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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: MAY 19, 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: COMMUNIST CHINA MAY SET TAIWAN INVASION TIMETABLE
�REUNIFICATION� LAW MAY FORCE FUTURE COMMUNISTS TO USE MILITARY
�The sword is out of its scabbard.� This is how CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam began his piece on Communist China�s new plan for �a statute on reunification� that the People�s Republic has been considering for over a year. One version of the law �would obligate the central government to �use whatever means to accomplish the holy task of national reunification.��
Ominously, that �obligation,� which �could be endorsed by the Chinese legislature as early as the next northern spring� would have a set-in-stone deadline, and become �nothing less than an ultimatum for Taiwan's �splittists,�� i.e., those who support re-elected President Chen Shui-bian, who begins his second term tomorrow.
The PRC has decided, �given China's fast-rising economic, military and diplomatic clout, it can afford to risk limited American intervention in the Taiwan Strait theater.� Furthermore, �with the U.S. bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan in the foreseeable future, there is only so much Washington could do to blunt a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.�
Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
The PRC had already lobbed its usual demand that Taiwan accept �one China,� threatening �destruction� (BBC) if the island democracy continued its �dangerous lurch toward independence� (Washington Post). The PRC blasted Chen personally, calling his record �one of broken promises and bad faith.�
The United States took the unusual step of responding to the Communists threats, calling them �unhelpful� (Cybercast News), and repeating �our commitment to fulfill our obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act.� Sadly, there were also warnings issued to Taiwan, in this case against any move �that would change the status quo.� Sigh.
For its part, Taiwan held about another olive branch. Joseph Wu, soon to be the head of the Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, �says the island's government plans new efforts to smooth relations with China� (Voice of America via Epoch Times, HK).
�One China� effectively says Communist China is the sole sovereign ruler over Taiwan, something that has never, ever been true. The personal attack on Chen made it clear Communist China will continue to attack him and his supporters. This brilliant policy has led to increases in Taiwanese support for Chen�s �pan-green� coalition in every election.
Now, the Communists appear to have decided to go straight to the military card. There are over 500 PRC missiles pointed at Taiwan, and earlier analyses set the date of Communist China tipping the cross-strait military balance it its favor at 2005, as in next year (see 3/7/01 and 7/24/02 Updates).
OTHER REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
RECOUNT ALMOST DONE; 34,000 BALLOTS DISPUTED
Taiwan�s nearly complete election recount has produced 34,000 disputed ballots, just over the 30,000 margin of victory for President Chen Shui-bian. Unless over 94% of the disputed ballots were for defeated �pan-blue� candidate Lien Chan, Chen�s victory has been confirmed. He will begin his second term on Inauguration Day, tomorrow. Report: BBC
NATIONALISTS AND PEOPLE FIRST TO MERGE
Meanwhile, the two parties that supported Lien � the Nationalist and People First Parties � are formally merging to end a four-year split. The merger won�t solve the �pan-blues� bigger problem � increasing anger from Taiwanese voters over their warming to Communist China as a political ploy to isolate Chen. Reports: BBC, Voice of America via Epoch Times
THREE HELD IN SHOOTING INVESTIGATION
Meanwhile, police in Kaohsiung �are questioning three people� (BBC) in regard to the election-eve shooting of President Chen. They are the first arrests to come form the shooting. A slew of pan-blue supporters, including Lien himself, accused Chen of staging the shooting to win the election (see 3/24 and 4/7 Updates).
TAIWAN UNEMPLOYMENT FALLING
While unemployment is rising in Communist China (see Other Mainland News), it is falling in Taiwan, to 4.45%. Unlike the PRC number, Taiwan�s unemployment rate covers the entire country. Report: Epoch Times
U.S. SUPPORTS WHO BID FOR TAIWAN, BUT IT�S NOT ENOUGH
Taiwan�s bid for observer status in the World Health Organization fell short again. The bid failed despite support, however weak, from the United States. The European Union sided with Communist China (Cybercast News). Taiwan said the move could �worsen tense relations between Beijing and Taipei� (Voice of America via Epoch Times).
THE VELVET CRACKDOWN: HONG KONG NEWS
COMMUNISTS AND THEIR TYCOON BUDDIES PRESSURING VOTERS
As the city prepares to elect 30 members of the Legislative Council (the other 30 are Communist-appointed), pro-democracy activist Christine Loh told the BBC that at least one company �had asked employees to vote for pro-Beijing candidates, and to use cameras in their mobile phones to photograph their ballot papers to prove they had done so.�
If true, it reveals how �pro-China elements in Hong Kong and on the mainland will do almost anything to undermine pro-democracy parties,� including threatening workers with their jobs unless they �prove� they voted the right way.
COMMUNIST SYMPATHIZERS MUSCLING IN ON HONG KONG TALK RADIO . . .
Two independent talk radio hosts in Hong Kong have left the business � and one left the city entirely � due in no small part to pressure from Communist Chinese supporters. Albert Cheng specifically cited �death threats� (BBC) as the reason for his departure. Raymond Wong said he was tired, but has been bullied around by pro-PRC businessmen.
. . . AS HONG KONG DELEGATE TO PRC PARLIAMENT QUITS
The velvet crackdown against Hong Kong has also led to the resignation of Allen Lee, a Hong Kong delegate to the Communist Parliament. Lee also quit from his radio program, which he inherited from the aforementioned Raymond Wong, citing, �an inability to express himself freely� (BBC).
No news was reported on Tibet this week.
NORTH KOREA NEWS
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SIX-PARTY TALKS END; LIGHT WATER REACTORS BACK ON THE TABLE
As mid-level round of talks among the six nations involved in two earlier rounds of North Korean nuclear weapons took began last week in Beijing (BBC), Communist Chinese mouthpiece Liu Jianchao admitted to �some major disagreements� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). North Korea called some U.S. demands �humiliating.�
However, the U.S. offered one huge concession � two light-water nuclear reactors left unfinished could be completed as part of a deal (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). So far, the only thing the three rounds of talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons have produced are American concessions (see 3/3 Update).
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
JAMES SMITH ADMITS TO KATRINA LEUNG AFFAIR, WILL COOPERATE WITH PROSECUTORS
Retired FBI agent James Smith pled guilty to lying to the FBI about his affair with Katrina Leung, an alleged double agent for the PRC. Smith, who was Leung�s FBI handler, will be sentenced in January; he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors against Leung, �which could include testifying against her if she is tried next year� (Washington Post).
Leung, also known as �Parlor Maid,� was also a major fundraiser for the California Republican Party, and �quickly became one of the intelligence community's most valued Chinese assets, one with contacts in the top ranks of the Chinese government.� The FBI �has been trying to assess what influence she may have had on Chinese espionage cases.�
According to earlier reports (see 4/16/03, 4/23/03, 4/30/03, 5/7/03, and 5/14/03 Updates), she may have stymied U.S. counterintelligence operations against the Communist China going back two decades.
YANG JIANLI SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN PRISON FOR �SPYING�
Yang Jianli, the exiled dissident arrested when he returned to Communist China to help labor protestors in the northeast (see 3/13/02, 3/20/02, 5/1/02, and 7/3/02 Updates), was sentenced to five years in prison for �spying for Taiwan� (BBC).
Yang was held in a Communist prison for over a year before he was tried, and nearly nine months afterward, both violations of the PRC� own rules. He �will not receive credit for time served� (CNN). Also reporting: China Support Network, Washington Post
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
JAPAN PLANNING FOR ATTACK FROM COMMUNIST CHINA
Japan�s Defense Ministry �has drawn up a plan to deploy 7,200 ground troops to Japan's southernmost islands in the event of a military conflict between China and Taiwan to prevent China from invading them� (Washington Times). Japan believes the PRC may seize the islands �to block joint support operations for Taiwan by Japan and the United States.�
KAZAKHSTAN AGREES TO COMMUNIST CHINESE OIL PIPELINE
Kazakhstan �signed a deal to build a 1,240-km oil pipeline� (BBC) to the Communist China. The pipeline would at least in part make up for the loss of Russian oil after a Moscow-Beijing pipeline fell through (see 7/16/03, 2/25, and 4/7 Updates).
EUROPEAN OIL FIRMS POUR MONEY INTO COMMUNIST CHINA
BP and Shell have plans to invest money into Communist China. The British BP signed deals totaling $1 billion with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp. and PetroChina. Shell �announced a $200 million deal with China Petroleum and Chemical Corp� (Epoch Times).
BJP BOUNCED IN INDIA
In a major upset, the Congress Party has ousted the Bharatiya Janata Party, of Atal Bahari Vajpayee. Vajpayee�s government moved closer to Washington, and had called Communist China as India�s main threat. Congress leaders �have been critical of the BJP's closeness to Washington� (Washington Post).
However, Congress was in power during the 1962 border war with Communist China, and the party leaned toward the Soviets as the U.S. and the PRC grew closer in the 1970s. The U.S., for its part, said through a State Department spokesperson that �we look forward to continuing (close) relations� (Washington Times). Also reporting: CNN
VIETNAM TO RENOVATE AIRPORT IN SPRATLYS
Vietnam �has started renovating an old airport on the highly-disputed Spratly islands� (BBC). Communist China claims all of the Spratly Islands, and the two regimes have already been involved in skirmishes over territorial claims in 1979 and 1988.
NEWS FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR
WORLD FALUN DAFA DAY CELEBRATED
Falun Gong practitioners �from San Diego, USA to Melbourne, Australia� (World Watch News Service via Epoch Times) celebrated World Falun Dafa Day on Thursday (Falun Dafa is the Chinese translation of Falun Gong). The only place without celebration was, naturally, Communist China, where the brutal crackdown against the spiritual movement continues.
VAN TOUR HIGHLIGHTING PERSECUTION LAUNCHES FROM CALIFORNIA
A cross-country van tour to �bring attention to the plight of Falun Gong practitioners in China and to a class-action lawsuit filed against former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin� (Epoch Times), left San Francisco for Chicago this week. It will re-enact torture committed by the Communists �at each stop in cities along the way to Chicago.�
TEENAGERS BEGIN BIKE RIDE FOR PERSECUTED CHILDREN
Also headed for Chicago are teenagers on a 700-mile bicycle ride from Washington, DC, in support of children whose parents have suffered under the Communist crackdown on Falun Gong. The �Pedals of Peace� bicycle ride was given a send-off letter by Virginia Governor Mark Warner (Democrat). Report: Epoch Times
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
BANNED ON COMMUNIST TV: WESTERN WORDS, HAIR DYE, AND �QUEER DRESSING�
Communist China has told its television presenters �to stop dyeing their hair, exposing too much flesh and using English words� (Guardian, UK). The new edict is designed, in the words of a Shanghai cadre �to reduce the negative impact of queer dressing and behaviour (UK sp) on youngsters.�
EPIDEMIC NEWS
FORMER HENAN CHIEF NOW CONSIDERS BUDDHA EMBARRASSING IN MIDST OF AIDS
When Li Changchun, party boss for Henan Province during the Henan blood drive that infected one million with AIDS (see 9/4/02 and 9/25/02 Updates), decided to construct a 150-foot-plus high Buddha, it must have sounded like a great idea. However, the exhibit has now fallen down the memory hole, completely ignored by the Party (Time Asia).
Why? �Li may have realized that his earlier decision to sign off on a $24 million Buddha when many of the province's rural inhabitants were so poor they resorted to selling their own blood might make for bad press.� You�re kidding!
Li, by the way, went on take the top party post in Guangdong, presiding over the $12 billion tax evasion scandal, and is now head of party propaganda and a member of the Politburo Standing Committee (see 1/3/01, 1/17/01, and 11/20/02 Updates).
WHO SAYS SARS �CONTAINED� IN PRC
The World Health Organization now says SARS is �contained� (BBC) in Communist China. However, �The WHO said it still did not know exactly how the latest outbreak began.� SARS first hit the PRC in late 2002; as the Communists covered it up, the disease spread around the world (see 3/19/03, 3/26/03, 4/2/03, 4/9/03, 4/16/03, and 4/23/03 Updates).
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
ACID RAIN COSTING COMMUNIST CHINA $12 BILLION A YEAR
Communist China has suffered �financial losses in excess of 100 billion yuan (US$12 billion)� (Epoch Times) due to acid rain, according to the PRC State Environmental Protection Administration. Academics had earlier recorded even heavier losses, of over 2% of Communist China�s Gross Domestic Product (see 4/7 Update).
COMMUNIST BANKING REGULATOR TO BANKS: SUE BAD DEBTORS
Communist China�s top bank regulator called for the banks under his eye to �sue the firms and people whose bad debts are destabilizing (UK sp) the banking system� (BBC). Don�t hold your breath: �Most of the defaulting debtors are state firms - and some are senior individuals in China's hierarchy and their families.�
Meanwhile, the banking system is in such bad shape that the $45 billion sent to two PRC-owned banks � the Bank of China and the China Construction Bank (see 1/7 Update) � will not be enough: �Another $65bn could be on the way to bail out the banks.�
PRC INFLATION HITS SEVEN YEAR HIGH; UNEMPLOYMENT ALSO UP . . .
Inflation in Communist China is now at a seven-year high of 3.8%, leading to more talk of cooling down Communist China�s supposedly red-hot economy (BBC). Unemployment also rose in the PRC � to 4.3% (Central News Agency, Taiwan, via Epoch Times). That number is for urban areas only, bypassing the impoverished rural interior.
. . . BUT COMMUNISTS INSIST ECONOMY IS HEADED FOR SOFT LANDING
Despite the above numbers, Communist China insisted that its attempts to slow the economy down without causing major disruption �is working� (BBC). How true that actually is remains to be seen.
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