| CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: JUNE 6, 2001 TOP STORY: TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE REMEMBERED TWELVE YEARS AFTER STUDENTS WERE MURDERED; PROSPECTS FOR REFORM SLIM Twelve years ago Monday � June 4, 1989 � hundreds, if not thousands, of young people gave their lives for freedom in the Tiananmen Square massacre. In Hong Kong, the only place within Communist China where such a thing could happen, upwards of 40,000 protested the horrifying even which has hung over Communist Chinese politics, and everything else, ever since that black day. As usual, police kept Beijing quiet. Link: CNN CNN�s Rose Tang gave an account of her life since facing the tanks the day freedom died in the People�s Republic of China. Link: CNN CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam discusses the possibilities for reform in Communist China � and it doesn�t look very good to him. Zhang Liang, the source of the Tiananmen Papers � the book that exposed the decision making behind the massacre � is more optimistic, but among the people he cites as �reformers� is Zhu Rongji, the Prime Minister who threatened Taiwan during its presidential election last year. Links: Lam, CNN Meanwhile, over 100 mothers of those killed in the bloody slaughter have demanded an apology from the Communist government. Considering that the chief force behind the massacre � then Prime Minister Li Peng � is a candidate for PRC President, no one expects an apology is forthcoming. Dissidents �not behind bars have been told to stay at home" and the foreign press �have been warned not to try and contact them.� Link: BBC WAS U.S. SEND �COZYING UP� TO PRC BEFORE THE CRACKDOWN? A declassified memo from then-Ambassador James Lilley revealed that the U.S. military sent three ships to Shanghai to blunt a trip by then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Beijing. The U.S. ships made the trip, which Lilley called an act of �cozying up to their military in Shanghai,� on May 20, the day the PRC imposed martial law. Lilley supported close ties to Communist China, but he thought the timing was �miscalculated.� Link: CNN OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: COMMUNISTS ACKNOWLEDGE MOVEMENT IS STILL STRONG CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam reports that Communist China is now calling their battle against Falun Gong a �long-term struggle,� an admission that their efforts to wipe out the spiritual movement have failed. While Falun Gong � banned in 1999 � has not been very visible lately, the movement has continued to survive, and even grow, �underground.� A �Mao-style mass movement� is in the works to combat the �cult.� Link: CNN SIX DISSIDENTS, 35 UNDERGROUND CHRISTIANS ARRESTED Communist police arrested six dissidents in the southwestern towns of Chengdu and Suining last week. Four of the dissidents were members of the outlawed China Democracy Party. Meanwhile, in the northern part of the PRC, Communists arrested 35 Christians who refused to submit to the Communist-approved churches. Fifteen are now in labor camps, according to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. Link: AP via CNN FREE PRESS MAY BE SURPRISE WINNER IN BATTLE OF COMMUNIST NEWSPAPERS The Communist Party�s efforts to control the media have run into a formidable enemy: the Communist Party. Efforts in Shenzhen to shut down the Southern Metropolitan Daily for �illegal, reactionary� content is going nowhere, in part because Communists in another province run the paper. As He Qinglang, a writer banned in the PRC, put it, �It's fun to watch the two Communist papers fight; in the end the readers will win.� Link: Washington Post OTHER MAINLAND NEWS COMMUNISTS ADMIT UNREST IS GROWING With unusual candor � probably design to get the cadres back in line � Communist China admitted in a new report that popular unrest is growing in the PRC, especially in the vast, rural interior. Everything from high taxes � which are crippling local farmers to pad Communist officials� salaries � to rampant corruption and ethnic resistance to Communism were cited as part of the �massive grievances� and �increasing disorder.� Link: CNN WENLOU VILLAGE RESIDENTS DEMAND JUSTICE AFTER PRC GAVE THEM AIDS IN BLOOD DRIVE Seven residents of Wenlou village � nearly 2/3 afflicted with the AIDS virus � have demanded medical care from the Communists for running the 1990�s blood drive that infected them. Procedures during the blood drive � such as reusing needles and re-injecting plasma after it had been mixed in with others � has led to an epidemic in Wenlou and neighboring areas. The villagers also want the blood collectors arrested. Link: CNN WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION TALKS WITH COMMUNIST CHINA RUN AGROUND, AGAIN Negotiations between Communist China and the U.S. on the former�s admission into the WTO have failed again, with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick saying �I can�t say and I don�t know� when the PRC would join. Link: BBC Communist obstinance has turned these talks � designed to tie up loose ends from last year�s trade deal that included Permanent Normal Trade Relations for the PRC � into a continuing lucky break for anti-Communists. In fact, an earlier update cited a report � which clearly was erroneous � that a deal had been struck on the major outstanding issue: allowable agriculture subsidy levels for Communist China. TOP TAIWAN STORY: HUGE PRC WAR GAME INCLUDES ATTACK ON U.S. TROOPS EXERCISES SIMULATE CAPTURING AN ROC ISLAND AND DEFEATING AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER A massive PRC military exercise � mentioned in last week�s update � became front-page news, thanks to Communist Chinese media. The Communist-run media broadcast the exercise as designed to simulate �attacking and occupying an outlying Taiwanese island and attacking an aircraft carrier.� Link: CNN As the Washington Post noted, Taiwan (a.k.a. the Republic of China) has no aircraft carriers, but the U.S. does. The exercises include the highly advanced Su-27 fighter aircraft, one of many high-tech weapons bought from the PRC�s biggest arms supplier � Russia. It is apparently the biggest exercise in five years. Link: Washington Post James Mulvenon, of the Rand Corporation, noted that recent military exercises, rather than being held just to �rattle Taiwan,� are dealing with real issues of an invasion: �logistical problems, timing problems, command and control problems,� an ominous sign that the Communists are in a new and advance military stage. Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) noted that the exercise, dubbed �Liberation No. 1,� includes an �elite missile unit.� Link: Lam OTHER REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS PRESIDENT CHEN FINISHES SUCCESSFUL AMERICAS TOUR ROC President Chen Shui-bian said his trip to the Western Hemisphere �underscored our status as a sovereign state.� Chen visited five Latin American nations, all of which recognize his government instead of the PRC, but the headline grabbers were the �stopovers� in New York and Houston, which were the highest-profile visits for a Taiwanese president in decades, and included meetings with several congressmen. Link: CNN TAIWAN AND U.S. AGREE: CHEN SHOULD BE AT APEC SUMMIT The U.S. publicly supported President Chen�s desire to attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai this October. Communist China flatly rejected the idea after President Chen suggested it last month (see previous update). Link: BBC TAIWAN�S ECONOMY AT A CROSSROADS AS COMMUNISTS LURE INVESTORS AWAY The economy of Taiwan, long the envy of Asia, has come under strain lately. Economic growth is at a 26-year low, in part due to slacking demand in computer technology � a major part of the ROC economy. Also, more ominously, investors from inside and outside the island democracy are investing in Communist China, due to low labor costs in the PRC, where independent labor organization is banned. Links: BBC Last week, President Chen allowed banks in Taiwan to open up branches in Communist China, and also allowed firms doing business there to reinvest more profits in mainland enterprises. Still, the ROC, which analysts said was just legalizing what was already happening, is worried that their economy could face a �hollowing out.� Link: CNN According to CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam, none of this is an accident. Communist China is assiduously using the �business card� to bring Taiwan under its thumb. In the short-term, it puts further pressure on President Chen; in the long-term, the PRC is hoping it could undermine Taiwan�s long history of opposing Communist absorption. Link: Lam HONG KONG NEWS TUNG CHEE-HWA DEFENDS COMMUNIST CHINA ON PRESS FREEDOM Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa praised Communist China for being �far more open and stable than any time in recent history.� He also called the current cop of Communist leaders � who appointed him to his post � the �most enlightened ever.� Tung made his remarks to the Association of World Newspapers on the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, about which � surprise! � he said nothing. Link: BBC PROMINENT PRO-COMMUNIST CHINA POLITICIAN IN COURT ON CORRUPTION CHARGES Gary Cheng, a member of the HK Legislative Council, faced charges of corruption, in particular taking a $7,000 bribe for �his position to influence the choice of people being appointed to a Sports Development Board.� What the BBC story does not mention is that Cheng was a leading figure in the main pro-Beijing party in the city, the so-called Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong. Link: BBC No News from Tibet or Xinjiang/East Turkestan this week. AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS DEFENSE SECRETARY SAYS PRC HELPED IRAQ, BUT MILITARY CONTACTS TO RESUME ANYWAY Odd, isn�t it? Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld continued the long retreat from President Bush�s early hard line on Communist China by announcing military contacts between the U.S. and the PRC will resume on a �case by case basis.� However, he also mentioned Beijing�s aid of Iraqi air defenses, which have increased the danger to U.S. pilots there. Link: CNN, BBC, Washington Times TEAMSTERS UNION COMES OUT AGAINST FREE TRADE FOR COMMUNIST CHINA James P. Hoffa, President of the Teamsters Union, announced last week that his union opposes Normal Trade Relations (NTR) with Communist China. Hoffa said NTR, which President Bush renewed this week, should only come to the PRC when �it has shown a commitment to improving human rights and improving relations with the United States.� Hoffa also opposed letting the PRC into the World Trade Organization. Link: CNSNews COMMUNIST CHINA PRAISES BUSH FOR BACKING NTR Meanwhile, Communist China had high praises for President Bush�s backing of NTR. Zhu Bangzao, the Communist Foreign Ministry spokesman, called NTR �mutually beneficial.� This, of course, is being questioned by many in the U.S., in light of a bilateral trade deficit approaching $100 billion and the various military-use technologies that Communist China is buying from U.S. companies these days. Link: CNN PRESIDENT�S REQUEST FOR ADDITIONAL DEFENSE MONEY STUNS MANY IN ITS MINIMALISM As the Communists increase military expenditures massively, President Bush has apparently decided to ask for a mere 1.8% increase in defense spending this year. The extra money is �not going to cover the waterfront� according to Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee. Link: Washington Post INTERNATIONAL NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA TO BUILD PORT FOR PAKISTAN JUST EAST OF PERSIAN GULF Communist China has struck a deal with Pakistan to build a major commercial port in the western part of the Muslim military dictatorship. The port, which would be just off the Persian Gulf, could become a major new staging area for the Communist navy, since �Beijing has a history of piggybacking military cooperation onto commercial ventures,� as Richard Fisher, of the Jamestown Foundation, put it. Link: Washington Times ASIAN TRADE SPAT INTENSIFIES Communist China and Japan have escalated a trade dispute over the latter�s restrictions on agricultural products. The PRC is apparently retaliating with restrictions on the importation of Japanese cars. Link: CNN Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving this. Anyone who wishes to join can send his/her name and e-mail address to [email protected]. |