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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: MARCH 10, 2004
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TOP STORY: DR. JIANG YANYONG CALLS FOR RE-EXAMINATION OF JUNE 4, 1989
DOCTOR WHO EXPOSED SARS COVERUP SAYS TIANANMEN MASSACRE WAS A MISTAKE
Dr. Jiang Yanyong, the man who exposed the Communist cover-up of SARS in Beijing last year (see 4/9/03 Updates) publicly called on the Party to admit that the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 4, 1989 was a �mistake� (BBC). The stunning call was made in a letter sent to the Communist National People's Congress (Parliament), which opened on Friday.
Hundreds, if not thousands, died in the massacre of pro-democracy protestors on that day, and Jiang �fought frantically to save patients as they arrived riddled with bullets� at his hospital. He quoted Yang Shangkun � the People�s Republic President who called the massacre �the most serious mistake committed by our party in history.�
As for the Communist reaction, Dr. Jiang �already has been questioned about the letter by security officials� (Voice of America via Epoch Times, HK). Many relatives of Tiananmen Square victims expressed their admiration for the doctor, as well as concern for his safety.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
CHEN SHUI-BIAN DRAWS EVEN WITH LIEN CHAN AGAIN
As Taiwan prepares to vote for President on March 20, incumbent Chen Shui-bian has managed to fight off a joint opposition, Communist threats, and nasty words from President Bush to draw even with �pan-blue� candidate Lien Chan, one of the men he beat to win the 2000 election. The other, James Soong, and Lien�s running mate. Report: Cybercast News
The latest polls, which were also the last before Taiwan�s election commission banned polling (United Press International via Washington Times), had Chen either just behind Lien or, for the first time in all year, just ahead of him.
COMMUNIST CHINA PASSING TAIWAN MILITARILY
Meanwhile, the Communists are reaching � or have already passed, depending on which analyst one follows � the point of military superiority over Taiwan, putting them in a far better position to eventually dictate terms to Taiwan, unless the United States is willing to defend the island democracy. Report: BBC
CHEN ACCUSES COMMUNISTS OF USING �THIRD COUNTRIES� AGAINST HIM
President Chen took to the airwaves and blasted Communist China for �trying to influence the vote� (BBC) to ensure his defeat. Chen noted that the PRC is �using a more delicate manner through third countries,� in particular recruiting President Bush to verbally slap Chen last December (see 12/10/03 Update).
COULD FIRST LADY STOCK DEAL SINK CHEN?
Meanwhile, Chen publicly apologized on behalf of his wife, who, according to some media reports, �made sizable profits from her access to inside information as the stock market was falling� (UPI via Washington Times). Chen is hoping the issue is now settled.
AS NEW AIRPORT OPENS, �PAN-BLUE� POLITICIANS HOLD PANTLESS PROTEST
President Chen Shui-bian opened Taichung International Airport last week. However, the airport will only be able to handle departures until 2008. Claiming the opening of the airport �was rushed to help Mr. Chen's re-election bid� (BBC), several �pan-blue� lawmakers protested what they called the half-airport in half-suits (no pants).
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OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. See Other Mainland News for the least Communist Olympic outrage.
TRADE DEFICIT WITH COMMUNIST CHINA OVER $11 BILLION, IN ONE MONTH
January�s trade deficit with Communist China stood at $11.5 billion, an increase of over 16% from December. Once again, the main culprit of the massive bilateral imbalance was the Communist currency, �undervalued by as much as 40% giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage� (BBC).
MARTIN LEE TALKS TO U.S. SENATE AS COMMUNISTS SEETHE
Martin Lee, Democratic member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council, spoke to the U.S. Senate and Secretary of State Colin Powell about the Communist moves against democracy in his hometown (BBC, VOA via Epoch Times).
The Communists, in desperation, have played the �patriotic� card in the city � making the absurd claim the Lee and fellow pro-democracy politicians secretly support Hong Kong independence. No one ever raised the subject of independence before the Communists saw increasing local demands for democracy as a threat to one country, one-and-a-half systems.
Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing personally blasted the U.S. for hosting Lee, and other �outside intervention in Hong Kong affairs� (Washington Post). He also stated: �we will not let anybody use any means to split Taiwan from the rest of China.� Also reporting: Cybercast News, CNN
COMMUNIST CURRENCY PEG NOT GOING ANYWHERE
Guo Shuqing, the head of Communist China�s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, said this about a possible increase in the value of the PRC currency: �Anyone betting on a yuan appreciation is likely to pay an enormous price� (BBC). The Communists have maintained the yuan at about 12 cents; most believe its actual worth is about 16 cents.
The deliberate devaluation has badly damaged the export markets of America�s Asian allies (the PRC is now the biggest exporter to the U.S. besides Canada) and U.S. manufacturing.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CALLS FOR U.S. RESOLUTION IN UNHRC AGAINST PRC
By a whopping margin of 402-2, the House of Representatives called on President Bush to submit to the United Nations Human Rights Commission a resolution for the condemnation of Communist China�s human rights abuses (Voice of America via Epoch Times, HK). Thanks to all members involved in pushing this issue before the vote.
U.S. LIKELY TO HEED HOUSE�S CALL
Meanwhile, Secretary of State Colin Powell had this to say about whether or not the U.S. will present a resolution to the UN: �(the Communists) have not improved on their human rights record in the way that we were expecting, and that kind of gives you some sense of the direction we're heading� (VOA via Epoch Times). In other words, yes.
GAO ZHAN SENTENCED TO SEVEN MONTHS IN JAIL
Gao Zhan, the woman both imprisoned in the PRC and caught selling it microprocessors that could be for military use (see 3/21/01, 3/28/01, 4/18/01, 5/2/01, 6/27/01, 7/25/03, 8/8/03, and 12/3/03 Updates), will spend seven months in jail and eight more in a �halfway house.� Her �substantial assistance� (Washington Post) to prosecutors led to the leniency.
U.S. SENDING $15 MILLION TO PRC FOR AIDS FIGHT
The Centers for Disease Control is spending $15 million �to help fight AIDS in China� (Epoch Times). The money �will focus on ten provinces in China including Henan.� Will that mean the Communists will finally be honest about its unhygienic blood drive that infected one million in that province (see 9/4/02 and 9/25/02 Updates)? We�re not holding our breath.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
COMMUNISTS ARREST CATHOLIC BISHOP
Roman Catholic Bishop Wei Jingyi is in a PRC jail for his leadership in the �underground� Church, whose ten million followers continue to remain loyal to the Vatican instead of the Communist �Patriotic� Church. According to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, �about 26 Roman Catholic clergy members are in Chinese prisons at this time� (VOA via Epoch Times).
AS COMMUNIST PARLIAMENT OPENS, DISSIDENTS BEATEN AND ARRESTED
The National People's Congress began its 2004 session in Beijing with the theme �Humanity as a Core Value.� The Communist police, valuing some humanity more than others, made sure dissidents were nowhere near the event: through arrests, beatings, and in one case, ransacking one dissident�s home. Report: Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times
PRC PASSES NEW LAW BANNING TALK OF �SENSITIVE TOPICS,� INDEPENDENT NEWS
Communist China �issued a new law this week forbidding Internet users from publishing independent news reports on the Internet without the government�s permission� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). The PRC also banned any talk of �sensitive topics� or �publish articles which are critical of the Chinese Communist Party�s leaders.�
COMMUNIST POLICE BEAT UP WINERY DEMONSTRATORS IN ANHUI
Communist police met over one thousand workers at Gujing Winery in Anhui Province and �indiscriminately beat anyone who approached them� (RFA via Epoch Times). The workers, mostly ex-farmers who were given jobs when the PRC took their land for the winery, were upset at a privatization deal that basically froze them out in the cold.
The deal was accepted by the Communist-controlled �union,� but as the workers themselves noted: �the union delegates were not elected by them and therefore did not represent them and their interests.� The PRC does not allow any union beholden to actual workers.
CHINA DEMOCRACY PARTY CO-FOUNDER RELEASED FROM PRISON, SENT TO U.S.
Communist China has sent Wang Youcai, a co-founder of the China Democracy Party, out of prison and into exile in the United States. Wang, who also took part in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989, was met by fellow co-founder Xu Wenli, who was exiled in 2002 (see 12/26/02 Update). Reports: BBC, Washington Post
CORRUPTION NEWS
4,000 CADRES LEFT PRC LAST YEAR, TOOK WITH THEM OVER HALF A BILLION DOLLARS
Corruption continues to be a problem in the PRC: �the number of officials fleeing the country with embezzled funds is continuously increasing . . . over 4,000 officials fled with over five billion yuan� (Taiwan�s Central News Agency via Epoch Times). Meanwhile, 13 provincial/ministerial-level officials were busted last year (Epoch Times).
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
BEIJING TO KICK OVER 1 MILLION OUT OF CITY TO MAKE ROOM FOR OLYMPICS
The Communist capital is pulling out all the stops for the 2008 Olympics. In this case, that includes pushing out over one million residents of the city, who are now headed for �several new satellite towns on the outskirts of Beijing� (World Net Daily). Can you say shantytown?
COMMUNIST MILITARY SPENDING GETS ANOTHER DOUBLE-DIGIT INCREASE
Communist China�s military received an official budget increase over 11%, the third double-digit increase in four years (see 3/7/01, 3/6/02, and 3/12/03 Updates). No one can be sure about the actual state of PRC military spending, but �analysts believe the real figure is at least double� what the Communists claim (BBC). Also reporting: VOA via Epoch Times
HUSBAND AND WIFE EXPOSE PLIGHT OF RURAL CHINESE; CORRUPTION OF CADRES
A new book by Chen Chuntao and Chen Guidi exposes the horrifying plight of Chinese living in the PRC�s impoverished rural interior, detailing �illegal levying of fees and taxes, beatings to death, and other abuse both by local authorities and those in large cities, and poverty to a degree unimaginable by China's more prosperous urban residents� (RFA via Epoch Times).
They also expose the thorough corruption and cruelty of local Communist cadres in these areas, as well as �the way in which central leaders are shown as being repeatedly duped by local officials into thinking that all is running according to their directives.� So how did this book get published in the PRC? Simple, Premier Wen Jiabao is one of the book�s good guys.
ONE CHILD POLICY LEADING TO MASSIVE WOMAN SHORTAGE
Communist China�s hideous �one child� policy of forced abortions and sterilizations has combined with the Chinese culture�s desire for sons to create a huge future shortage in women � to the tune of �up to 40 million� (UPI via Washington Times). The news �came as a shock� to the cadres. Also reporting: The Guardian, UK
WEN JIABAO VOWS TO SLOW DOWN ECONOMY, FIX INCOME GAP, IN NPC OPENING
Communist Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao opened the NPC with �a call to slow growth and help the rural poor� (BBC). Regarding the latter, PRC-owned banks have been ordered to �curb lending to counteract over-investment in industrial parks, big urban construction projects and shopping malls� (CNN).
The Communists, who once claimed the plight of the peasants and laborers as the reason for their rule, have presided over an income gap that is arguably �the highest in the world� (Central News Agency, Taiwan, via Epoch Times). Farmers in the PRC make roughly one-third that of income residents, and that�s just regular income.
When factors such as health care, schools, unemployment insurance, and retirement benefits � all which are free of charge in the cities, while costing an arm and a leg in the countryside � are considered, the peasant�s comparative income falls to one-sixth that of the urbanites (see last Update). Also reporting: Washington Post
HU�S �SCIENTIFIC� COMMUNISM GETTING HIT FROM REFORMERS AND JIANG FACTION
Hu Jintao�s �scientific theory of development� is already taking hits, and not just from pro-democracy critics. Hu and his ally Premier Wen Jiabao are also hearing it, again, from the �Shanghai faction,� the group led by the man who in many ways is still has the most power: Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN).
PLANS TO DAM NU RIVER UPSETTING ENVIRONMENTALISTS
Communist China is hoping to �build an enormous system of dams� (UPI via Washington Times) on the Nu River. Many are already concerned that the massive project will be an ecological disaster, demolishing �some 7,000 species of plants and 80 rare or endangered animal species.� The area slated for the dams is a World Heritage Site.
HONG KONG NEWS
COMMUNISTS SEND CHAN YU-LAM TO PRISON FOR LIFE FOR PRE-HANDOVER ACTIONS
In a verdict that shocked, but did not surprise, Communist China handed a life-in-prison sentence to Chan Yu-lam, the Hong Kong born British citizen held for �espionage� (see last Update). What made Chan�s �crimes� unique was that they occurred in Hong Kong before the Communists took over in 1997 (BBC, Epoch Times). Are you watching, Taiwan?
HONG KONG�S FINANCES APPEAR ON THE MEND
Hong Kong Treasury Secretary Henry Tang said the Communist-appointed city regime will balance its budget in five years without tax increases, thanks to an economy that started to take off in July last year (BBC). That would be right after the regime shelved the �anti-subversion� bill due to massive public protest (see 7/2/03, 7/9/03, and 7/16/03 Updates).
TIBET NEWS
TIBETAN BUDDHIST MONASTERY IN SICHUAN FIGHTING COMMUNIST CRACKDOWN
The Lurang Gar monastery, in Sichuan province, became a very popular Tibetan Buddhist house of worship and learning. Then the Communist crackdown began. Today, many of the homes of worshipers have been razed, but the faithful refuse to leave, or returned soon after they were forced out. Report: Washington Post
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