| Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 11, 2002 TOP STORY: COMMUNIST CHINA �PLAYING FOR GAINS ON IRAQ� PRC LOOKING FOR U.S. MOVEMENT ON TAIWAN, EAST TURKESTAN As the anniversary of 9/11/01 passes today, Communist China is increasingly �playing coy if not actually positioning itself on both sides of the fence,� according to a perceptive piece by Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN 9/10/02). Lam reports that the so-called People�s Republic is making its �wish list� in exchange for its �acquiescence� in an American attack on Iraq � i.e., not vetoing UN resolution on the subject. Among the list � actually just about the entire list � are East Turkestan and Taiwan. The U.S. �acceded to long-standing Chinese demands that Washington declare the East Turkestan Independence Movement (ETIM) a terrorist organization� last month (see also 8/28/02 update). However, Lam reported that the Communist still want �restraint in the Taiwan Strait� in exchange for their cooperation. Meanwhile, in East Turkestan, the Communists have used the American label of ETIM as �terrorists� to justify their brutal crackdown against �a host of separatist groupings in Xinjiang � many of which do not espouse violence at all.� Xinjiang is the Communist name for the region, whose Uighur population, whose brutal suffering under the PRC has made them arguably the most pro-American Muslims on Earth. Even so, the Communists also took a few shots at American �unilateralism� (Lam 9/9/02). PRC President Jiang Zemin himself insisted �the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq . . . be respected� (Lam 9/11/02). Lam also noted the Communists� �ties with Baghdad despite the Western embargo on the rogue state� including helping Iraq integrated its air defense system (see 2/21/02 update). Also reporting: BBC U.S. JOINS PRC IN ASKING UN TO CALL ETIM A TERRORIST GROUP The U.S. took another move toward the PRC by joining it to ask the United Nations to label ETIM a terrorist group tied to al Qaeda, according to the Washington Post. The request, which may be accepted as of this hour (1 PM Wednesday), disturbed many who wondered if the U.S was �doing the Chinese a favor� in exchange of that cherished �abstain� from the Communists. To support its accusations, the U.S. has parroted statistics first used by the Communists eight months ago on attacks in the region, plus a report from Kyrgyzstan about a possible attack on the U.S. Embassy there (see last update). That report was later �seriously doubted� by a Kyrgyz security official, who said there was �no indication that the United States was a target.� State Department counter-terrorism spokesperson Joe Reap insisted that ETIM �has more recently become al Qaeda linked and now operates outside of China� � a long-standing PRC accusation � and that they �had its own sources of information for that assessment and had not relied on China.� Evidence of neither has reached the public as of this hour. This was the only news from East Turkestan this week. Check out these stories and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page OTHER NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR PRESIDENT CHEN CALLS PRC ACTIONS AGAINST TAIWAN �TERRORISM� Chen Shui-bian, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), blasted Communist China�s military buildup � calling it, in the words of the BBC, �a form of terrorism.� Chen, speaking to mark the one-year anniversary of 9/11/01, cited a massive missile buildup, exploration of cyber warfare, biochemical weapons, and electromagnetic bombs as part of the �terror� campaign of the so-called People�s Republic. Chen, shunned and slighted by the Communists almost from the day he was elected to lead the island democracy over two years ago, called on the Communists to pull back their 400 missiles pointed at Taiwan, and noted that 50 more are deployed against his country each year. He demanded an end to �the 23 million people here being shadowed by protracted military threat.� NEW YORK MAYOR SNUBS TAIWAN FOR 9/11 CEREMONY Meanwhile, not even today�s commemoration to 9/11/01 could be spared from Communist China�s diplomatic war with the island democracy. The New York Sun reported that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg �hewing to the State Department�s one-China policy,� would not invite Taiwan to take part in the one-year memorial ceremony. National Review Online columnist and China e-Lobby member John Derbyshire gave a brilliant argument for inviting Taiwan, �a nation that shares our ideals, and strives to put them into practice� to the ceremony. Of course, Communist China, �a nation that mocks those ideals and spits on them,� (Derbyshire again) was invited. For more on Taiwan see American-Related News. There�s still time to contact the President and tell him not to appoint PRC sympathizer Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS JIANG TO MEET FORMER PRESIDENTS WHILE IN TEXAS NEXT MONTH Prior to meeting with President Bush at the latter�s Crawford ranch this October, Communist President Jiang Zemin is also set to meet with �at least two of the three former presidents, George Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, as well as dignitaries such as former secretary of state Henry Kissinger.� Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) reports that Jiang is hoping to maintain a �senior statesman� role after he steps down as Communist party chief this fall. It certainly helps that Jiang will hold on to the very powerful but lesser known post of Chairman of the Central Military Commission. LEADING ANTI-COMMUNIST SENATOR FALLS IN PRIMARY New Hampshire Republican Senator Bob Smith one of the most consistently anti-Communist members of the Senate, lost his primary election to Congressman John Sununu, Jr. Report: Washington Post TAIWANESE NUMBER TWO AT DEFENSE MINISTRY VISITS WASHINGTON ROC Deputy Defense Minister Kang Hing-hsiang visited Washington this week. He said he and U.S. defense officials �were just getting to know each other� (Washington Post). For more news on the island democracy, see Republic of China (Taiwan) News. 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. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA BLOCKS ALTA VISTA A week after blocking the internet search engine Google (see last update), Communist China has now blocked the AltaVista search engine (BBC 9/6/02). The PRC has blocked numerous sites as part of the �Great Red Firewall,� but the action against search engines is new. The Committee to Protect Journalists and the French group Reporters Without Borders ripped the PRC for blocking Google (BBC 9/5/02). OTHER MAINLAND NEWS VERDICT IN CHINA EVERBRIGHT MAY WAIT FOR PARTY CONGRESS The corruption trial of former China Everbright CEO Zhu Xiaohua � �a prot�g� of departing Prime Minister Zhu Rongji� (Washington Times) � may be decided by whether or not his patron wins his behind the scenes battle with PRC President Jiang Zemin at November�s Communist Party Congress. Zhu, who touts himself as the lead �reformer� in the party, has had three prot�g�s fall to corruption charges. AS COMMUNISTS RIP AIDS DURG PRODUCERS, ACTIVIST STILL HELD IN PRISON The two-faced Communist reaction to AIDS was on full display last week. Publicly, the PRC railed against AIDS drug manufacturers, threatening to break patents on the drugs due to their high cost. One cadre offered this sanctimonious line: �Any government, when facing a dilemma between profit and the life and health of its people, should choose to protect the lives and health of its people� (BBC). What the PRC does not want the world to know, however, is that one of their most prominent and tireless AIDS activists, Wan Yanhai, has been in a Communist prison for two weeks. Wan, who exposed how the Communist blood drives of the 1980s became an AIDS superhighway � over one million are infected in Henan province alone, was jailed under the one-size-fits-all charge of �spilling state secrets� (same link). JIANG�S �THEORY OF THREE REPRESENTS� GETS INTO PRC CONSTITUTION WITHOUT HIM The give and take between PRC President Jiang Zemin and the party cadres on whom his power rests continues. Jiang�s efforts to get his �Theory of Three Represents� into the PRC constitution, but it won�t be attributed to him. Moreover, a planned multi-volume �Selected Works of Jiang Zemin� was reduced to one volume �in an apparent concession to his critics� Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN). INTERNATIONAL NEWS 36 NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES IN BEIJING HEADED FOR SOUTH KOREA The 15 refugees from North Korea that entered a Beijing school run by the German Embassy have been allowed to fly to South Korea (CNN, BBC). Twenty-one other refugees hidden in the South Korean Embassy to the PRC have also left for freedom. They are the latest of several refugees hiding in Communist China that have escaped to freedom through democratic embassies (Fox News). Hundreds of thousands more North Korean refugees are hiding in Communist China, which sends back any refugee from the North that it finds, despite reports of the Stalinist torturing repatriated refugees to death. North Korea is suffering a massive famine � caused in large part by the regime�s mismanagement and exacerbated by its theft of outside food aid to feed party members and the armed forces. The North Korea Report has the latest on the Stalinist ally of Communist China. Sign up now to receive it every Monday. JAPAN TO CUT AID TO COMMUNIST CHINA; PRC HITS JAPANESE REGULATIONS ON SPINACH Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi announced that Japanese development aid to Communist China would be reduced next year. According to the Washington Post, the cut is due to disputes between the PRC and Japan, on everything from agricultural trade to the seizure of five North Korean refugees from the Japanese consulate in Shenyang (see 5/8/02, 5/15/02 and 5/22/02 updates). Regarding trade, recent Japanese safety regulations against PRC-based frozen spinach have enraged the Communists, who claim the action is punitive and �constitute discrimination against Chinese products� (BBC). Japan acted against the PRC spinach after finding high levels of the pesticide chlorpyrifos. INDIAN MINISTER WARNS OF PRC ECONOMIC AND MILITARY STRENGTH Arun Shourie, the Indian minister in charge of privatization, warned that Communist China�s �economic strength will translate into military strength.� Shourie was emphasizing the need for reform to develop India�s economy. India is rapidly becoming the leading Asian rival to Communist China. Report: BBC REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS NATIONALISTS MAY BE FORCED TO SELL OFF ASSETS The Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party, which held power for 50 years until President Chen Shui-bian�s election in 2000, would be forced to sell some if its assets and interests under bills proposed by Chen�s cabinet. Some members of the party, which has assets of over $1.6 billion � yes, that�s billion, have also proposed unloading the assets. Report: BBC Hong Kong was quiet this week. TIBET NEWS REPRESENTATIVES OF THE DALAI LAMA IN BEIJING FOR TALKS A delegation from the Dalai Lama visited Beijing for talks with Communist China � the first official talks between Tibet and the PRC in years. While the Dalai Lama himself was �very pleased� (BBC) with the invitation, Tibetan scholar Jamphel Gyatso told the Washington Post that the Communist extended the invitation only due to, in the paper�s words, �international pressure.� Also reporting: CNN Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it Anyonewho 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. |