| Home page To receive this publication via e-mail, click here. The Week�s Links: Feature and Opinion Pieces on Communist China October 10, 2003 Link of the Week Shaomin Li, calls on the U.S. to help two activists also in prison, Wang Bingzhang and Yang Jianli (see 12/20/02, 12/27/02, 2/21 and 5/2 Week�s Links), in National Review Online. Li, a naturalized American, was himself arrested by the Communists in 2001 for �endangering state security� (see 4/5/01, 4/18/01, 6/27/01, 7/11/01, 7/18/01, and 7/25/01 Updates). On the State of Workers in the Workers� State Mary Hennock, BBC, profiles legal activists taking up the cause of workers unfairly treated in Communist China. Hennock�s activists are forced to rely on �a mix of home-grown philanthropy and foreign pressure� to battle the Communist judiciary. On the Plight of the Uighur People in East Turkestan Louisa Lim, BBC, talks to a number of Uighurs, the ethnic Muslims who have been the traditional residents of East Turkestan (called �Xinjiang� by the Communists) and finds �modernization� to simply be Sinicization by another name. Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. On Communist China and Space Helen Briggs, BBC, examines what next week�s manned space flight could mean for Communist China and the United States. John Derbyshire, of National Review Online (and Member since 2002) has this humorous take on the Communists� plans. On Communist China, Trade, and the Currency Peg Victor Canto, National Review Online, says this about the renminbi peg: �Perhaps China has benefited from the experiences of the emerging non-reserve currency countries. Hopefully China will not follow the bad advice of the G-7 and U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow.� The �emerging non-reserve currency countries� is a reference to the Asian nations forced to devalue their currencies in the 1990s. Victor seems to forget that the Communists� peg, in place since 1994, is below market value, and thus had a lot to do with their �experiences.� Canto then lets loose this serenade to the Communists: �if they hold their ground they will do the world and the financial markets a great service.� So, the PRC damages the export sectors of our allies and builds up its holdings of American debt, gaining more influence over American interest rates (see last Week�s Links) in the process, and we should be grateful? On Taiwan William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, rips the �one China� fallacy on the Project for the New American Century site, and calls for �a new Taiwan policy that recognizes the reality of a Chinese democracy on Taiwan, the right of its people to determine their own future, and gives the elected government of Taiwan and the people it represents the status they deserve�. On the Russian (For Now) Far East Dr. Alexandr Nemets, Newsmax, began a two part series on the Sinicization of the Russian Far East in August (see 8/22 Week�s Links). He concludes this week with a must-read column. Sign up for the North Korea Report before the next edition is sent on Monday. Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our home page. 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 or North Korea that you happen to find to the same address. |