| Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 4, 2002 TOP STORY: PRC OPPOSES U.S. MOVE ON IRAQ DESPITE �CONCESSION� ON UIGHURS PRC LIKELY WANTS U.S. TO HALT WEAPONS SALES TO TAIWAN Communist Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said �only political and diplomatic methods should be used� against axis-of-evil state Iraq, ruling out any support from the so-called People�s Republic for American military action. Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) reported that the Communists might only be willing to go along with the action if the U.S. would �play ball� on Taiwan. The PRC opposition comes despite the dramatic U.S. concession (Lam�s word) on East Turkestan. Last week (see last update), the U.S. became the first country outside Communist China to label a Uighur Muslim group � in this case the East Turkestan Islamic Movement � as a terrorist group. Lam, however, reports that the PRC is really looking �for the U.S. to stop selling sophisticated weapons to Taiwan.� Check out this story and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page OTHER NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR U.S. REPEATS COMMUNIST CHINESE PROPAGANDA STATS ON UIGHUR �TERRORISM� Speaking of the �concession,� the An American embassy spokesperson in Beijing charged ETIM with planning an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, citing the deportation of two Uighurs (CNN, Washington Post 8/29). Kyrgyz authorities were less certain of that, saying the deportees �might have been planning an attack against the U.S. Embassy.� More troubling, the U.S. repeated, down to the exact number, statistics of attacks that Communist China used months ago to claim rampant terrorism in the region. At that time (see January 23 update), the PRC had no evidence to back them up. Many outside analysts, and Uighur exile groups, insist that the Communist still have none, and the U.S. wouldn�t cite any evidence of its own. Lost in all of this is the plight of the Uighurs in East Turkestan � the Communists call it Xinjiang � who have suffered under a brutal crackdown by the PRC both before and after September 11. Contrary to Communist propaganda, media reports have found the Uighurs to support the U.S. war on terror in Afghanistan � one of the few Muslims groups to openly do so. The editors of the Post, in a 9/2 editorial, did note the repression of the Uighurs, and the damage done to them by the U.S. move. They stated the labeling of ETIM as terrorists was �apparently in gratitude for China promising � yet again � to crack down on missile-technology exports.� Of course, the PRC has made (see November 22, 2000 update) and broken (see September 12, 2001 update) this promise before. As for ETIM itself, the editors said, �The East Turkestan Islamic Movement may indeed be a terrorist organization, as Mr. Armitage maintained. But . . .given its secrecy and media control, how much trust or confidence can there be in the regime's descriptions of violent Muslim separatism in its western regions?� For more on East Turkestan, see East Turkestan News COMMUNIST CHINA THANKS ARMITAGE FOR ETIM TERRORIST LABEL WITH MISSILE LAUNCH So how did the PRC thank U.S. Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage for labeling ETIM a terrorist group (see last update) � a move which James Webb called a �diplomatic contortion . . . so appeasing that the Economist magazine labeled its logic �astonishing�� in a Washington Post column? Well, as Webb notes, �the day after Armitage left, the Chinese government sent its own political signal by "test-firing" a DF-4 missile, which has a range of more than 4,000 miles and was designed to attack U.S. military bases on Guam.� Don�t the Communists always find unique ways of saying �thank you�? OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS PRC AMBASSADOR TO U.S. HITS ARMS SALES TO TAIWAN, AGAIN PRC Ambassador Yang Jiechi warned against arms sales to Taiwan, saying they serve �neither peace nor stability in the Taiwan Straits nor the China-U.S. relationship and the common interests of the two countries� (Washington Times). Of course, Yang never thought to discuss the freedom of the Taiwanese people. For more on the island democracy, see Republic of China (Taiwan) News and the Top Story. There�s still time to contact the President and tell him not to appoint PRC sympathizer Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. MAJORITY OF AMERICANS SEE RISE OF COMMUNIST CHINA �CRITICALLY IMPORTANT� In a poll taken by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, cited by the Washington Post, 56 percent of Americans polled saw �China's development as a superpower� as �a critically important issue.� The poll was yet another sign of the quiet but long-standing American majority prepared to face Communist China as it really is. Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the 2008 Olympic Games being awarded to Beijing, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those games. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS AIDS ACTIVIST WHO EXPOSED PRC BLOOD SCANDAL DISAPPEARS, MAY BE UNDER ARREST Wan Yanhai, a leading AIDS activist and the man who exposed �unsanitary blood collection schemes that infected hundreds of thousands in the Chinese countryside� (Washington Post) has gone missing and may be under arrest. Also reporting: CNN, BBC, Special report from Mike Chinoy (CNN) Wan, fired by the Communists from the Health Ministry in 1994 for his activism, was one of the first to reveal how a blood drive that mixed donors blood, extracted the plasma, and re-injected what was left into the donors infected �as many as 1 million poor farmers in central Henan province.� No typo there, that�s one million in Henan province who now have AIDS due to the Communist blood scandal. ZHAO ZIYANG MAY MAKE A PUSH FOR REFORM AT UPCOMING PARTY CONGRESS Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) reports that Zhao Ziyang, the former Communist General Secretary who was dumped for opposing the Tiananmen Square crackdown, may attempt to circulate a petition or a speech calling for true democracy in China �immediately.� His loyal associate, Bao Tong, has already blasted not-so-outgoing Jiang Zemin and called for real democracy to replace the corrupt Communist rule (BBC). Zhao�s support of the demonstrators of 1989 and his efforts to democratize the PRC despite being under house arrest ever since have made him the leading reformer in the PRC. Bao, meanwhile, has been a persistent critic of Communist rule, and in his latest writing, he calls the Communists �the party of the rich and powerful,� citing mass corruption and the stubborn resistance to independent unionization. COMMUNIST CHINESE INTERNET SENSORS BLOCK GOOGLE Communist China is now blocking the search engine Google from the internet in the PRC (BBC 9/3-1, Cybercast News). This is the first search engine blocked by the Communists, who have not only been blocking sites, but also forcing foreign and domestic internet providers to censor there own systems in order to operate in the PRC as part of the �Great Red Firewall� (BBC 9/3-2). OTHER MAINLAND NEWS JIANG GIVING UP TOP COMMUNIST POST, BUT NOT CMC CHAIR According to Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN), Communist President Jiang Zemin has agreed to give up his fight to keep the top party post this fall at the Party Congress. In exchange, he will remain Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the post that will keep him �the ultimate arbiter of politics for the foreseeable future.� In other words, Jiang will continue to be in charge, which is exactly what he wanted. COUNTY COMMUNIST BOSS TO BE EXECUTED FOR COVERUP IN MINE DISASTER Wan Ruizhong, Party secretary for Nandan County (Guangxi province), is slated for execution for trying to conceal a flood in an illegal mine in his county last year that killed over 80 miners (CNN). Thanks to county-level cadres like Wan, unsafe mines have killed thousands of miners this year. OVER 120,000 KICKED OUT OF COMMUNIST PARTY FOR CORRUPTION The Communist Party booted 124,000 members for �economic crimes,� i.e., corruption, in the past five years. However, the PRC is still looking for �more than 4,000 cadres with 5 billion yuan ($605 million) worth of ill-gotten gains� who are �still at large� according to media cited by Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN). INTERNATIONAL NEWS FIFTEEN NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES ENTER GERMAN SCHOOL IN BEIJING Fifteen refugees from North Korea made it into a school run by the German Embassy in Beijing (BBC, CNN). Communist police immediately surrounded them, but have not moved against them � yet. Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans, fleeing a regime that steals international food aid from its own people, are believed to be hiding in the Communist China, which usually sends back any refugee it finds. TWENTY-ONE REFUGEES NOW IN SOUTH KOREAN EMBASSY The Washington Post reported that the number of refugees in South Korea�s Embassy in Beijing has hit twenty-one. According to the Post, �that group is awaiting approval from China to leave Beijing, first for the Philippines and then Seoul.� TWO OTHER GROUPS OF REFUGEES ARRESTED, FOUR REFUGEES ESCAPE Meanwhile, Communist police arrested a dozen refugees attempted to reach the Ecuadorian embassy in Beijing (CNN) and a group of refugees in the northeastern city of Changchun (BBC). Four refugees were able to escape custody; their whereabouts are unknown (Washington Post). In its attempt to stop those trying to escape the famine-wrecked repressive regime, the PRC is now looking at South Korean journalists: Communist police searched the homes and offices of Beijing reporters for the South Korean Chosun Ilbo (Cybercast News) and took files on refugees from them. Police also beat up a German reporter covering the Beijing arrests and confiscated his footage of it. NORTH KOREAN CENTRAL BANK LOOKS TO COMMUNIST CHINA AS MODEL FOR �REFORM� According to the BBC, North Korea�s central bank is looking to its half-century ally Communist China for guidance in its economic �reform.� Whether the guidance includes mass corruption or trumped up economic figures was not in the story, but the issue of the PRC�s heavy load of bad debt was. The North Korea Report has the latest on the Stalinist ally of Communist China. Sign up now to receive it every Monday. MORE FOREIGN MONEY LIKELY TO FLOW INTO COMMUNIST CHINA Communist China will see foreign �investment� rise to over $60 billion in 2004, according to the Economist Corporate Network, cited by CNN. The ECN projected PRC economic growth of 7.5% this year, although if that�s based on past performance at all, it might give investors pause � Communist economic data is being questioned by outside economists as inaccurate. COMMUNIST CHINA RATIFIES KYOTO, WHICH OBLIGATES THEM TO NOTHING Whatever one may think of the Kyoto Protocol on global warming, one had to see the cynicism in Communist China�s ratification of the document, announced this week. The PRC is under no obligation to reduce so much as one molecule of emission, winning designation as a �developing� nation (CNN). REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS PRESIDENT CHEN REJECTS REUNIFICATION WITH COMMUNIST CHINA ROC President Chen Shui-bian once again rejected Communist China�s �one country, two systems� reunification offer, saying the people of the island democracy �should continue to insist on walking their own path� (CNN). Chen also rejected Communist accusations that his efforts to bolster international recognition for Taiwan were moves toward formal independence. TAIWAN BEGINS ANNUAL EFFORT AT U.N. RECOGNITION Taiwan has begun its annual effort to win recognition from the United Nations, according to the Washington Times. The island democracy has been blocked from the UN every year since 1992 by Communist China. The ROC is the only piece of real estate on Earth without UN representation. TAIWAN DROPPING MORE TRADE RESTRICTIONS WITH PRC Taiwan announced plans to end advertising bans of product from Communist China as well as �make it easier for Chinese employees of large firms to work in Taiwan� (BBC 8/29-1). The Legislative Yuan must still approve the plans. Meanwhile, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company announced plans to build a plant in Shanghai, PRC (BBC 8/29-2). THAILAND INVITES ROC MINISTER TO SIGN MIGRANT DEAL After Thailand first told Taiwan that its labor minister would not be allowed into Thailand to sign a migrant labor agreement � for fear of upsetting you-know-who � the island democracy cancelled the signing ceremony. According to the BBC, Thailand has decided the agreement is more important the possible Communist anger, and invited the ROC minister to sign the deal. HONG KONG NEWS ECONOMY GREW IN SECOND QUARTER, SORT OF Hong Kong�s economy grew from April to July of this year by 0.5%, ending nine months of contraction. However, as the BBC notes, �Much of the change has come because of revisions to the way the figures are calculated. The rest is not so much from improvements in Hong Kong's own economy, but because it is handling more imports and exports heading to and from China.� TIBET NEWS DALAI LAMA DENIED TICKET TO SOUTH KOREA Straight from the Washington Times (fifth paragraph): �South Korea's Asiana Airlines has refused to carry the Dalai Lama on a flight to Seoul . . . saying he was a security risk.� Sure he was. EAST TURKESTAN NEWS COMMUNISTS TO OFFER UIGHURS JOBS, �SINICIZATION� In addition to its brutal crackdown against the Muslim Uighurs, Communist China is stepping up its �Sinicization� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN)) of East Turkestan. Lam noted �entrepreneurs, particularly private businessmen, as well as technicians and workers are resettling in Xinjiang.� Also, �the detention and surveillance of pro-independence Uighur activists have increased� after September 11. 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