To receive this publication via e-mail, click here.
CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: FEBRUARY 18, 2004
Listen to the Chinascope, hosted by D.J. McGuire: Tuesday, midnight EST, on WXEI 95.3 FM in Crestview, FL, or here.
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: TRADE DEFICIT WITH COMMUNIST CHINA AT $124 BILLION
BIGGEST BILATERAL IMBALANCE EVER; PRC MAY RAISE CURRENCY � BY HALF A CENT
The U.S. trade deficit with Communist China stood at just under $124 billion, the largest imbalance the U.S. has ever had with any other international actor. The People�s Republic has used a deliberately devalued currency to damage American manufacturing and the export sectors of American allies, for a decade. Report: Industry Weekly
The Communists did say they �may adjust the yuan to US dollar exchange rate� (Central News Agency, Taiwan, via Epoch Times, HK), but before anyone gets their hopes up, the PRC is only looking at a 5% rise � just over one-half of one cent. Many economists believe the PRC currency is up to 40% devalued.
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR
Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
COMMUNIST CHINA WANTS IRAQ CONTRACTS
Communist China is looking to score post-war Iraqi reconstruction contracts, and sent a delegation to Baghdad for that purpose (Agence France Presse via Channel News Asia). It should be noted that the PRC had a long history of arming Saddam Hussein (see 2/21/01, 2/28/01, 3/7/01, 3/14/01, 3/21/01, 12/18/02, 3/19/03, 4/9/03, and 12/17/03 Updates).
LIBYAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS PROGRAM TRACES BACK TO COMMUNIST CHINA
Libya�s nuclear weapons program had plenty of help from Pakistan, which in effect passed on the nuclear information it received from Communist China. Libya was a major recipient in Pakistan�s nukes-for-sale network. Pakistan also aided Iran and North Korea, possibly with some of the PRC information. Reports: BBC, Washington Post, London Telegraph
EX-PAKISTANI PM INSISTS MUSHARRAF KNEW
Meanwhile, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had this to say of the military�s denial of any knowledge of the nuclear black market: �Nobody in Pakistan believes Qadeer Khan just woke up one day and decided to sell the nuclear secrets on his own� (Washington Times).
COMMUNIST CHINA BACKS BUSH CALL FOR WMD CONTROL (TRY NOT TO LAUGH)
The Communists have �lent their support� (BBC) to President Bush�s recent call for more action �to halt the spread of nuclear weapons�. This would be good news, if not for the PRC history of sending weapons of mass destruction components to Iran and North Korea (see 1/23/02, 12/26/02, 1/8/03, 5/21/03, 5/28/03, 6/11/03, 8/27/03, and 9/15/03 Updates).
NORTH KOREA NEWS
For more on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
BOLTON PRAISES PRC FOR SUPPOSED HELP ON NORTH KOREA, BUT IT WON�T JOIN PSI
John R. Bolton, Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and previously one of the more clear-eyed officials in the department, drank the Kool-Aid on Communist China, saying it was helpful in bringing an end to North Korea�s nuclear weapons program, despite the fact that no progress has actually been made (Washington Post).
However, Bolton could not get Communist China to join the Proliferation Security Initiative, an international consortium designed to stop rogue states from acquiring or dealing weapons of mass destruction. North Korea is the PSI�s biggest target (Financial Times, UK).
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
BUREAUCRAT SUSPECTED TO BE A PRC SPY IS BOUNCED FROM POST
The Department of Defense has placed Ronald Montaperto �on leave from the Pacific Command's Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies� (Washington Times). Montaperto has been suspected of �being a spy for China,� but �was later cleared by investigators.�
However, he may have caught the eye of officials again �as part of the expanding counterintelligence investigation of Katrina Leung.� That would be the same Katrina Leung who was an FBI agent, Republican fundraiser, and Communist Chinese spy (see 4/16/03, 4/23/03, 4/30/03, 5/7/03, and 5/14/03 Updates).
NBC NOTICES KERRY�S PRC FUNNY MONEY PAST; TWO WEEKS AFTER THE NEWS BREAKS
NBC reported, about two weeks behind the curve (see 2/4 Update), Senator John Kerry�s involvement with PRC money conduit Johnny Chung and Communist Lieutenant Colenol Liu Chaoying. Kerry intervened with the SEC on Liu�s behalf, and Chung returned the favor by raising $10,000 for Kerry�s nip-and-tuck 1996 re-election campaign. Report: Newsmax
U.S. READY TO TRY AGAIN ON ANTI-PRC UN HUMAN RIGHTS RESOLUTION
The United States will try again to pass a resolution in the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights criticizing Communist China�s abhorrent human rights record. The U.S. returns to the PRC-criticism business after �a two-year hiatus� (Washington Times).
NBA COACH TO LEAD COMMUNIST CHINA�S OLYMPIC TEAM
Dallas Mavericks Assistant Coach Del Harris will coach Communist China�s Olympic team, led by Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, this summer. The outrage at Harris� move has been muted, due in no small part to his� lackluster history as an NBA head coach. Report: ESPN
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINESE PRESS FURIOUS ABOUT DEAD ESCAPEES, BUT BLAMES THEM
The PRC press is raging at the death of escapees in Britain during a cockle fishing expedition in Morecambe Bay. The escapees were apparently working for an unlicensed work group, leaving a number of targets against which the Communists could score rhetorical points.
However, the PRC mouthpiece People�s Daily aimed squarely for the escapees themselves: �Their complete disregard for national laws and international repercussions has not only brought harm to the country's prestige, but has also thrown away their own lives� (BBC).
COMMUNIST CHINA BECOMING �MAJOR PLAYER� IN AFRICA
Communist China �has emerged as a major player in African politics� (Washington Times). The Communists have done so with �development aid . . . with no strings attached� and �appeals for developing world solidarity.� They are looking for �access to vital raw materials� and �African support for its claim that Taiwan is a renegade province.�
It should be noted that Africa is home to a number of nations that continue to hold diplomatic relations with Taiwan, not Communist China.
WEI JINGSHENG VISITS EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, UN SECRETARY GENERAL
Wei Jingsheng, one of the longest active dissidents from the PRC, met with United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan while visiting the European Parliament last week. Wei noted: �a democratic China is in the best interests of world peace, and a strong Communist Chinese military is a direct threat to the human race� (China Support Network).
EVEN BRITAIN IS LOSING JOBS TO COMMUNIST CHINA
The United States is not alone in losing jobs to Communist China. Lite-On Limited, operating out of the United Kingdom, is �moving production to China in an effort to reduce costs� (BBC). Seventy jobs were sent to the PRC in the move.
COMMUNIST CHINA HALTS OIL EXPORTS TO JAPAN
Communist China has stopped oil exports from its Daqing field to Japan due to �increasing demand for energy in China� (Washington Times, second item). Some of Japan�s power companies were �major users of Daqing crude.� However, substitutes from �Indonesia and western Africa� means the customers will not suffer greatly.
NEWS FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR
HENAN REBECCA DENIES USING PRACTITIONERS AS SLAVE LABOR
Henan Rebecca, a PRC-owned hair product company that does business as Shake-N-Go Hair and Royal Imex, Inc., denied that it used Falun Gong slave labor to make its products. The �purchase� of the practitioners for labor by the camps, which contracted the labor out to Henan Rebecca, was first exposed in the last Update. Report: Epoch Times
PRACTITIONER STOPPED FROM LEAVING, THROWN IN JAIL, AND LEFT HOMELESS
Falun Gong practitioner Qian Li was ready to leave Communist China to be with her boyfriend in Utah, until Communist police decided instead to throw her in jail for two months because her bank account had received money from friends abroad. She is now �free,� but is still stuck in the PRC with neither a home nor a passport. Report: Epoch Times
MOVEMENT PROPOSES ADDING COMMUNISTS TO CANADIAN WAR CRIMES LIST
The Falun Dafa Association of Canada has proposed to add the names of 30 cadres to the 15 already on a list for war crimes due to their actions against the spiritual movement in Communist China. Under Canadian law, those on the war crimes list, which includes Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin cannot enter the country. Report: Epoch Times
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
DU DAOBIN CHARGED WITH SUBVERSION
Du Daobin, internet activist and Epoch Times columnist in jail since October (see 11/12/03 Update), now faces formal Communist charges of �subversion� (BBC), the most common PRC anti-dissident catch-all charge this side of �stealing state secrets.�
LAWYER FOR EVICTED SHANGHAI RESIDENTS SUFFERING HEALTH PROBLEMS IN JAIL
Zhong Enchong, the attorney for several residents in Shanghai who were thrown out of their homes to allow for development by corrupt �private� developer (see 6/4/03, 6/11/03, 6/18/03, 10/29/03, 11/26/03, and 12/31/03 Updates), is now suffering serious health problems, including a speech impediment (Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times).
EVEN LOCAL CADRES ARE MANHANDLED BY COMMUNIST POLICE
Communist Chinese police burst into Wu Lihua�s hotel room in Jilin province, �dragged her into the hallway, leaving her with cuts and bruises, then threw her on the ground wearing nothing but her underwear, and filmed her with a video camera� (RFA via Epoch Times). This despite the fact that Wu is a deputy county chief; she is now suing the local police.
EPIDEMIC NEWS
COMMUNISTS SEND 76 CADRES TO LIVE IN HENAN AIDS VILLAGES
The PRC �is sending 76 officials to live in villages stricken by Aids� (BBC) in Henan province. It is the first recognition that something went wrong during the 1980s-1990s unhygienic blood drive that infected one million with AIDS in Henan (see 9/4/02 and 9/25/02 Updates).
INTERNET FIREWALL BLOCKS �TOLERANCE�, �JIANG�, AND �PRIVATE PROPERTY�
So how free is the internet in Communist China? Not nearly free enough; an unnamed Canadian told the Epoch Times how an article he sent to friends in the PRC were blocked due to containing the words: �Jiang� (surname of the Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin), �tolerance�, and �private property.�
�FREEDOM� GETS REFRIGERATOR AD BANNED
A young man shouted, �I want freedom!� on Communist-run Chinese Central Television (CCTV). It was in the middle of a refrigerator ad. That still wasn�t good enough for the PRC censors, who demanded the ad be pulled; CCTV meekly complied. Report: Epoch Times
CORRUPTION NEWS
ANHUI CADRE EXECUTED FOR TAKING BRIBES
Communist China executed Wang Huaizhong, the former Lieutenant Governor of Anhui Province, for �taking a total of 5.2 million yuan ($630,000)� (Epoch Times) in bribes. The bribers had their real estate development fee waived.
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA STILL LOOKING FOR RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Communist China is still searching for the missing radioactive Cesium-137, which can explode in water and has made some handlers of it go sterile (Epoch Times). The Cesium went missing sometime last week (see last Update).
THREE GORGES DAM TO DISPLACE ANOTHER 100,000 THIS YEAR, 1.1 MILLION IN TOTAL
The corruption-riddled and cracked Three Gorges Dam (see 9/20/00, 12/5/01, and 6/18/03 Updates) will force 100,000 people to leave their homes this year, on its way to displacing 1.1 million by 2009 (Voice of America via Epoch Times). The dam, brainchild of Tiananmen butcher Li Peng, has been an ecological, and demographic disaster.
ANOTHER RIVER IS DRYING UP
The Li River has joined the list of waterways in Communist China in danger of becoming dry gulches thanks to rampant overdevelopment � and the resultant pollution � that no free market would allow. Report: Epoch Times
COMMUNIST CHINA PUSHING FOR CREDIT CLAMPDOWN
Part of the banking reform pushed by Communist Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao includes plans �to curb the state-owned banks arbitrarily giving out loans to the steel, aluminum, concrete and car manufacturing industries� (VOA via Epoch Times). A number of those loans go �bad,� i.e., the borrowers can no longer afford to pay.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
COMMUNIST MILITARY JOINS IN �ANTI-CHEN CRUSADE�
Communist Chinese Defense Minister General Cao Gangchuan publicly ripped ROC President Chen Shui-bian and what he called �separatist activities� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN) on the island democracy. Cao stopped short of explicit threats, but the Communist military has moved �more weapons, troops and provisions . . . into the "frontline" provinces.�
Those would be of Fujian and Zhejiang, the provinces just across the Taiwan Strait from island democracy. Cao was fixated on Taiwan�s two-part referendum: one question on missile defense, the other on diplomacy with the PRC. The referendum will take place on the same day as its Presidential election, March 20.
CHEN SHUI-BIAN AND LIEN CHAN HOLD PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE
President Chen Shui-bian and his lead opponent, Nationalist Lien Chan, held �the nation's first TV election debate� (BBC) on Sunday. The referendum was a major issue. Lien ripped it, while Chen defended it as �the right choice to safeguard peace and democracy.�
Lien is running on a joint ticket with James Soong, an ex-Nationalist who now leads the People First Party. Both parties, called the �pan-blue� ticket, have moved closer to the PRC since Chen, a Democratic Progressive, defeated them in 2000. The last Nationalist President, anti-Communist Lee Teng-hui, has defected support to Chen�s �pan-green� ticket.
CHEN AGAIN JUNKS �ONE CHINA�
President Chen also held an interview with Time Asia, during which he flatly rejected �one China,� likening it to �one country, two systems� � the Communists� designation for their growing control over Hong Kong. While he also refused to rule out a future reunification, don�t expect the Communists to be any nicer towards him.
AS REFERENDUM APPROACHES, TAIWAN WORKS TO PREVENT COMMUNIST �MEDDLING�
With just over one month to go until the March 20 presidential election and referenda, authorities in the island democracy �will heighten their alert levels to fend off any type of irregularities involved in the historic referendum, particularly those schemed up by the Chinese communists� (Central News Agency, Taiwan, via Epoch Times).
CASE OF CHEN YOU-HAO GOES TO COURT, SORT OF
The matter of Chen You-hao, a wanted Taiwanese fugitive hiding in the PRC and accusing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party of corruption (see last Update), is in court. James Soong, head of the People First Party and candidate for Vice President on the anti-DPP �pan blue� ticket, faces charges of libel for repeating Chen�s charges (CNA via Epoch Times).
FALUN GONG TO APPEAL TAIWANESE COURT�S DISMISSAL OF SUIT AGAINST JIANG ZEMIN
A Taiwanese Superior Court threw out a lawsuit by seven Falun Gong practitioners against PRC Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin for his authorship of the crackdown against the movement. The practitioners are appealing the decision (Epoch Times).
HONG KONG NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA CONTINUES TO FEAR PRO-DEMOCRACY FORCES IN HONG KONG
Communist China is still deathly afraid of the people of Hong Kong and their desire for true democracy. The PRC has even reached for the �patriotic� card, claiming that their swift trashing of any moves toward a more democratic city (see last Update) was to prevent �Hong Kong independence� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN). Also reporting: Cybercast News
No news was reported from Tibet this week.
Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it via our home page.
Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it Anyonewho 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.