserve evidence against a corrupt local cadre. The Communists responded with “1000 riot police with high-pressure water hoses” to break up the sit-in. There were nearly fifty arrests, and many injuries.
How a Communist lackey becomes a “media mogul”: Liu Changle is the founder of Phoenix Satellite Television, “the only private television network in China allowed to broadcast news in Chinese” (Washington Post). What the Post found, however, was a “private” owner who gladly spews Communist propaganda, had a long stint in the Communist military, and even includes the Communist-run television network as a minority partner: “to show we wouldn't oppose the Communist Party.” NTDTV, it’s not.
Murdoch furious at Communist China: Meanwhile, after roughly a decade of trying to get into the Communist television media market, Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch has been left high and dry by Hu Jintao’s recent crackdown on foreign media (second item). Murdoch bitterly noted that his plans “have ‘hit a brick wall’ in China after the government changed its policy on foreign media expansion (BBC).
Ignorant Comment of the Day: The older and more dubious distinction goes to Admiral William J. Fallon, head of the Pacific Command. In an interview with the Washington Post, Fallon let loose this whopper: “A rising China that is actively engaged in helping the countries of the region maintain security and stability can be a very good thing.” The mind reels. Meanwhile, Edward Lanfranco, United Press International (via Washington Times) further examines Fallon’s “missile boat diplomacy.”
Hunger strike in New York; support for ex-Communists in Chicago: Half a dozen relatives of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned by Communist China have begun a hunger strike to draw attention to their families’ plight (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, the Cook County Illinois Board of Commissioners passed a resolution in support of the nearly 4.5 million Party members who have renounced their membership (Epoch Times).
More on Communist China and the United States: Zhang Xiaomin, Epoch Times, gives the scene from New York as Communist leader Hu Jintao left for Vancouver last week. Matt Gnaizda, Epoch Times, marvels at how Hu could talk of peace while his general threatens nuclear war. Finally, economist-turned-dissident He Qinglian examines the reasons behind Communist China’s hostility to America in the Epoch Times.
Communist canal could lead to Russia “catastrophe”: A Communist plan to build a canal “across the Irtysh river's source waters” (UPI via Washington Times), will “divert water from the Cherny Irtysh, one of the Irtysh's sources, to a rapidly developing economic zone in western China.” As a result, “over 1 million people and dozens of enterprises in Russia” may be “without water.” Communist China has dismissed all pleas by Russia to address what “may be catastrophe in several Siberian regions.”
More on Stalinist North Korea: Jill Dougherty, CNN, takes the guided tour of SNK, but knows full well it’s all a show. T. A. Frank, in The New Republic, has another edition of Today in Despotism (the Stalinist regime is at the bottom).
Enlightened Comment of the Day: Today’s winners of this new prize are the editors of the Washington Post for their part-confession, part-missive on Yahoo’s abysmal behavior regarding Shi Tao (fourteenth, fifth, lead, third, eighth, and seventh items):
This is not merely an abstract business ethics issue: Yahoo's behavior in China could have real consequences for U.S. foreign policy. Over the past two decades, many have argued – ourselves included – that despite China's authoritarian and sometimes openly hostile government, it is nevertheless right to encourage American companies to work there. Their very presence has been thought to make the society more open, if not necessarily more democratic. If that is no longer the case – if in fact, American companies are helping China become more authoritarian, more hostile and more of an obstacle to U.S. goals of democracy promotion around the world – then it is time to rethink the rules under which they operate.
More on Yahoo’s role in the Shi Tao arrest: Ellen Bork, in the New York Sun (via Project for the New American Century), comes a close second for ECOD honors as she rips President Clinton for his silence on Shi Tao (fifth item). Meanwhile, Shi’s lawyer tells the Epoch Times that the Communists came after him – “Chinese authorities stopped his business, took away his license to practice law, and held him under house arrest, ostensibly for posting essays on overseas websites” – before he could escape to Canada.
Communists disperse peaceful protest with water cannons: In Taishi Village (Guangdong), a number of angry peasants “started a peaceful sit-in and hunger strike in early September” (Epoch Times) to preserve evidence against a corrupt local cadre. The Communists responded with “1000 riot police with high-pressure water hoses” to break up the sit-in. There were nearly fifty arrests, and many injuries.
How a Communist lackey becomes a “media mogul”: Liu Changle is the founder of Phoenix Satellite Television, “the only private television network in China allowed to broadcast news in Chinese” (Washington Post). What the Post found, however, was a “private” owner who gladly spews Communist propaganda, had a long stint in the Communist military, and even includes the Communist-run television network as a minority partner: “to show we wouldn't oppose the Communist Party.” NTDTV, it’s not.
Murdoch furious at Communist China: Meanwhile, after roughly a decade of trying to get into the Communist television media market, Fox News founder Rupert Murdoch has been left high and dry by Hu Jintao’s recent crackdown on foreign media (second item). Murdoch bitterly noted that his plans “have ‘hit a brick wall’ in China after the government changed its policy on foreign media expansion (BBC).
Ignorant Comment of the Day: The older and more dubious distinction goes to Admiral William J. Fallon, head of the Pacific Command. In an interview with the Washington Post, Fallon let loose this whopper: “A rising China that is actively engaged in helping the countries of the region maintain security and stability can be a very good thing.” The mind reels. Meanwhile, Edward Lanfranco, United Press International (via Washington Times) further examines Fallon’s “missile boat diplomacy.”
Hunger strike in New York; support for ex-Communists in Chicago: Half a dozen relatives of Falun Gong practitioners imprisoned by Communist China have begun a hunger strike to draw attention to their families’ plight (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, the Cook County Illinois Board of Commissioners passed a resolution in support of the nearly 4.5 million Party members who have renounced their membership (Epoch Times).
More on Communist China and the United States: Zhang Xiaomin, Epoch Times, gives the scene from New York as Communist leader Hu Jintao left for Vancouver last week. Matt Gnaizda, Epoch Times, marvels at how Hu could talk of peace while his general threatens nuclear war. Finally, economist-turned-dissident He Qinglian examines the reasons behind Communist China’s hostility to America in the Epoch Times.
Communist canal could lead to Russia “catastrophe”: A Communist plan to build a canal “across the Irtysh river's source waters” (UPI via Washington Times), will “divert water from the Cherny Irtysh, one of the Irtysh's sources, to a rapidly developing economic zone in western China.” As a result, “over 1 million people and dozens of enterprises in Russia” may be “without water.” Communist China has dismissed all pleas by Russia to address what “may be catastrophe in several Siberian regions.”
The Hanyaun Massacre, the anti-secession law, and other outrages: Hu Jintao’s first year
On September 19, 2004, Jiang Zemin resigned from his post as Chairman of the Central Military Commission. Of the “big three” posts (the other two are Party General Secretary and People’s Republic President), the CMC Chair is the least known, but arguably the most powerful. For those of us who follow Communist China closely, the Hu Jintao era really didn’t begin until this day one year ago.
Now that a year has passed, we have the opportunity to examine Hu’s tenure (however short), find trends, and perhaps look to the future. Many in the anti Communist, pro-democracy movement have decided to take a wait-and-see attitude towards Hu, but with all due respect, the events of the past year have been more than enough to reveal the truth about Hu Jintao – and that truth is not good.
Two months after he took over the CMC, Hu was faced with a crisis in Hanyuan County, Sichuan. Roughly 100,000 people were staging a sit-in protest at a partly constructed dam (Epoch Times) that, when finished, will turn all of the county’s farmland into a lake, flooding out 100,000 people in the process. The local cadres, naturally, cared more about the loan and relocation money they pocketed – they were even willing to re-label the fertile farmland they controlled as hardscrabble dirt to skim from the latter – than the fate of its people. They responded with the sit-in, and waited to see Hu’s reaction. What they got was a public relations snow job and a hail of bullets.
Of course, the snow job was lapped up by the outside media. Hu sent a Politburo Standing Committee Member (Epoch Times) – the highest-ranking party organ outside of the CMC – to Hanyuan, fired one local cadre, and ordered dam construction suspended (BBC). However, there were signs of trouble even within the charm offensive, chief among them the PSC member himself: Luo Gan, protégé of Tiananmen butcher Li Peng.
Much like his patron, Luo pulled the trigger on a bloody crackdown at the behest of his boss. Military and paramilitary units from all over Communist China, up to and including far away Liaoning Province, were sent to Hanyaun with a simple mission – shoot the protestors out. They accomplished this with chilling efficiency (Voice of America via Epoch Times): one source put the death toll at 10,000; others simply labeled the numbers “staggering.”
In other words, two months into his tenure as CMC Chair, Hu Jintao ordered a massacre that took more lives than Tiananmen Square, 9/11/01, and Hurricane Katrina combined.
If this were an aberration, a tragic mistake by a new and untested leader, that would be one thing. However, Hu has made clear over this past year that the Hanyuan County Massacre was the culmination of – rather than the exception to – his model of “governing.” The very day he took over the CMC, Hu launched into a tirade against “hostile forces” that were “using the banner of political reform to promote Western bourgeois parliamentary democracy, human rights and freedom of the press” (Washington Post). Wrapping up the speech “in blunt language that party veterans said recalled Mao Zedong's destructive Cultural Revolution,” he demanded fellow cadres “be alert to the danger of subversive thinking.”
The year that has followed has been marked by “a crackdown to restore discipline to state media and intimidate dissident intellectuals”, in which he has actually “gone further than his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, by adopting new measures to regulate discussions on university Internet sites and the activities of nongovernmental organizations.” One economist even went so far as to say, “Looking back at the policies of Jiang Zemin now, it wasn't so bad.”
Hu has also spent the past year wiping out popular websites – including a how-to for citizens to report corrupt cadres (Asia Times via Epoch Times) – and arresting any appellant (petitioner) whose case was considered unreasonable,” i.e., too embarrassing for the cadres (Epoch Times).
In the past, Communist leaders trying to avoid too many eyes focused on their bloody hands have resorted to radical nationalism to distract the attention of their own people. Hu Jintao, contrary to the whispers that predated his ascension, has proven no different. Less than six months into his reign, he rammed the “anti-secession” law through the rubber-stamp legislature, giving himself a legalistic fig leaf to cover a possible invasion of Taiwan. As criticism of the Chinese Communist Party for this “law” encircled the globe – and word leaked out that the cadres planned a 2012 invasion of the island democracy as cover for a massive crackdown and seizure of citizens’ bank accounts – Hu resorted to a road far more traveled by the Communists: orchestrated protests against foreigners (New York Times, registration required) – in this case, the Japanese.
Thus over the past year, the Communist regime under Hu Jintao has insulted Japan, and threatened war with Taiwan, and escalated the persecution of its own people to the point of slaughtering them in Hanyuan County. These are not the actions of a “reformer,” they are the actions of a typical Communist determined to preserve his regime at all costs. In a mere twelve months, Hu has dashed the expectations of those who had hoped the end of the Jiang Zemin era would mean genuine change for the long suffering Chinese people, and has not only continued, but exacerbated the hostility between the CCP and the free, democratic world. America, and the world of which it is a part, will never be safe until China is free, and no one has proven that more over the last year than Hu Jintao.
Now that a year has passed, we have the opportunity to examine Hu’s tenure (however short), find trends, and perhaps look to the future. Many in the anti Communist, pro-democracy movement have decided to take a wait-and-see attitude towards Hu, but with all due respect, the events of the past year have been more than enough to reveal the truth about Hu Jintao – and that truth is not good.
Two months after he took over the CMC, Hu was faced with a crisis in Hanyuan County, Sichuan. Roughly 100,000 people were staging a sit-in protest at a partly constructed dam (Epoch Times) that, when finished, will turn all of the county’s farmland into a lake, flooding out 100,000 people in the process. The local cadres, naturally, cared more about the loan and relocation money they pocketed – they were even willing to re-label the fertile farmland they controlled as hardscrabble dirt to skim from the latter – than the fate of its people. They responded with the sit-in, and waited to see Hu’s reaction. What they got was a public relations snow job and a hail of bullets.
Of course, the snow job was lapped up by the outside media. Hu sent a Politburo Standing Committee Member (Epoch Times) – the highest-ranking party organ outside of the CMC – to Hanyuan, fired one local cadre, and ordered dam construction suspended (BBC). However, there were signs of trouble even within the charm offensive, chief among them the PSC member himself: Luo Gan, protégé of Tiananmen butcher Li Peng.
Much like his patron, Luo pulled the trigger on a bloody crackdown at the behest of his boss. Military and paramilitary units from all over Communist China, up to and including far away Liaoning Province, were sent to Hanyaun with a simple mission – shoot the protestors out. They accomplished this with chilling efficiency (Voice of America via Epoch Times): one source put the death toll at 10,000; others simply labeled the numbers “staggering.”
In other words, two months into his tenure as CMC Chair, Hu Jintao ordered a massacre that took more lives than Tiananmen Square, 9/11/01, and Hurricane Katrina combined.
If this were an aberration, a tragic mistake by a new and untested leader, that would be one thing. However, Hu has made clear over this past year that the Hanyuan County Massacre was the culmination of – rather than the exception to – his model of “governing.” The very day he took over the CMC, Hu launched into a tirade against “hostile forces” that were “using the banner of political reform to promote Western bourgeois parliamentary democracy, human rights and freedom of the press” (Washington Post). Wrapping up the speech “in blunt language that party veterans said recalled Mao Zedong's destructive Cultural Revolution,” he demanded fellow cadres “be alert to the danger of subversive thinking.”
The year that has followed has been marked by “a crackdown to restore discipline to state media and intimidate dissident intellectuals”, in which he has actually “gone further than his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, by adopting new measures to regulate discussions on university Internet sites and the activities of nongovernmental organizations.” One economist even went so far as to say, “Looking back at the policies of Jiang Zemin now, it wasn't so bad.”
Hu has also spent the past year wiping out popular websites – including a how-to for citizens to report corrupt cadres (Asia Times via Epoch Times) – and arresting any appellant (petitioner) whose case was considered unreasonable,” i.e., too embarrassing for the cadres (Epoch Times).
In the past, Communist leaders trying to avoid too many eyes focused on their bloody hands have resorted to radical nationalism to distract the attention of their own people. Hu Jintao, contrary to the whispers that predated his ascension, has proven no different. Less than six months into his reign, he rammed the “anti-secession” law through the rubber-stamp legislature, giving himself a legalistic fig leaf to cover a possible invasion of Taiwan. As criticism of the Chinese Communist Party for this “law” encircled the globe – and word leaked out that the cadres planned a 2012 invasion of the island democracy as cover for a massive crackdown and seizure of citizens’ bank accounts – Hu resorted to a road far more traveled by the Communists: orchestrated protests against foreigners (New York Times, registration required) – in this case, the Japanese.
Thus over the past year, the Communist regime under Hu Jintao has insulted Japan, and threatened war with Taiwan, and escalated the persecution of its own people to the point of slaughtering them in Hanyuan County. These are not the actions of a “reformer,” they are the actions of a typical Communist determined to preserve his regime at all costs. In a mere twelve months, Hu has dashed the expectations of those who had hoped the end of the Jiang Zemin era would mean genuine change for the long suffering Chinese people, and has not only continued, but exacerbated the hostility between the CCP and the free, democratic world. America, and the world of which it is a part, will never be safe until China is free, and no one has proven that more over the last year than Hu Jintao.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
New to the Blog: Taiwan online petition
As your weekend comes to a close, please take some time to look at the newest link added to this site: an online petition in support of Taiwan's bid for membership in the United Nations. At present, the island democracy of 23 million is the only piece of real estate on the planet that has no representation in the UN.
Friday, September 16, 2005
News of the Day (September 16)
Communist China proposes agreement that gives SNK right to nuclear energy: As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice talked about freezing Stalinist North Korean assets in the United States (Cybercast News) and the Proliferation Security Initiative, Communist China “put forward a new draft document” (BBC) to the six-party talks on SNK’s nuclear weapons program. The Communist offer would allow their Stalinist allies “a right to nuclear energy technology.” Of course, Communist China is just looking out for their ally, but if this deal is taken by the U.S., it will be clear: they will never learn.
At UN, Hu Jintao insists he supports “peace,” but is still stiffing U.S. on Iran: Hu told the United Nations General Assembly that a strong Communist China “can only serve peace, stability and common prosperity” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). That “service” however, does not apply to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, to which the Communists have greatly contributed. They once again “turned down U.S. requests to help report Iran's case next week to the U.N. Security Council” (Washington Post).
Hu trip sidebars – a Communist reporter, a banned TV station, and “welcomers”: At a press conference in Canada on Communist China’s abuses of its own people timed to coincide with Hu’s visit there, a “reporter” from the Communist China Daily decided to skip asking questions and offered “a speech to defend his employer” (Yang Shu, Epoch Times). Meanwhile, the UN banned New Tang Dynasty Television from covering Hu’s aforementioned speech. No other media group was barred (Epoch Times). Finally, Tim McDevitt, Epoch Times, talks to some more “welcomers” (fourth and fifth items).
Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun back support network for defectors: The high-profile defectors from Communist China are also “calling on the Australian government to offer assistance” (Epoch Times). I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.
Zimbabwe to get tigers from Communist China: The Robert Mugabe regime “is about to import four endangered Siberian tigers from China for captive breeding” (BBC) as part of an exchange program with the Communists. A biologist ripped the move as “cruel.”
Communists finding more uses for executed prisoner parts: In addition to forced organ donations, those slated for execution in Communist China – which in many cases includes political prisoners – can expect their skin to be “harvested . . . to develop beauty products for sale in Europe” (Guardian, UK, link courtesy Friendly Blog Shotgun).
Ignorant Comment of the Day: Today’s winner is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for their hopelessly conventional-wisdom report on the Communist economy (BBC). Note the silence on fudged statistics, corruption, or the fact that so many “private” owners are in fact cadres or relatives of cadres.
On the Skype ban: The editors of the Epoch Times examine the reasons the Communists banned Skype’s voice over internet protocol services, and finds that Skype threatens both China Telecom and the regime itself because of the privacy Skype provides its users.
At UN, Hu Jintao insists he supports “peace,” but is still stiffing U.S. on Iran: Hu told the United Nations General Assembly that a strong Communist China “can only serve peace, stability and common prosperity” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). That “service” however, does not apply to Iran’s nuclear weapons program, to which the Communists have greatly contributed. They once again “turned down U.S. requests to help report Iran's case next week to the U.N. Security Council” (Washington Post).
Hu trip sidebars – a Communist reporter, a banned TV station, and “welcomers”: At a press conference in Canada on Communist China’s abuses of its own people timed to coincide with Hu’s visit there, a “reporter” from the Communist China Daily decided to skip asking questions and offered “a speech to defend his employer” (Yang Shu, Epoch Times). Meanwhile, the UN banned New Tang Dynasty Television from covering Hu’s aforementioned speech. No other media group was barred (Epoch Times). Finally, Tim McDevitt, Epoch Times, talks to some more “welcomers” (fourth and fifth items).
Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun back support network for defectors: The high-profile defectors from Communist China are also “calling on the Australian government to offer assistance” (Epoch Times). I wouldn’t hold my breath on that one.
Zimbabwe to get tigers from Communist China: The Robert Mugabe regime “is about to import four endangered Siberian tigers from China for captive breeding” (BBC) as part of an exchange program with the Communists. A biologist ripped the move as “cruel.”
Communists finding more uses for executed prisoner parts: In addition to forced organ donations, those slated for execution in Communist China – which in many cases includes political prisoners – can expect their skin to be “harvested . . . to develop beauty products for sale in Europe” (Guardian, UK, link courtesy Friendly Blog Shotgun).
Ignorant Comment of the Day: Today’s winner is the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), for their hopelessly conventional-wisdom report on the Communist economy (BBC). Note the silence on fudged statistics, corruption, or the fact that so many “private” owners are in fact cadres or relatives of cadres.
On the Skype ban: The editors of the Epoch Times examine the reasons the Communists banned Skype’s voice over internet protocol services, and finds that Skype threatens both China Telecom and the regime itself because of the privacy Skype provides its users.
Thursday, September 15, 2005
News of the Day (September 15)
The China e-Lobby would like to welcome Democratic China to the blogosphere (and, of course, the Friendly blog list). Check out this blog on the struggle for freedom in China.
Talks on SNK nuclear weapons stall on Stalinist reactor demand: Stalinist North Korea’s insistence on a light water nuclear reactor has left the overhyped six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program “stalled” (BBC). As Newsmax noted, SNK “is demanding the kind of light-water nuclear reactor promised by Clinton under a 1994 deal dubbed the ‘Agreed Framework,’” the deal the Stalinists themselves nixed with their uranium-based weapons program. Meanwhile, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young called for the Stalinists to make a deal as part of a “broader inter-Korean economic cooperation and reconciliation” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). Will they never learn? Also reporting: Cybercast News
Communist China pledges help to India on terrorism: Communist China is back on the charm offensive with India, offering to “provide information and share its experience on anti-hijacking and hostage situations and other terrorist-related crimes” (UPI via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Ramkumar Srinivasan, Epoch Times, opines that the Communist border invasion of India in 1962 may have had more to do with covering up “the largest ever man-made disaster – the Great Leap Forward” than anything else, and then gives his readers a timely reminder about the cadres’ plans for Taiwan.
Iran says nuclear knowledge learned from cadres available for other Islamicists: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that he is “ready to transfer nuclear know-how” to “Islamic countries” (CNN). It is the first time anyone in the Khomeinist regime has publicly called for distributing nuclear “know-how.” While Ahmadinejad insists Iran “never seeks weapons of mass destruction,” evidence abounds of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, which has received substantial help from Communist China.
Falun Gong starts vigil in New York: Falun Gong practitioners are in New York City for “a 96-hour around-the-clock appeal” (Epoch Times) to visiting Communist leader Hu Jintao. The practitioners want Hu to end the six-year-plus Communist persecution of the spiritual movement. Local passersby were “largely sympathetic and encouraging.”
More on Hu’s trip to New York: Meanwhile, Xiaozhou (Epoch Times), talks to some of the ethnic Chinese in the city who considered the bribes the cadres were offering to join Hu’s “welcoming committee” (see also fourth item).
More commentary on Communist China: Han Jiesheng, Epoch Times, systematically demolishes the latest Communist attempt to trick the world into thinking the regime is reforming. Exiled Uighur dissident Rebiya Kadeer – slandered as a “terrorist” by the cadres (no surprise there) – calls on the Communist regime to end its persecution of her people in National Review Online. Kaishin Yen and Erping Zhang, Epoch Times, compares the Chinese Communist Party to the Nazis – and finds many parallels.
Talks on SNK nuclear weapons stall on Stalinist reactor demand: Stalinist North Korea’s insistence on a light water nuclear reactor has left the overhyped six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program “stalled” (BBC). As Newsmax noted, SNK “is demanding the kind of light-water nuclear reactor promised by Clinton under a 1994 deal dubbed the ‘Agreed Framework,’” the deal the Stalinists themselves nixed with their uranium-based weapons program. Meanwhile, South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young called for the Stalinists to make a deal as part of a “broader inter-Korean economic cooperation and reconciliation” (United Press Int’l via Washington Times). Will they never learn? Also reporting: Cybercast News
Communist China pledges help to India on terrorism: Communist China is back on the charm offensive with India, offering to “provide information and share its experience on anti-hijacking and hostage situations and other terrorist-related crimes” (UPI via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Ramkumar Srinivasan, Epoch Times, opines that the Communist border invasion of India in 1962 may have had more to do with covering up “the largest ever man-made disaster – the Great Leap Forward” than anything else, and then gives his readers a timely reminder about the cadres’ plans for Taiwan.
Iran says nuclear knowledge learned from cadres available for other Islamicists: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that he is “ready to transfer nuclear know-how” to “Islamic countries” (CNN). It is the first time anyone in the Khomeinist regime has publicly called for distributing nuclear “know-how.” While Ahmadinejad insists Iran “never seeks weapons of mass destruction,” evidence abounds of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, which has received substantial help from Communist China.
Falun Gong starts vigil in New York: Falun Gong practitioners are in New York City for “a 96-hour around-the-clock appeal” (Epoch Times) to visiting Communist leader Hu Jintao. The practitioners want Hu to end the six-year-plus Communist persecution of the spiritual movement. Local passersby were “largely sympathetic and encouraging.”
More on Hu’s trip to New York: Meanwhile, Xiaozhou (Epoch Times), talks to some of the ethnic Chinese in the city who considered the bribes the cadres were offering to join Hu’s “welcoming committee” (see also fourth item).
More commentary on Communist China: Han Jiesheng, Epoch Times, systematically demolishes the latest Communist attempt to trick the world into thinking the regime is reforming. Exiled Uighur dissident Rebiya Kadeer – slandered as a “terrorist” by the cadres (no surprise there) – calls on the Communist regime to end its persecution of her people in National Review Online. Kaishin Yen and Erping Zhang, Epoch Times, compares the Chinese Communist Party to the Nazis – and finds many parallels.
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