| New Web Site Feature � �Communist China 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]. Please feel free to send any news on Communist China you happen to find to the same address. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: JANUARY 9, 2002 TOP STORY: BIBLE DISTRIBUTOR CHARGED WITH BACKING AN �EVIL CULT� COMMUNISTS USE LAW DESIGNED FOR FALUN GONG WAR TO SILENCE CHRISTIANS Using the �evil cult� law written to destroy Falun Gong, Communist China has arrested a Hong Kong resident � Li Guangqiang � for importing 17,000 Bibles into the People�s Republic, according to the Washington Post, and the BBC. Both reports cited the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, and Hong Kong rights group. The Los Angeles Times noted that Li could be executed. President Bush was �deeply concerned about these reports,� according to the State Department, but the Communists told him, in effect, to take a hike. CNN quoted a PRC Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying, �It's being dealt with according to law and no other country should interfere in China's independent judicial system.� The spokesman referred to the Bibles as �cult publications.� Li�s Christian church, known as the �Shouters,� claims half a million members but does not have the blessing of the Communist regime. The PRC allows only five religions, including state-run Catholic and Protestant churches, for the people under its control. Over 10 million Catholics ignore Beijing and continue to worship in Vatican-backed churches. The number of Protestant Christians is not known. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: ANOTHER FOLLOWER DIES IN POLICE CUSTODY Communist China acknowledged the death of another Falun Gong practitioner in police custody. Wan Guifu died December 18, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Communist hospital administrator � known only as Zhang � said he died due to his hunger strike protesting his arrest, but the Communists have repeatedly claimed prisoner suicides before, only to be challenged by the victims� families. 3,000 ATTEND FUNERAL OF ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP, PRC MISSES 2,800 OF THEM When are 3,000 people only 200? When the Communists are counting of course. At the funeral for Bishop Monsignor Mattia Pei Shangde � a Catholic cleric who suffered 10 years in a labor camp for his loyalty to the Pope � Vatican radio reported 3,000 in attendance. The Communists, who arrest any Catholics and Protestants not in PRC-approved churches, only noticed 200 of the mourners (BBC). OTHER MAINLAND NEWS RESIDENTS OF DONGGUAN PROTEST CORRUPTION AND RIGGING OF VILLAGE �ELECTIONS� Remember reports about democracy coming to the PRC due top village �elections?� Well, thousands of residents in villages that make up the city of Dongguan (Gaungdong province) blocked traffic to protest attempts by their leaders to rig upcoming �elections� so they can keep their jobs. They also protested �because of allegations that village officials had tampered with official budgets and accounts� (CNN). COMMUNIST CHINA PANICKED ABOUT �ARGENTINE-STYLE� REVOLT The political upheaval in Argentina over its mismanaged economy has struck fear deep into the heart of the Chinese Communist Party. Over 100,000 protests � not protestors, protests � occurred in 1999 alone (see previous updates) and the growing effects of economic failures in the rural interior does not bode well for the Communists, according to CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam. Lam cites several Communist efforts to maintain economic growth fast enough to ward off rising discontent, and find them less than successful. He ends with the reminder that the Communists are ready with �police-state controls and brutal suppression � to forestall the outbreak of Argentine-style riots.� NON-STATE ENTREPRENEURS PUSHING FOR MORE POWER, COMMUNISTS PUSH BACK CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam has an intriguing story on the battle between the Communist leadership and a band of �non-state entrepreneurs� in Guangdong province. A conference on economic development was thrown into chaos by the party bosses after it became known some of the guests were �well-known advocates of radical economic � and most significantly � political reform.� While determining who actually supports reform in the PRC is always tricky, two of the names listed have decent credentials as either critics of �dictatorial decision-making� or affiliation with the �Beijing spring� on the 1980s, which in part was inspiration for the Tiananmen protests of 1989. �BIG SISTER� PING, HEAD OF EMIGRATION RACKET, IS TO BE EXTRADITED TO U.S. A Hong Kong court approved the extradition of Cheng Chui-ping, a.k.a. �Big Sister,� to the U.S. for heading a massive criminal group that charged exorbitant fees to people trying to escape Communist China. According to CNN, Cheng would hold the escapees hostage to ransoms of up to $30,000. The desperate desire for escape has also led to a number of criminals charging for fake exit documents. JIANGXI PROVINCE FIREWORKS INDUSTRY TO BE SHUT DOWN AFTER EXPLOSIONS After three fireworks explosions in less than a year, Jiangxi province announced it would shut down the �9,000-odd factories and companies connected with the lucrative fireworks business� within two years. One of the explosions � in March � was in a school that doubled as a fireworks factory as part of a profiteering scheme by local Communists. Two more have occurred in the past month (CNN, BBC). DF-31 MISSILE LAUNCH TEST BOTCHED Communist China�s military forces tested their DF-31 missile last week, and it blew up in their faces � literally. The failed test was reported in the Washington Times. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR PRC HOSTS MEETING OF �SHANGHAI SIX� FOREIGN MINISTERS ON TERRORIST WAR The PRC hosted a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the �Shanghai six� � itself, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. They agreed to fight �terrorism, separatism and extremism,� according to CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam, who noted that the Communists were hoping to use this meeting to �justify their often brutal campaigns in (East Turkestan, a.k.a.) Xinjiang.� Also reporting: BBC PRC CONTINUES TO USE TERRORIST WAR TO JUSTIFY CRACKDOWN IN EAST TURKESTAN The BBC also had a piece on the plight of the Uighur people in East Turkestan, which the report dubbed the �other Tibet.� The report noted that that East Turkestan was an independent republic �founded in 1944 and crushed five years later by the communists.� The Communists� brutal treatment of the Uighurs � which has grown even worse after September 11 � has led many to support a return to independence. MORE COMMUNIST CHINESE WEAPONS HEADED TO PAKISTAN United Press International reports that Communist China �sent five shiploads of aircraft and related weapons to Pakistan to narrow the gap between the Pakistani and Indian air forces . . . in the space of 10 days following the Dec. 13 attack on the Indian Parliament.� The attack by Kashmir terrorists has led to Indian demands that Pakistan crackdown on Kashmir terror groups, which Pakistan supported for years. AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS BUSH EASES SUPERCOMPUTER EXPORT RESTRICTIONS TO COMMUNIST CHINA In another victory for commerce over national security, the Bush Administration loosened restrictions on the export of supercomputers to Communist China and other nations. Although the effect of the easing in light of the technology curve was hotly debated, military technology expert Henry Sokolski put it best: �you don't want the most advanced machines going to the bad guys.� Report: Los Angeles Times ANTI-COMMUNIST DEMOCRATIC SENATOR AVOIDS CHARGES IN CAMPAIGN INVESTIGATION Senator Robert Toricelli (D-New Jersey), who has evolved into one of the most anti-Communist China members of the U.S. Senate � and its most anti-Communist Democrat � will not face indictment in a Justice Department investigation into his 1996 campaign. U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said she forwarded all information gleaned to the Senate Ethics Committee. Report: Washington Post Toricelli, up for re-election this year, spent a dozen years in the House before winning a Senate seat in 1996. Since his election to the Senate, his opposition to Communist China has led to his support of the most restricting amendment to Permanent Normal Trade Status for the PRC in 2000, and his opposition to NTR of any kind last year. He was also a sponsor of the Taiwan Security Enhancement Act. INTERNATIONAL NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA RATCHETING UP ANTI-JAPAN POLICIES CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam and the BBC examines to parts of the growing enmity between Communist China and Japan. Lam reports on Communist China�s claims of chemical weapons injuries from World War II, while the BBC looks at the growing economic battle between the PRC and Japan. REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS ROC SHARING INTELLIGENCE WITH INDIA, CONSIDERING MILITARY COOPERATION World Net Daily, citing Stratfor.com, reported that Taiwan and India are sharing intelligence and considering military cooperation. The piece was written largely from the angle of Taiwan getting U.S. attention, and only notes in passing the common interests of the two democracies. It never discusses the PRC�s continuing threat to Taiwan � including the ongoing buildup of missiles in range of the ROC. (Link courtesy of Ron Vogel, Member since 2000) HONG KONG NEWS HUMAN RIGHTS MONITOR TAKES UP CAUSE OF CHILDREN BARRED FROM SCHOOL Hong Kong has banned from all schooling roughly 190 children of HK residents � which it calls �visitors or illegal immigrants� according to the BBC. Human Rights Monitor, one of the many groups in the city fighting the local government�s Communist-appeasing policies, agreed to take the case to the UN. Hong Kong has repeatedly parroted the Communist line regarding children of HK residents born outside the city. Thousands of them were allowed to stay in a 1997 ruling by a local court. The government of Communist-appointed Tung Chee-hwa, eager to keep in good graces with Beijing, �asked� the PRC to overrule the court, which it did � marking the beginning of the end of �one country, two systems.� No news from Tibet this week, see News on Communist China and the Terrorist War for news from East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�). |