| New Web Site Feature � �Communist China, the Taliban, and the Terrorist War�: From China e-Lobby Updates and �Week�s Links,� a chronicle of Communist China�s actions after the terrorist attack. Access it on our web site, either directly or via our main page. 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. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it. Anyone who wishes to join can send his/her name and e-mail address to [email protected]. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: DECEMBER 5, 2001 TOP STORY: PRESIDENT CHEN SHUI-BIAN�S DEMOCRATIC PROGRESSIVE PARTY TAKES FIRST PLACE IN TAIWAN ELECTIONS, NATIONALIST SUPPORT PLUMMETS VOTERS REBUKE COMMUNIST CHINA; CHEN TELLS PRC TO STOP ISOLATING HIM The Democratic Progressive Party � the party of ROC President Chen Shui-bian, scored historic gains in Taiwan�s legislative elections. The DPP took 87 seats, beating out the Nationalists � who had a majority but fell to 68 seats. It is the first time that the DPP � or any party for that matter � has won more seats that the Nationalists. Reports: CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam, BBC, Washington Post, Cybercast News Service It was a stunning defeat for the long ruling Nationalists, whom the People�s Republic quietly backed. Ever since Chen�s election a year ago � and despite his backing away from an independence declaration � the PRC has shunned him, in favor of the Nationalists, who still support eventual reunification with the mainland. Due to that, according to Lam, the election was immediately seen as a rebuke to the PRC. The BBC cited the Communist efforts as one of the chief reasons that Taiwanese voters � always suspicious of the Communists � backed the DPP in record numbers. Dealing a further blow to the PRC�s anti-Chen campaign was the Taiwan Solidarity Union, which won 13 seats. Former President Lee Teng-Hui � a.k.a. �Mr. Democracy� � founded the TSU in reaction to the Nationalists� coziness with Beijing. As a final indignity to the Communists, the New Party, which unequivocally backed reunification even under Communist rule � not even the Nationalists were willing to say that � was, in the words of the BBC, �all but wiped out, holding on to just one parliamentary seat.� Another former Nationalist faction � the anti-corruption People First Party � won 46 seats. Control of the Legislative Yuan will require a multi-party coalition, for which many newspapers in the island democracy were hoping, according to CNN. Lam and the Los Angeles Times reported that a wave of defections from the Nationalists � some to the PFP, others to the DPP � may occur �in coming weeks.� According to CNN, the ROC business community welcomed the results, while Beijing, naturally, did not. A newly emboldened Chen called on the Communists to end their isolation of him and accept his offer for warmer cross-strait relations, according to CNN. In reaction, the Communists told the DPP not to move the island democracy closer to independence, and said unless it drops support of independence from its platform, the isolation of Chen would basically continue. Further reports: CNN, BBC Meanwhile, the Washington Post, citing the head of the ROC Mainland Affairs Council, reported that Chen would again refuse the Communists� biggest demand � to accept the Communist regime as the legitimate government of �one China.� William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, quickly called on the U.S. to drop the �one China� fallacy, calling the policy �silly� and �dangerous� in a Washington Post column. See Republic of China (Taiwan) News for more news on the island democracy. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR U.S. BATTLE GROUP DOCKS IN HONG KONG On its way to deployment in the terrorist war, the battle group of the USS John C. Stennis docked in Hong Kong as �a symbol of strengthening ties and a visible sign of Beijing's support for the war against terrorism,� according to CNN. That would make it the first visible sign of even minimal significance. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS COMMUNISTS WHACK MISSILE DEFENSE AGAIN Communist China repeated its �consistent� opposition to missile defense this week, citing the ABM treaty, which it never signed, as justification in their efforts to block the U.S. from a system capable of protecting Americans from missile-armed �rogue states.� Cybercast News Service did not mention that the PRC has sold military know-how and/or missile parts to most, if not all, of said �rogue states.� U.S. AND COMMUNIST CHINA HOLD TALKS ON STOPPING MISSILE SHIPMENTS TO PAKISTAN Bush Administration officials began talks with the PRC over shipments of missile parts to Pakistan by a Communist-owned firm. The shipments, a violation of several Beijing pledges not to ship arms to Pakistan, led to sanctions by the U.S. Despite Pakistan�s sudden shift to the U.S. during the terrorist war, the sanctions are still in place, a sign at least someone in Washington is taking the long view. (BBC) PAT ROBERTSON�S CHARITY GETS TAX-EXEMPT STATUS FROM COMMUNIST CHINA Reverend Pat Robertson, owner of a internet company in Communist China and apologist for the PRC�s forced-abortion �one child� policy (see previous updates) won tax-exempt status for the �China Charity Federation,� according to American Freedom News. Robertson openly admitted he did not discuss the Communist crackdown on religion, including several Christian churches and the Falun Gong movement. No news was reported from East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�) this week. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA TIGHTENS ITS GRIP ON CABLE TELEVISION Hmmm, wasn�t the World Trade Organization supposed to open up Communist China? Well, in preparation for the WTO rules, the PRC is consolidating its cable television firms under one enterprise. The firm, China Cable Network, is � in the words of the BBC � connected to the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT).� While this will make it much harder to foreign firms to negotiate deals, it will also � and more importantly � give the PRC even greater control over media content. As Norman Waite of Salomon Smith Barney in Hong Kong (see above link) put it, Communist China �is probably going to maintain and even increase its influence over one of the most important means of control it has left.� CITY RESIDENCY RESTRICTIONS TURN PEOPLE INTO �NONENTITIES� As part of �one of the world's biggest experiments in social control� (nice line from the Los Angeles Times), Communist China�s internal restrictions on where people can live are still wreaking havoc for millions of Chinese, despite minor movements to ease them. The restrictions have turned many Chinese into �complete nonentities: invisible and unacknowledged, officially null and void.� OTHER MAINLAND NEWS COMMUNISTS TO SPEND $5 BILLION TO CLEAN UP THREE GORGES DAM The BBC reported that Communist China is preparing to spend $5 billion to clean up the site of the massive Three Gorges Dam. The dam project � the brainchild of Tiananmen butcher Li Peng � has come under widespread criticism for environmental disasters, resettlement problems, and embezzlement. PRC BRINGS ANTI-PIRATING LITERATURE TO SCHOOLS; PRACTICE �UNLIKELY� TO STOP Communist China is sending literature to schools on copyright law in the hopes of convincing students to stop �buying cheap, pirated copies of computer software and pop music,� according to the BBC. However, the news service, citing an unnamed correspondent, reported that �it is unlikely the law will be enforced adequately to stem the tide of fake goods on sale openly in the capital.� COMMUNIST �NATIONAL LAW DAY� FALLS ON DEAF EARS Communist China marked its first ever �national law day� as the BBC called it, to generate more interest and confidence in the Communist legal system. The BBC story noted, however, that the new day was up against �a widespread lack of confidence in the legal system.� Not even the Communist-run People�s Daily can ignore the judges� incompetence and corruption anymore. INTERNATIONAL NEWS VIETNAM COMMUNIST PARTY CHIEF VISITS PRC Communist China hosted the General Secretary of Vietnam�s Communist Party this week. The trip comes one month after the PRC and Vietnam signed an accord to increase trade to $5 billion annually by 2005. Report: BBC FAKE PRC FISHING NUMBERS THROW OFF SCIENTISTS ON WORLDWIDE FISH LEVELS The perversion of information in Communist China is having international effect, again. The PRC has been inflating its level of fishing for years, as local Communists sought to win national favor. The widespread practice skewed fishing figures worldwide, as scientists to believed the fish supply was much higher than it actually was. The BBC reported that scientists are still trying to assess the repercussions. REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS RESTRICTIONS TO MAINLAND INVESTMENT LIFTED A MONTH EARLY The lifting of restrictions on high-tech Taiwanese investment in Communist China � scheduled to take effect in January � was pushed ahead to last week. The BBC reported that the acceleration was an attempt to �drum up last-minute support� for Chen�s allies in Saturday�s elections (see Top Story). HONG KONG NEWS (see News on Communist China and the Terrorist War) TIBET NEWS PRC USING CHINESE LANGUAGE AS LATEST WEAPON AGAINST THE TIBETAN PEOPLE Communist China is forcing Chinese into Tibetan classrooms, leading many Tibetans to fear for their language and culture. Cybercast News Service reported that Beijing has ordered all elementary schools to conduct their classes in Chinese, not Tibetan. This comes despite the PRC�s laughable claim that Tibet is autonomous, and in the midst of a continuing crackdown against non-Communist Tibetan Buddhism. |