| Sign the Boycott Petition: In reaction to the 2008 Olympic Games being awarded to Beijing, the China e-Lobby has begun a petition for an American boycott of those games. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: MAY 22, 2002 TOP STORY: NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES TAKEN FROM JAPANESE CONSULATE FREED HEADED FOR SOUTH KOREA; PAIR FROM CANADIAN EMBASSY ALREADY THERE The five North Korean refugees whom Communist police seized from inside the Japanese consulate in Shenyang (see last update) are now in Manila en route to South Korea, according to the BBC and CNN. Word of the release came from the Philippines, where Manila is the capital (Los Angeles Times), not Communist China, from whom Japan has been demanding an apology for the invasion of its consulate. Meanwhile, a pair of North Korean refugees who made it into the Canadian Embassy in Beijing have flown to South Korea (CNN 2). The so-called People�s Republic of China normally sends back any refugee from North Korea that it finds � even though this usually means imprisonment, torture, or starvation by the Stalinist regime and long-time Communist ally. Tens of thousands of North Koreans are hiding in the PRC after having escaped a regime that hordes international food aid for itself and its military as the people continue to suffer a near-decade long famine. The Communist repatriation policy has now led 30 refugees to escape Communist China through the embassies and consulates of democratic nations. Also reporting: Cybercast News Subscribers to the North Korea Report learned the fate of the North Korean refugees from the Canadian Embassy on Monday. For the latest on the Stalinist regime sign up now. NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR MORE SANCTIONS ON COMMUNIST CHINESE FIRMS FOR HELPING IRAN The U.S. hit a number of Communist firms with new sanctions for aiding Iran militarily, this time involving �sales of cruise missile components� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). Gertz noted that the sanctions were �largely symbolic,� since the companies hit have no business deals in the U.S. COMMUNISTS WHACK FIRT ROUND OF PENALTIES AGAINST PRC FIRMS Meanwhile, the PRC used its People�s Daily newspaper to call the Bush Administration �irresponsible� for imposing sanctions on Communist Chinese firms aiding Iran�s effort to build chemical weapons. The paper charged the U.S. with �slandering� the unnamed firms and Communist China (Cybercast News). Check out the latest as it happens on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS HOUSE COMMITTEE VOTES AGAINST COMPELLING FUNDING OF UNFPA The House Appropriations Committee voted 32-30 to remove language from a spending bill that would have forced the President to give $34 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Bush has frozen the money pending an investigation into reports of UN support of Communist China�s hideous �one child� policy, which includes forced abortions, sterilizations, and infanticide (Washington Post). U.S. BEGINS MILITARY EXERCISES WITH INDIA Long-time PRC rival India began war games with the United States for the first time in four decades last week (CNN). India lost about 400,000 square miles to Communist China during a 1962 border war, and moved away from the U.S. when American relations with the PRC and its ally Pakistan warmed. U.S. HEALTH SECRETARY VENTS AT COMMUNIST OFFICIAL AT WHO MEETING U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson and Communist Chinese official Sha Zakung had �a bit of an altercation� during the meeting of the World Health Organization (which for some reason the Washington Post calls the World Health Association). The meeting, which quietly shelved Taiwan�s admission for entry, again, saw some colorful language between the two officials. There�s still time to contact the President and tell him not to appoint pro-PRC Doug Paal as de facto ambassador to Taiwan. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: PROTESTORS WHO TOOK OVER TV STATION SENTENCED Communist China sentenced four Falun Gong practitioners who took over a Changchun television station to �seven to 16 years� in prison (Washington Post). The Falun Gong members used the station to broadcast programs sympathetic to the several spiritual movement until the Communists shut them down (see March 13 update). COMMUNISTS ALLOW SOME WESTERN MEDIA ON LOCAL INTERNETS, FOR NOW Communist China has lifted restrictions on internet content from numerous Western media sources, including the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post. However, the Voice of America was still blocked, and many were wondering if and when the Communists would clamp down on the Western media again � especially on June 4, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS JIANG PROT�G� HANGS ON TO BEIJING PARTY TOP JOB Beijing Communist Part Secretary Jia Qinglin, a prot�g� of PRC President Jiang Zemin, won another term as Beijing party chief (CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam). The capital city�s Communist Party congress �re-elected� Jia to the post, which includes a seat on the Politburo. GUANGDONG PARTY ALLOWS SO-CALLED PRIVATE BUSINESSMAN INTO PARTY CONGRESS The Communist Party of Guangdong province elected what they called private businessmen to its Congress for the first time, according to the BBC. The opening of the party to �entrepreneurs� � there is no actual private property in the PRC by law � was a priority of Communist President Jiang Zemin. COMMUNIST CHINA HOPES TO REACH THE MOON IN 2010 Communist China announced its plans to put a man on the moon in 2010, and then establish a base there. The PRC has yet to launch a manned space flight, but it plans to send a man in to space in 2005. Reports: BBC (Courtesy Ron Vogel: Member since 2000), CNN, Cybercast News INTERNATIONAL NEWS AS RUSSIA DRIFTS TOWARDS U.S., �BEIJING�S NATO� RUNS INTO MORE PROBLEMS As it watches Russian President Vladimir Putin�s shift towards the U.S. with growing alarm (CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam, last update), Communist China hit more roadblocks in its efforts to build the Shanghai Cooperation Organization into �Beijing�s NATO.� Recent SCO talks yield no agreement on military cooperation, and SCO member Uzbekistan did not even send a representative to the talks (Lam 2). Despite all the worry in Beijing, it should be noted, as Lam does in both stories, that Russia is still Communist China�s �main supplier of sophisticated military hardware.� KYRGYZ LAND DEAL WITH PRC DRAWS ANGRY OPPOSITION; GOVERNMENT RESIGNS An agreement between Communist China and Kyrgyzstan (a.k.a. Kyrgyzhia) to hand over 90,000 hectares of Kyrgyz land to the PRC has drawn large-scale protests and calls for Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev�s resignation (BBC). Akayev has stayed on, the Prime Minister and his government resigned over the deaths of protestors supporting an opposition leader who was against the deal (BBC 2, CNN). AUSTRALIAN PM VISITS LI PENG, SIGNS DEAL Howard went to Communist China to talk up an energy contract with Tiananmen Square butcher Li Peng today (CNN, BBC). He also signed a steel mill deal. These were two of the issues that Howard decided was important enough to snub the Dalai Lama (see Tibet News). REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS COMMUNIST MILITARY STARTS MAJOR EXERCISE IN FUJIAN PROVINCE . . . The PRC military has begun major war games in Fujian province � just opposite Taiwan. The exercises will likely go on for six months, and include up to 100,000 troops, according to the Communist-owned Wen Wei Po, as cited by Bill Gertz of the Washington Times. Courtesy Ron Vogel: Member since 2000 . . . WHILE REGIME OFFERS WATER TO DROUGHT-STRICKEN ISLAND DEMOCRACY Playing what CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam called �the water and business cards,� Communist China offered to �provide a steady supply of water to the outlying islands of Quemoy and Matsu as well as the main Taiwan island� to �help� the ROC deal with its worst drought in decades. Two businessmen from the island democracy were also invited by the PRC for talks (BBC). The PRC also talked, again, about the �three links� � trade, investment, and mail � but not unless the ROC accepts �one China,� i.e., Communist China has proper territorial claim over Taiwan. Naturally, President Chen Shui-bian has rejected this condition. ROC-OWNED FIRM SIGNS OIL DEAL WITH PRC-RUN COUNTERPART Chinese Petroleum Corporation, owned by the Taiwanese government, has signed a deal with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation � a Communist-owned firm from the mainland � to jointly explore for oil in the Taiwan Strait (BBC). TAIWAN ENDS RECESSION Taiwan�s economy grew by nearly 1% in the first three months of this year, ending a nine-month recession (BBC). The growth was apparently based on a recovery in high-tech exports. TIBET NEWS AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT GIVES COLD SHOULDER TO DALAI LAMA, NZ PM WARMER As Communist China curtly told Australia to �handle the Tibetan questions very carefully,� Australian Prime Minister John Howard has �declined� to meet the Dalai Lama during his visit to the country. Howard will soon leave for Communist China �to push for a key energy export contract� (CNN). Helen Clark, the Prime Minister of neighboring New Zealand, �has welcomed an invitation� to see him. No news was reported from Hong Kong or East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�) this week. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it. Anyone who 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. |