| 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: MAY 15, 2002 TOP STORY: JAPAN DEMANDS PRC RETURN DETAINED NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES VIDEO SHOWS PRC POLICE TOOK ALL FIVE ESCAPEES FROM INSIDE JAPANESE CONSULATE The reverberations from the Communist seizing of North Korean refugees inside Japan�s consulate in Shenyang continue to grow. Video cited by the BBC shows that all five of the refugees who tried to get into the Japanese consulate made it in � earlier reports only had two getting inside. Communist police entered the consulate and seized al five, wrestling a woman and child to the ground as staffers watched. According to the BBC and the Washington Post, the government in Tokyo is taking it on the chin for the staffers� lack of action, and for saying three had been stopped at the gate. The Japanese Foreign Minister admitted that the staff�s �reaction could have been a bit different.� However, Japan vehemently denied the Communists� claim that its consulate staff had given police permission to enter the consulate (CNN). Japan also demanded that those arrested �be handed back to Japanese custody,� while South Korea said it would be willing to take them (BBC 2). The PRC responded by insisting � get this � that it was protecting the consulate from �unknown intruders� (CNN 2). Reports from early this morning suggested that the Communists were ready to release the refugees, but Beijing denied it. Also reporting: Los Angeles Times THREE NORTH KOREANS MAKE IT INSIDE U.S. CONSULATE, THEN GO TO SOUTH KOREA; FATE OF TWO IN CANADIAN EMBASSY STILL UNCERTAIN Meanwhile, three other refugees from the North made it inside the American consulate in Shenyang, and two more entered the Canadian embassy in Beijing over the weekend. The three in the American consulate were �flown to freedom in South Korea� (well put by the BBC). The fate of the refugees in the Canadian embassy is still unclear at this hour. The �People�s Republic of China� sends all North Korean refugees it finds back to its fellow Communist regime and long-time ally despite the North�s policy of feeding the party and the military while everyone else starves in the near-decade long famine. The Communists have also beefed up security around the embassies to prevent refugees from reaching them (see May 6 NK Report). Also reporting: Cybercast News For more on this story, sign up for the next North Korea Report, due out on Monday. Ariel Cohen, in National Review Online, examines the Communist China-Iran connection. Check out the latest on Communist China and the Terrorist War. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS U.S. IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON UNNAMED PRC FIRMS FOR CHEMICAL WEAPONS AID TO IRAN The U.S. has imposed economic sanctions on �Armenian, Chinese and Moldovan entities pursuant to the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000,� in particular �transfers of chemical weapons technology� to Iran. The Communist Chinese companies were not named. Report: Bill Gertz, Washington Times HOUSE PUTS MEASURES FOR U.S.-TAIWAN MILITARY COOPERATION INTO DEFENSE BILL The House included in its Defense Department authorization bill a measure to �boost Taiwan's defense capabilities by requiring the Pentagon to establish a wide-ranging program of joint military-training exercises with Taiwan's armed forces and an exchange of senior officers between the two militaries.� The measure passed by a margin of 359-58 (Taipei Times via sianews.com). For more on Taiwan, see Republic of China (Taiwan) News Section. There�s still time to contact the President and tell him not to appoint pro-PRC Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS PROTESTS RETURN TO LIAOYANG AS WORKERS DEMAND PROTEST LEADER�S RELEASE Hundreds of workers in Liaoyang returned to the streets to demand the release of the four who led the earlier protests of broken promises by the Communists. The workers, �many laid off or retired� (BBC), were promised severance pay by the Communist-owned factory that let them go. That pay has not been coming, which inspired the first protests. The Communists arrested four leaders of the protests. FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: PROTESTS MARK TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF FALUN GONG Falun Gong practitioners protested the Communist crackdown against the spiritual movement on Monday, the tenth anniversary of Li Hongzhi�s founding of the movement (BBC). One protestor made it into Tiananmen Square before being arrested; many more protested in Hong Kong. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA�S ECONOMY COULD GET FLATTENED BY SPREAD OF AIDS Jeffrey Sachs, a Harvard University professor, says the widespread AIDS epidemic in Communist China �poses a serious risk to the Asian giant's economic growth� (BBC). The Communists admit to 850,000 AIDS victims, but outside groups put the number at over 1.5 million, with a possible rise to 10 million in 2010. The PRC�s AIDS crisis is largely due to a vastly unhygienic nationwide blood drive in the 1980s. COMMUNISTS HOPE MASSIVE TREE-PLANTING WILL STOP DESERTIFICATION Communist China is planning to plant over 150,000 square miles worth of trees in an effort to halt the drying out of rural provinces in the PRC (Los Angeles Times). However, the BBC reports that this attempt to make up for mass industrialization and other development that no free market would have sustained is not new, and the previous efforts, admittedly smaller than this one, have had little or no effect. FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN PRC UP, FOR NOW What was that about suckers born every minute? The BBC reports that foreign investment in Communist China is up again, as is economic growth � although previous reports have shown the Communists have fudged those numbers before. Long-term foreign investment, however, seems to be leveling off. INTERNATIONAL NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA WORRIED RUSSIA IS TOO CLOSE TO U.S. CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam reported that Communist China is �banking on the summit of SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization) heads of state in St Petersburg next month� to pull Russia away from what it sees as a closer relationship with the U.S. and NATO. Lam notes that Beijing is hoping to use Russia � the PRC�s �main supplier of sophisticated weapons� � to �counter-balance America�s global influence.� COMMUNIST CHINA STARTS FREE TRADE TALKS WITH ASEAN Communist China has begun talks with the Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) on creating a free trade zone that �could eventually cover a third of the world's population� (BBC). REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS PRESIDENT CHEN CALLS TAIWAN �AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY� President Chen Shui-bian said Taiwan �is an independent country� in an interview with Newsweek magazine. Chen also said he wanted to make a formal visit to the U.S. All of his previous trips to the U.S. have been �in transit� to somewhere else. Report: Agence France Presse via Washington Times PRESIDENT CHEN OFFERS TO SEND DPP DELEGATION TO COMMUNIST CHINA ROC President Chen Shui-bian offered to send a delegation from his Democratic Progressive Party to Communist China to meet with PRC leaders (BBC). It is the latest of several offers Chen has made the Communists for talks. The PRC has refused to talk unless Chen accepts the �one China� principle, i.e., Beijing as the legitimate ruler of Taiwan. Chen, of course, has refused to do this. TAIWAN TEST-FIRES SURFACE TO AIR MISSILE The ROC publicly test-fired the Sky Bow II surface-to-air missile last week. The test, witnessed by President Chen, was the first of its kind open to the media. Chen said the test was to �give Taiwan sufficient self-defences, not to engage in an arms race with Communist China� (BBC). Chen reminded the media that �Communist China has never publicly renounced the use of force against Taiwan� (CNN). COMMUNIST CHINA BLOCKS WTO MEMBERSHIP FOR TAIWAN The Communists used �immense pressure� to once again deny World Health Organization observer status to Taiwan, despite support from both the U.S. and the European Parliament (CNN, BBC, Cybercast News). Two EU members � France and Spain � ignored the EP and spoke against Taiwan, while the U.S., despite legislation �authorizing the State Department to help Taiwan gain observer status� stayed silent. HONG KONG NEWS THREE PROTESTORS TO BE CHARGED FOR �UNAUTHORIZED RALLY� Uh oh. Hong Kong �has charged three political protesters with organizing an unauthorized rally, the first such prosecutions since the territory returned to China� (Los Angeles Times). No news was reported from Tibet or 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. |