| Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the decision of the International Olympic Committee awarding Beijing the 2008 Olympic Games, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those Games. Those who wish to e-sign the petition can do so at the following page (part of the China e-Lobby web site). CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: AUGUST 22, 2001 TOP STORY: COMMUNIST CRACKDOWN ON RELIGION GETS �WORSE AND BOLDER� CHRISTIANS, TIBETAN BUDDHISTS, AND FALUN GONG PRACTITIONERS ARE THE VICITIMS Those were the words of Joseph Kung, head of the Cardinal Kung Foundation, to the Cybercast News Service last week. The Kung Foundation tracks persecution of Catholics in Communist China. Kung noted the arrests of Bishops Mathias Pei and Shi Enxiang, and said supporting the Vatican over the Communist-run �Patriotic� Church means �an automatic sentence of three years in a labor camp.� Link: Cybercast News Service Catholics are not the only victims. Holly Hursh, head of International Christian Concern, noted that Protestants, whose persecution she tracks, are suffering as well. She said the treatment of Christians and others �doesn't seem like it's getting any better.� She also noted, �The idea that things would get better after we granted them permanent normal trade relations doesn't seem to be the case.� Meanwhile, Beijing�s crackdown on Tibetan Buddhism is expanding into neighboring Sichuan province with the destruction of the Serthar religious retreat in Larung Gar and the expulsion of its leader Khenpo Jigme Phuntsog. The Tibet Information Network reported that homes at the retreat �have been burned to the ground� and �monks and nuns have been sent away with threats of arrest should they return.� Links: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, BBC, Washington Post Additionally, the People�s Republic of China�s �Falun Gong War� escalated yet again last week as it sent nearly 50 practitioners to prison for distributing literature, organizing protests, and for some, allegedly helping five protestors who set themselves aflame in Tiananmen Square last January. The sentences are part and parcel of Communist China�s �obsession� with the spiritual movement. Link: CNN Forty-five were sent to prison for making banners and pamphlets, and arranging meeting halls. The Communists also convicted four supposed members of Falun Gong of aiding the self-immolation. The spiritual movement, banned in the PRC and suffering a brutal Communist crackdown since July 1999, repeated its denial of any involvement in the suicide, an act forbidden in Falun Gong. Links: BBC, CNN Meanwhile, CNN, citing the movement, reported the death of follower Zeng Xiane while in police custody. The Communist police cremated Zeng�s body � against the family�s wishes � before an autopsy could occur. In the Changlinzli labor camp, some members were released after they had served their sentences, but only after 70 followers staged a hunger strike to protest their post-sentence imprisonment. Link: CNN HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS HUANG QI CONVICTED OF SUBVERSION A Communist court convicted Haung Qi of subversion last week. Haung operated a web site dedicated to help families find relatives from the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests who were missing. As it became a haven for pro-democracy supporters and other dissidents, the Communists arrested him. The Communists� determination to get Huang has gone so far as to block his son from a decent education, according to his wife. Zeng Li said a Communist official told her, �After your husband is sentenced, don't expect your son to go to school or to have any future.� As a result, Zeng is now planning to put the child up for adoption to help him avoid the Communists� wrath. Link: Cybercast News Service LI PENG PUSHES FOR RESOLUTION BACKING TIANANMEN MASSACRE Ex-Prime Minister Li Peng, the butcher of Tiananmen Square, pushed for a resolution in the upcoming Communist Party congress declaring the party will never re-examine its labeling of the Tiananmen Square protests as �a counter-revolutionary turmoil.� Li is now the second-highest ranking Communist, and rumors have him angling for the position of President at next year�s massive reshuffle. Link: CNN SIX OFFICIALS HEADED TO JAIL OVER MUSLIM DEATHS Six Communist officials were convicted of unspecified charges for their role in the police shooting of Hui Muslims in a protest in Shandong province last winter. Six Muslims died in the shooting spree. Link: BBC OLYMPIC NEWS: REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS LAUNCHES BOYCOTT PETITION We�re not alone anymore. Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) has launched an international petition for a boycott of the 2008 Communist Chinese Olympic Games. RSF spokesperson Vincent Brossel specifically cited the 1980 Moscow Olympics as precedent. Links: Cybercast News Service, RSF Boycott Petition OTHER MAINLAND NEWS COMMUNIST MEETING IN BEIDAIHE BREAKS UP The annual gathering of top Communists in Beihaide � the last one before the current crop of leaders is supposed to retire � ended with no agreement on who will take the reins. The party is determined to maintain �unity,� and �stability,� a fervent wish of President Jiang Zemin, who is trying to muzzle hard-liners angry at his proposal to let businessmen into the party, according to CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam. Link: CNN � Lam In an interesting development, the hard-line �leftist� resistance to Jiang may provide an opening for liberal �rightists.� Lam noted the latter group is pushing for political reform and better treatment of its faction. The intriguing part of this is that Lam reported this included Zhao Ziyang, the former CCP chief who was placed under house arrest for sympathizing with the Tiananmen Square protestors in 1989. Link: CNN � Lam THE LATEST COMMUNIST APPOINTMENTS: CHILDREN AND THE DEAD Communist China�s personnel minister is letting out news of yet another major corruption scandal in the party � widespread patronage. In addition to civil-service exam cheating and appointments of relatives and mistresses, Communist-run media noted that two dramatic instances in which a five-year-old child and a man dead twenty years were still getting paychecks from the PRC. Link: BBC COMMUNISTS DROP WORK PERMIT SCHEME IN ATTEMPT TO AVOID MASS UNEMPLOYMENT As massive unemployment looms due to the continued collapse of state-run enterprises, Communist China dropped its policy of forcing its people to work only in the areas in which they live. The hope is that the coastal, urban economy will grow enough to alleviate the mass poverty of the rural interior, which in reality has already taken hold and is very likely to get far worse. Links: BBC, CNN AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS EX-AMBASSADOR TO PRC SAYS �RISING CHINA IS OK� AND �NOT REALLY� A THREAT Yikes! Retired Admiral Joseph Preuher, U.S. Ambassador to Communist China under President Clinton and briefly President Bush II, said last week the �rising China is OK� and �not really� a military threat. His words were noted by Frank Gaffney, Jr. � who puts forth a decidedly more skeptical view on the subject in the Washington Times. Link: Washington Times EP-3E INCIDENT PART OF LARGER �INFORMATION WAR� MSNBC used the above term to describe the intensifying competition between the U.S. and Communist China regarding the capabilities of information warfare. While the U.S. is still well ahead of the PRC in this field, Beijing is going all-out to close the gap, and has already put itself �on the info-war map in a very big way.� Link: MSNBC COMMUNISTS STILL SAY $34,000 IS TOO LOW FOR HAINAN INCIDENT Communist China has repeated its claim that the U.S. should pay much more than $34,000 for �costs� incurred during the Hainan outrage. The good news is that the Administration hasn�t raised the offer, so far. The bad news is that the Administration hasn�t rescinded the offer either. Link: CNN There�s still time to make your voice heard in Congress to stop the payment. The China e-Lobby has the addresses of � of the U.S. Congress, and a sample letter to send them. Requests for both can be sent to [email protected]. U.S. CONDUCTS WAR GAMES IN SOUTH CHINA SEA The U.S. military conducted a military exercise involving to aircraft carrier groups in the South China Sea. Analyst Paul Beaver told the Washington Times that the exercise was likely undertaken to send a message to Communist China, which claims the entire South China Sea as its territory. The PRC recently conducted a large-scale exercise in Fujian province � opposite Taiwan (see previous updates). Link: Washington Times SENATOR SPECTER SAYS COMMUNISTS ARE �STONEWALLING� ON WEAPONS SALES ABROAD Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania) told the Washington Times that the Communist leaders he visited two weeks ago �were stonewalling� on the issue of PRC weapons sales to Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea, all of which violate previous agreements. Two other Senators � Joseph Biden (D-Delaware) and Fred Thompson (R-Tennessee) � called for sanctions against the PRC over the weapons sales. Link: Washington Times RETIRED COUNTERINTELLIGENCE OFFICIALS SAY LEE COULD STILL HAVE BEEN A SPY Several retired counterintelligence officials told the Washington Times that Wen Ho Lee, the scientist accused of handing over secrets to the PRC, could still have been a spy, or recruited to be one, despite the apparent lack of evidence. They noted that Lee still copied nuclear codes illegally, and ex-FBI agent Paul Moore, noted that Lee was �propositioned in a hotel room in China to commit espionage.� Link: Washington Times INTERNATIONAL NEWS PAKISTAN DENIES GETTING MISSILE PARTS FROM COMMUNIST CHINA Pakistani Foreign Secretary Inam ul-Haque denied the sale of PRC missile parts to Pakistan (see previous update for reports of the missile parts transfer). He did say, however, that Pakistan would �nurture� its friendship with the PRC, and restated the military dictatorship�s political support of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Link: Washington Times REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA PLANS MORE MILITARY EXERCISES OFF COAST OPPOSITE TAIWAN As the ROC tested its AH-1W helicopters, Communist China announced it would �launch its largest integrated military exercises� close to Taiwan. The exercise would simulate the invasion of the ROC-controlled Penghu Islands, plus a battle with �foreign� aircraft carriers (Note: that would be U.S. carriers). Link: CNN ROC PREMIER GETS U.S. VISA The U.S. has granted ROC Premier Chang Chun-hsiung a visa to stop in New York on the way to Latin America to visit Taiwan�s diplomatic allies. Chang will also be able to visit Miami, Los Angeles, and Hawaii on his return from Latin America. Beijing routinely demands that no visas be granted to Taiwan officials. Link: BBC HONG KONG NEWS COMMUNISTS KEEP OUT PLANE, LET IN SHIPS AFTER MASSIVE U.S. MILTARY EXERCISE As the U.S. military engaged in a large-scale military exercise in the South China Sea (sea above), Communist China barred a P-3C plane from landing in Hong Kong last week. An aircraft carrier group was allowed to dock there on Monday, after the exercise was finished. Links: CNN � P-C3, CNN � carrier group, BBC TIBET NEWS (See Also Top Story) OIL DISCOVERED IN QIANGTAN BASIN Communist Chinese geologists have reported found oil in Tibet�s Qiangtan Basin. The newly found reserve is likely to be drilled, leading to the usual Communist inefficiencies, corruption, and mistreatment of the population. Not that these aren�t already happening in Tibet, but now they�ll be further increased. Link: BBC XINJIANG/EAST TURKESTAN NEWS MASSIVE WAR GAMES END; MOST BELIEVE EXERCISE MEANT TO SCARE UIGHURS The Washington Post reported on Communist China�s massive war-game exercise in the region (see previous update for earlier report). The exercise �had the feeling of an airborne cavalry exhibition,� and was largely aimed at showing the Uighurs �that their bombs are bigger than our knives,� as a schoolteacher put it. The Muslim Uighurs have suffered under a vicious Communist crackdown. 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