TOP STORY: COMMUNIST CHINA LINKS NORTH KOREA TO TAIWAN
PRC TIES HELP ON NK NUCLEAR PROGRAM TO U.S. MOVING TO �REIN IN� ROC
Communist Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing met with Assistant Secretary James Kelly last week for talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons program. However, according to Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, Li used the meeting to link �Beijing's exerting pressure on Pyongyang to Washington's willingness to help rein in the pro-independence movement in Taiwan.�
It is the first report of the so-called People�s Republic attempting to use its Stalinist ally�s nuclear ambitions to win concessions by the U.S. against the island democracy. Not that it should surprise anyone, since as Lam himself notes, Communist China used Iraq to score U.S. concessions against the Uighurs of East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�). See 8/28/02, 9/11/02, and 9/18/02 updates.
For more on Communist China and North Korea, see International News. For more news dealing solely with the Stalinist regime and PRC ally, sign up for the North Korea Report, sent every Monday.
This was the only news on the Republic of China (Taiwan) this week.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
TURLOCK REPEATS CHARGE THAT WEN HO LEE WAS A COMMUNIST SPY
Notra Trulock, the Energy Department intelligence official who first discovered the loss of nuclear codes at the Los Alamos laboratory to Communist China, insisted that Wen Ho Lee, the scientist at the focus of the investigation Trulock�s discovery spawned, was a PRC spy.
Trulock further said the FBI flubbed the investigation �to prevent the disclosure of the fact that Mr. Lee and his wife supplied information to the FBI on Chinese nuclear scientists from 1985 to 1991� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times).
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
COMMUNISTS TRY WANG BINGZHANG FOR �ESPIONAGE AND TERRORISM�
Communist China tried Wang Bingzhang, a dissident in jail or exile for a quarter of a century, for �terrorism and espionage� (BBC), which is what the Communists called his efforts to help labor dissidents in the PRC. His attempt to meet them in Vietnam led to his disappearance and arrest (see 12/26/02 update). The Communist also threw in their classic standby � theft of �state secrets.�
No verdict was given, as of this hour (1 PM). Wang was exiled from Communist China in 1979 for his role as a dissident. He continued to do what he could from the U.S., and even returned to the PRC in 1998 � at which point he was arrested and expelled by the Communists). See also a profile of him in 12/20/02 Week�s Links.
LABOR PROTESTS HIT FIVE CITIES AS CHINESE NEW YEAR APPROACHES
As the Chinese New Year draws near, Communist China has witnessed protests from workers demanding unpaid wages in at least five cities � Beijing, Shenzhen, Jinan, Nanjing and Guangzhou. According to the BBC, the protests have included workers barricading themselves in a villa complex, street protests, and in one case, a man who �set himself on fire when his demand for overdue wages was turned down.�
BBC cited Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, on the self-immolation. Communist China bans all labor organizations not controlled by the Communist Party, which conveniently owns nearly all of the firms in the PRC. Even Xinhua � the Communist news agency � acknowledge the results of a migrant workers survey in which �72.5% of respondents said they had difficulty collecting their wages.� Ouch!
WEB-BASED DISSIDENT ARRESTED FOR SIGING DISSIDENT LETTER
Ouyang Yi, a web-based dissident, is under arrest in Communist China for signing a letter demanding political reform, the seventh such arrest in the PRC. Ouyang, who �has been arrested several times for his activism� (BBC), also posted anti-Communist articles on the web.
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA WRAPS UP MAJOR MILITARY EXERCISES
Communist China ended their massive military exercises begun earlier this month and report in the last update. Newsmax.com reported the end of the exercises, and quoted a PRC military officer who told Communist-run Xinhua (a.k.a. China News Service), �The PLA brass is eager to flex its muscle given uncertain developments on the Iraqi and North Korean fronts.�
IDEOLOGY CHIEF TELLS PRC JOURNALISTS TO WRITE �POSITIVE PROPAGANDA�
Li Changchun, the head of ideology in the Chinese Communist Party, told journalists in the PRC to �propagate the party's views, uphold unity and stability, and concentrate on making positive propaganda� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN). Li, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, hails from Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin�s factions, and is �deemed a conservative cadre.�
COMMUNIST CHINA HOPING FOR $483 MILLION IN THREE GORGES DAM OFFER
Communist China is planning �to raise up $483m (�300m) through the first sale of shares in the controversial Three Gorges Dam project� (BBC). The corruption-riddled ecological disaster was the brainchild of Tiananmen butcher Li Peng.
OUTGOING COMMUNIST PM CALLS FOR �BETTER WELFARE� IN NORTHEAST
Zhu Rongji, the outgoing Communist Prime Minister, was in Liaoyang last week, home of the massive labor protests from last spring (see 3/13/02, 3/20/02, 3/27/02, and last updates) called for �better welfare benefits in the north-east of the country� (BBC).
PRC SLATES MANNED SPACE LAUNCH FOR OCTOBER
Communist China is planning its first manned space launch in October, according to the BBC. This news comes less than one month after the PRC launched a spacecraft designed for human astronauts on a test run (see 1/2/03 and 1/8/03 updates).
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
NORTH KOREAN FIRMS IN PRC BUYING MISSILE PARTS, PRC MAY PROVIDE NUCLEAR AID
North Korean firms in Communist China are buying and sending to Pyongyang �raw materials and components for its ballistic-missile programs,� according to a CIA report cited by Bill Gertz, Washington Times. This comes on the heels of the news that Communist China sold its Stalinist ally tributyl phosphate (TBP) a chemical that can weaponize uranium and plutonium (see 12/18/02 Update).
According to another report cited by Gertz, from the House Speaker's North Korea Advisory Group, the Communists would also be willing to �be willing to support Pyongyang's needs for nuclear-power-generating reactor fuel if the United States, South Korea and Japan cut off fuel shipments and stop building two new nuclear reactors, as appears likely to happen.�
COMMUNIST CHINA CAPTURES OVER FIFTY NORTH KOREA REFUGEES
Communist China arrested 48 North Korean refugees trying to board a ship at Yantai to escape from the so-called People�s Republic. The refugees were hiding from the Communists, who send any NK refuge they find back to the famine-wrecked, Stalinist North � a PRC ally for over 50 years. Report: BBC
Ten others were arrested earlier in Jilin province (Washington Post), as were two South Koreans and one native � apparently from the refugee aid group Exodus 21. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees urged the Communists �not to repatriate the North Koreans� (Cybercast News).
Of course for the PRC, preserving the Stalinist regime is more important than preserving the lives of the refugees, who risk harrowing imprisonment or death if �repatriated.�
LEGO WINS COPYRIGHT RULING IN BEIJING
Lego Company won a copyright lawsuit against Communist Chinese copycat Coko Toy Company for copyright infringement. What made the ruling news was where it occurred, in Beijing. Lego is also suing Coko for selling copycats of its famous snap blocks in Norway, Finland and Denmark. Report: BBC
No news was reported from Hong Kong or Tibet this week.
Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site.
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.