From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth has updates on the Han Guangsheng case (third and last items) and UN reaction to Sujiatun (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, fifth, last, and second items), . The Korea Liberator also comments on Sujiatun, praises the White House for calling Communist China to the carpet for sending back a Korean refugee, critiques Jay Leftkowitz's interview with Donga Ilbo, has the latest on the six-party debacle, finds some good anti-Stalinism in the Senate immigration bill, and laments what may have been some overdone hype on the reaction to Yoduk Story (last item). China Intel debunks the Communists' insistence that they have never occupied foreign territory.
More from the Canada file: Canada's Green Party calls for an investigation into Sujiatun and, if the worst fears about it are true, a possible Canadian boycott of the 2008 Games (Epoch Times). The new government is hinting about its plans for head tax apology and compensation (sixth, lead, second, second, second, and third items), and the non-Communist activists involved are very happy with what they see so far (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Ric Dolphin (Western Standard) let loose this whopper on the democratic world and Communist China: "for western countries, it's in our interest to make nice." Where does one begin?
More on Sujiatun: The Epoch Times gauges the reaction; Stephen Gregory (Epoch Times) gives a quick history of the organ trade in Communist China; and an unnamed "veteran military doctor" tells the paper that there are many more camps in the northeast and throughout Communist China.
Daughter of escaped Korean war POW defects: Lee Bok-hee, daughter of escaped prisoner of war Lee Ki-choon, "arrived at a Seoul airport with her two-year-old son and a three-year-old nephew on a flight from China" (United Press International via Washington Times). Meanwhile, Daily NK has more on the defectors in Hungary (last and lead items).
More on the Communists' Korean colony: The aforementioned Mr. Leftkowitz (who is the special U.S. envoy on North Korean human rights) criticized the Kaesong Industrial Park, and had his criticism quickly validated - the dovish South Korean government let him have it (UPI via Washington Times). Meanwhile, John J. Miller reprints CNN founder Ted Turner's unbelievably silly comments on Stalinist North Korea in National Review Online's The Corner.
Taiwan is observing the Vatican-Zhongnanhai discourse and pondering when it will lose its lone diplomatic ally in Europe. However, if Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen hinted the recognition switch must come with "real religious freedom" (Cybercast News). Something tells me those moving vans will be in the garage for a very long time.
As ex-Japanese PM visits Beijing, suicide notes of Shanghai diplomat are revealed: Former Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto is in Beijing for talks with Hu Jintao in "another attempt to patch up their tattered relations" (BBC). However, Yomiuri Shimbun shed more light on a case sure to make Hashimoto's efforts much harder: the Japanese diplomat in Shanghai who took his own life rather than give in to pressure from the Communists to turn spy (UPI via Washington Times, see also seventh item).
U.S. and EU go to WTO over Communist car parts tariffs: The United States and the European Union "have accused China of imposing illegal tariffs to prevent foreign components being imported for use in Chinese car assembly plants" (BBC); they took their accusation to the World Trade Organization.
On human rights and the prospects for freedom in China: The Epoch Times interviews human-rights attorney Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, eighth, seventh, fifth, and fourth items). The rampant use of the death penalty in Communist China is even making some academic cadres nervous (Asia Times Online). Finally, the American Enterprise Institute hosted a conference in the possibility of freedom in China (Voice of America).
Friday, March 31, 2006
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!
It's been nearly 48 hours since I made public my decision to leave the Roman Catholic Church, based on what I felt were serious errors in its recent dealings with Communist China. The responses came thick and fast. Some praised my actions. Many others chose to defend the Church, and did so eloquently. Others chose to criticize me (and ironically enough, the most flippant and dismissive criticism was also the most apt, in my view). More to the point, however, no one has chosen to defend the Chinese Communist Party, for which I am very grateful. Meanwhile, I have begun examining the possibilities for a Christian community of faith I could call home - and who should charge out of the gate first? Why, none other than the Roman Catholic Church!
In particular, Pope Benedict XVI used a meeting with Cardinal Joseph Zen and some of his guests to single out Martin Lee, leader of the Hong Kong Democratic Party and arguably the most visible pro-democracy figure in the city this side of "Long Hair." As reported this morning (eighth item), the Holy Father exhorted Lee "to continue fighting for democracy in Hong Kong."
Now, of all the myriad dissident groups and resistance movements arrayed against the Chinese Communist Party, the Hong Kong democrats may be some of the least known (save their Macau counterparts). Moreover, because the Communists have allowed half of the city's Legislative Council to be chosen by city's voters, Hong Kong's democrats (including the Democrats) are just about the only dissidents in Communist China who have ever had to face an electorate. This means they suffer the ups and downs of politics, but because half the LegCo (as it's abbreviated) are chosen by Communist-friendly "functional constituencies" and the Chief Executive is chosen by a Communist-appointed panel, the democrats can never exercise real power. Yet they continue the struggle, and have in fact won a popular majority in every single election the Communists have allowed since the 1997 takeover.
Meanwhile, because the Hong Kong democrats are loyal Chinese who rarely visit the mainland (for obvious reasons), they have a much harder time getting their message to the outside world than both Taiwanese politicians and, ironically, a number of mainland dissidents, even as the freedoms they valiantly defend in Hong Kong are eroding under one country, one-and-a-half systems.
One of their best friends in Hong Kong was Cardinal Zen; together they knocked back the hideous "anti-subversion law" in 2003. In fact, one of my main problems with the Church was its apparent willingness (as I interpreted Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo) to put that all behind them. Well, there may be a better way exploding that interpretation than giving a papal audience and public blessing to Martin Lee, but I'm having a hard time thinking of one.
So why does this all matter so much?
It matters because the Roman Catholic Church is highly symbolic in nature, and is well aware of the power of symbols. The symbol of abandoning Taiwan in particular badly shook my colleagues and me over at the China Support Network. While I still consider ending diplomatic relations with Taiwan (or promising to do so, in this case) to be a strategic mistake, the Lee endorsement is a much more powerful symbol in my view (I don't know how my colleagues would compare them), for it shows that the disagreement over Taiwan (and the future of the "underground" Church on the mainland) is one of tactics, not of motives.
In other words, in light of this news, I think we were more than a little harsh on Benedict XVI. Disagreements on Taiwan aside, it's very clear the Holy Father considers his role as, at least in part, to stand athwart the Communist regime, not with it. One who chooses "fear over faith," as I was afraid the Church was considering, does not encourage Martin Lee to keep up the fight. Those who came to the Church's defense were right on that score, and I'm happy to acknowledge that my fears were misplaced. Mea culpa.
So does this mean I'm coming back? I'm not sure; I still think switching diplomatic recognition, whatever the motive, is a mistake, and I'm not sure I share the optimism many faithful Catholics have in the soon-to-be "unified" Catholic Church in China avoiding Communist manipulation in some form. Moreover, if these things are important enough to make me uncomfortable in the Church, my guess is I'm way off on its theological underpinnings.
That said, just in case this is a precursor to a Charles V moment, I will end with a question to all the wine connoisseurs out there: Which goes better with crow and words? Red or White?
In particular, Pope Benedict XVI used a meeting with Cardinal Joseph Zen and some of his guests to single out Martin Lee, leader of the Hong Kong Democratic Party and arguably the most visible pro-democracy figure in the city this side of "Long Hair." As reported this morning (eighth item), the Holy Father exhorted Lee "to continue fighting for democracy in Hong Kong."
Now, of all the myriad dissident groups and resistance movements arrayed against the Chinese Communist Party, the Hong Kong democrats may be some of the least known (save their Macau counterparts). Moreover, because the Communists have allowed half of the city's Legislative Council to be chosen by city's voters, Hong Kong's democrats (including the Democrats) are just about the only dissidents in Communist China who have ever had to face an electorate. This means they suffer the ups and downs of politics, but because half the LegCo (as it's abbreviated) are chosen by Communist-friendly "functional constituencies" and the Chief Executive is chosen by a Communist-appointed panel, the democrats can never exercise real power. Yet they continue the struggle, and have in fact won a popular majority in every single election the Communists have allowed since the 1997 takeover.
Meanwhile, because the Hong Kong democrats are loyal Chinese who rarely visit the mainland (for obvious reasons), they have a much harder time getting their message to the outside world than both Taiwanese politicians and, ironically, a number of mainland dissidents, even as the freedoms they valiantly defend in Hong Kong are eroding under one country, one-and-a-half systems.
One of their best friends in Hong Kong was Cardinal Zen; together they knocked back the hideous "anti-subversion law" in 2003. In fact, one of my main problems with the Church was its apparent willingness (as I interpreted Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo) to put that all behind them. Well, there may be a better way exploding that interpretation than giving a papal audience and public blessing to Martin Lee, but I'm having a hard time thinking of one.
So why does this all matter so much?
It matters because the Roman Catholic Church is highly symbolic in nature, and is well aware of the power of symbols. The symbol of abandoning Taiwan in particular badly shook my colleagues and me over at the China Support Network. While I still consider ending diplomatic relations with Taiwan (or promising to do so, in this case) to be a strategic mistake, the Lee endorsement is a much more powerful symbol in my view (I don't know how my colleagues would compare them), for it shows that the disagreement over Taiwan (and the future of the "underground" Church on the mainland) is one of tactics, not of motives.
In other words, in light of this news, I think we were more than a little harsh on Benedict XVI. Disagreements on Taiwan aside, it's very clear the Holy Father considers his role as, at least in part, to stand athwart the Communist regime, not with it. One who chooses "fear over faith," as I was afraid the Church was considering, does not encourage Martin Lee to keep up the fight. Those who came to the Church's defense were right on that score, and I'm happy to acknowledge that my fears were misplaced. Mea culpa.
So does this mean I'm coming back? I'm not sure; I still think switching diplomatic recognition, whatever the motive, is a mistake, and I'm not sure I share the optimism many faithful Catholics have in the soon-to-be "unified" Catholic Church in China avoiding Communist manipulation in some form. Moreover, if these things are important enough to make me uncomfortable in the Church, my guess is I'm way off on its theological underpinnings.
That said, just in case this is a precursor to a Charles V moment, I will end with a question to all the wine connoisseurs out there: Which goes better with crow and words? Red or White?
It seems like a good time to go down Memory Lane
The Western Standard (on whose Shotgun blog I am fortunate enough to be a contributor) is being hauled before the Alberta Human Rights Commission for running the Jyllands-Posten cartoons. This reminded me of the deafening silence from the terrorists about the persecution of East Turkestan (long version, short version).
Meanwhile, the recent bruhaha over illegal immigration, Mexican flags, and guest worker programs called to mind how Communist China's flattening of the Mexican economy has added fuel to the inferno.
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
Meanwhile, the recent bruhaha over illegal immigration, Mexican flags, and guest worker programs called to mind how Communist China's flattening of the Mexican economy has added fuel to the inferno.
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
News of the Day (March 30)
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth reprints the commentary of Chin Jin, chairman of the Federation for a Democratic China's Australian division, on Australia's planned uranium sale to Communist China (sixth and eighth items, see also AAP via Epoch Times). China Intel wonders why "our Navy is cutting back our submarine fleet, even as China is building up their's (sic) and equipping them with multiple nuclear warheads." CI also joins the call for an explicit U.S. pledge of protection to Taiwan.
Enlightened Comment of the Day - Jay Nordlinger makes me cry: The National Review Online columnist talks to Jin Zhong (formerly Mr. R), the reporter who broke the Sujiatun story. Even though yours truly has known about Sujiatun for nearly to weeks (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, fifth, and last items), Nordlinger still managed to bring tears to my eyes.
Communist China gets UN Security Council to remove teeth from "statement" on Iran: The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to ask the Iranian regime "to suspend its uranium enrichment program within 30 days" (Washington Post). However, thanks to Communist China - a longtime supporter of the Iranian mullahcracy - the call was a "nonbinding statement" that has absolutely no teeth. Anne Bayefsky of the Hudson Institute has the details on the fiasco in National Review Online.
Communist China upset about Stalinist counterfeit notes: This has to be embarrassing for Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il. According to the Wall Street Journal (cited by Daily NK), Communist China's central bank "sent official notices to every local branch bank and commercial bank, which are saying 'watch closely all actions to distribute counterfeit money.'" The cause of this was the rampant Stalinist counterfeiting of American currency.
More on the satellite regimes: Former British diplomat Carne Ross explains why economic sanctions by themselves are unlikely to change the Iranian mullahs' behavior (Washington Post). National Review Online blogger Jim Geraghty finds fault with the Democrats' plans for Iran and Stalinist North Korea. Back to the Communists' Korean colony, Daily NK has the latest on the efforts of Stalinists to get a piece of the "special profit of the Economic Special Region."
Communist China's opposition to U.S.-India nuclear deal exposes regime's hypocrisy: Communist China's public opposition to the nuclear deal between the U.S. and India (second item) has caught the eye of Dr. Mohan Malik of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. In China Brief, Malik points out how the Communist China, who claims to worry about India and nuclear proliferation, has been a major proliferator itself. Malik also addresses the Communists' claim that the U.S. wants a friendly India to "contain" the regime, which "flies in the face of the reality of China’s own four-decade-old policy of building up Pakistan to contain India."
Here comes the "stakeholder" talk again: This time it was Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, talking about bilateral trade, who used the new word of choice for what they hope Communist China will become on the world stage (United Press Int'l via Washington Times). The "hostile takeover" jokes can write themselves.
Benedict XVI speaks up for Hong Kong democrats: The leader of the Roman Catholic Church met with Martin Lee, the head of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, and urged him "to continue fighting for democracy in Hong Kong" (UPI via Post Chronicle). Disagreements on Taiwan or mainland strategy aside, events like this make clear that the Pope has not forgotten the trials anti-Communists face; for that he is to be commended.
As Hu prepares to visit U.S., reformers pan his tenure at home: Hu Jintao "will surely exude confidence and zeal about reforms in areas ranging from the Chinese currency to the country’s open-door policy" (Willy Lam, China Brief). However, most of it will ring hollow to folks under Communist rule; Hu himself is hearing it from "forward-looking cadres and intellectuals that economic, and especially political, liberalization has lapsed since he and ally Premier Wen Jiabao took power in late 2002."
Hu Jia released after "ordeal" in prison: Those aren't scare or sarcasm quotes, but rather a cite from the Washington Post (second item): "A prominent Chinese AIDS activist, Hu Jia, who disappeared after staging a hunger strike to protest violence against dissidents, has returned home from what he described as a six-week ordeal in police custody, his wife said" (see also twenty-first, seventeenth, second, and eighth items).
Songhua River cleanup cost magically reduced to $1.2 billion: The Petrochina chemical explosion that dumped "100 tonnes of benzene and nitrobenzene into the Songhua" (BBC) and became a glaring indictment of the Communists' ecological policies (seventh, fourth, ninth, fourth, fourth, fifth, fourth, fifth, third, seventh, tenth, and twelfth items) will cost $1.2 billion, according to the cadres. How it fell from $3 billion was not discussed.
More on Communist China: The Epoch Times catches the Communists hiding the truth on bird flu; Nazery Khalid, of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia, examines Communist China's domestic port boom and what it means for some of its neighbors (China Brief).
Enlightened Comment of the Day - Jay Nordlinger makes me cry: The National Review Online columnist talks to Jin Zhong (formerly Mr. R), the reporter who broke the Sujiatun story. Even though yours truly has known about Sujiatun for nearly to weeks (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, fifth, and last items), Nordlinger still managed to bring tears to my eyes.
Communist China gets UN Security Council to remove teeth from "statement" on Iran: The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to ask the Iranian regime "to suspend its uranium enrichment program within 30 days" (Washington Post). However, thanks to Communist China - a longtime supporter of the Iranian mullahcracy - the call was a "nonbinding statement" that has absolutely no teeth. Anne Bayefsky of the Hudson Institute has the details on the fiasco in National Review Online.
Communist China upset about Stalinist counterfeit notes: This has to be embarrassing for Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il. According to the Wall Street Journal (cited by Daily NK), Communist China's central bank "sent official notices to every local branch bank and commercial bank, which are saying 'watch closely all actions to distribute counterfeit money.'" The cause of this was the rampant Stalinist counterfeiting of American currency.
More on the satellite regimes: Former British diplomat Carne Ross explains why economic sanctions by themselves are unlikely to change the Iranian mullahs' behavior (Washington Post). National Review Online blogger Jim Geraghty finds fault with the Democrats' plans for Iran and Stalinist North Korea. Back to the Communists' Korean colony, Daily NK has the latest on the efforts of Stalinists to get a piece of the "special profit of the Economic Special Region."
Communist China's opposition to U.S.-India nuclear deal exposes regime's hypocrisy: Communist China's public opposition to the nuclear deal between the U.S. and India (second item) has caught the eye of Dr. Mohan Malik of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu. In China Brief, Malik points out how the Communist China, who claims to worry about India and nuclear proliferation, has been a major proliferator itself. Malik also addresses the Communists' claim that the U.S. wants a friendly India to "contain" the regime, which "flies in the face of the reality of China’s own four-decade-old policy of building up Pakistan to contain India."
Here comes the "stakeholder" talk again: This time it was Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez, talking about bilateral trade, who used the new word of choice for what they hope Communist China will become on the world stage (United Press Int'l via Washington Times). The "hostile takeover" jokes can write themselves.
Benedict XVI speaks up for Hong Kong democrats: The leader of the Roman Catholic Church met with Martin Lee, the head of the Hong Kong Democratic Party, and urged him "to continue fighting for democracy in Hong Kong" (UPI via Post Chronicle). Disagreements on Taiwan or mainland strategy aside, events like this make clear that the Pope has not forgotten the trials anti-Communists face; for that he is to be commended.
As Hu prepares to visit U.S., reformers pan his tenure at home: Hu Jintao "will surely exude confidence and zeal about reforms in areas ranging from the Chinese currency to the country’s open-door policy" (Willy Lam, China Brief). However, most of it will ring hollow to folks under Communist rule; Hu himself is hearing it from "forward-looking cadres and intellectuals that economic, and especially political, liberalization has lapsed since he and ally Premier Wen Jiabao took power in late 2002."
Hu Jia released after "ordeal" in prison: Those aren't scare or sarcasm quotes, but rather a cite from the Washington Post (second item): "A prominent Chinese AIDS activist, Hu Jia, who disappeared after staging a hunger strike to protest violence against dissidents, has returned home from what he described as a six-week ordeal in police custody, his wife said" (see also twenty-first, seventeenth, second, and eighth items).
Songhua River cleanup cost magically reduced to $1.2 billion: The Petrochina chemical explosion that dumped "100 tonnes of benzene and nitrobenzene into the Songhua" (BBC) and became a glaring indictment of the Communists' ecological policies (seventh, fourth, ninth, fourth, fourth, fifth, fourth, fifth, third, seventh, tenth, and twelfth items) will cost $1.2 billion, according to the cadres. How it fell from $3 billion was not discussed.
More on Communist China: The Epoch Times catches the Communists hiding the truth on bird flu; Nazery Khalid, of the Maritime Institute of Malaysia, examines Communist China's domestic port boom and what it means for some of its neighbors (China Brief).
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Why we must remember Allen Leung
This post originally mentioned Allen Leung as a Freemason. I have since been informed that the Chinese Freemasons of the World is not tied to Freemasonry as it is generally known. For that reason, this post has been amended to its current form.
The death of Allen Leung alerts us to the threat of the Chinese Communist Party to American liberty - a threat from which no one is immune.
Mr. Leung's death silenced one of the leading anti-Communists in San Francisco's Chinatown, one local called him "the backbone of anti-communism" (Epoch Times). He was deeply involved in the battle to keep Chinese-American social and community groups in San Francisco free of Communist influence. His killer remains unknown and at large, but investigators are certain this was neither a random act of violence nor a robbery. Several community leaders, understandably afraid to reveal themselves, called Leung "an eyesore for the CCP" (Epoch Times), and his support for the island democracy of Taiwan was well known. Many believe "that the case involved political motivations."
The implications of this murder should make all Americans sit up and take notice.
Leung came to America from Hong Kong, when it was still a British colony, and had been an outspoken public figure in America for years. Yet he was either killed by the Communists directly, or by triad members, which in many parts of Communist China are the same thing (Other Mainland News and third item). The Communists have not been above using gang members to do their dirty work abroad. The message to the Chinese-American population was loud and clear - even in America, you are not safe.
For those of us who have tracked the Communist menace, this is no surprise. Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun revealed the extent of the Communist overseas espionage network, and how so much of it is dedicated to intimidating overseas Chinese communities into towing the Party line. However, this is the first time (to the best of my knowledge) that a Chinese anti-Communist was murdered for his beliefs on American soil. Remember the great watch-phrase of those concerned about freedom's erosion in America: "It can happen here"? Well, if what is assumed is correct, it just did happen here. It may not be the last time; Falun Gong practitioners have been threatened repeatedly, non-ethnic Chinese included.
These are not the actions of a "government" that wishes better relations with the United States. They are the actions of a regime that wishes to squelch American liberty any way it can, because to the Chinese Communist Party, the United States and the democracy it practices (however imperfectly) are the greatest threats to its survival. This is why the regime has sought out anti-American terrorists as allies, and why the democratic world must be prepared to win the Second Cold War, which Communist China has already been fighting for over a decade and a half.
For the Communists, this Cold War has no rules: even ethnic Chinese on foreign soil are vulnerable. The democratic world need not be so sinister or bloodthirsty; we need only do what is necessary to help the Chinese people take their country back from the Communists. Chief among those concerns is ridding the democratic world of the extensive Communist espionage network that risks our security, damages our economy, and uses fear and intimidation to deprive Chinese-Americans, Chinese-Canadians, Chinese-Australians, and many more of the freedoms the rest of the democratic world hold so dear.
We must even be prepared to face the fact that the regime's own victims in the overseas Chinese communities will be used against us. Several, if not most, of the informants in the Communist spy networks are acting not out of hatred for their new homes, but for fear of retribution against relatives left behind, or against themselves.
The murder of Allen Leung has fueled that fear. We must act now to remove it from the lives of overseas ethnic Chinese. The democratic world will never be secure until the Chinese people - both there and here - are free from Communism. Then we can honestly say that Allen Leung did not die in vain.
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
The death of Allen Leung alerts us to the threat of the Chinese Communist Party to American liberty - a threat from which no one is immune.
Mr. Leung's death silenced one of the leading anti-Communists in San Francisco's Chinatown, one local called him "the backbone of anti-communism" (Epoch Times). He was deeply involved in the battle to keep Chinese-American social and community groups in San Francisco free of Communist influence. His killer remains unknown and at large, but investigators are certain this was neither a random act of violence nor a robbery. Several community leaders, understandably afraid to reveal themselves, called Leung "an eyesore for the CCP" (Epoch Times), and his support for the island democracy of Taiwan was well known. Many believe "that the case involved political motivations."
The implications of this murder should make all Americans sit up and take notice.
Leung came to America from Hong Kong, when it was still a British colony, and had been an outspoken public figure in America for years. Yet he was either killed by the Communists directly, or by triad members, which in many parts of Communist China are the same thing (Other Mainland News and third item). The Communists have not been above using gang members to do their dirty work abroad. The message to the Chinese-American population was loud and clear - even in America, you are not safe.
For those of us who have tracked the Communist menace, this is no surprise. Chen Yonglin and Hao Fengjun revealed the extent of the Communist overseas espionage network, and how so much of it is dedicated to intimidating overseas Chinese communities into towing the Party line. However, this is the first time (to the best of my knowledge) that a Chinese anti-Communist was murdered for his beliefs on American soil. Remember the great watch-phrase of those concerned about freedom's erosion in America: "It can happen here"? Well, if what is assumed is correct, it just did happen here. It may not be the last time; Falun Gong practitioners have been threatened repeatedly, non-ethnic Chinese included.
These are not the actions of a "government" that wishes better relations with the United States. They are the actions of a regime that wishes to squelch American liberty any way it can, because to the Chinese Communist Party, the United States and the democracy it practices (however imperfectly) are the greatest threats to its survival. This is why the regime has sought out anti-American terrorists as allies, and why the democratic world must be prepared to win the Second Cold War, which Communist China has already been fighting for over a decade and a half.
For the Communists, this Cold War has no rules: even ethnic Chinese on foreign soil are vulnerable. The democratic world need not be so sinister or bloodthirsty; we need only do what is necessary to help the Chinese people take their country back from the Communists. Chief among those concerns is ridding the democratic world of the extensive Communist espionage network that risks our security, damages our economy, and uses fear and intimidation to deprive Chinese-Americans, Chinese-Canadians, Chinese-Australians, and many more of the freedoms the rest of the democratic world hold so dear.
We must even be prepared to face the fact that the regime's own victims in the overseas Chinese communities will be used against us. Several, if not most, of the informants in the Communist spy networks are acting not out of hatred for their new homes, but for fear of retribution against relatives left behind, or against themselves.
The murder of Allen Leung has fueled that fear. We must act now to remove it from the lives of overseas ethnic Chinese. The democratic world will never be secure until the Chinese people - both there and here - are free from Communism. Then we can honestly say that Allen Leung did not die in vain.
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
News of the Day (March 29)
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: China Intel hears the terrorists' deafening silence on occupied East Turkestan. The Korea Liberator comments on yesterday's defection news (last item, Daily NK also reports on this), and uses the furor over Yoduk Story (last item) to eloquently get to the heart of the matter.
More on Korea: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun insisted he wasn't anti-American (Voice of America via Epoch Times), and tried to prove it with an incoherent (at least to this quarter) jumble of views.
Schumer and Graham postpone currency-corrective vote another six months: Amazing what one week with the cadres can do. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsay Graham have decided to postpone a vote on their bill to impose a tariff against Communist imports until late September (Fox News). The move came after they Senators met with regime officials in Beijing; Schumer went so far as to say the meetings had him "feeling very good." Thus any effort to correct the Communists' deliberately undervalued currency goes by the wayside. Also reporting: United Press International via Washington Times
State Department official says U.S. will still "engage China": Undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns chose to badly devalue the U.S. nuclear deal with India (second item) by insisting it wasn't done "to contain China . . . we actually want to engage China" (UPI via Washington Times).
Exhibit of the dead facing flak for origin of cadavers and organs - Communist China: "Bodies . . . the Exhibit" displays a slew of cadavers and body parts, all apparently from Communist China (Epoch Times), leading some to wonder just how the source facility - the Dalian Medical School - received them.
On Communist China and the rest of the world: Italy's Prime Minister quotes The Black Book of Communism for a piece of Mao history and gets in trouble (BBC, note: Mao: The Unknown Story does not have an account of this). Australia, sadly, finalizes its uranium deal with Communist China (UPI via Washington Times). Rory Carroll (Guardian, UK) becomes the latest to examine the Communist footprint in Africa (ninth, fourth, last, and fifteenth items).
Communist police attack villagers in another land seizure: In Baijiawang Village (Taizhou, Zhejiang), local cadres order their farmers' land seized for development. The farmers "built roadblocks to prevent the police from entering the village" (Epoch Times). It didn't work; according to one villager, "The police beat us with batons and caused a serious injury to one villager's head. His condition has stabilized after surgery. Three elderly residents, all over the age of 60, were arrested for attempting to prevent the police from hitting people."
More on Communist China: Long Fang, Epoch Times, comments on Sujiatun (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, and fifth items). Quentin Sommerville, BBC, examines the latest effort by the cadres to don the "environmentalist" mantle, and finds it wanting.
More on Korea: South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun insisted he wasn't anti-American (Voice of America via Epoch Times), and tried to prove it with an incoherent (at least to this quarter) jumble of views.
Schumer and Graham postpone currency-corrective vote another six months: Amazing what one week with the cadres can do. Senators Charles Schumer and Lindsay Graham have decided to postpone a vote on their bill to impose a tariff against Communist imports until late September (Fox News). The move came after they Senators met with regime officials in Beijing; Schumer went so far as to say the meetings had him "feeling very good." Thus any effort to correct the Communists' deliberately undervalued currency goes by the wayside. Also reporting: United Press International via Washington Times
State Department official says U.S. will still "engage China": Undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns chose to badly devalue the U.S. nuclear deal with India (second item) by insisting it wasn't done "to contain China . . . we actually want to engage China" (UPI via Washington Times).
Exhibit of the dead facing flak for origin of cadavers and organs - Communist China: "Bodies . . . the Exhibit" displays a slew of cadavers and body parts, all apparently from Communist China (Epoch Times), leading some to wonder just how the source facility - the Dalian Medical School - received them.
On Communist China and the rest of the world: Italy's Prime Minister quotes The Black Book of Communism for a piece of Mao history and gets in trouble (BBC, note: Mao: The Unknown Story does not have an account of this). Australia, sadly, finalizes its uranium deal with Communist China (UPI via Washington Times). Rory Carroll (Guardian, UK) becomes the latest to examine the Communist footprint in Africa (ninth, fourth, last, and fifteenth items).
Communist police attack villagers in another land seizure: In Baijiawang Village (Taizhou, Zhejiang), local cadres order their farmers' land seized for development. The farmers "built roadblocks to prevent the police from entering the village" (Epoch Times). It didn't work; according to one villager, "The police beat us with batons and caused a serious injury to one villager's head. His condition has stabilized after surgery. Three elderly residents, all over the age of 60, were arrested for attempting to prevent the police from hitting people."
More on Communist China: Long Fang, Epoch Times, comments on Sujiatun (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, and fifth items). Quentin Sommerville, BBC, examines the latest effort by the cadres to don the "environmentalist" mantle, and finds it wanting.
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Why I am leaving the Roman Catholic Church
Readers of this blog have seen me refer to myself repeatedly as a badly lapsed Catholic. I was born and raised in the Roman Catholic faith, and although I don't attend mass nearly as often as I should, I have always considered myself a loyal Catholic, and a member of that faith. That is why it hurts so much to leave it. However, as painful as it is to leave the only faith I have had my entire life, leave it I must, and at the risk of losing many friends, I have to ask my fellow anti-Communists in the Catholic faith to join me in the exodus. The continuing minuet between the Vatican and the Chinese Communist Party has given me no choice.
That the Holy See is looking for a rapprochement with the Communist regime is not news; in fact, it predates the election of Pope Benedict XVI. However, recent developments have made it clear that the Church, and the Pope who leads it, are not only willing to sacrifice the island democracy of Taiwan, but also the well-being of the people of mainland China, including millions of believers who have suffered persecution to resist the Communist-controlled "Patriotic" Church and remain loyal to the Vatican. This I can no longer accept.
Truth be told, I've been considering this move for some time now (last item), ever since I read the story of the "breakthrough" in Shanghai. The Vatican consecrated a "Patriotic" priest as a successor bishop to Aloysius Jin, the Communist Bishop in Shanghai. Worse than that, the Vatican also rejected the request of Bishop Joseph Fan - head of the loyal "underground" Shanghai Church - to have a successor consecrated for him. In effect, the Holy See told the persecuted Shanghai Catholics that it was time to go to the Communist-controlled Shanghai masses. Shanghai isn't alone: "in a journal that reflects Vatican thinking, German Jesuit theologian Father Hans Waldenfels suggested in October that successors to underground bishops would no longer be named by the pope, thereby healing the decades-old split in China's Catholic communities" (Newsweek).
Now, I know a good Christian, even one suffering persecution, should love his persecutors and pray for them. But endorse the persecutors' faith over their own? That one I don't see.
Still, I held back, in part because I wanted to think and pray things through, and in part because of the elevation of Cardinal Joseph Zen. If Pope Benedict was willing to elevate the Bishop of Hong Kong, a longtime champion of human rights and defender of the city's beleaguered freedoms, then perhaps there was hope.
That hope was dashed by Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States (i.e., Foreign Minister). Archbishop Lajolo's statement, which was released in such a way as to make clear he was speaking for Benedict XVI, was deeply troubling for two reasons. The first was, of course, Taiwan. The archbishop pledged to "immediately" break off ties with Taiwan if diplomatic relations were established with the Communist regime. Lajolo even went so far as to say that (in the words of United Press Int'l via Washington Times), "the spiritual needs of millions of Chinese Catholics were clearly more urgent than the needs of 300,000 Taiwan Catholics." For any Catholic, but most especially an archbishop, to claim some Catholics are more important than others was a rude shock. Even worse, however, was Lajolo's comments on Cardinal Zen - namely that Benedict XVI elevated him not to speak to the increasing danger in Hong Kong, but rather "to signal his concern and respect for China" (Catholic World News via Church Resources).
However, the straw that broke the camel's back was, ironically, Archbishop Lajolo's attempt to defend Zen's political activism. Lajolo insisted that Cardinal Zen (and these are Lajolo's words) "had not interfered in the legislative activity of the state" (CWN via CR). I couldn't believe my eyes. Cardinal Zen is well-known in Hong Kong for playing a leading role in interfering with the Communist-controlled HK Legislative Council's attempt to pass the hideous "anti-subversion" law in 2003 (sixth item). In fact, said interference was instrumental in fueling the "people power" that pushed the local Communists to shelve the law. Either the Vatican is ignorant of the situation in Hong Kong - and Cardinal Zen's importance there - or it is trying to airbrush recent history.
In any event, Lajolo's comments, the actions regarding Shanghai, and the statements on Taiwan have made it abundantly clear: the Roman Catholic Church is looking to accommodate the Chinese Communist Party, and if the Roman Catholic Church is growing comfortable with the Chinese Communist Party, I am no longer comfortable in the Roman Catholic Church.
The fact that I was a lapsed Catholic will make this withdrawal less powerful; it is the price I pay for my weakness in faith. I also understand that it will be much harder for Catholics reading this to join me in leaving; many of them may not consider me a Catholic in good standing as it is.
However, I must ask them these questions. Does the Lord want his Church to seek a compromise with an entity as evil as the Chinese Communist Party? Does "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" include the endorsement of a "church" the Communist regime used in its war against the faithful? Does the Church honor its martyrs from China's past by trying to find just the right concession to win the imprimatur of the regime that martyred them?
We must all answer these questions with the help of the Lord, and in our own thoughts and prayers, but as for me, I have made my decision. I am, for now, a Christian without denomination. I have left - because I feel I must leave - the Roman Catholic Church, and I hope against hope that I am not the only one.
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
That the Holy See is looking for a rapprochement with the Communist regime is not news; in fact, it predates the election of Pope Benedict XVI. However, recent developments have made it clear that the Church, and the Pope who leads it, are not only willing to sacrifice the island democracy of Taiwan, but also the well-being of the people of mainland China, including millions of believers who have suffered persecution to resist the Communist-controlled "Patriotic" Church and remain loyal to the Vatican. This I can no longer accept.
Truth be told, I've been considering this move for some time now (last item), ever since I read the story of the "breakthrough" in Shanghai. The Vatican consecrated a "Patriotic" priest as a successor bishop to Aloysius Jin, the Communist Bishop in Shanghai. Worse than that, the Vatican also rejected the request of Bishop Joseph Fan - head of the loyal "underground" Shanghai Church - to have a successor consecrated for him. In effect, the Holy See told the persecuted Shanghai Catholics that it was time to go to the Communist-controlled Shanghai masses. Shanghai isn't alone: "in a journal that reflects Vatican thinking, German Jesuit theologian Father Hans Waldenfels suggested in October that successors to underground bishops would no longer be named by the pope, thereby healing the decades-old split in China's Catholic communities" (Newsweek).
Now, I know a good Christian, even one suffering persecution, should love his persecutors and pray for them. But endorse the persecutors' faith over their own? That one I don't see.
Still, I held back, in part because I wanted to think and pray things through, and in part because of the elevation of Cardinal Joseph Zen. If Pope Benedict was willing to elevate the Bishop of Hong Kong, a longtime champion of human rights and defender of the city's beleaguered freedoms, then perhaps there was hope.
That hope was dashed by Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, the Vatican's Secretary for Relations with States (i.e., Foreign Minister). Archbishop Lajolo's statement, which was released in such a way as to make clear he was speaking for Benedict XVI, was deeply troubling for two reasons. The first was, of course, Taiwan. The archbishop pledged to "immediately" break off ties with Taiwan if diplomatic relations were established with the Communist regime. Lajolo even went so far as to say that (in the words of United Press Int'l via Washington Times), "the spiritual needs of millions of Chinese Catholics were clearly more urgent than the needs of 300,000 Taiwan Catholics." For any Catholic, but most especially an archbishop, to claim some Catholics are more important than others was a rude shock. Even worse, however, was Lajolo's comments on Cardinal Zen - namely that Benedict XVI elevated him not to speak to the increasing danger in Hong Kong, but rather "to signal his concern and respect for China" (Catholic World News via Church Resources).
However, the straw that broke the camel's back was, ironically, Archbishop Lajolo's attempt to defend Zen's political activism. Lajolo insisted that Cardinal Zen (and these are Lajolo's words) "had not interfered in the legislative activity of the state" (CWN via CR). I couldn't believe my eyes. Cardinal Zen is well-known in Hong Kong for playing a leading role in interfering with the Communist-controlled HK Legislative Council's attempt to pass the hideous "anti-subversion" law in 2003 (sixth item). In fact, said interference was instrumental in fueling the "people power" that pushed the local Communists to shelve the law. Either the Vatican is ignorant of the situation in Hong Kong - and Cardinal Zen's importance there - or it is trying to airbrush recent history.
In any event, Lajolo's comments, the actions regarding Shanghai, and the statements on Taiwan have made it abundantly clear: the Roman Catholic Church is looking to accommodate the Chinese Communist Party, and if the Roman Catholic Church is growing comfortable with the Chinese Communist Party, I am no longer comfortable in the Roman Catholic Church.
The fact that I was a lapsed Catholic will make this withdrawal less powerful; it is the price I pay for my weakness in faith. I also understand that it will be much harder for Catholics reading this to join me in leaving; many of them may not consider me a Catholic in good standing as it is.
However, I must ask them these questions. Does the Lord want his Church to seek a compromise with an entity as evil as the Chinese Communist Party? Does "Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's" include the endorsement of a "church" the Communist regime used in its war against the faithful? Does the Church honor its martyrs from China's past by trying to find just the right concession to win the imprimatur of the regime that martyred them?
We must all answer these questions with the help of the Lord, and in our own thoughts and prayers, but as for me, I have made my decision. I am, for now, a Christian without denomination. I have left - because I feel I must leave - the Roman Catholic Church, and I hope against hope that I am not the only one.
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
News of the Day (March 28)
From the China Support Network: The parent org laments the Vatican's apparently imminent move to throw Taiwan under the bus (note: yours truly, quoted in the piece, is a badly lapsed Catholic).
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth swells my ego; China Intel continues to rail against the cadres' growing control of international ports through Hutchison Whampoa.
Communists ban organ sales - sort of: In a cute public relations move, Communist China "said it will ban the sale of human organs from July in an attempt to clean up its transplant industry" (BBC). However, according to Chen Zhonghua of Tongji Hospital (United Press International via Washington Times), the rules were full of holes - and he should know; he helped write them. Sadly, neither story mentioned the biggest organ "donation" outrage -the Sujiatun camp (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, and fifth items).
Gao Zhisheng in auto accident on way to Hebei: After being harassed by "creditors" (Epoch Times), human-rights attorney Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, eighth, seventh, and fifth items) left Beijing for Hebei Province. On his way there, Gao ended up in a car accident that may have been a Communist version of "swoop and squat" (Epoch Times).
Sujiatun couple - elected village leaders - arrested for protesting corruption: In Zhangliangbao village (a part of Sujiatun), Liu Hua and Yue Yongjin "have been exposing corruption among village officials for several years" (Boxun), including land seizures. They were even elected village leaders by grateful residents, but the Communists refused to let them take their posts. Last month, the cadres arrested them "in apparent retaliation for their efforts."
Japanese government expressing worry over Communist military: The continuing Communist military buildup "becoming of increasing concern to Japanese politicians" (UPI via Washington Times). Among those concerned include the Defense Agency, the Foreign Ministry, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi himself.
Communist China-Russia military "cooperation" to increase: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov boasted that "the entire volume of military-technical cooperation is rising" (UPI via Washington Times) between his military and that of Communist China. Such news would not surprise Peter Brookes (New York Post), who details the blooming Russia-CCP friendship in the Enlightened Comment of the Day.
Australian PM says uranium sale to Communist China could be closed soon: Australian Prime Minister John Howard is looking forward to selling uranium to Communist China; the deal "could be said or signed when the Chinese premier visits Australia next week" (CNN). The Communists are similarly optimistic (UPI via Washington Times). Meanwhile, several leading Chinese-Australians are calling on Howard to challenge Communist Premier Wen Jiabao during his upcoming visit (Epoch Times).
U.S. wants to reorder UN dues to end Japan overcharge and Communist undercharge: The United States is considering proposing new funding formulas for the United Nations budget that would relieve Japan from paying more than Communist China, Russia, Great Britain, and France combined. The Communists, who would have to pay more under almost any new formula, were not happy when Japan tried to bring this subject up earlier (ninth item). Report: Cybercast News
On the satellite regimes: Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il has visited eight military bases this month (Daily NK has the details); one of former minions defected in Europe (UPI via Washington Times), and Charles Scanlon (BBC) gives Yoduk Story more of the respect it deserves. Meanwhile, Michael Ledeen commits a blunder in his otherwise excellent column on Iran in National Review Online: "Khamenei and his top cronies . . . think they have the Chinese over a barrel, since the Chinese are so heavily dependent on Iranian oil." Now, Communist China is certainly thirsty for oil, but their longtime support for the Iranian mullahcracy also has geopolitical objectives Ledeen should not ignore, since they would only add more credence to his call for Iran's liberation, which this quarter endorses wholeheartedly.
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth swells my ego; China Intel continues to rail against the cadres' growing control of international ports through Hutchison Whampoa.
Communists ban organ sales - sort of: In a cute public relations move, Communist China "said it will ban the sale of human organs from July in an attempt to clean up its transplant industry" (BBC). However, according to Chen Zhonghua of Tongji Hospital (United Press International via Washington Times), the rules were full of holes - and he should know; he helped write them. Sadly, neither story mentioned the biggest organ "donation" outrage -the Sujiatun camp (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, and fifth items).
Gao Zhisheng in auto accident on way to Hebei: After being harassed by "creditors" (Epoch Times), human-rights attorney Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, eighth, seventh, and fifth items) left Beijing for Hebei Province. On his way there, Gao ended up in a car accident that may have been a Communist version of "swoop and squat" (Epoch Times).
Sujiatun couple - elected village leaders - arrested for protesting corruption: In Zhangliangbao village (a part of Sujiatun), Liu Hua and Yue Yongjin "have been exposing corruption among village officials for several years" (Boxun), including land seizures. They were even elected village leaders by grateful residents, but the Communists refused to let them take their posts. Last month, the cadres arrested them "in apparent retaliation for their efforts."
Japanese government expressing worry over Communist military: The continuing Communist military buildup "becoming of increasing concern to Japanese politicians" (UPI via Washington Times). Among those concerned include the Defense Agency, the Foreign Ministry, and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi himself.
Communist China-Russia military "cooperation" to increase: Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov boasted that "the entire volume of military-technical cooperation is rising" (UPI via Washington Times) between his military and that of Communist China. Such news would not surprise Peter Brookes (New York Post), who details the blooming Russia-CCP friendship in the Enlightened Comment of the Day.
Australian PM says uranium sale to Communist China could be closed soon: Australian Prime Minister John Howard is looking forward to selling uranium to Communist China; the deal "could be said or signed when the Chinese premier visits Australia next week" (CNN). The Communists are similarly optimistic (UPI via Washington Times). Meanwhile, several leading Chinese-Australians are calling on Howard to challenge Communist Premier Wen Jiabao during his upcoming visit (Epoch Times).
U.S. wants to reorder UN dues to end Japan overcharge and Communist undercharge: The United States is considering proposing new funding formulas for the United Nations budget that would relieve Japan from paying more than Communist China, Russia, Great Britain, and France combined. The Communists, who would have to pay more under almost any new formula, were not happy when Japan tried to bring this subject up earlier (ninth item). Report: Cybercast News
On the satellite regimes: Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il has visited eight military bases this month (Daily NK has the details); one of former minions defected in Europe (UPI via Washington Times), and Charles Scanlon (BBC) gives Yoduk Story more of the respect it deserves. Meanwhile, Michael Ledeen commits a blunder in his otherwise excellent column on Iran in National Review Online: "Khamenei and his top cronies . . . think they have the Chinese over a barrel, since the Chinese are so heavily dependent on Iranian oil." Now, Communist China is certainly thirsty for oil, but their longtime support for the Iranian mullahcracy also has geopolitical objectives Ledeen should not ignore, since they would only add more credence to his call for Iran's liberation, which this quarter endorses wholeheartedly.
Monday, March 27, 2006
On Sujiatun (and a few other things)
The following is the address yours truly gave to the rally at Lafayette Park earlier this afternoon to draw attention to the Sujiatun organ-harvesting death camp (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, fourth, and fifth items).
Why do we gather here today?
We all know why we gather: to condemn the horrifying truth of Sujiatun, the camp created by the Chinese Communist Party to turn humans in organ banks, Falun Gong practitioners into ashes, and desperate patients into unwitting - or in some cases, well aware - accomplices in hideous torture and murder.
We gather to call for an end to a practice - the killing of practitioners and other dissidents for their organs - that is Auschwitzesque. While the number of dead and soon-to-be-dead is at present only 6,000, the combination of evil intent, lack of respect for human life, and assembly-line efficiency that fueled the Nazi concentration camps is, sadly, alive and well where the Chinese Communist Party rules, and is likely to remain so until the Chinese people take their country back from the Communist regime.
But why do we gather here? Why in the capital of what is arguably the most powerful nation on earth? Why in what many consider the epicenter of the democratic world?
For this answer, we must look beyond the United States, beyond Communist-controlled China, to the battle between the democratic world and the tyrannical forces it fights in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the globe. The latter have fallen under the bloody banner of "terrorism;" the main perpetrators are well known: al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, the mullahcracy in Iran, the Assad family in Syria. What is not as well known is that all of these forces of evil - plus the northern Korean nightmare run by Kim Jong-il - have received aid and support from the Chinese Communist Party for years, including military and, in the case of the Iranian mullahs, even nuclear support.
Why do the Communists support terrorism in Central Asia, Eastern Asia, the Middle East, and anywhere else they can find it? They do so because they fear the freedom of the democratic world; they fear how the democratic world cherishes truth, love, and respect for others. Most of all, they fear the democratic world hearing about the evil that exists in Sujiatun, the violent state-sponsored slaughters of Hanyuan and Shanwei, and the callous, silent murder of those who have fallen ill from AIDS, SARS, and bird flu.
In short, the Communists know that so long as the democratic world exists, their crimes against the Chinese people can never be kept secret. So long as there is an America to show that the people can govern themselves, the Chinese people will demand the same. What Abraham Lincoln once said about an America split between slave state and free state, the Communists know to be true about a world split between free peoples and enslaved peoples: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
This is why we have gathered here; for these truths mean two realities. One: the Chinese Communist Party and the democratic world cannot co-exist, for one to survive, the other must perish. However, this leads to another, more hopeful one: the Communists not only face Americans, Europeans, Japanese, and others in the democratic world. They also face practitioners, dissidents, appellants, unpaid laborers, and maltreated farmers.
We gather here, because the American and the Chinese peoples have a common cause against the CCP, but only together can they defeat it. Moreover, we will continue to gather here, as we must, until the American people put in place leaders that will take up this fight against the CCP, for America will never be secure until China is free.
We gather here because Sujiatun is not only an act of unspeakable evil, it is a warning to those in the democratic world of what this regime is trying to hide, and why it feels it must survive to hide it - at any cost. Let us heed this warning, and work together to ensure that it is the democratic world that prospers and the CCP that perishes.
Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the American and Chinese peoples.
Why do we gather here today?
We all know why we gather: to condemn the horrifying truth of Sujiatun, the camp created by the Chinese Communist Party to turn humans in organ banks, Falun Gong practitioners into ashes, and desperate patients into unwitting - or in some cases, well aware - accomplices in hideous torture and murder.
We gather to call for an end to a practice - the killing of practitioners and other dissidents for their organs - that is Auschwitzesque. While the number of dead and soon-to-be-dead is at present only 6,000, the combination of evil intent, lack of respect for human life, and assembly-line efficiency that fueled the Nazi concentration camps is, sadly, alive and well where the Chinese Communist Party rules, and is likely to remain so until the Chinese people take their country back from the Communist regime.
But why do we gather here? Why in the capital of what is arguably the most powerful nation on earth? Why in what many consider the epicenter of the democratic world?
For this answer, we must look beyond the United States, beyond Communist-controlled China, to the battle between the democratic world and the tyrannical forces it fights in Iraq, Afghanistan, and throughout the globe. The latter have fallen under the bloody banner of "terrorism;" the main perpetrators are well known: al Qaeda, Saddam Hussein, the mullahcracy in Iran, the Assad family in Syria. What is not as well known is that all of these forces of evil - plus the northern Korean nightmare run by Kim Jong-il - have received aid and support from the Chinese Communist Party for years, including military and, in the case of the Iranian mullahs, even nuclear support.
Why do the Communists support terrorism in Central Asia, Eastern Asia, the Middle East, and anywhere else they can find it? They do so because they fear the freedom of the democratic world; they fear how the democratic world cherishes truth, love, and respect for others. Most of all, they fear the democratic world hearing about the evil that exists in Sujiatun, the violent state-sponsored slaughters of Hanyuan and Shanwei, and the callous, silent murder of those who have fallen ill from AIDS, SARS, and bird flu.
In short, the Communists know that so long as the democratic world exists, their crimes against the Chinese people can never be kept secret. So long as there is an America to show that the people can govern themselves, the Chinese people will demand the same. What Abraham Lincoln once said about an America split between slave state and free state, the Communists know to be true about a world split between free peoples and enslaved peoples: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
This is why we have gathered here; for these truths mean two realities. One: the Chinese Communist Party and the democratic world cannot co-exist, for one to survive, the other must perish. However, this leads to another, more hopeful one: the Communists not only face Americans, Europeans, Japanese, and others in the democratic world. They also face practitioners, dissidents, appellants, unpaid laborers, and maltreated farmers.
We gather here, because the American and the Chinese peoples have a common cause against the CCP, but only together can they defeat it. Moreover, we will continue to gather here, as we must, until the American people put in place leaders that will take up this fight against the CCP, for America will never be secure until China is free.
We gather here because Sujiatun is not only an act of unspeakable evil, it is a warning to those in the democratic world of what this regime is trying to hide, and why it feels it must survive to hide it - at any cost. Let us heed this warning, and work together to ensure that it is the democratic world that prospers and the CCP that perishes.
Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the American and Chinese peoples.
News of the Day (March 27)
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Shaun Kenney includes East Turkestan's defense of religious freedom in the Virginia Blog Carnival. China Intel singes the Bush Administration over the Hutchison Whampoa port deal, notes the State Department's decision to buy Communist computers (Lenovo, actually, remember them? - second item), pointedly (and correctly) criticizes Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's plans for relations with the Communists, and cites the Communist military buildup as evidence of the need for a missile defense system. The Korea Liberator welcomes pianist Kim Chul-Woong into the democratic world, praises talk of a possible indictment against Stalinist-in-chief Kim Jong-il for the regime's counterfeiting, ponders Stalinist North Korea's attempt to wait the Bush Administration out, and laments the political situation in South Korea (including possible complicity by some South Koreans in the Stalinist abduction of Japanese).
More on the Hutchison Whampoa fiasco: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher gave the port deal a much-needed rhetorical double-barrel (Los Angeles Chronicle); Charles Smith (Newsmax) examines the larger issue of Communist China and ports in general - and it's even worse than you think.
More on Taiwan - Vatican moves and Mayor Ma: The Vatican is playing diplomatic footsie with the Communists again (United Press Int'l via Washington Times), and strongly hinting that Taiwan will soon join the Shanghai underground Church as victims of the rapprochement (last item). Meanwhile, to see a report on Mayor Ma without the probing question China Intel asks, see Bill Powell and Tim Culpan of Time Asia.
More on the satellite regimes: What is a gift not a gift? When Kim Jong-il can't take any credit for it (Daily NK); money may be the "root of all evil," but it may also be the seed of a free northern Korea, according to Young Howard of Open Radio for North Korea (via Daily NK). Meanwhile, Robert Kagan (Washington Post) makes another eloquent case for liberating the Iranian people, but the Administration seems more interested in striking a deal with the mullahs on Iraq - an error Claude Salhani (UPI via Washington Times) rightly blasts.
News of the Sujiatun horror continues to spread, reaching Toronto Sun columnist Peter Worthington over the weekend (although he got the source wrong). Rallies against the organ-harvesting camp (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, and fourth items) were held in New York, San Francisco, and Seoul, South Korea (all rallies covered by Epoch Times). Human-rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, eighth, and seventh items), spoke out against the camp (Epoch Times), which won him the praise of a group calling itself the Tangshan City Great Alliance of Morality (Epoch Times). Shizhong Chen, co-founder of the Conscience Foundation, also blasted the camp (Epoch Times).
East Turkestan statement against organ-harvesting also spreading: The Epoch Times noted the strong statement by the East Turkestan government-in-exile against this hideous practice (second item).
More on human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party: Gao Zhisheng recounts his attempts to defend the rights of his clients, and the Communist regime's efforts to stop him, in an open letter to the Communist legislature (Epoch Times). Reporters Without Borders (via Boxun) rips the arrest of filmmaker Hao Wu. Robert T. McLean, of the Center for Security Policy, details how Communist China is bending the internet to its will in Front Page Magazine.
Guangdong cadres seize peasants' land - again: Today it's Aoshi, a small village "on the edge of fast-growing Yunfu city" (Washington Post).
Communist-owned gas well spring a leak, causing explosion: The leaking gas well in Chongqing "forced 11,500 villagers to evacuate their homes" (BBC) and "triggered a huge explosion." The well was "run by the Chuandong Drilling Company, owned by China's largest oil firm" - i.e., a regime-owned firm.
Communist China lists "Five Major Hostile Forces": They were the usual suspects - "(1) international anti-China/anti-communist organizations; (2) international hostile organizations (42 international and regional organizations were named); (3) Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang separatist forces; (4) cults and anti-China/anti-communist religious forces; and (5) hostile forces in exile" (Cheng Ming via Epoch Times).
Hu Jintao's visit Washington causing trouble before it even happens: Communist China is determined to call the Washington visit by its leader Hu Jintao a "state visit." However, the U.S. disputes that, calling it only an "official visit" (Washington Times). Either way, Hu still gets a 21-gun salute.
More on Communist China and the United States: Austin Ramzy (Time Asia) interviews Senator Charles Schumer (co-sponsor of the currency corrective tariff - fifth, eighth, and eighth items), and the "ping-pong diplomacy" participants are back in Beijing (BBC).
Zimbabwe to set up special office for "brothers" from Communist China: The Mugabe dictatorship "ordered the police to set up a special desk in Harare to offer special treatment and service to Chinese nationals in the country" (ZWNews, Zimbabwe). Mugabe has long been supported by Communist China.
Hao Fengjun discusses Communist espionage in New Zealand: Former Communist 610 officer Hao Fengjun visited a seminar on Communist China in Auckland to discuss the regime's espionage network there. His speech was reprinted by the Epoch Times.
More on Communist China and the rest of the world: William R. Hawkins, of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, examines Communist China's role in the Darfur outrage (Washington Times).
More on the Hutchison Whampoa fiasco: Congressman Dana Rohrabacher gave the port deal a much-needed rhetorical double-barrel (Los Angeles Chronicle); Charles Smith (Newsmax) examines the larger issue of Communist China and ports in general - and it's even worse than you think.
More on Taiwan - Vatican moves and Mayor Ma: The Vatican is playing diplomatic footsie with the Communists again (United Press Int'l via Washington Times), and strongly hinting that Taiwan will soon join the Shanghai underground Church as victims of the rapprochement (last item). Meanwhile, to see a report on Mayor Ma without the probing question China Intel asks, see Bill Powell and Tim Culpan of Time Asia.
More on the satellite regimes: What is a gift not a gift? When Kim Jong-il can't take any credit for it (Daily NK); money may be the "root of all evil," but it may also be the seed of a free northern Korea, according to Young Howard of Open Radio for North Korea (via Daily NK). Meanwhile, Robert Kagan (Washington Post) makes another eloquent case for liberating the Iranian people, but the Administration seems more interested in striking a deal with the mullahs on Iraq - an error Claude Salhani (UPI via Washington Times) rightly blasts.
News of the Sujiatun horror continues to spread, reaching Toronto Sun columnist Peter Worthington over the weekend (although he got the source wrong). Rallies against the organ-harvesting camp (lead, seventh, second, seventh, third, and fourth items) were held in New York, San Francisco, and Seoul, South Korea (all rallies covered by Epoch Times). Human-rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, eighth, and seventh items), spoke out against the camp (Epoch Times), which won him the praise of a group calling itself the Tangshan City Great Alliance of Morality (Epoch Times). Shizhong Chen, co-founder of the Conscience Foundation, also blasted the camp (Epoch Times).
East Turkestan statement against organ-harvesting also spreading: The Epoch Times noted the strong statement by the East Turkestan government-in-exile against this hideous practice (second item).
More on human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party: Gao Zhisheng recounts his attempts to defend the rights of his clients, and the Communist regime's efforts to stop him, in an open letter to the Communist legislature (Epoch Times). Reporters Without Borders (via Boxun) rips the arrest of filmmaker Hao Wu. Robert T. McLean, of the Center for Security Policy, details how Communist China is bending the internet to its will in Front Page Magazine.
Guangdong cadres seize peasants' land - again: Today it's Aoshi, a small village "on the edge of fast-growing Yunfu city" (Washington Post).
Communist-owned gas well spring a leak, causing explosion: The leaking gas well in Chongqing "forced 11,500 villagers to evacuate their homes" (BBC) and "triggered a huge explosion." The well was "run by the Chuandong Drilling Company, owned by China's largest oil firm" - i.e., a regime-owned firm.
Communist China lists "Five Major Hostile Forces": They were the usual suspects - "(1) international anti-China/anti-communist organizations; (2) international hostile organizations (42 international and regional organizations were named); (3) Taiwan, Tibet, and Xinjiang separatist forces; (4) cults and anti-China/anti-communist religious forces; and (5) hostile forces in exile" (Cheng Ming via Epoch Times).
Hu Jintao's visit Washington causing trouble before it even happens: Communist China is determined to call the Washington visit by its leader Hu Jintao a "state visit." However, the U.S. disputes that, calling it only an "official visit" (Washington Times). Either way, Hu still gets a 21-gun salute.
More on Communist China and the United States: Austin Ramzy (Time Asia) interviews Senator Charles Schumer (co-sponsor of the currency corrective tariff - fifth, eighth, and eighth items), and the "ping-pong diplomacy" participants are back in Beijing (BBC).
Zimbabwe to set up special office for "brothers" from Communist China: The Mugabe dictatorship "ordered the police to set up a special desk in Harare to offer special treatment and service to Chinese nationals in the country" (ZWNews, Zimbabwe). Mugabe has long been supported by Communist China.
Hao Fengjun discusses Communist espionage in New Zealand: Former Communist 610 officer Hao Fengjun visited a seminar on Communist China in Auckland to discuss the regime's espionage network there. His speech was reprinted by the Epoch Times.
More on Communist China and the rest of the world: William R. Hawkins, of the U.S. Business and Industry Council, examines Communist China's role in the Darfur outrage (Washington Times).
Friday, March 24, 2006
News of the Day (March 24)
From the China Support Network - Hutchison Whampoa to screen U.S. imports? You read that right, the firm who founder (Li Ka-shing) is one of the most powerful and wealthy friends the Chinese Communist Party has won the contract for the "offshore detection facility" that will screen imports to the U.S. for nuclear material. Curry Kenworthy, CSN's Executive Director, rightly rips the idea. Chris Ruddy (Newsmax) expresses his concern for Communist China and port security in general.
UPDATE: Mark Levin, National Review Online, combines detailed information and outraged prose to give the Hutchison Whampoa deal a well-deserved rhetorical double-barrel.
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth relays reports that the Sujiatun camp (lead, seventh, second, seventh, and third items) is linked to Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, and Zeng Qinghong. China Intel comments on the Communists' failed attempt to woo Taiwan with pandas and compares human rights in the U.S. and Communist China. The Korea Liberator has an update from the Brussels conference on human rights in Stalinist North Korea and commends the integrity of the South Korean media on Koreans abducted by the Stalinists showing up at "reunion" gatherings (the dovish South Korean government earned no such plaudits).
More on Sujiatun and organ harvesting: Bill Gertz, Washington Times, reports on Sujiatun, and adds something new about the reporter who broke the story: "he had to hide his true identity after being threatened by Chinese government agents." Meanwhile, the Epoch Times has more from the Shenyang witness and a personal account from a medical student on the organ "donations;" World Tribune focuses on the use of inmates' skin for cosmetics in Communist China; and the John Batchelor show highlighted the Communist persecution of Falun Gong.
More on Taiwan: Both sides of Taiwan's political divide raise their voices in Washington. Kuomintang leader Ma Ying-jeou (third, sixth, and third items) spoke to the American Enterprise Institute (Agence France Presse). Joseph Wu, Taiwan's the Minister of Mainland Affairs, gave the Democratic Progressive Party's perspective in the Washington Times. Meanwhile, Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, examines Japan's growing ties to the island democracy, and Dan Sanchez, Epoch Times, reports from a Pepperdine University forum on relations between Taiwan and the U.S.
More on the Communists' Korean colony: The Stalinist regime "blasted upcoming U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises" (United Press International via Washington Times), while Daily NK put the spotlight on Zhongnanhai's hopes for the "Joint Development Project" port at Rajin, SNK.
Pope Benedict XVI appoints Joseph Zen as Cardinal: The leader of the Catholic Church made it official today (BBC). The BBC had this profile of the new Cardinal and longtime democracy supporter (twentieth, seventh, sixth, second to last, third to last, tenth, and seventh items).
More analysis on Communist China: Lev Navrozov (Newsmax) examines the propaganda arm Xinhua and the hidden Communist military budget. Jan Jekielek, Epoch Times, reports from the Nine Commentaries forum in Poland.
UPDATE: Mark Levin, National Review Online, combines detailed information and outraged prose to give the Hutchison Whampoa deal a well-deserved rhetorical double-barrel.
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: Between Heaven and Earth relays reports that the Sujiatun camp (lead, seventh, second, seventh, and third items) is linked to Jiang Zemin, Luo Gan, and Zeng Qinghong. China Intel comments on the Communists' failed attempt to woo Taiwan with pandas and compares human rights in the U.S. and Communist China. The Korea Liberator has an update from the Brussels conference on human rights in Stalinist North Korea and commends the integrity of the South Korean media on Koreans abducted by the Stalinists showing up at "reunion" gatherings (the dovish South Korean government earned no such plaudits).
More on Sujiatun and organ harvesting: Bill Gertz, Washington Times, reports on Sujiatun, and adds something new about the reporter who broke the story: "he had to hide his true identity after being threatened by Chinese government agents." Meanwhile, the Epoch Times has more from the Shenyang witness and a personal account from a medical student on the organ "donations;" World Tribune focuses on the use of inmates' skin for cosmetics in Communist China; and the John Batchelor show highlighted the Communist persecution of Falun Gong.
More on Taiwan: Both sides of Taiwan's political divide raise their voices in Washington. Kuomintang leader Ma Ying-jeou (third, sixth, and third items) spoke to the American Enterprise Institute (Agence France Presse). Joseph Wu, Taiwan's the Minister of Mainland Affairs, gave the Democratic Progressive Party's perspective in the Washington Times. Meanwhile, Anthony Faiola, Washington Post, examines Japan's growing ties to the island democracy, and Dan Sanchez, Epoch Times, reports from a Pepperdine University forum on relations between Taiwan and the U.S.
More on the Communists' Korean colony: The Stalinist regime "blasted upcoming U.S.-South Korean joint military exercises" (United Press International via Washington Times), while Daily NK put the spotlight on Zhongnanhai's hopes for the "Joint Development Project" port at Rajin, SNK.
Pope Benedict XVI appoints Joseph Zen as Cardinal: The leader of the Catholic Church made it official today (BBC). The BBC had this profile of the new Cardinal and longtime democracy supporter (twentieth, seventh, sixth, second to last, third to last, tenth, and seventh items).
More analysis on Communist China: Lev Navrozov (Newsmax) examines the propaganda arm Xinhua and the hidden Communist military budget. Jan Jekielek, Epoch Times, reports from the Nine Commentaries forum in Poland.
Thursday, March 23, 2006
News of the Day (March 23)
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: China Intel calls for the U.S. to "show China that, without a doubt, we will defend Taiwan and China will pay severely if it ever tries to invade." The Korea Liberator doesn't see that happening, due to unfortuante political developments this quarter noted last year. TKL also comments on Yoduk Story and questions (but does not dismiss) accounts of Stalinist North Korea killing disabled infants (Newsmax). Meanwhile, a report claims that the Communists' Korean colony "does not yet have an operational missile that could hit the continental US" (BBC); South Korea and Japan aren't so lucky.
Japan halts loans to Communist China: The Japanese government "would not give any more loans during the current fiscal year" (BBC) to Communist China due to what Japanese Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe called "various situations" between Japan and the Communist regime. Chen Jinsong, Radio Free Asia (via Epoch Times), details some of these "situations," and concludes that the Chinese Communist Party "has turned away from international cooperation" and "has become the largest and most stubborn obstacle to the rise of China." UPDATE: A commentor from the Shotgun noted that Japan's fiscal year ends in eight days, making this a story of considerably less impact.
Outrage at Sujiatun, and media silence on the subject, continues: Auckland, New Zealand witnessed a protest against the Sujiatun organ-harvesting concentration camp (Epoch Times). One of the many subsequent concerns has been the strange silence of mainstream media on the subject (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Simon Veazey (Epoch Times) places Sujiatun (lead, seventh, second, and seventh items) in the context of the Communists' bloody history.
Another Christian arrest in Communist China: Pastor Lian Changnian was arrested by the Communists in Hubei Province three days ago (China Aid Association via Epoch Times).
Hu Jintao espouses eight platitudes - few outside Beijing notice: Communist leader Hu Jintao's attempt to get past the corruption plaguing the regime with "eight do's and don'ts" (Washington Post). The only trouble is, there seems to be no intention of making fellow cadres follow them - even a Communist academic admitted: "It won't even get to provincial capitals."
Communist plan to save the environment - tax chopsticks: Truth be told, the chopstick tax is one of many "green" policies the Communists are now pushing. However, as none of them including halting the rampant, Communist-driven overdevelopment that ruined the domestic ecology in the first place, the effect will be minimal - at best Report: Washington Times
Communist inflation making rest of the world more competitive: Communist China is facing rapid increases in labor and energy cost, which has made it "no longer the most cost-effective country in the region," according to economist William Fung (quoted by the Financial Times, UK).
Schumer sounds more optimistic about Communist currency, may shelve bill: Senator Charles Schumer, one of the main sponsors of the currency-corrective tariff, told reporters in Communist China that he saw "the Chinese have come to realize that their previous policy ... needs to change" (Fox News). He even suggested the planned March 31 vote on his tariff bill could be put off " if they get some kind of affirmation during their trip that China will float its currency."
Enlightened Comment of the Day: Charles R. Smith (Newsmax) details Communist China's dangers to America, and demands the Bush Administration do something about it.
More on Communist China and the United States: Jim Owens, Caterpillar CEO, spouts the Communist Party line on trade at National Manufacturing Week (United Press International via Washington Times).
Japan halts loans to Communist China: The Japanese government "would not give any more loans during the current fiscal year" (BBC) to Communist China due to what Japanese Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe called "various situations" between Japan and the Communist regime. Chen Jinsong, Radio Free Asia (via Epoch Times), details some of these "situations," and concludes that the Chinese Communist Party "has turned away from international cooperation" and "has become the largest and most stubborn obstacle to the rise of China." UPDATE: A commentor from the Shotgun noted that Japan's fiscal year ends in eight days, making this a story of considerably less impact.
Outrage at Sujiatun, and media silence on the subject, continues: Auckland, New Zealand witnessed a protest against the Sujiatun organ-harvesting concentration camp (Epoch Times). One of the many subsequent concerns has been the strange silence of mainstream media on the subject (Epoch Times). Meanwhile, Simon Veazey (Epoch Times) places Sujiatun (lead, seventh, second, and seventh items) in the context of the Communists' bloody history.
Another Christian arrest in Communist China: Pastor Lian Changnian was arrested by the Communists in Hubei Province three days ago (China Aid Association via Epoch Times).
Hu Jintao espouses eight platitudes - few outside Beijing notice: Communist leader Hu Jintao's attempt to get past the corruption plaguing the regime with "eight do's and don'ts" (Washington Post). The only trouble is, there seems to be no intention of making fellow cadres follow them - even a Communist academic admitted: "It won't even get to provincial capitals."
Communist plan to save the environment - tax chopsticks: Truth be told, the chopstick tax is one of many "green" policies the Communists are now pushing. However, as none of them including halting the rampant, Communist-driven overdevelopment that ruined the domestic ecology in the first place, the effect will be minimal - at best Report: Washington Times
Communist inflation making rest of the world more competitive: Communist China is facing rapid increases in labor and energy cost, which has made it "no longer the most cost-effective country in the region," according to economist William Fung (quoted by the Financial Times, UK).
Schumer sounds more optimistic about Communist currency, may shelve bill: Senator Charles Schumer, one of the main sponsors of the currency-corrective tariff, told reporters in Communist China that he saw "the Chinese have come to realize that their previous policy ... needs to change" (Fox News). He even suggested the planned March 31 vote on his tariff bill could be put off " if they get some kind of affirmation during their trip that China will float its currency."
Enlightened Comment of the Day: Charles R. Smith (Newsmax) details Communist China's dangers to America, and demands the Bush Administration do something about it.
More on Communist China and the United States: Jim Owens, Caterpillar CEO, spouts the Communist Party line on trade at National Manufacturing Week (United Press International via Washington Times).
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
East Turkestan calls for an end to trials against Christians in Afghanistan
As word of the trial of Abdul Rahman for converting from Islam to Christianity circles the blogosphere (inclding the Shotgun and SDA), a lot of people are, once again, beginning to wonder about Islam.
Those who are frequent visitors to this blog know what's coming.
For years now, I have tried to bring more attention to the oppressed people of Communist-occupied East Turkestan, who have suffered nearly six decades of persecution while Osama bin Laden, the Iranian mullahcracy, the Assad family, etc., ignore them.
Now, via their Government in exile, the East Turkestani people have become the first predominantly Muslim nation to come to the defense of Afghan Christians.
The link to the following press release is here:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006
The people of East Turkistan have suffered open-air nuclear tests, razed mosques, the killing of political prisoners, and mass cultural extermination. As part of this attempt to wipe out East Turkistani culture, its religions have been bastardized by the Chinese Communist Party. Churches and mosques have been attacked, and believers of Christianity and Islam have been persecuted.
This is why we must ask Afghanistan to end its persecution of Christians, especially, Mr. Abdul Rahman.
Under the Constitution of East Turkistan, Christians have a right to practice their faith unfettered by government interference. Had Mr. Rahman converted to Christianity in an independent East Turkistan, he would not be suffering the burden of a trial and possible execution, for he truly committed no crime.
The East Turkistan Government in exile hereby asks Afghanistan to end its persecution of Mr. Rahman and re-examine its commitment to "Islamic law." As a fellow Central Asia nation where the majority follows Islam, we wish to remind our Afghan friends that true religious faith comes from personal enlightenment, not fearful submission to earthly governments. A government that claims to speak for God is usually arrogant enough to ignore God. The East Turkistan Government in exile is too humble for that.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile seeks to tell the world about East Turkistan and to raise the cause of freedom and independence by, among other things, providing information to U.S. government officials and policy-makers, developing contacts with the press, fostering alliances with like-minded groups and individuals, and sharing the culture of East Turkistanis with all who may enjoy it.
For more information:
Mr. Turani, East Turkistan Government in Exile: (571) 344-3886
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
Those who are frequent visitors to this blog know what's coming.
For years now, I have tried to bring more attention to the oppressed people of Communist-occupied East Turkestan, who have suffered nearly six decades of persecution while Osama bin Laden, the Iranian mullahcracy, the Assad family, etc., ignore them.
Now, via their Government in exile, the East Turkestani people have become the first predominantly Muslim nation to come to the defense of Afghan Christians.
The link to the following press release is here:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006
The people of East Turkistan have suffered open-air nuclear tests, razed mosques, the killing of political prisoners, and mass cultural extermination. As part of this attempt to wipe out East Turkistani culture, its religions have been bastardized by the Chinese Communist Party. Churches and mosques have been attacked, and believers of Christianity and Islam have been persecuted.
This is why we must ask Afghanistan to end its persecution of Christians, especially, Mr. Abdul Rahman.
Under the Constitution of East Turkistan, Christians have a right to practice their faith unfettered by government interference. Had Mr. Rahman converted to Christianity in an independent East Turkistan, he would not be suffering the burden of a trial and possible execution, for he truly committed no crime.
The East Turkistan Government in exile hereby asks Afghanistan to end its persecution of Mr. Rahman and re-examine its commitment to "Islamic law." As a fellow Central Asia nation where the majority follows Islam, we wish to remind our Afghan friends that true religious faith comes from personal enlightenment, not fearful submission to earthly governments. A government that claims to speak for God is usually arrogant enough to ignore God. The East Turkistan Government in exile is too humble for that.
The East Turkistan Government in Exile seeks to tell the world about East Turkistan and to raise the cause of freedom and independence by, among other things, providing information to U.S. government officials and policy-makers, developing contacts with the press, fostering alliances with like-minded groups and individuals, and sharing the culture of East Turkistanis with all who may enjoy it.
For more information:
Mr. Turani, East Turkistan Government in Exile: (571) 344-3886
Cross-posted to the Shotgun
News of the Day (March 22)
From the China Freedom Blog Alliance: China Intel, in his comments on Communist espionage, hits the bulls-eye: "It seems to me that China is carrying on a Cold War with the United States that the latter refuses to acknowledge." CI also examines Communist China's geopolitical objectives in Southeast Asia and Latin America, and astutely notes the regime's refusal to address U.S. concerns over its military buildup. The Korea Liberator takes note of an coup attempt by "pan-blue" sympathizers on Taiwan, the opening of a Brussels conference on human rights in Stalinist North Korea, and Communist China's continuing policy of repatriating Korean refugees (backed wholeheartedly by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra).
More on the Communists' Korean colony: The Stalinist regime boasts of first-strike capability (Washington Times, second item); Australia plans to sink its seized SNK drug boat in a military exercise (CNN); Daily NK confirms and debunks rumors surrounding Shinuiju.
Canada file - head tax apology coming; compensation also possible: Conservative MP Garth Turner - who "spoke for Prime Minister Stephen Harper," according to the Toronto Sun - "gave a '100% iron-clad commitment' yesterday that the government would apologize and redress past wrongs" regarding the head tax Canada charged on Chinese immigrants from 1885 to 1923. One of the leaders in the push for directly compensating head tax victims told the Sun that "negotiations are slated to begin Friday with MPs Bev Oda and Jason Kenney." Given Kenney's views on Communist China (last item), there is at least some hope that the plans of Canada's previous government to give the money to the pro-Communist National Congress of Chinese Canadians (sixth, lead, second, second, and second items) will be scrapped.
Putin may build oil pipeline to Communist China after all: Just after signing a natural gas deal with Communist China, Vladimir Putin resurrected a plan to pipe Siberian oil to his biggest arms customer (BBC). Despite this, Alexander Koliandre (BBC) sees friction between Putinist Russia and Communist China.
Chen Shui-bian meets new American de facto Ambassador: Stephen M. Young, the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan - and as such, the de facto U.S. Ambassador to the island democracy - met with President Chen Shui-bian, who "assured the U.S. envoy that the island nation claimed by China will avoid any action that might be interpreted as a declaration of independence" (Washington Times, second item). Meanwhile, Richard W. Hartzel and Roger C. S. Lin once again brought forth the legally intriguing - but politically dubious - argument for Taiwan as an American territory (World Net Daily).
Communists won't release Zhao Yan: The New York Times researcher who had charges against him dropped by the Communist regime (second item) is still in jail, as "prosecutors are . . . apparently awaiting instructions from superiors" (Washington Post, fourth item).
Gao Zhisheng calls for Sujiatun probe: The renowned human rights lawyer (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, and eighth items) spoke out against the organ-harvesting camp (lead, seventh, and second items), and other Communist atrocities (Epoch Times).
More on organ harvesting: The Independent (UK) and the Epoch Times delve into the hideous reality.
Charles Lee is in the United States, but the Communists are still harassing him: Dr. Charles Lee was jailed for three years by the Communists before being allowed to return home to the U.S. However, Dr. Lee, an American citizen, "recently notified the press that both he and his relatives in China continue to be harassed by the Chinese Communist Party" (Epoch Times). Among other things, "his car had been vandalized and his cell phone had been stolen," while "police in China have visited his family many times where family members have been verbally harassed and told to advise Dr. Lee not to continue his opposition to the CCP."
Rallies for the nine million ex-Communists: As the number of Communists who have left the Party in disgust upon seeing the Nine Commentaries passed nine million, rallies in their honor were held in Washington, DC and Sydney, Australia (Epoch Times).
Computer chip touted as a major Communist technology advancement exposed as a fake: The Hanxin No. 1 computer chip, "publicly unveiled in February 2003" (Epoch Times) as "China's first successful proprietary Digital Signal Processor," has now been exposed as "a fake that has possibly bilked the government 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in research subsidies." The chip itself is real, but was bought from an American manufacturer. The news has, among other things, "shocked Chinese head Hu Jintao."
More on the Communists' Korean colony: The Stalinist regime boasts of first-strike capability (Washington Times, second item); Australia plans to sink its seized SNK drug boat in a military exercise (CNN); Daily NK confirms and debunks rumors surrounding Shinuiju.
Canada file - head tax apology coming; compensation also possible: Conservative MP Garth Turner - who "spoke for Prime Minister Stephen Harper," according to the Toronto Sun - "gave a '100% iron-clad commitment' yesterday that the government would apologize and redress past wrongs" regarding the head tax Canada charged on Chinese immigrants from 1885 to 1923. One of the leaders in the push for directly compensating head tax victims told the Sun that "negotiations are slated to begin Friday with MPs Bev Oda and Jason Kenney." Given Kenney's views on Communist China (last item), there is at least some hope that the plans of Canada's previous government to give the money to the pro-Communist National Congress of Chinese Canadians (sixth, lead, second, second, and second items) will be scrapped.
Putin may build oil pipeline to Communist China after all: Just after signing a natural gas deal with Communist China, Vladimir Putin resurrected a plan to pipe Siberian oil to his biggest arms customer (BBC). Despite this, Alexander Koliandre (BBC) sees friction between Putinist Russia and Communist China.
Chen Shui-bian meets new American de facto Ambassador: Stephen M. Young, the new director of the American Institute in Taiwan - and as such, the de facto U.S. Ambassador to the island democracy - met with President Chen Shui-bian, who "assured the U.S. envoy that the island nation claimed by China will avoid any action that might be interpreted as a declaration of independence" (Washington Times, second item). Meanwhile, Richard W. Hartzel and Roger C. S. Lin once again brought forth the legally intriguing - but politically dubious - argument for Taiwan as an American territory (World Net Daily).
Communists won't release Zhao Yan: The New York Times researcher who had charges against him dropped by the Communist regime (second item) is still in jail, as "prosecutors are . . . apparently awaiting instructions from superiors" (Washington Post, fourth item).
Gao Zhisheng calls for Sujiatun probe: The renowned human rights lawyer (sixth, tenth, fifth, lead, third, last, twelfth, eighth, third, second, third, eighth, eleventh, eighth, fourth, fourth, last, fourth, fifth, twelfth, fifth, second, lead, next to last, seventh, last, next to last, lead, second, last, sixth, tenth, eighth, second, eighth, ninth, lead, sixth, and eighth items) spoke out against the organ-harvesting camp (lead, seventh, and second items), and other Communist atrocities (Epoch Times).
More on organ harvesting: The Independent (UK) and the Epoch Times delve into the hideous reality.
Charles Lee is in the United States, but the Communists are still harassing him: Dr. Charles Lee was jailed for three years by the Communists before being allowed to return home to the U.S. However, Dr. Lee, an American citizen, "recently notified the press that both he and his relatives in China continue to be harassed by the Chinese Communist Party" (Epoch Times). Among other things, "his car had been vandalized and his cell phone had been stolen," while "police in China have visited his family many times where family members have been verbally harassed and told to advise Dr. Lee not to continue his opposition to the CCP."
Rallies for the nine million ex-Communists: As the number of Communists who have left the Party in disgust upon seeing the Nine Commentaries passed nine million, rallies in their honor were held in Washington, DC and Sydney, Australia (Epoch Times).
Computer chip touted as a major Communist technology advancement exposed as a fake: The Hanxin No. 1 computer chip, "publicly unveiled in February 2003" (Epoch Times) as "China's first successful proprietary Digital Signal Processor," has now been exposed as "a fake that has possibly bilked the government 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in research subsidies." The chip itself is real, but was bought from an American manufacturer. The news has, among other things, "shocked Chinese head Hu Jintao."
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