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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: DECEMBER 24, 2003
Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available! My book detailing Communist China�s history of aiding terrorist states, Saddam Hussein, the Taliban, and al Qaeda can be ordered here, at Barnes and Noble, or at Amazon. � D.J. McGuire
TOP STORY: DF-31 MISSILE NOW IN THE FIELD FOR COMMUNIST MILITARY
MISSILE, FIRST OF ITS KIND BUILT BY THE PRC WITH STOLEN U.S. KNOW-HOW, CAN CARRY NUCLEAR WARHEAD TO ALASKA, HAWAII, AND WESTERN CONTINENTAL U.S.
The so-called People�s Republic of China has now deployed a dozen Dong Feng 31 missiles � missiles that can hit Alaska, Hawaii, and the western continental United States with nuclear warheads. The DF-31 was the first Communist Chinese missile project aided by technical knowledge stolen from the United States (see 12/13/00 Update). Report: Newsmax
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR
IRAN�S MAJOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS HELPERS: RUSSIA, PAKISTAN, AND COMMUNIST CHINA
Research into Iran�s nuclear weapons program �points overwhelmingly to Pakistan as the source of crucial technology that put Iran on a fast track toward becoming a nuclear weapons power� (Washington Post). The International Atomic Energy Agency also found evidence of aid from Communist China � Pakistan�s half-decade-plus ally � and Russia.
SUPPOSED FOUNDER OF ETIM SHOT DEAD IN GUNFIGHT � IN PAKISTAN
Hasan Mahsum, the supposed leader of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM), is dead � in Pakistan, where troops killed him during a gunfight (BBC). The U.S. acceded to the PRC�s demand to call ETIM a terrorist group, despite reports that the group had become defunct and never stepped foot in East Turkestan (see 8/28/02 and 9/18/02 Updates).
The PRC has insisted that the Uighur Muslims, the native people of East Turkestan, are all bin Ladenites and would-be terrorists. In fact, the brutal Communist occupation of East Turkestan (called �Xinjiang� by the PRC) since 1949 has made the Uighurs arguably the most pro-U.S. Muslims on Earth (see 10/17/01, 12/12/01, 10/23/02, and 11/5 Updates).
COMMUNIST DEVELOPMENT LEAVING UIGHURS BEHIND
Meanwhile, Communist China�s �top down approach to development� (BBC) in East Turkestan has forced the Uighurs to become �second-class citizens on their own soil.� This, in addition to the cruel persecution of the Uighurs for their moderate Muslim faith, is what has led many in �Xinjiang� to support a return to the independence they enjoyed the 1940s.
COMMUNIST CHINA IMPLEMENTS ANOTHER ROUND OF ARMS EXPORT �RESTRICTIONS�
Communist China is at it again, publicly announcing �new export restrictions on nuclear, biological and missile technologies . . . meant to stop the spread of weapons of mass destruction� (Voice of America via Epoch Times, HK). The PRC did the same thing last year, then used North Korea to get around their own arms curbs (see 8/28/02 and 9/10 Updates).
Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
NORTH KOREA NEWS
JAPANESE MISSILE DEFENSE PLAN �AS MUCH GEARED TO CHINA� AS NORTH KOREA
Japan �announced Friday that it would buy an advanced $6.5 billion, U.S.-made missile defense system� (Washington Post). While North Korea�s missiles and nuclear weapons certainly had a hand in the decision, Robert Karniol of Jane's Defence Weekly said the system �is as much geared to China . . . but they don't like to talk about that� (BBC).
For more on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
HU JINTAO REPEATS TAIWAN INVASION THREAT IN CALL TO BUSH
In a phone call to President Bush, PRC President Hu Jintao �re-emphasized his government's position on Taiwan� (Voice of America via Epoch Times). That �position� is essentially a threat to invade the island if it declares independence, or, if the report from last Update is correct, comes too close to it for Communist comfort. Also reporting: Washington Post
COMMUNIST CHINA FALLING SHORT ON PNTR COMMITMENTS
Well, knock us over with a feather. According to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, Communist China �fell short in implementing pledges in areas including agriculture, services, and enforcement of intellectual property rights� (VOA via Epoch Times), pledges that won them Permanent Normal Trade Relations with the U.S.
A report on the subject said the PRC violations �can no longer be attributed to start-up problems� (BBC). Communist China entered the World Trade Organization in 2001, in part due to the agreements it continues to violate.
PRC WHACKS U.S. CRITICISM OF ITS HUMAN RIGHTS RECORD, GETS UK PRAISE
Communist China angrily responded to U.S. criticism of its human rights record, �saying the United States should put its own house in order and stop meddling in the practices of other nations� (Washington Times 12/22, fourth item). Meanwhile, British Foreign Ministry official Bill Rammell said the PRC �is moving in the right direction� (Washington Times 12/19)
HILLARY CLINTON PUBLISHER PULLS PUBLISH RIGHTS FROM YILIN PRESS
Simon and Schuster, the publisher of Hillary Clinton�s Living History memoir, has withdrawn republishing rights from Yilin Press after the Communist-owned publisher �proved unwilling to restore passages it had cut from the book� (BBC). Yilin had removed references to exiled dissident Harry Wu and Communist China�s human rights abuses (see 9/24 Update).
PRC-RUN AUTOMAKERS BUILDING THEMSELVES UP WITH FOREIGN MONEY
Over �a dozen state-run automakers in China� (Forbes) are using partnerships with foreign firms � all partnerships must be at least half-owned by the PRC-run firms � to leave those foreigners �reduced to minor players.� Even worse, �Within another decade or so--it may be only five years--Americans may be seeing Chinese cars in their auto showrooms too.�
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
SHENYANG �CRIME BOSS� TORTURED INTO CONFESSION, THEN EXECUTED
Communist China executed Liu Yong, the purported crime boss of Shenyang. While such an action would normally be seen as a belated strike against corruption, the PRC had to torture the major �admissions� out of Liu, leading to some disturbing questions. Report: BBC
Liu would only admit freely to bribing some Communist officials, something he claimed, and not too incorrectly, �that is what every Chinese private businessmen needs to do� (Washington Post). The torture included �police denying Liu food and water, applying electric current to his body, and forcing him to squat in a small metal box for days.�
Liu had actually been spared execution by an intermediate appeals court due to the torture. The PRC�s highest court reinstated the execution, and Liu, a former delegate to the city�s People�s Congress, was soon dead.
Left unanswered in the report was the following: how could such a low-level cadre control a crime syndicate that ensnared the deputy governor of Liaoning Province � who doubled as Shenyang�s mayor (see 9/13/00, 12/27/00, 6/20/01, 10/17/01, and 3/13/02 Updates)? Furthermore, if Liu was not the crime boss, then whom is the PRC protecting?
FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: COUPLE SENT TO JAIL; CHILDREN ABANDONED
Communist China sentenced to Falun Gong practitioners to jail for ten years for their faith. The couple has a three-year-old son and one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, who were �left without parents� (Epoch Times). Communist China has resorted to this � and far worse, including the killing of hundreds � since banning Falun Gong in 1999.
FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: BELIEVER STILL IN LABOR CAMP AFTER SENTENCE ENDS
Zhou Xuefei was a Falun Gong practitioner sent to a labor camp for three years for handing out leaflets on the spiritual movement during the continuing Communist crackdown against it. Zhou�s sentence was supposed to end this November. She is still in the labor camp. Her husband, an Atlanta resident is campaigning for her release. Report: Epoch Times
EVICTEES PROTEST VIOLATION OF OWNERSHIP RIGHTS, THROWN IN JAIL
A number of evictees in Hangzhou wore �white coats emblazoned with �Promote the Chinese Constitution� in an effort to garner support for their ineffective appeal against forced evictions. (The constitution protects citizens� rights to own homes.)� (Epoch Times). For the promotion of their own constitution, the protestors won a trip to a PRC jail cell.
COMMUNISTS CUT OFF PREMIER�S HARVARD SPEECH DUE TO TIBET PROTEST
The appearance of a pro-Tibet protestor during Communist Premier Wen Jiabao�s Harvard address earlier this month (see last Update) led to the broadcast being �interrupted immediately after Wen�s opening remarks� (Epoch Times) in Guangdong province, where the speech was being carried live.
UNITED NATIONS GIVES HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD TO THE SON OF DENG XIAOPING
That�s not a joke headline. The United Nations actually handed a human rights award to Deng Pofang, son of Deng Xiaoping, for �his contribution in protecting the rights of the handicapped� (Epoch Times). Deng the elder ordered the military into Tiananmen Square in 1989, murdering thousands of protestors.
Human Rights In China said the UN �should have seen that China has even more serious problems (than the human rights of the handicapped). Shouldn�t the United Nations issue the award to those who have made more sacrifices and gone through more suffering and difficulties so as to solve those more serious problems?�
CORRUPTION NEWS
THREE MINISTRIES UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR CORRUPTION, DEFECTIONS
The Communist ministries of Foreign Affairs, Public Security, and Economics are all under investigation after reports of �(c)orrupt officials escaping overseas with large amounts of money and channeling it into personal banking accounts� (Zhengming via Epoch Times). They�re also probing the defection of several high-ranking Communists.
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
COMMUNIST PARLIAMENT DISCUSSING PRIVATE PROPERTY PROTECTION, SORT OF . . .
The PRC Parliament will debate �a proposed amendment to the constitution, which will legally protect private property rights for the first time since 1949� (BBC 12/22). Of course, for all the fanfare this will generate, a quick check of Human Rights and Freedoms News reveals just how unimportant the PRC constitution is to the Communist Party.
The proposed amendment itself reveals the Party�s continuing control in its language: �Private property obtained legally shall not be violated� (BBC 12/23). As the BBC notes, �By including the phrase �obtained legally,� the amendment still ensures that the ultimate arbiter, on property rights as on everything else, remains the Communist Party.�
Meanwhile, the amendment also has the appearance of the Party moving to airbrush its sordid history: �Without first forging a modern legal system that affords aggrieved laborers and farmers the right to protect their own interests, (critics) argue, the creation of property rights simply legitimates the looting of public assets� (Washington Post).
. . . AS MAOISTS HAVE �FIELD DAY� IN HU-JIANG BATTLE
Despite all the hype on the aforementioned property amendment, Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, notes, �conservative forces are having a field day,� thanks to the factional battle between Communist Party boss Hu Jintao and Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin. Jiang and Hu are trying to out hard-line each other in this long-running struggle for power.
SARS PREVENTION MATERIALS IN GUANGDONG SUBSTANDARD
A probe by the Bureau of Quality and Technology Supervision in Guangdong Province revealed �a spot-check of local SARS prevention products . . . found the overall quality of the products to be substandard� (Central News Agency, Taiwan, via Epoch Times). In particular, less than half of the masks given to provincial residents met proper standards.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA SIGNS RUSSIAN ARMS DEAL
General Cao Gangchuan, Communist Chinese Defense Minister, signed �agreements to buy at least $2 billion worth of Russian weapons next year� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN) while in Moscow. The deal ensures that Russia will remain the PRC�s largest arms supplier.
PRC INFLUENCE IN AFRICA GROWING, AT U.S. EXPENSE
Communist China could �becomes Africa's main foreign partner of choice in the near future� (Cybercast News), which would cause a serious headache for the United States. Zimbabwe dictator Robert Mugabe welcomed, again, the Communists� growing influence in Africa and their potential as an alternate superpower (see 12/3 Update).
JAPAN REJECTS ORGY EXTRADITION DEMAND FROM COMMUNIST CHINA
Japan announced it would not extradite three of its own for their involvement in a weekend orgy in Communist China last fall. Two organizers in the PRC are now in prison for life for their role (see 10/8 and last Update). Japan said the three could face Japanese charges. Reports: BBC, Washington Post, third item
ITALY FEELING ECONOMIC PINCH FROM COMMUNIST CHINA
Concern over the rising economic power of Communist China has spread from the U.S. and Mexico (see 12/3 and last Updates) to Italy, whose history of excellence in designer clothing is facing a challenge from the PRC � both in real and counterfeit trade (Washington Post).
COMMUNIST CHINA, DUE TO TOO MANY FARMERS, TO RENT LAND FROM KAZAKHSTAN
In order to cope with �a surplus rural work force� in the Yili section of East Turkestan (called �Xinjiang� by the Communists), the PRC signed a deal to �rent 70 square kilometres of farm land for 10 years� (BBC) in neighboring Kazakhstan.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
NATIONALIST CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT MOVES AWAY FROM �ONE CHINA�
Lien Chan, Nationalist candidate for president against incumbent Chen Shui-bian for the March 20 election, shifted from �one China� to move closer to Chen�s position on cross-strait relations. Lien�s particular line was �If you put it simply as each side has one country, there should be no problem� (Washington Post).
Chen�s insistence that Taiwan is its own country has infuriated the Communists for his entire term. The Nationalists, after losing power to Chen�s Democratic Progressive Party in 2000, had been moving closer to the Communists. That may have come to halt with Lien�s words.
SPIES? WHAT SPIES?
According to the Communist-run Xinhua, the PRC arrested �24 spies from Taiwan and 19 from mainland China� (BBC). Taiwan, however, has vehemently denied those reports, which claimed the would-be agents revealed the exact number of Communist missiles pointed at the island democracy: 496. Also reporting: Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN
One sign that Taiwan may be correct was this Xinhua line that the �spies�, �expressed their gratitude to the state security departments for the humanitarian treatment they have received� (Washington Post, second item). Sure, they did.
U.S. BEEF BANNED DUE TO FINDING OF MAD COW DISEASE
The apparent positive test of mad cow disease in Washington cattle led Taiwan to ban all imports of American beef. Reports: CNN, BBC
HONG KONG NEWS
FORMER HEAD OF PRC LIAISON OFFICE UNDER ARREST FOR SPYING
Cai Xiaohong, former head of China's Hong Kong liaison office, is now under arrest �amid allegations he spied for the West� (BBC). Just who in the �west� Cai helped is not known, but newspapers in Hong Kong speculate it was the city�s former colonial owner, the UK.
PRO-COMMUNIST PARTY ELECTS NEW LEADER, CALLS FOR HK DEMOCRACY BY 2017
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong � the pro-Communist party that suffered humiliating defeat in recent elections (see 11/26 Update) elected a new leader and are now calling for �a timetable for full democracy no later than 2017� (Newsweek Intl.).
Unfortunately, the story quoted PRC President Hu Jintao�s trademark �listen more closely to the masses� line and treated it as �a code phrase, some believe, urging more debate in the territory.� Hu has actually used the �masses� line to buttress his Maoist credentials in internal Communist Party battles against Central Military Commission Chair Jiang Zemin.
No news was reported from Tibet this week.
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