To receive this publication via e-mail, click here.
CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: JUNE 4, 2003
TOP STORY: FOURTEEN YEARS AFTER TIANANMEN MASSACRE, PRC STILL REPRESSIVE
EXILED ACTIVISTS SEE NO IMPROVEMENT SINCE TIANANMEN SQUARE CRACKDOWN OF 1989
Fourteen years ago today, Communist China killed thousands of protestors in Tiananmen Square. The protesters wanted control of China taken away from the Communists and given to the people. The so-called People�s Republic responded with a hail of bullets, and mass repression was the cadres� staple once again (The Age, Australian).
Three activists in the Tiananmen Square protests, who have since been exiled to the United States, told the Congressional Executive Commission on China that human rights have not improved at all since that bloody day in 1989. Wang Dan said it best: �In terms of democratic politics and political reform, I can say that there really has been no change or progress whatsoever� (Washington Times).
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR
COMMUNIST CHINA AND RUSSIA HAPPY WITH �IRAQI MODEL� OF ANTI-U.S. ACTION
Uh oh. While in Russia, PRC President Hu Jintao not only signed a major oil deal with his hosts (see last Update), he also, according to Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, �gave indications that Beijing would let Moscow take the lead in diplomatic wrangling with the West, especially the U.S.� This method of anti-American diplomacy was reportedly dubbed the �Iraqi model.�
Russia is already far and away the largest seller of military hardware to Communist China � with a particular emphasis on the deep-water navy department. The PRC is also Russia�s biggest arms customer.
COMMUNIST CHINA AND KAZAKHSTAN AGREE TO FIGHT DEFUNCT ETIM
Here we go again. PRC President Hu Jintao and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev agreed to �cooperate in combating terrorist organizations including the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM)� (CNN). The U.S. dubbed ETIM a terrorist organization last summer. A month later, it was reported that ETIM was never in East Turkestan, and is likely defunct (see 8/28/02, 9/11/02, and 9/18/02 Update).
East Turkestan (called �Xinjiang� by the Communists) is an independent nation during the 1940�s. The Communists have been especially brutal towards the Uighur population that inhabits the region ever since its occupation began. This has led Uighurs to become the most pro-American Muslims on earth (see 10/17/01, 12/12/01, and 10/23/02 Updates).
U.S. TROOP ADJUSTMENT IN ASIA COMING
A redeployment of American forces in Asia, what CNN called a �shake-up� is on the way, but Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz mainly discussed what it did not include, saying reports of major American bases in the Philippines and Australia are �way off the mark.�
More intriguing are the reasons behind the move, as theorized by Dr. Melvin Ott, a professor of national security studies at the National War College in Washington. According to Ott, quoted by MSNBC, �if you�re saying softly that China and Islamic terrorism are the issues in the long run, then concentrating your forces in Northeast Asia doesn�t make a whole lot of sense.�
The Communist China angle may have something to do with the most unusual potential host for American troops � fellow Communist regime but long-time PRC rival Vietnam. The two Communist regimes have had two armed conflicts in the last twenty-five years, and fought a proxy war in Cambodia for over a decade (the PRC backed the murderous Khmer Rouge).
Check out this story and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
For more on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
U.S. AND INDIA CONSIDERING �ASIAN NATO� AGAINST PRC, �ISLAMIC BOMB�
American and Indian officials have entered talks about building �a new security system for Asian-Pacific republics, a kind of Asian NATO, anchored by the United States and India� (United Press International via Newsmax). The delightful news comes amid growing Indian concerns over the growing power of long-time rival Communist China, and the nuclearization of PRC ally and ex-Taliban sponsor Pakistan.
Pakistan�s �Islamic bomb� also worries Israel, which won U.S. approval to sell PHALCON advanced air-radar systems to India (see 1/2/02 Update). Israel is also hoping to win American approval �to sell India the Arrow-2 anti-missile system,� which could �make India invulnerable to missile attacks from Pakistan or China.� Naturally, Pakistan was not happy (Newsmax). Also reporting: Cybercast News
HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER CALLS FOR FREE-TRADE PACT WITH TAIWAN
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R � Texas), a leading supporter of Taiwan, ripped Communist China for trying to bully the island democracy and called for a U.S.-Taiwan free trade agreement. Report: Cybercast News, Transcript of Speech: Project for the New American Century
DeLay�s exact description of the PRC was as follows: �a backward, corrupt anachronism, run by decrepit tyrants, old apparatchiks clinging to a dying regime� (Washington Post). This was the only news on Taiwan this week.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES BLOCKS EFFORT TO EASE COMPUTER EXPORT RULES
Score one for the good guys. The House of Representatives, by a vote of 217 to 201, shot down an effort by California Rep. David Drier (R) and Zoe Lofgren (D) to ease supercomputer export rules. This likely won�t be the last time this comes up, according to the Project for the New American Century. To see how your Representative voted, check out the roll call from the Congressional Record.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
FOUR MORE WEB WRITERS SENT TO JAIL; AT LEAST ONE SUFFERS ELECTRIC TORTURE
A PRC court sentenced four young professionals who created a pro-democracy internet group to at least eight years in jail � ten years for two of them � for �subversion� (BBC 5/29, courtesy Ron Vogel, Member since 2000), the most often used Communist standby this side of �stealing state secrets.�
One of the four, Xu Wei, �the court he had been brutally beaten and tortured with electric shocks to his genitals after refusing to admit guilt, according to Human Rights in China� (BBC 6/4). He has been on a hunger strike ever since the sentence was handed down last week.
SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME (SARS) NEWS
PRC AIRBURSHES HISTORY; WHO IS �CONCERNED� ABOUT CLAIMS OF SARS DECLINE
The dream of Western �engagement� supporters � that SARS would force the Communists to be more open and honest about their regime � went out the window over the weekend at a press conference that in any free country would be considered bizarre. Gao Qiang, the number two official at the PRC Health Ministry insisted that the Communists �did not conceal the truth� (Washington Post).
Gao was just getting started. He then took the time to give warm, fulsome praise to Zhang Wenkang, the former Health Minister fired over the SARS disaster, for �his more than four decades of experience in health issues in China.� Gao even denied that Zhang deliberately covered up the disease (Agence France Presse, courtesy Susan Prager), all evidence to the contrary.
As for the doctor who first exposed the cover-up, Jiang Yanyong, Gao was dismissive: �We have 6 million doctors and health care workers, and Jiang Yanyong is one of them.� For the record, SARS began in Guangdong last November; Communist secrecy allowed it to spread to Beijing, the PRC�s rural interior, and around the world (see 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9, 4/16, 4/23, 4/30, 5/7, 5/14, and last Updates).
After the Communists reverted to its the-Party-is-perfect mode, a World Health Organization official blasted them for �not . . . working on the international collaborative studies or taking part so actively in collective lab research� (Daily Telegraph, Australian, courtesy Susan Prager, Member since 2003).
Meanwhile, the PRC claimed �no new cases of Sars� (BBC 6/2) on Sunday, and only three cases on Tuesday. WHO spokesman Iain Simpson was �concerned� (CNN) about the ridiculously good news, saying, �it raises questions about China's reporting of Sars� (BBC 6/4).
BEIJING APARTMENT COMPLEX SUFFERING FROM SARS, AND NO ONE IS REPORTING IT
Angry residents of the Beiyuan Gardens apartment complex in Beijing are telling anyone who will listen that SARS is running rampant in their complex, but the neighborhood Communist anti-SARS office won�t tell anyone, and their attempt to publicize the local epidemic via the internet was deleted �less than a minute after posting it on the popular Internet portal Sina.com� (Asia Times, courtesy Susan Prager).
SARS-LIKE VIRUS MAY HAVE BEEN IN COMMUNIST BLOOD BANKS FOR YEARS
The Washington Times reports that the WHO is now wondering if SARS, or a similar-like substance, may have been in Communist blood banks for years. This could mean some SARS victims have not fallen sick, as their systems have fought off similar viruses, but may be carriers to others. The WHO �has talked to China about the importance of studying this, but no such studies have been done.� What a shock.
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
THREE GORGES DAM BEGINS OPERATION
The mammoth ecological disaster known as Three Gorges Dam began blocking the Yangtze River this week. The brainchild of Tiananmen butcher Li Peng has been mired with corruption, and the dam itself still has cracks in it (see 7/26/00, 12/5/01, and 4/17/02 Updates). Reports: USA Today, Washington Post
COMMUNIST CHINESE TV LAUNCHES 24-HOUR NEWS STATION, BUT ITS STILL PRC NEWS
The PRC-run China Central Television �has launched a 24-hour news channel� (Austin American-Statesman). At least, that�s what the Communists would like us to think. But is the channel to provide actual, unbiased news? Not according to CCTV reporter Shui Junyi: �The first priority is to help our audience to be more informed on the mainstream policies and the concerns of the government.�
ANOTHER �PRIVATE� BUSINESSMAN UNDER ARREST FOR CORRUPTION
More evidence of just how state-dependant �private� businessmen really are hit the news over the weekend when Zhou Zhengyi � the 11th richest person in the PRC � was �detained� (BBC) for getting a sweetheart loan from the PRC-run, corruption-riddled Bank of China. The loan, now called �against regulations� was for about $200 million. Also reporting: Washington Post, second paragraph, CNN
Of course, it�s possible that Zhou is legit, and now suffering a shakedown or a Communist attempt to take over his firm, like Yang Rong (see 10/2/02, 10/23/02, and 11/13/02 Updates). However, if that�s the case, does it not say even more just how little �private� enterprise really matters in the PRC?
HU JINTAO WINS HIGH PRAISE FOR FOREIGN TRIPS FROM PRC MEDIA
Not that this should surprise anyone, but the Communist media had high praise for its boss � PRC President Hu Jintao � for his trips to Russia and France (the latter for the Group of Seven plus Russia, or �G-8� summit). However, even Hong Kong papers � from the pro-Communist Wen Wei Po to the anti-Communist Apple Daily, praised Hu, who is now in Mongolia. Report: BBC 6/2, BBC 6/4
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
HU�S G-8 SUMMIT HAS SOME TALKING OF G-9
PRC President Hu Jintao�s G-8 summit went well enough for some to talk about Communist China joining the group of advanced economies. However, according to Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, the PRC �worries that formally joining G8 would detract from its ability to be a spokesman for the developed world.� Also reporting: Cybercast News
INDIAN PM TO VISIT BEIJING
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee will soon announce �a date to visit Beijing this year, the first by an Indian prime minister in a decade� (Washington Times). Vajpayee met PRC President Hu Jintao during the celebration of St. Petersburg�s tercentennial. Communist China and India are long-time rivals, including a vicious border war in 1962, during which India lost roughly 40,000 square miles.
COMMUNIST CHINESE ALLY BURMA CRACKS DOWN ON DISSENT
The military junta in Burma has re-arrested pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, after a clash between her supporters and Burmese forces. Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won by a landslide in the last free election in Burma (it was promptly annulled), is supposedly in �protective custody� (BBC). Communist China is the current military regime�s oldest diplomatic ally.
HONG KONG NEWS
CITY TO LAUNCH MAJOR ADVERTIZING BLITZ TO RESTART ECONOMY
Hong Kong is looking to a major ad campaign to restart is economy. The Communist-controlled city is reeling from the economic effects of SARS, and the continuing curtailment of liberty there. Report: BBC
TIBET NEWS
NEPAL SENDS EIGHTEEN TIBETAN REFUGEES BACK TO COMMUNIST CHINA
Nepal, a mountain kingdom between India and Communist-occupied Tibet, returned eighteen Tibetan refugees to the Communists, a �departure from recent government policy� (BBC 5/31), which had been to allow refugees who made it past the border guards to go to India. The new policy likely comes from � surprise! � �increased pressure from China.� Four of the deportees were children (Washington Post).
The Communists, of course, were very happy with the deportation. Not so the U.S. State Department, which said the move �tarnishes Nepal's longstanding and well-deserved reputation for tolerance and hospitality� (BBC 6/4).
Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site.
Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it Anyonewho wishes to join can send his/her name and e-mail address to [email protected]. Please feel free to send any news on Communist China you happen to find to the same address.