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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: OCTOBER 15, 2003
TOP STORY: PRC EXAMINING �PARALYSIS WARFARE� ATTACK ON TAIWAN
NUMBER OF COMMUNIST MISSILES POINTED AT ISLAND DEMOCRACY NOW AT 500
Communist China is �changing its strategy from deterrence to pre-emption� (Taipei Times) regarding Taiwan. The new areas of interest to the People�s Republic include plans for �Web-based information warfare, saturation ballistic missile attacks, joint precision strikes and seizure of the enemy's capital city by special operations units.�
The above list has its own category of war: �paralysis warfare,� and it �will become a major option for the Chinese military in its choice of modes of attack against Taiwan in the future.� To further these modes, the Communists now have 500 missiles pointed at Taiwan. The PRC insists that it is the rightful ruler of Taiwan, despite having never set foot there.
Taiwan is not standing still, however; it has its own advance weapons programs to counter the Communists, including �electronic warfare� and �the development of miniaturized weapons on the basis of nanotechnology and superconductors.� For more on the island democracy, see Republic of China (Taiwan) News.
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AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
HU TO SELL COMMUNIST CHINA TO APEC, PRESIDENT BUSH
PRC President Hu Jintao has two major goals for his �charm offensive� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN) at next week�s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The first is to sell the notion that �China is ready to be a locomotive of growth and a force for stability.�
The other issue involves President Bush, who will also be at the APEC summit. Hu will �try to persuade Bush to lift some of the sanctions on hi-tech exports to China that were put in place soon after the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989.�
HUGHES CORPORATION HEAD WANTED U.S. TO SELL NUCLEAR REACTORS TO PRC
C. Michael Armstrong, CEO of the Hughes Corporation in 1997, all but demanded that the U.S. sell nuclear reactors to Communist China in a memo he sent the Clinton Administration during that time (Newsmax). Hughes was involved in several PRC satellite launches in the mid-1990s � the kind banned by the Bush Administration last month (see 9/24 Update).
HARRY WU SAYS HILLARY CLINTON �OVERSTATED� HER ROLE IN HIS RELEASE
Exiled Chinese dissident Harry Wu claims Hillary Clinton �overstated her role� (Newsmax) in his release from a Communist prison cell in the mid 1990s, when she was first lady. Wu takes issue with Clinton�s account in her memoirs, Living History. The Communists themselves censored her book in several areas last month (see 9/24 Update).
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
CHRISTIAN ACTIVIST, WIFE, AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAWYER ARRESTED
Communist China pulled a persecution trifecta with the arrests of Christian activist Zhang Yinan, his wife, and human rights attorney Xiao Biguang. Xiao was �legal adviser to an imprisoned leader of China's unofficial Christian church� (Washington Post, last item). Zhang was �a leading historian of the unofficial church�.
Communist China only allows religions regulated by the Party to exist. Any faith outside Communist control � from Falun Gong to Roman Catholics and untold numbers of Protestant communities � are deemed illegal, at best.
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
HU JINTAO PUSHES �INTRA-PARTY DEMOCRACY� AT CENTRAL COMMITTEE
The myth that is �intra-party democracy� survived another week with the Chinese Communist Central Committee. At the plenum, which wrapped up yesterday, PRC President Hu Jintao ruled the following: �starting with the just-finished plenum, the Politburo should compile an annual report to the full Central Committee� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN).
Of course, �Central Committee members, who picked the Politburo last year, were not allowed to cast votes to approve or disapprove the report -- and to make amendments.� This is the reality behind the myth. Of course, �intra-party democracy� is merely an effort by Hu to win factional battles and promote �upholding and strengthening CCP leadership.�
The party also allowed more room for �non-state firms� (Washington Post), but did not recommend granting property rights to those firm owners. They also allowed for �freedom to transfer land rights,� but land ownership is still only in Party hands. Lam also noted that moves toward labor reform � such as independent unions � are still in a deep freeze.
COMMUNIST CHINA LAUNCHES MANNED SPACE FLIGHT THIS WEEK
Yang Liwei became Communist China�s first taikonaut today. The manned space flight is part of the PRC�s ambitious space plans, which include a moon landing in 2010 (see 5/22/02, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1 and last Updates). Yang is still in orbit at this hour. Reports: BBC, CNN, Cybercast News, Washington Post, Newsmax
COMMUNIST CHINA�S SPACE PROGRAM HAS MILITARY GOALS
The Communists are looking for much more than �political prestige� (Washington Times) in their space launch. A Pentagon report noted, �China's manned space effort almost certainly will contribute to improved military space systems in the 2010-2020 time frame.�
Echoing that view is Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, who noted that the Communists are looking for �significant military implications,� particularly in �satellite spying over Taiwan.�
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA WARMING UP TO EUROPEAN UNION
A Communist white paper calls the European Union �the world's rising superpower� (London Telegraph), and lauds �ever-closer military ties� between the EU and the PRC. Europe, according to the Telegraph, sees Communist China as �a counterweight to American power.�
COMMUNIST CHINA GIVES SYMBOLIC GROUND ON INDIAN LAND DISPUTE
In what can best be called a symbolic concession, Communist China�s �foreign ministry website removed its listing of Sikkim as a separate country� (BBC). Sikkim is a former principality India absorbed in 1975. Communist China, which still claims 40,000 square miles of Indian territory, never recognized the merger.
ISRAEL SIGNS PHALCON PACT WITH INDIA
Speaking of the PRC�s longtime rival, it formally signed the deal with Israel for PHALCON air-radar systems. The systems were headed to Communist China before Israel cancelled it in 2000 under U.S. pressure; the current deal has U.S. approval (see 7/12/00 and 8/13 Updates). Israel is now India�s second biggest arms supplier. Report: Washington Post
CANADIAN REFUGEE CHANGE UNDERTAKEN DESPITE EFFECT ON PRC ESCAPEES
Documents shown to the National Post (Cdn.) reveal that the Canadian government changed its immigration processing system in a manner would �mean longer processing times for people from China.� Some activists believe the government deliberately made the change to reduce the number of PRC escapees in the country.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA BRINGING 100,000 INTO WAR GAMES AIMED AT TAIWAN
Communist China is preparing for a major military exercise �aimed at stepping up pressure on Taiwan's government� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). The war games, which include 100,000 PRC troops, and �practice surprise attacks on Taiwan,� will take place in Fujian province, just across the straits from the island democracy.
LIEN CHAN SAYS HE�LL BEAT CHEN SHUI-BIAN NEXT YEAR
Lien Chan, leader of the opposition Kuomintang (Nationalist) Party and its likely presidential candidate next year, predicted he would defeat President Chen Shui-bian on the March 20 election. Lien finished third in the 2000 race, and has since teamed up with second-place finisher James Soong (see 2/19 Update) in a bid to thwart Chen�s re-election. Report: BBC
The Nationalists ruled Taiwan for over fifty years before losing the 2000 election. Since then, they have moved closer to Communist China in an attempt to isolate Chen � a member of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party. In response to that, the last Nationalist president, anti-Communist Lee Teng-hui, bolted (see 12/5/01 Update).
TAIWAN OUT OF LIBERIA; COMMUNIST CHINA IS IN
The new Liberian government switched diplomatic recognition away from Taiwan and back to Communist China, handing the PRC another victory in its diplomatic battle with the island democracy. The new presence of the United Nations � in which Communist China is a permanent Security Council member � in Liberia had a lot to do with the decision (BBC).
Eugene Chen, Taiwan�s Foreign Minister offered to resign in the wake of Liberia�s move, but Prime Minister Yu Shyi-kun refused the resignation, saying, �I asked him not to blame himself for the setback and asked him to stay on the job.�
HONG KONG NEWS
LOCAL REGIME TAKES IT ON THE CHIN FOR SARS CONCERT �FIASCO�
The Communist-appointed regime in Hong Kong apparently offered �big fees� (BBC), courtesy of city taxpayers, to bands such as the Rolling Stones for upcoming SARS benefit concerts, while �while local acts were treated as �side dishes.�" The situation devolved into a �fiasco� when the Stones pulled out (temporarily) last week.
TIBET NEWS
ELEVEN MORE ESCAPEES ARRESTED IN NEPAL
Nepal arrested eleven more refugees from Tibet (Washington Times, third item). Ever since this summer, it has deported every Tibetan escapee it can find (see 6/4 and 7/2 Updates).
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