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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: OCTOBER 8, 2003
TOP STORY: HENAN CADRE ARRESTED FOR EXPOSING AIDS COVERUP
HEALTH OFFICIAL SENT REPORT ON EPIDEMIC COVERUP TO AIDS ACTIVISTS
Ma Shiwen, an official in Henan province�s health department, is now in jail for smuggling out to AIDS activists a report on the Communist cover-up of the province�s epidemic. The report revealed �that officials knew about an exploding AIDS problem in the countryside years before the government acknowledged its existence� (Washington Post).
It was in Henan where a mass, unhygienic Communist blood-selling scheme led to roughly 1 million AIDS sufferers. According to Human Rights Watch and AIDS activist Gao Yaojie, Ma was sentenced to �at least eight years� in jail. For more on Communist China's AIDS coverup, see 9/4/02 and 9/25/02 Updates.
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NORTH KOREA NEWS
JAPAN, PRC, AND SOUTH KOREA MAKE VAGUE JOINT STATEMENT ON NK NUKES
Japan, Communist China, and South Korea signed a statement pledging �their commitment to a peaceful solution of the nuclear issue facing the Korean Peninsula through dialogue and to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula� (Kyodo News Agency via Japan Times).
However, this addition to the above sentence made the �joint statement� completely meaningless: �while addressing all the concerns of the parties and working together to maintain peace and stability on the Peninsula.�
For more on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
COMMUNIST PM TO U.S. ON CURRENCY: BUZZ OFF
Communist Premier Wen Jiabao defended his regime�s weak currency peg against the dollar as �based on market demand and supply and is in line with China's reality� (BBC). The Communists have held an undervalued currency peg against the dollar for nearly a decade, devastating the export sectors of Asian democracies, and some American manufacturing.
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow had asked the Communists to consider floating the currency � called the renminbi inside Communist China and the yuan outside it � during an earlier trip to Beijing (see 9/3 Update). The renminbi is currently pegged at 12 cents; its market value is projected to b between 15 and 16 cents.
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
COMMUNISTS SPACE LAUNCH A WEEK AWAY; SATELLITE MOON LAUNCH PLANNED BY 2006
Whispers about Communist China�s manned space flight have it set for one day after the Communist Central Committee meeting ends, which would put the launch date at October 15 (BBC 10/7). The Communists have been hinting at a manned space flight sometime this year for months. Also reporting: CNN
Meanwhile, the PRC-run Beijing Youth Daily reported that the Communists plan to launch a research satellite to the moon �within the next three years� (BBC 10/6). The PRC also hopes to put an astronaut on the moon in 2010 (see 5/22/02, 9/17, 9/24, and last Updates).
NORTHEAST PROVINCES SUDDENLY GET COMMUNISTS� ATTENTION
PRC President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao are pushing �for no-holds-barred development� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN) of the northeastern provinces of Liaoning, Heilongjiang and Jilin. The scheme includes unloading PRC-run enterprises to �red bosses,� i.e., politically connected, and therefore malleable, �entrepreneurs.�
Each province has specific problems for the PRC. Heilongjiang saw large labor protests in the spring of 2002; Liaoning�s capital is Shenyang � the home of mafia-tied officials and rampant corruption (see 12/20/00, 1/31/01, 6/20/01, 3/13/02, 3/20/02, 3/27/02, 7/24/02 and 10/9/02 Updates). Jilin borders North Korea, which could leave outsiders �repelled.�
MASS ORGY STUNS AND EMBARRASSES COMMUNIST CHINA
What began as a lurid account of a rowdy night in a Zhuhai luxury hotel has become a major embarrassment to Communist China. An orgy involving roughly 500 prostitutes has forced the issue front and center � the Communists claimed to have wiped out the sex trade decades ago. The PRC has told local reporters to �to restrict their reporting� (BBC) of this.
The fact that the, er, clients were Japanese � celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of a firm�s existence � and that the, er, event, ended on what the PRC marks as the anniversary of Japan�s 1931 invasion of China add outside fuel to the fire of the popular anger (Washington Post).
PRC TO CORRUPT EVICTION VICTIMS: YOU�RE RIGHT, NOW GO TO JAIL
Speaking of �entrepreneurs,� the Communist China Daily blasted local cadres for scheming with them to wipe out whole neighborhoods �to build smart flats and offices in the booming eastern cities� (London Telegraph). However, eighty-five of the victims of these evictions received a strange show of sympathy: the PRC �ordered a mass round-up of victims.�
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA LOOKING FOR CLOSER TIES TO ASEAN NATIONS
Communist China is promoting itself to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a potential partner in �trade, public health, education, culture, as well as a framework for security dialogue� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam). Lam reports that the PRC is worried about the �China Threat� theory, which is apparently popular in Southeast Asia.
Part of the reason for Southeast Asian wariness about Communist China is its claim to all of the Spratly Islands. Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, and Taiwan also claim at least some of the island chain � Vietnam lost 74 soldiers to the PRC during a skirmish over the islands in 1988 (see 9/27/00, 10/11/00, 2/14/01, 9/26/01, and 11/6/02 Updates).
HU JINTAO GOING TO AUSTRALIA THIS MONTH
PRC President Hu Jintao will visit Australia and address its Parliament on October 21, one day after President Bush. Australian PM John Howard said the visit showed �we have been able to manage a close, practical relationship with the Chinese, notwithstanding our evidently very close relationship with the United States� (Cybercast News).
WOMEN�S WORLD CUP: CANADA 1, COMMUNIST CHINA 0
Was it revenge for letting SARS escape the PRC and hit Toronto? It certainly came as a shock to the Communists � finalists in 1999. The Great White North knocked Communist China out in the quarterfinals with a 1-0 victory. Report: National Post (Cdn.)
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
PRESIDENT CHEN RIPS COMMUNIST CHINA, TWEAKS U.S.
ROC President Chen Shui-bian blasted Communist China for imposing conditions on any cross-strait talks, including the �one China� notion, under which the PRC claims rightful rule over Taiwan despite having never set foot there. Chen ripped �one China� as �abnormal thinking that should not exist, it should be corrected� (Washington Post).
Chen also defended his plan for ROC-wide referenda to decide issues ranging from nuclear power to rewriting the island democracy�s constitution, saying, �Any kind of democratic reform is our own internal affair. I don't think any democratic country can oppose our democratic ideals.� The latter line was an oblique reference to the United States.
The U.S., worried about Communist China�s response has expressed opposition to the referenda (see 6/25 and 8/20 Updates). With the U.S. so willing to do the dirty work, the PRC has remained silent so far.
HONG KONG NEWS
TUNG RESIGNATION CALL FALLS SHORT
Emily Lau, a pro-democracy member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council (LegCo), has sponsored a measure calling on Communist-appointed Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa to resign (BBC). The LegCo defeated the measure 31-21.
As justification for Tung�s ouster, Lau cited his continuing lack of support for political reforms, even after this summer�s protests when half a million residents of the city took to the streets to protest the then-imminent �anti-subversion� law (see 7/2, 7/9, 7/16, and 9/10 Updates). The law is now in a deep freeze.
REGIME GETS OK FOR HARBOR RECLAMATION
Hong Kong�s harbor reclamation plans won a green light from a local court to resume its plans for harbor reclamation, pending �a judicial review set for next year� (BBC). The reclamation is in violation of city law, according to preservationists (see last Update).
HEALTH PANEL BLAMES LOCAL HEALTH SYSTEM FOR SARS OUTBREAK IN HONG KONG
A panel of international �health experts� (CNN) blamed �significant shortcomings� in the Hong Kong health system for allowing severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) to spread in the city. SARS killed 300 and infected nearly 1,500 more in Hong Kong.
The panel also noted that Hong Kong �did not receive accurate information from China's neighbouring province of Guangdong, where the disease originated last year, and that made the situation worse� (BBC). That�s an understatement; the PRC was silent about SARS for months, letting it spread around the world unchecked (see 3/19, 3/26, 4/2 and 4/9 Updates).
TIBET NEWS
MISS TIBET PAGEANT NO CONTEST: LONE ENTRANT IS WINNER
This year�s Miss Tibet contest had only one participant, who was immediately declared the winner. It was another example of how the pageant, designed to increase the occupied nation�s visibility, has run into strong opposition from traditional Tibetans (BBC). Only four candidates participated in last year�s Tibet pageant, the first ever (see 10/16/02 Update).
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