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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: AUGUST 18, 2004
Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available: here, at Amazon, or call 1-888-280-7715.
TOP STORY: WITHOUT U.S., TAIWAN FALLS TO COMMUNIST CHINA IN 6 DAYS
SO SAYS ATTACK SIMULATION CONDUCTED BY TAIWANESE MILITARY
The Taiwanese military conducted a frightening military simulation of a Communist attack that found the invasion would succeed in 130 hours � less than halfway into the invasion�s sixth projected day. What would cause such a catastrophic event? The simulation �didn't factor in likely U.S. involvement� (Time Asia).
In other words, without America coming to her aid � something the President himself promised he would do, �whatever it takes� (see 4/25/01 Update) � the island democracy would be swallowed up by Communist China in less than a week.
OTHER REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
PRIME MINISTER ACCUSES COMMUNISTS OF PLANNING TO KILL CHEN SHUI-BIAN
ROC Prime Minister Yu Shyi-kun, in �off-the-cuff comments during a foreign trip� (BBC) accused Communist China of including in its recently ended military exercises �an attack on the presidential palace� for the purpose of �(k)illing or capturing the island's leaders.�
PULLING OF ADS LEADS CHURCH LEADER TO PROPOSE TAIWAN HOSTS 2016 GAMES
The outrage over the removal of Taiwan�s Olympic advertisements in Athens (see last Update) has spurred Reverend William J.K. Lo, head of Taiwan�s Presbyterian Church, to propose the ROC put in to host the 2016 Games. Lo also said Taiwan should drop the �Chinese Taipei� label for its Olympic team in favor of �Team Taiwan� (Cybercast News).
THE VELVET CRACKDOWN (HONG KONG NEWS)
PRO-DEMOCRACY CANDIDATE JAILED ON MAINLAND FOR �HIRING A PROSTITUTE�
Ho Wai-to, candidate for the Democratic Party in �the most closely fought� (BBC) Legislative Council seat in Hong Kong, is in a mainland prison cell �accused of hiring a prostitute.� His wife insists he was framed, and beaten by police and forced to sign a confession. If Ho is still in jail by Election Day (September 12), he will be forced off the ballot under city law.
TIBET NEWS
COMMUNIST-APPOINTED PANCHEN LAMA VISITS TIBET
Gyaltsen Norbu, the young man picked by Communist China to be Tibet�s Panchen Lama, visited the capital of Lhasa this weekend. Meanwhile, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who the Dalai Lama chose to be Panchen Lama, is still in a location the Communists will not disclose, as he has been ever since his selection in 1995. Report: BBC
TWO TIBET FILMS JUNKED BY INDIAN FILM FESTIVAL UNDER COMMUNIST PRESSURE
Threats from Communist China have led Sudhir Nandgaonkar to �surrender� (his word, as quoted by Friends of Tibet � India via China Support Network) to the regime�s wishes and pull two films on Tibet from the Asian Film Festival in Mumbai, India. It was yet another example of the long arm of Communist totalitarianism.
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR
Check out the latest on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
POWELL SAYS U.S. LOOKING FOR SAFE HAVEN FOR UIGHURS IN GUANTANAMO
In a press conference in Japan, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Uighurs from occupied East Turkestan currently held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba �would not be sent back to China on their release� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). Powell also noted that �United States is considering several candidate countries� as �places of refuge for the Uighurs.�
Powell�s comments do more than simply reject a longstanding Communist demand for the Uighurs held. It also makes clear that said Uighurs are not terrorists, echoing the truth many have found (see 10/17/01, 12/21/01, 10/23/02, and 11/5/03 Updates) and exposing Communist claims of rampant bin Ladenism in occupied East Turkestan to be lies.
For news on North Korea, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
MAJOR AMERICAN MILITARY EXERCISE HAS COMMUNIST CHINA NERVOUS
Communist China is worried that a recent U.S. naval exercise signals �that Washington's strategic focus is shifting east � with the aim of tackling �the rise of China�� (Cybercast News), although the exercise was actually far less focused on East Asia and the Western Pacific than the erroneous reports the Communist cited.
Also fixating the Communists were reports � as yet unconfirmed by the U.S. military � of �preparations to permanently deploy two carriers in the region.� Only one carrier is permanently deployed there at present.
ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF COMMERCE RIPS PRC COUNTERFEITING . . .
William Lash, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, fingered Communist China as �the center of the global product counterfeiting problem� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). He also noted that �Chinese authorities are not doing enough to combat the crime,� which has led to �millions of people are put in danger.� He noted, �fake drugs, for instance, can kill.�
. . . AS DISSIDENT CLAIMS PRC�S �ANTI-PIRACY� FIGHT REALLY AIMED AT DISSIDENTS
Perhaps the real problem with the PRC�s �battle� against counterfeiting and piracy is that it really is a cover for its crackdown against �on political and national security publications� (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times) that do not toe the party line. As for actual piracy, exile Fang Jue found it unlikely to be threatened: �too many vested interests were involved.�
NEWS ON THE FALUN GONG WAR
PRACTITIONERS MARCH THROUGH ATHENS, FILE SUIT AGAINST JIANG ZEMIN
Just before the Athens Olympiad officially opened, �about 100 Falun Gong followers marched peacefully Wednesday through central Athens� (Clearharmony.net via China Support Network) to protest the bloody crackdown against them by the Communists, who will host the next Summer Olympics in 2008.
Practitioners also filed a lawsuit in Athens against the author of the crackdown: Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin.
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
87,000 FACE COMMUNIST POLICE AT TIANANMEN SQAURE
An astonishingly large group of appellants � 87,000 in number � tried to make their case all at once in Tiananmen Square. Unfortunately, the Communist police arrested the leader of the march, and descended upon the square �like ants� (Epoch Times).
�Appellants� refer to those who come to Beijing seeking to correct injustices by their local cadres. How many are forced by their local �leaders� to seek redress? �It�s said that thousands of people were to appeal in front of the National Supreme Court each day this week. They described the crowds of appellants as a �surging wave.��
MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED EVANGELICAL LEADERS ARRESTED
Communist China arrested over 100 evangelical house church leaders last week �as part of an ongoing government-led crack down on evangelical Christians� (Assist News Service via World Net Daily). News of this comes just after three other Christians were sentenced to prison for their faith (see last Update).
Protestants or Catholics who refuse to worship in Communist-run �churches� are subject to imprisonment and torture. The latest estimates of �underground� Catholics � who remain loyal to Pope John Paul II � and Protestants put the former at number 10 million and the latter at 35 million.
BUDDHIST LEADER ARRESTED; HIS FLOCK IS DISPERSED; HIS TEMPLE IS SHUT DOWN
Yu Tianjian, an American resident and abbot of the Buddhist Dari Rulai Temple in Los Angeles, is under arrest in Communist China for �his plans to reopen an ancient temple complex in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia last week� (Washington Post). It should be noted that Inner Mongolia�s historical status as a �Chinese province� is in dispute.
As for the temple, it remains closed. Yu�s followers, many of whom came from the U.S., Canada and Japan were turned away � in the case of seven Americans, dragged away from inside. The Communists also �hauled away two truckloads of valuable statues, religious artifacts and other personal property from the temple.�
DR. JIANG YANYONG WINS �ASIAN NOBEL PRIZE�
Dr. Jiang Yanyong �was recently awarded the Ramon Magsaysay Award . . . for bravely breaking the silence by exposing the truth of the SARS epidemic in China� (Epoch Times). Jiang blew the lid of SARS in Beijing last spring; he used his popularity from it do something even more courageous: challenge the Communist Party line on the Tiananmen massacre.
For that, the good doctor won an extended stay in a Communist brainwashing facility (see 4/9/03, 3/10, 3/24, 4/7, 6/10, 6/23, 7/7, and 7/21 Updates). In part because of his refusal to accept the PRC�s spin cycle, he remains under house arrest.
RELIC THEFT SENT TO . . . THE GALLOWS?
Nobody supports the theft of historical relics, but Communist China managed to turn the culprit, Li Haitao, into a sympathetic figure � they plan to execute him. Li could be one more on the list of white-collar criminals Communist China kills. Report: BBC
CORRUPTION NEWS
FUJIAN CADRE BEGS FOR COMMUNIST PARTY TO CLEAN ITSELF UP, AND GETS CRUSHED
A county-level party boss in Fujian Province �burst into the national limelight Friday with an open letter in which he complained bitterly that his efforts to fight corruption had been stymied by more senior government and party officials� (Washington Post 8/13). Sadly, the cadre in question, Huang Jingao, still believed the party can cleanse itself.
Huang�s rude awakening came days later, when the PRC mouthpiece People�s Daily took his letter and �obliterated from its Web site� (Post 8/17), while the Party �ordered Chinese newspapers and broadcasters not to report anything more on the subject.� Huang himself was �condemned for breaking party rules and ordered to �do a complete self-examination.��
GUANGDONG MEMBER OF PRC PARLIAMENT BILKED BANKS FOR NEARLY A BILLION
Meanwhile, Feng Mingchang, a member of the National People�s Congress from Guangdong Province, �has been fired for stealing 7.4 billion yuan (US$894 million) from state-owned banks� (Central News Agency, Taiwan, via Epoch Times). Feng, a �private� businessman, stashed most of this money in accounts outside the PRC.
BABY MILK ARRESTS APPROACH FIFTY; FAKE FACTORIES OVER 100
The fake baby milk scandal that killed at least 50 infants (see 4/28, 5/5, 5/12, 5/26, 6/10, and 8/5 Updates) has also led to 47 arrests, and �more than 100 factories (caught) making bogus formula� (BBC). Two local cadres were sentenced to jail.
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
DEMOLITION OF HOMES CONTINUE DESPITE TWO DEATHS
Several neighborhoods in Beijing are vanishing, with homeowners (in the PRC, one can own a house, but not the land it is on) powerless to stop them, while the �demolition office compensates residents based on their connections and social status� (Epoch Times). Not even the death of two residents can stop the bulldozers.
IS JIANG-HU RIVALRY APPROACHING HIGH NOON?
There are growing signs Central Military Commission Chair Jiang Zemin and his �Shanghai clique� are planning to move against Party boss/PRC President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. As Jiang faces �an unprecedented challenge� (Association for Asian Research via Epoch Times) to hand over the powerful CMC Chair, he is still plotting to oust Hu and Wen.
The efforts to move Hu out and replace him with Jiang�s prot�g� Zeng Qinghong � of South Africa Falun Gong shooting infamy � began immediately after Hu took over the top party post in 2002 (see 11/20/02, 6/30, 7/7, 7/14, and 7/28 Updates).
FIXED-ASSET INVESTMENT IN COMMUNIST CHINA SURGES . . .
Communist China continued to witness a surge in fixed-asset investments (i.e., factories, roads, and other permanent structures). Such investment � spurred usually by local cadres and banks rose 31% over last year, despite �government attempts to curb spending� (BBC).
The PRC have been trying to slowdown industrial investment spending for months in an effort to prevent an inflationary spiral. However, in many cases, local cadres are either ignoring Beijing�s plans, or renaming the would-be factories as projects that currently have the leadership�s favor, such as �agriculture� (see 6/2 and 7/21 Updates).
. . . AS ECONOMY SLOWS . . .
Despite the above news, Communist China�s economy is likely to slow � according to the cadres. However, the slowdown is due to the high price of oil, and the fact that the PRC will import nearly 1 billion barrels this year. Report: BBC
. . . AND CENTRAL BANK HEAD SAYS BAD DEBT IS REACHING CRISIS LEVELS
Zhou Xiaochuan, Governor of the People�s Bank of China (the PRC�s central bank) admitted that Communist China stands �at the edge of a financial crisis� (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times) due to bad debts, which he projected to be 40% of all loans in the PRC banking sector. As bad as that sounds, most analysts put the real bad debt figure at over 50%.
COMMUNIST CHINA OFFERING INCENTIVES FOR DAUGHTERS
Faced with a growing gender imbalance (see 6/30 and 7/21 Updates), Communist China �is offering cash and other incentives to families who have daughters� (BBC). One thing they still haven�t done is to completely junk the �one child� policy, which combined with a traditional cultural preference for boys, has led to the imbalance.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
ZHAO JING COULD STILL WIN ASYLUM IN AUSTRALIA
The Australian government�s denial of asylum to Zhao Jing, assistant to Professor Yuan Hongbing (she was mislabeled as a colleague of his in the last Update), could be overturned by an Australian court. As such, there is �a good chance� (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times, China Support Network) that she can stay in Australia. Yuan�s asylum case is still pending.
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