| CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: JUNE 15, 2001 Sorry about the tardiness of the update. A business trip to New Orleans threw my schedule out of whack. It was quite a week, though. D.J. McGuire TOP STORY: COMMUNIST CHINA SHIPS MILITARY HARDWARE TO CUBA U.S. TO TAKE NO ACTION AGAINST PRC AFTER WTO TRADE DEAL STRUCK Communist China has sent arms shipments, including dual-use explosives, to Cuba during the last year. Despite this stunning news, the State Department has refused to impose sanctions on the People�s Republic of China. By law, a country selling lethal military equipment to a sponsor of terrorism must have sanctions imposed on them. State is apparently saying the weapons shipments are not �lethal� enough. No joke. Links: Washington Times � State Department, Washington Times � arms shipments, CNN Naturally, several anti-Communist politicians were livid at the Administration. Two Republican congressmen (Florida�s Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and California�s Dana Rohrbacher) demanded the U.S. impose sanctions, and whacked the Administration�s lack of action. President Bush, in commenting on Cuba this week, made no mention of the arms shipments. The Communists denied everything, of course. Link: BBC Not to be cynical here, but days before the arms shipments were made known � and the Administration said it would do nothing about it � the PRC and U.S. finally finished a trade agreement to allow Communist China into the World Trade Organization. The two sides agreed to let the Communists increase � that�s right, increase � farm subsidies to 8.5 percent. Links: BBC � WTO deal, BBC � Analysis of deal, Washington Post, CNN OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS DEAL REACHED ON DOWNED EP-3 PLANE Over two months after the collision of a Communist Chinese fighter and an American EP-3 surveillance plane, Beijing and Washington reached an agreement on how the plane would come back. Both sides agreed to have the plane taken apart and shipped home, despite U.S. hopes that the plane could be repaired and flown home. Links: CNN, BBC INTERNATIONAL NEWS RUSSIA, CHINA AGAIN STATE OPPOSITION TO MISSILE DEFENSE Russia and China joined forces again to come out against a proposed U.S. missile defense. The two governments, along with North Korea, have threatened an arms race if the shield, designed to protect against rogue states like North Korea, is implemented. North Korea is a 50-year ally of the Communists, and other rouge states � Iran, Iraq, and Libya � have bought military technology and know-how from the PRC. Link: CNN MAOISTS IN NEPAL �ARE ON A ROLL� Ralph Frank, U.S. Ambassador to the troubled nation of Nepal, said this week that Maoist rebels �are on a roll� with �no viable opposition in the rural areas� of the country as it reels from a recent mass murder of its royal family. The Ambassador ominously warned that the rebel leaders believe �the Cultural Revolution was the best thing that came down the block,� and are already placing harsh restrictions on areas they control. Link: Washington Times HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS �REFORM THROUGH LABOR� GETTING WORSE IN COMMUNIST CHINA The Washington Post reported on Hunan No. 1 Prison, also known as the Hunan Special Electrical Machinery Factory, where prison-workers are hanged by their handcuffs and beaten with electric batons. This is all part of the Communists laogai (�reform through labor�), where dissidents are sent to labor camps without trial or formal arrest. Link: Washington Post FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: RESTRICTIONS GET TIGHTER Communist China has upped the ante, again, against the Falun Gong spiritual movement. Revealing what really scares them about the group � that it has greatly undermined support for the Party � the PRC has now declared that �members found distributing anti-government materials risk prosecution for defamation or even subversion.� Those providing information on the crackdown to foreigners can now be charged as spies. Link: BBC, Washington Post COMMUNISTS FIRE NEWSPAPER EDITOR FOR CRITICIZING EVENTS IN RURAL HEARTLAND After printing a piece on a crime spree in Hunan province, and hinting that part of the problem was the way local Communists were running the rural region, Southern Weekend had its editor fired. Several other papers have come under the PRC�s thumb for printing the �wrong� stories, such as the works of banned economist He Qinglian. Maybe they read the story on Communist papers fighting each other in our last update. Link: Washington Post OTHER MAINLAND NEWS HARD-LINER CALLS FOR NO �CAPITALISTS� IN COMMUNIST PARTY Lin Yanzhi, Vice Party Secretary of Jilin Province, took aim at efforts by PRC President Jiang Zemin and others to bringing entrepreneurs and others in the Chinese Communist Party, stating that the �new capitalist class� could take the party over. Lin�s article made it to several Communist-controlled news journals, a sign of the continued rise of hard-line Communist �leftists.� Link: CNN COMMUNIST CHINESE PM QUITS JOB AT UNIVERSITY Zhu Rongji, PRC Prime Minister, announced his resignation as dean of Qinghua University, a post in which he admitted he �had not any work.� Analysts said the move was meant either to convince other party �elders� � notably President Jiang Zemin and Tiananmen butcher Li Peng � not to hang on to posts during next year�s reshuffle. Another possibility, however, is that Zhu left so he himself could stay in government. Link: Washington Post REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS COMMUNIST MILITARY EXERCISE TO INCLUDE LIVE-FIRE MISSILE LAUNCHES The largest Communist Chinese military exercise since 1996, simulating the seizure of a Taiwan-controlled island and a battle with an American aircraft carrier, will soon include live-fire missile tests. Several CSS-6 missiles are now at a base in Fujian province used primarily for training, not missile stationing. CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam also reported the Communists would test �new electronic warfare capabilities.� Links: Lam, Washington Times The last time the PRC fired live missiles was during the 1996 ROC presidential election. The missiles flew straight over Taiwan, apparently to intimidate voters. The U.S. sent two aircraft carriers into the Taiwan Straits to reassure and protect the Taiwanese people. PRC AGAIN REJECTS CHEN�S ATTENDANCE AT APEC MEETING For the second time in a month, Communist China slapped down the idea of ROC President Chen Shui-bian attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. Chen himself proposed the visit earlier, to no avail. This time, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick floated the idea, only to have it rejected in the same manner. Link: CNN HONG KONG NEWS TUNG CHEE-HWA CALLS FALUN GONG �EVIL CULT� Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa flatly called Falun Gong �an evil cult,� which immediately brought criticism from pro-democracy members of the Legislative Council and human rights activists in Hong Kong. Tung, whom Beijing appointed and has endorsed for re-appointment next year, has been steadily rising the rhetoric against the group, in what many believe is an effort to get it banned in the city. Link: CNN No news from Tibet or East Turkestan this week. 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