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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: MARCH 19, 2003
The Week�s Links is back on normal schedule; it�s going out on Friday, March 21, 2003.
TOP STORY: HU JINTAO TAKES TITLE OF PRC PRESIDENT; JIANG KEEPS CMC CHAIR
JIANG HAS BOTH PARTY AND �STATE� CENTRAL MILITARY COMMISSION CHAIRS
Meet the new boss. Communist China�s legislature �elected� Hu Jintao � the current Communist party boss � as the new President of the so-called People�s Republic over the weekend. It was the second post Hu took over from Jiang Zemin (see 11/20/02 Update), and just as in November when Hu became party chief, doubts of his real power are legion. Reports: BBC 3/15
Same as the old boss. The reason for that skepticism: Jiang is not leaving his posts in the dual Central Military Commissions (the party and the �states� each have a CMC). Jiang kept the chairs of both committees, ensuring he remains the ultimate authority on military and foreign policy matters, and still �outranks (Hu) in the party hierarchy� (Washington Post). Also reporting: Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN
In other appointments, Wen Jiabao, the only prot�g� of Zhu Rongji to land a spot on the Politburo Standing Committee � the supposed �reformer� among the Communists � succeeded him as Prime Minister, according to the CNN. The post of Vice President, the one Hu himself used as a stepping stone to power, went to top Jiang prot�g� Zeng Qinghong (BBC 3/16).
Communist general Cao Gangchuan, who �has been involved in China's space programme (UK sp)� (BBC 3/17), landed the post of defense minister, which may be a critical symbol of the PRC�s priorities.
NEW PRIME MINISTER MEETS THE MEDIA, PUSHES ECONOMIC EXPANSION
Wen met the media a few days after his appointment, and vowed to continue the supposedly rapid economic growth of the PRC. Wen also included a surprising pledge to give �private� enterprises �equal treatment in areas including market penetration, taxes, loans, import and export, and others� (BBC-1). In nearly all cases, Communist higher-ups or their closest friends own the �private� enterprises in the PRC.
Wen also paid lip service to �the problems facing farmers . . . the laid-off and unemployed workers� (BBC-2) in the impoverished, and seething, rural interior. Also reporting: London Daily Telegraph via Washington Times, Washington Post
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR
COMMUNIST CHINA SOLD �DUAL-USE� MISSILE FUEL CHEMICAL TO IRAQ
Communist China sold a chemical called hydroxy terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), to Iraq, with help from the French firm CIS Paris and delivery through Syria. The HTPB, a component of missile fuel, was �sent by truck from Syria into Iraq to a missile-manufacturing plant� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times).
Unnamed U.S. officials told Gertz the chemical �was purchased by the company in charge of making solid missile fuel for long-range missiles.� It should be noted that Communist China also helped integrate Iraq�s air defense system in 2001 and tried to sell the Ba�athist regime missile-launching patrol craft last year (see 2/21/01, 2/28/01, 3/7/01, 3/14/01, 3/21/01, and 12/18/02 Updates).
COMMUNIST CHINA CONTINUES OPPOSITION TO IRAQ WAR
Meanwhile, Communist China�s new PM (Wen) and Foreign Minister (Li Zhaoxing) called on the U.S. not to engage in military conflict with the Ba�athist regime of Saddam Hussein (CNN, Newsmax, Washington Post � 3/18). PRC President Hu Jintao then told President Bush, �On the Iraq issue, China always advocates a political solution in the framework of the United Nations� (Washington Post � 3/19).
For news on East Turkestan, see International News.
Check out these stories and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
NORTH KOREA NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA DETERMINED TO STOP U.S. ACTION AGAINST NORTH KOREA
As the world focuses on Iraq, Communist China is keeping an eye on its long-time ally, North Korea, according to Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN. The Communists are certain don�t want the United States to touch the Stalinist regime; they are now contemplating how to stop the U.S. � either through diplomatic means or through military aid to the Stalinist regime against a possible American military strike.
Lam reports that the Communists are convinced that the U.S. will �use tough tactics against the Kim Jong-il regime � perhaps including military means to take out its nuclear and weapons-manufacturing facilities � as early as July.� So far, the big two (Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin), have reacted by keeping the issue away from the United Nations (see below), and push the U.S. towards bilateral talks.
Meanwhile, the Communist Chinese military, which Jiang heads, is pushing tougher tactics, including �urging the leadership to accede to Kim's demands for help against possible U.S. attacks.� Given that Jiang in particular owes the military his job, and that Hu will need them to help ease Jiang out in later years, the PLA may have a stronger hand than even Lam realizes.
Communist China and Stalinist North Korea have been allies for over 50 years, and throughout this piece, Lam made clear the PRC, in particular its so-called People�s Liberation Army, sees the North �as an indispensable buffer against the U.S. and its allies in Asia such as Japan.�
COMMUNIST CHINA BLOCKING SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNATION OF NORTH KOREA
OK, who didn�t see this coming? According to the Daily Times (from PRC ally Pakistan, of all places), Communist China is holding up efforts by the U.S., U.K., and France to have the United Nations Security Council condemn North Korea�s nuclear ambitions. The PRC is instead insisting upon direct talks between the U.S. and its fifty-plus-year ally.
For the latest on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
PRC FOREIGN POLICY LIKELY TO BECOME MORE ANTI-AMERICAN
Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, reports that Communist China�s news crop of foreign policy officials chosen by the Communist legislature �are likely to take a tougher stance in such major arenas as Sino-U.S. relations, the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula, diplomatic sources say.�
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
COMMUNISTS SHUT DOWN NEWSPAPER AFTER IT PRINTS CALL FOR POLITICAL REFORM
About two weeks ago, 21st Century World Herald, a weekly newspaper in Guangdong province, published a column from Li Rui � Chairman Mao�s personal secretary. Li criticized his late boss, and the successors to him, for not pushing political reform (i.e., democracy). Last week, the Communists gave Li their response � they shut the newspaper down. Report: Washington Post
U.S. BRINGING UP YANG JIANLI CASE �ON WEEKLY BASIS�
One of the side-benefits of Jay Nordlinger�s columns in National Review Online, is that the case of Yang Jianli (Jay �westernizes� his name, putting his surname last in his columns) is tracked almost daily. In the latest news, Representative Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-Florida) heard from the U.S. State Department that �we have raised Mr. Yang's case publicly and privately on almost a weekly basis� (second bullet).
Yang Jianli was an exiled dissident who re-entered Communist China last year in order to help labor protests in the northeast PRC. The Communists arrested him last spring, but have refused to tell anyone, including his attorney, where he is. His family has started a web site to highlight his case (see 3/13/02, 3/20/02, 5/1/02, 7/3/02, and last Updates).
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
COMMUNISTS KEPT SILENT ON NEW FLU OUTBREAK �FOR MONTHS�
A new, deadly strain of influenza is circling the globe, leaving doctors and governments scrambling to contain and defeat it. The source of the new illness was the PRC, but you wouldn�t know it from the Communist media, which �hid (the) mysterious illness that raged there for months� (New York Post).
How many lives this silence will cost is not yet known, and may not be for some time; already over 100 have died in Hong Kong, according to the BBC. Meanwhile, even as the disease spreads throughout Asia and North America, the PRC told its media �not to publish the warning until the end of the annual session of China's legislature� (Washington Post). This was the only news from Hong Kong this week.
JIA QINGLIN FORMALLY WINS CPPPC POST
In the first of the foregone conclusion appointments by the Communist legislature, Jia Qinglin, a member of Central Military Commissions Chairman Jiang Zemin�s Shanghai faction, won the post of chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference last week. Jia had been set for the post since last November (see 11/6/02 Update). Report: BBC
For those interested in the PRC�s supposed fight against corruption, it should be noted that Jia was the Communist Party chief in Fujian province during the multi-billion dollar Xiamen smuggling scandal (see 8/16/00, 9/13/00, and 11/8/00 Updates).
COMMUNISTS TO CUT BACK RURAL OFFICIALS, MAYBE
Communist China is looking to cut �many layers of provincial government� (BBC) in rural areas, in part to ease the excessive tax burden on the impoverished interior. The exact plan of action, however, is not known, just a �vague� statement by the Communist agriculture ministry.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
EU FOREIGN MINISTERS TO PUSH COMMUNIST CHINA ON HUMAN RIGHTS
European Union foreign ministers �expressed concern about China's human rights record� (BBC), while they met in Brussels. The EU Ministers announced they would push the PRC on executions, torture, and the treatment of Tibetans and Uighurs in East Turkestan. However, as one can see in Republic of China (Taiwan) News, the EU FMs were not perfect in their dealings with Communist China.
This was the only news on Tibet reported this week.
VOLKSWAGEN EXPANDING ITS JOINT VENTURE WITH PRC FIRM
Volkswagen is looking to �open a second factory in China� (BBC) as part of its joint venture with the Communist First Automotive Works. They�re still deciding where to build the second plant.
PRC OPENING UP ADDRESS NAMES ON INTERNET
Communist China is allowing foreigners to register �.cn� cites, i.e., cites on the Communists version of the web. However, this does not change the reality of the PRC web, where �the internet is censored and online access is heavily policed� (BBC).
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
PRESIDENT CHEN SHUI-BIAN�S INVITATION TO EP BLOCKED BY EU FOREIGN MINISTERS
An invitation from members of the European Parliament to ROC President Chen Shui-bian did not survive the scrutiny of EU Foreign Ministers, who were more worried about keeping the PRC happy � i.e., nixing �a breach of our One China policy� (Financial Times, UK) � than about the democratically elected Chen. Link Courtesy Andrew Stuttaford, National Review Online, Member since 2002
No news from Hong Kong was reported this week.
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