| 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. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: JUNE 12, 2002 TOP STORY: SEVENTEEN NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES IN FOREIGN CONSULATES IN COMMUNIST CHINA; FOUR REFUGEES ESCAPE TO SOUTH KOREA BY FERRY FROM PRC FIFTEEN NOW IN SOUTH KOREAN CONSULATE; TWO IN CANADIAN EMBASSY; PRC SENDS BACK TWO GROUPS OF REFUGEES, INCLUDING A PREGNANT WOMAN AND CHRISTIAN North Korea refugees hiding in, and from, Communist China continued to make news this week. Two waves of North Korean refugees entered South Korea�s Beijing consulate (BBC 1, BBC 2), bringing the total number of refugees from the North in South Korea�s diplomatic compound to fifteen. The so-called People�s Republic repeated its demand that the South hand over all refugees; the South refused flatly. Four other refugees escaped from Communist China by taking a ferry to South Korea, aided by activist Dr. Norbert Vollertsen (Cybercast News Service). Two more made their way into the Canadian embassy over the weekend. The Communists have not made any public demands to Canada, likely because it�s not South Korea. Negotiations on the fate of the two refugees are ongoing, quietly. The PRC normally sends any North Korean refugee it finds back to its Stalinist ally, and in fact recently �repatriated� two groups of refugees � �including a pregnant woman and a member of an underground Christian Church� (Washington Post). North Korea imprisons nearly all �repatriated� refugees. It also forcibly aborts any pregnancy, and kills all newborns, in prison (see last North Korea Report.) As the Post story reveals, North Koreans� desperation to leave stems from the horrifying famine in the country thanks to �economic policies and bad weather.� The famine has killed up to 2 million, in part because most international food aid to the Stalinist regime � surprise! � �is believed to go to members of the ruling Workers Party, soldiers, and workers and families deemed useful to the government.� For more on the plight of the refugees, and the North Korean atrocities against pregnant women mentioned above, sign up for the North Korea Report, sent every Monday. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR COMMUNIST CHINA TRIES TO TAKE CREDIT FOR STARTING ANTI-TERRORISM MOMENTUM Communist China tried to use the Shanghai Cooperation Organization � an agreement between the PRC, Russia, and four Central Asian nations � to take credit for battling terrorism before September 11. Does that include the economic deal with the Taliban signed hours before the WTC fell, or its arms sales to Iran? CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam does not answer that question. Check out the latest as it happens on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS LABOR PROTEST BREAKS OUT IN SICHUAN PROVINCE . . . Hundreds of workers in Sichuan Province protesting unpaid wages at �a state-owned vehicle repair works� (BBC) have �clashed with police� sent in to break it up. According to the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, three protestors have been arrested, and five were injured. . . . AS JOURNALIST COVERING DAQING PROTESTS IS KICKED OUT OF PRC Communist China expelled Jiang Xueqin, a Chinese-Canadian journalist, for recording video of the labor protests in Daqing this past spring (see updates from March 13, 20, and 27). Jiang also had is videotapes confiscated. The protests in Daqing, which continued every day for nearly two weeks, had as many as 50,000 laid-off workers (BBC). PROMINENT LAWYER IN PRC UNDER ARREST, NOT SEEN SINCE MAY Zhang Jianzhong, a well-known PRC lawyer who defended a number of Communists accused of corruption, has been under arrest � and completely out of sight � since May, according to the Washington Post. The Communists arrested Zhang on testimony of a defendant that differed from what the police tortured out of him. In the PRC, testimony discrepancies of a defendant can land the lawyer in prison. COMMUNIST CHINA WHACKS INTERNET SITES FOR �HARMFUL INFORMATION� Communist China has �punished� numerous web sites for �harmful information.� Ten domestic sites were hit. As for what the �harmful information� was, the Communists would not say, but the BBC noted that the move came just after the PRC�s 2-0 World Cup loss to Costa Rica had �prompted furious criticism of the national team in internet chat rooms.� PRC GOING AFTER ANYONE IT THINKS IS BEHIND TIANANMEN PAPERS According to Zhang Liang � nom de plume for the chief source of Tiananmen Papers � Communist China is conducting a massive search, including the detaining of 23 people and over 100 probes abroad, to find the sources of the documents behind the book. Tiananmen Papers revealed the decision making behind the massacre of protestors on June 4, 1989. Report: Washington Post The book revealed that Jiang Zemin was chosen Communist Party chief because he was considered more docile to the powers that be than reform Zhao Ziyang, who has been under house arrest ever since. The book also confirmed Li Peng � then Prime Minister and now Jiang�s number two in the party hierarchy � pushed heavily for the crackdown. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS PRC ARMY PRAISES JIANG TO THE SKIES; A LIKELY SIGN HE�LL REMAIN CMC CHAIRMAN The Communist Chinese army �is building a Maoist-style personality cult around President Jiang Zemin,� according to CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam. Lam notes that the high praise from the PRC military is a sign that Jiang may want � and get � another term as Chairman of the Central Military Commission, the post from which Deng Xiaoping wielded power after his �retirement� until his death. INTERNATIONAL NEWS JIANG TALKS UP �COOPERATION� WITH RUSSIA; RUSSIANS ARE MORE QUIET ABOUT IT Communist Chinese President Jiang Zemin visited his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, last week to emphasize the �cooperation� between the two. Putin, for his part, said there were ��big plans� for boosting military ties� (CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam). Russia is already Communist China�s biggest supplier of weaponry, and the PRC is Russia�s biggest military customer. However, in a later piece, Lam noted that Russian military officials were �much less enthusiastic� about warm Russia-PRC ties. Some of them even said �that it would be more realistic for Moscow to join the U.S. in containing �Chinese expansionism.�� Sadly, none of these officials were named. COMMUNIST CHINA RIPS JAPAN�S �REMILITARIZATION� Communist China used a couple of its military media sources to rip �Japan�s alleged remilitarization� (CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam). The flap began when the Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary, a key aide to the Prime Minister, hinted that Japan might need �small types of atom bombs.� Japan�s Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi �later denied there were plans� for a Japanese nuclear arsenal. CONSULATE FLAP CAUSES JAPAN TO RETHINK ASYLUM POLICIES Meanwhile, there are more reverberations from Communist China�s seizing of five North Korean refugees from the Japanese consulate in Shenyang (the five are now safe in South Korea, see May 28 NK Report). Now, �revelations that Japanese officials may have consented to the removal of the family by Chinese police� have caused Japan to rethink its PRC and North Korea refugee policies (Washington Post). REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS MEMBER OF ROC NAVY ARRESTED FOR SPYING Taiwan arrested Navy First Sergeant Liu Yueh-lung on charges of spying for Communist China, according to the BBC. Liu�s acts of espionage included having �sent photographs of ships, ports and weapons to China by e-mail.� He also �passed data on floppy disks to relatives living on the mainland.� PRESIDENT CHEN LOOKING FOR MORE ADVANCED WEAPONRY TO COUNTER PRC President Chen Shui-bian told member of the ROC military officers corps that the island democracy is looking for more advanced weaponry to �ward off the threat posed by China's military� (CNN). Chen and the ROC are particularly worried about PRC plans for eight Russian-made Kilo-class submarines � equipped with long-range missiles � to be delivered in five years. There�s still time to contact the President and tell him not to appoint pro-PRC Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. HONG KONG NEWS U.S. DIPLOMAT TELLS HK GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT ITS AUTONOMY Michael Klosson, American Consul-General to Hong Kong, told the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong that he is deeply worried about �the autonomy and independence� of the city. Klosson�s worries centered on, among other things, a possible �subversion and sedition� law being examined by the largely PRC-appointed HK legislature. Report: Washington Times, last paragraph TIBET NEWS AUSTRALIA TO WELCOME COMMUNIST CHIEF OF TIBET AFTER SNUBBING DALAI LAMA Amnesty International and Australian opposition politicians are railing at the Australian government for hosting Guo Jinlong, the Chinese Communist Party chief of Tibet. The Australian government does this less than a month after snubbing the Dalai Lama on his visit to Australia. Report: BBC No news was reported from East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�) this week. 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. |