| �Communist China and the Terrorist War�: The latest on the actions of Communist China and its allies after the terrorist attack can be accessed on our web site, either directly or via our main page. 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. 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. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: JANUARY 23, 2002 TOP STORY: COMMUNISTS STILL SENDING WEAPONS TO TERRORISTS STATES TECHNOLOGY TRADE LICENSE WITH PRC NOW UNDER REVIEW As for real terrorists, World Tribune.com reports that the PRC is still sending weapons and military technology to Iran and Libya. Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Lisa Bronson also told the Congressionally-appointed U.S.-China Commission that many Communist firms � nearly all firms in the PRC are stated owned � have been helping Iran, Iraq, and Syria in with �nonconventional programs.� In light of this information, and the fact that the PRC is �a potential military threat,� the Bush Administration is reviewing technology export licenses to Communist China, according to CNN, which also reported on Bronson�s comments. OTHER NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR PRC CLAIMS AL QAEDA IN EAST TURKESTAN; EVIDENCE LACKING TO JUSTIFY CRACKDOWN For what seems the umpteenth time, Communist China �hopes to justify its often brutal campaign against the separatists� in East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�) by accusing them �of terrorism and direct links to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network� (BBC). The Communists have used the terrorist war to justify its crackdown � which began years before September 11 � against Muslim Uighurs in the region. The Communists called the Uighur independence movement �an important part of his terrorist forces,� according to CNN. However, the Washington Post and the Washington Times reported that the People�s Republic provided no evidence of bin Laden links. The Communists are hoping that President Bush, due to visit Beijing next month, will end his oft-stated opposition to the persecution of the Uighurs. The Los Angeles Times cast further doubt on the Communists� claims. Dru Gladney, of the University of Hawaii, noted that �When you talk to the Uighurs and the organizations, they always come back and say, �No, Islam is one issue among many.�� Those issues �include sovereignty and human rights.� (Times) As a result of the crackdown, including the destruction of mosques and execution of political prisoners, independence for East Turkestan � won during World War II and lost with the Communist occupation � and has made the Uighurs, despite Communist claims, the most pro-American Muslims in the world. This was the only news item regarding East Turkestan (�Xinjiang�) reported this week. PAKISTAN SHIFTING TROOPS FROM AFGHAN TO INDIAN BORDER Pakistan has �quietly shifted more than one-third of its troops from the western border with Afghanistan to the disputed Line of Control in Kashmir� (Washington Times). The troop movements, a boon to al Qaeda and Taliban members attempting to escape, is in reaction to India�s military buildup after the December 13 attack on the Indian Parliament by terrorists based in the Pakistani part of Kashmir. Pakistan, a long-time ally of Communist China who gave a part of Kashmir to the PRC, backed the anti-India terrorists for years. India has demanded that its neighbor crush the groups. Kashmir was an independent state until its ruler agreed to cede it to India in 1948 after a Pakistan-backed invasion. Pakistan then seized part of the region during three wars fought with India during and since that year. LEADER OF AFGHANISTAN VISITS BEIJING Hamid Karzai, interim premier of Afghanistan, began a visit to Beijing today, in part to ask for more aid. Roughly $4.5 billion was pledged to his country in Tokyo this week. Reports: CNN, BBC U.S. AND INDIA BUILDING CLOSER TIES Indian Defense minister George Fernandes and U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signed a bilateral pact on military information (Cybercast News Service 1) and are working on a �a joint strategy to stop cross-border terrorism� (Cybercast News Service 2). The moves are seen as a sign of further warming ties between India � a long-time PRC rival � and the U.S., both victims of recent terrorist attacks. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS BUGS FOUND ON COMMUNIST CHINESE �AIR FORCE ONE� REFITTED IN U.S. The Washington Post reported over the weekend that Communist China�s �Air Force One,� a plane made by Boeing and refitted in San Antonio, had over 20 listening devices on board. The devices were found last October. Neither the PRC (CNN 1) nor the U.S. (CNN 2) had much to say on the story. It appears the incident will be swept under the rug. However, the Communists are trying to figure out how the bugs got there, as the incident is proving to be a political headache for Communist President Jiang Zemin, according to CNN. Also, the Washington Post reported that the refit cost the PRC $30 million, but only $10 million went to the companies refitting the plane, leaving the Communists to figure out where the other $20 million went. Also reporting: BBC, Los Angeles Times, CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam, Cybercast News Service, Washington Times U.S. OFFICIAL CALLS COMMUNIST ANTI-PIRACY PENALTIES �A SLAP ON THE WRIST� U.S. Asst. Trade Representative Joseph Papovich had harsh words for Communist China�s efforts against counterfeiting. Papovich called PRC punishments of piracy, �a slap on the wrist� (CNN). Piracy is a huge business in Communist China � over 90% of computer software in the PRC, for example, is stolen. PRESIDENT STILL UNDECIDED ON UNFPA MONEY President Bush has given no decision yet on $34 million in taxpayer money that can, but not must, be given to the United Nations Population Fund. A Population Research Institute study �found that women who sought services at a �model� UNFPA office in China were victims of, and bore witness to, coercive abortions and sterilizations� (Cybercast News Service) as part of the PRC�s hideous �one child� policy. HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS STRIKE IN DAFENG PUT DOWN WITH BRUTE FORCE Just before the New Year, PRC police put down a strike by workers in a Dafeng textile factory. The plight of the workers � who suffered pay cuts and lost their savings after being forced by the Communists to be worthless stock in the factory � was reported in the Washington Post. The local Communists used the police to arrest the strikers: their brute force angered the strikers enough to resist for a couple of days. The story also noted that the factory�s managers bought the firm with help from their friends in the local Communist Party. Such a practice is quite typical, according to the Post, which should be enough of a warning to those cheering the supposed privatization of state-run firms in the PRC. Such Communist-inspired corruption in state-run firms has led to 30,000 labor protests � not protesters, protests � in 2000. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS COMMUNISTS BEGIN DESTRUCTION OF YONGAN FOR THREE GORGES DAM The town on Yongan began to fall victim to Communist China�s planned Three Gorges Dam this weekend, as a local government building was destroyed. The Dam, brainchild of Tiananmen butcher Li Peng, will displace1.2 million, according to the BBC, and likely cause incalculable ecological damage. OVER 175,000 COMMUNIST OFFICIALS HIT WITH CORRUPTION CHARGES LAST YEAR PRC-run media cited by the BBC reported that over 175,000 Communist officials were �disciplined� for corruption last year, a 30% increase from 2000 � a sign of the widespread corruption in the PRC. COMMUNISTS PLAN POLITICAL �EXPERIMENT� IN SHENZHEN The city of Shenzhen (or Shenzhan as the BBC has it) will soon see �an experiment in political reform, designed to test new ways of making China's local governments more accountable and less corrupt.� The report, from Hong Kong iMail, was vague, but one thing was definitely not mentioned: free elections. MAGAZINE THAT EXPOSED LI PENG FAMILY EMPIRE FORCED TO APOLOGIZE Securities Market Weekly, the magazine that told of how Li Peng and his family have all but taken possession of Huaneng Power International (see last update), was forced to apologize for the article last week. The Los Angeles Times reported that the magazine has been pulled from newsstands, and the article has also been yanked from the PRC-based web site. The author is now under house arrest. The story got Li�s wife so angry she wrote Communist President Jiang Zemin basically charging that �even the Nationalists were better at controlling the media while in power in the 1930s and '40s than the Communist government appears to be now.� Ouch! BANK OF CHINA FINED ALMOST $20 MILLION, PROBE FINDS $326M IN FRAUDULENT LOANS CNN, citing the Wall Street Journal, reported that the Communist-run Bank of China would pay �a fine of between $10 million and $20 million� for �problems at its New York branch.� The bank � Communist China�s chief foreign currency exchange institution � is being investigated by both the U.S. and the PRC. An earlier CNN report found that investigators in Communist China had uncovered �22 serious lending violations at the Bank of China� that �involve 2.7 billion yuan ($326 million).� Among the questionable loans are about $20 million lent to a company partially owned by the wife of Wang Xuebing, who ran the Bank of China for seven years. INTERNATIONAL NEWS ISRAELI ARMS COOPERATION WITH COMMUNIST CHINA WORRYING U.S. While Israel has grown closer to India after September 11 (see last update), its �unlikely relationship� with Communist China is causing worry in Washington, according to Foreignwire.com. Among the concerns are the sale of Python air-to-air missiles from Israel to the PRC, and the sharing �with the Chinese (of) restricted technology obtained during a joint US-Israeli effort.� PRC AND KAZAKHSTAN SIGN BORDER AGREEMENT Communist China and Kazakhstan signed an agreement on border defense over the weekend. PRC General Fu Quanyou said the agreement, in the words of the BBC, �laid a foundation for the two countries to fight against what he called the three vices of terrorism, separatism and extremism.� REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS PRESIDENT CHEN APPOINTS NEW PRIME MINISTER ROC President Chen Shui-bian has appointed Yu Shyi-kun, his chief of staff, as his new Premier (Prime Minister), according to the BBC. Chen said he hoped Yu would have �good political development and rational relations with the opposition,� according to CNN. Also Reporting: BBC Chen, a member of the nominally pro-independence Democratic Progressive, has had stormy relations with the Nationalists, whom he defeated in the presidential election of 2000. The Nationalists, who governed for 50 years in Taiwan until Chen�s victory, lost control of the legislature last December (see previous update). The DPP holds the most seats in the new legislature, but is short of a majority. COMMUNIST CONDUCT LIVE FIRE TESTS NEAR TAIWAN CNN�s Willy Wo-Lap Lam, citing the Communist-run Wen Wei Po, reported new war games in the East China Sea by the Communist People�s Liberation Army (PLA). The naval drills were designed to put �pressure on the Taipei administration.� RECESSION MAY BE FADING The BBC reports that the ROC �is edging back from the recession triggered by the global downturn, as export and manufacturing figures show a gradual recovery from the gloom.� The ROC has suffered it worst economic performance in decades in 2001, but Daniel Chen of the Industrial Bank of Taiwan told the BBC that �things are improving.� HONG KONG NEWS HONG KONG UNEMPLOYMENT RISES Unemployment in HK rose to 6.1% in the 4th quarter of 2001 (BBC). Financial Secretary Anthony Leung said unemployment �would continue to rise for a while,� even if the local economy pulls out of recession. It is the second recession since the PRC took the city from the United Kingdom in 1997. TIBET NEWS NGAWANG CHOEPHEL RELEASED ON MEDICAL PAROLE Communist China released music teacher Ngawang Choephel after imprisoning him for over six years for �spying.� Choephel had been arrested while �making a film on traditional music and dance� in Tibet, according to the BBC. The Communists released him for medical reasons � he had become �skin and bones� during his imprisonment. Choephel�s family escaped Tibet for India in 1968, when he was two. The Los Angeles Times revealed how rare such a release from Tibet was in quoting John Kamm, a human rights activist who worked for Choephel�s release: �No Tibetan prisoner has been released into the custody of the U.S.� prior to this. Both the Bush Administration and Senator Jim Jeffords (I-Vermont) had also pushed for Choephel�s release. COMMUNISTS BRING BACK MASS RELOCATION TO REGION Communist China is �reviving a controversial project to resettle thousands of ethnic-Han and Hui Chinese into an area traditionally populated by Tibetans and Mongolians,� according to the BBC. The plan had stalled when the World Bank refused to fund it. Many believe the forced relocation will greatly damage Tibetan culture. |