| CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: MARCH 7, 2001 TOP STORY: COMMUNIST CHINESE CONGRESS OPENS SESSION WITH HUGE DEFENSE HIKE COMMUNISTS BLAST PROPOSED ARMS SALS TO TAIWAN, RAISE MILITARY SPENDING 17.7% As the National People�s Congress of the People�s Republic of China began its 2001 session this week, Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng announced a military budget increase of 17.7%, the largest in 20 years. The massive infusion of funds to the Communist military was followed by a blistering attack on possible U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, saying �serious dangers� would arise. Link: BBC The Washington Post said it was in response to �drastic changes� in the world, as the Communists see it. The paper also noted that the increase, coming amid a record budget deficit, showed �a deepening belief here that China must prepare for a conflict with the United States if it wants to recover Taiwan.� Links: Washington Post Naturally, Taiwan was deeply disturbed by the news. A defense ministry spokesman put it best: �Since China remains an authoritarian state notorious for its poor human rights record, its devotion to military build-up would be a serious concern not only to us but to rest of the states in the region.� He also warned that the balance of power between PRC and ROC �may be altered in 2005� due to the buildup. Link: Agence France Presse Taiwan also decided to publicly respond to the Communists� strongly worded attack on their request for weapons. A ROC spokesperson said he hope the U.S. �would properly take into consideration our needs� for self defense. Link: AFP Secretary of State Colin Powell said the U.S. would �watch carefully� the arms build-up to �see if it in any way is threatening to our interests in the region or whether it's just modernization.� Powell again refused to call the PRC an enemy, labeling it �a regional competitor from time to time.� The Pentagon also took a wait-and-see attitude. How modernizing weaponry would not be a threat was not explained by anyone. Links: BBC, AFP OTHER NEWS FROM THE OPENING SESSION PREMIER ZHU FOCUSES ON ECONOMY; FALUN GONG ATTACKED; JIANG EXULTED Premier Zhu Rongji gave an address to the NPC, the Chinese version of the nomenklatura, focusing heavily on economic policy, which BBC took as a sign the political reform is again on the backburner (no real surprise). AFP reported Zhu saved his fiery rhetoric for Falun Gong. Earlier in the session, AFP noted, other delegates whacked Falun Gong and discussed ways to further glorify Communist President Jiang Zemin. Links: BBC, AFP - Zhu, AFP - opening session DISSIDENTS SEND IN CALLS FOR OPENNESS TO LEGISLATURE Dissidents and human rights groups wrote to the NPC asking for a slew of political reforms. Eighteen asked for �reversing the verdict on June 4th� � a reference to the Tiananmen Square massacre � and the release of other dissident, including China Democracy Party founder Xu Wenli. Two others called for reforms, while Human Rights in China focused on the judicial system. Link: AFP OTHER MAINLAND NEWS EXPLOSION IN RURAL SCHOOL KILLS 60; SCHOOL HOUSED FIREWORKS FACTORY BBC reported the tragic and harrowing story of a school in Jiangxi province where local officials forced children to build fireworks to make up for a lack of funding from the Communist government. Parents said the children were even fined by the school if they didn�t help build fireworks. An explosion at the school killed 60 students and teachers, according to AFP, and left many parents deeply angry. Links: BBC, AFP SEVEN TO BE EXECUTED IN GUANGDONG TAX SCANDAL BBC reported the death sentences for seven officials involved in the massive Guangdong tax rebate scandal. Earlier reported pegged the amount of money involved at over $12 billion, which would make it the largest on record in the PRC. Link: BBC TWO SOUTH KOREANS SENT TO JAIL FOR HELPING OTHERS ESCAPE PRC Communist China sentenced two South Koreans to prison for helping three Chinese residents escape. AFP reports the two made about $2,400 off the escapees. Link: AFP AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS PRC AID TO IRAQ DENIED AFTER �SERIOUS INVESTIGATION� FOR UNDER A WEEK Communist Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan that no Communist Chinese firm had anything to do with helping Iraq build a fiber-optic network to improve their air defenses. Tang said the PRC had conducted a �serious investigation� on the matter. The investigation lasted less than a week. Link: Washington Post COMMUNIST CHINA ASKS U.S. TO END �PERVERTED� FOUCS ON HUMAN RIGHTS Foreign Minister Tang also asked the United States �to get rid of its perverted ways� on human rights. Tang also blasted U.S. plans to sponsor a UN resolution condemning Communist China�s human rights record. Link: AFP HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS FORMER TIBET PARTY CHIEF, POSSIBLY PRC�S NEXT LEADER, CALLS FOR NEW CRACKDOWN Communist Vice President Hu Jintao, party secretary in Tibet for four years (1988-92) and leading candidate among the Party for President or national party chief, called for a new and greater crackdown on Tibet this week. Hu said children should be educated in a �patriotic� fashion. He also thundered that �Illegal activities under the cover of religion must be resolutely stopped and punished according to law.� Links: AFP, Washington Post TWO FORMER TIANANMEN LEADERS SET FREE; OLYMPICS LIKELY MOTIVE FOR ONE RELEASE Guo Haifeng, a leader in the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests sent to jail in 1996, was freed six months early in what may saw as an attempt to curry favor with the International Olympic Committee. Guo was convicted of �hooliganism� and accused of rape in �96, but many suspect his real crime was helping another Tiananmen leader escape the PRC. Beijing is campaigning hard to win the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games. Link: AFP The Communists also released Yongjun "Majer" Zhou from a prison labor camp. Zhou co-founded the Free China Movement while in exile after starting the Autonomous Labor Union in Beijing in 1989. After escaping the PRC in 1992, he returned to visit his ill parents and sign a publishing deal for dissident poet Huang Xiang. The Communists arrested him and sent him to the camps that year. Link: AFP RIGHTS GROUPS CALL ON COMMUNIST CHINA TO BACK INDEPENDENT TRADE UNIONS Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International called on the PRC to allow the establishment of independent trade unions, which was part of the UN economic rights pact Beijing ratified last week. The Communists said that part of the treaty �would be in accordance with China�s laws,� as AFP put it. Only the Communist union is allowed to exist in the PRC. Link: AFP COMMUNISTS RELEASE INTERNET FILTER SOFTWARE TO BLOCK UNDESIRABLE SITES The Communist Ministry of Public Security (police) has released new software designed to block �Falun Gong, porn, and violent material� from reaching computers via the internet. CNN reported the software, �Network Policeman 110� is yet another attempt by the Communists in their battle with free cyber-speech. The report did not say if the software is mandated for existing machines, but it may be just a matter of time. Link: CNN FILES FROM THE �FALUN GONG WAR� PROPAGANDA SAYS 239 KILLED SELVES: The Communist news agency Xinhua has said 239 Falun Gong practitioners committed suicide, 103 since the movement was banned in 1999. Funny, that�s around the number who died in police custody. Link: AFP MORE JAIL SENTENCES: Communist China sentenced 37 Falun Gong members to prison terms for distributing information about the spiritual movement, according to AFP. Link: AFP INTERNATIONAL NEWS LAI CHANGXING WINS BATTLE TO BE RELEASED TO HOUSE ARREST A Canadian adjudicator upheld an earlier ruling to release Lai Changxing, reputed central figure in the Xiamen smuggling scandal, to house arrest, according to AFP. Canada is pushing to extradite Lai and his wife back to Communist China, despite the fact that they would face almost certain execution. Link: AFP COMMUNIST CHINESE �BUSINESSMAN� ARRESTED FOR TAKING SECRETS FROM RUSSIA Talk about greedy. AFP reported a PRC �businessman� was stopped in Khabarovsk, Russia carrying secret plans for a Russian nuclear-powered submarine. Russia already sells much of its modern naval ships and weapons to the PRC. Link: AFP COMMUNIST CHINA TO CONTINUE SUPPORTING CUBA Communist China told visiting Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque that it would continue to support Cuba, according to AFP. The two Communist governments already have close political and some military ties. Link: AFP REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS TAIWAN OFFERS TALKS ON �ONE CHINA� Taiwan has again offered the olive branch to Communist China, offering to negotiate the concept of �one China� based on a unwritten 1992 agreement that allowed both sides to have a different view of what one China meant. The Communists have denied such an agreement � known as �one China, several interpretations� � ever existed. Link: AFP DALAI LAMA TO VISIT AT MONTH�S END PTI, the Indian News Agency, reported a planned trip by the Dalai Lama to Taiwan on March 31. The Buddhist Association invited Tibet�s spiritual leader to give teaching on the faith. Link: PTI OPPOSITION PARTY HEAD JOINS CABINET IN RESHUFFLE BBC reported that Hau Lun-pin, head of the opposition, pro-rapid reunification New Party is the new environment minister in the latest cabinet reshuffle. Hau�s New Party supported recalling President Chen Shui-bian over his decision last year to cancel a nuclear power plant. Chen has since reversed course on the plant, pending elections. Link: BBC HONG KONG AND MACAO NEWS TUNG PUBLICLY NON-COMMITAL ON SECOND TERM AS COMMUNISTS BACK HIM HK Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said he has not made up his mind on whether or not to seek a second term, according to AFP. An 800-member committee packed with Communist sympathizers is all but certain to reappoint him if he wants the job, since Communist President Jiang Zemin fully supports him. Link: AFP PRESIDENT JIANG SAYS HONG KONG CAN�T LET FALUN GONG RISK �STABILITY� In a one hour meeting with Tung, Jiang said Hong Kong must not let Falun Gong, which he called an �evil cult� again, hurt �stability� in Communist China. Beyond that he was pretty vague, and saying Hong Kong could handle the matter in its own way. Link: AFP HK SECURITY CHIEF CALLS FLAUN GONG �HERETICAL� Regina Ip, Hong Kong�s top security official, blasted Falun Gong as �heretical,� according to the BBC. Beijing has been pushing Hong Kong to repeal the spiritual group�s right to exist there. Pro-democracy politicians have urged the city not to comply, calling this the test case of �one country, two systems.� Link: BBC TIBET NEWS (SEE HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS) No News from Xinjiang/East Turkestan this week 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]. |