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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: MARCH 24, 2004
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Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available: here, at Amazon, or call 1-888-280-7715.
TOP STORY: CHEN SHUI-BIAN WINS RE-ELECTION IN VERY CLOSE RACE
LIEN CHAN REFUSES TO CONCEDE, DEMANDS RECOUNT, AND CLAIMS CHEN FAKED PRE-ELECTION ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT; PRC PLOTS NEXT MOVES AGAINST TAIWAN
The voters of the Republic of China (a.k.a. Taiwan) re-elected Chen Shui-bian in a very close race on Saturday, so close that opposition candidate Lien Chan demanded a recount. Lien claimed the election was �marred by voting irregularities and sympathy votes garnered by Friday's apparent assassination attempt on the president� (CNN 3/22).
Lien declared the election to be �under clouds of suspicion� (BBC 3/20), and demanded a recount. �Pan-blue� (Nationalist and People First Parties) supporters took to the streets in support of Lien�s demand. They also made claims of �voting irregularities,� which Chen, a former political prisoner, called �the biggest humiliation to my character� (BBC 3/23).
Chen also said he would support a recount �100 percent� (Washington Times) and proposed a recount law to accelerate the process (Cybercast News). However, the Nationalists opposed the law, calling it a delaying tactic (Voice of America via Epoch Times, HK). Without the law, Taiwan�s High Court could take six months to rule on the recount request.
Lien didn�t stop there; he later �suggested the president might have staged the attack� (Washington Post), during which Chen, along with his �pan-green� (Democratic Progressive Party) running mate Annette Lu, were shot the day before the election. Chen�s supporters angrily denied the Nationalists� grassy-knoll theory on the shootings.
Chen himself reminded the opposition that �We are the ones who were shot. We are more eager than anyone else to find out the truth� (CNN 3/23).
COMMUNIST CHINA MOVES AGAINST CHEN; KEEPS ITS OWN PEOPLE IN THE DARK
Meanwhile, the People�s Republic asked the U.S. �take more action to stabilize the situation on the island� and accused Chen of �political fraud.� The Communists also began plotting, against Chen�s second term, including plans to �exploit the claims of electoral fraud� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN), and the usual �sweet deals for Taiwan's powerful business community.�
Communist China has desperately hoped Lien, whose supporting parties are far cozier to the PRC than Chen, would win the election (VOA via Epoch Times). However, two referenda Chen had championed before the vote did not meet the required 50% voter participation to pass. Lien�s supporters refused to participate in the referenda.
Communist China claimed the referenda would somehow move Taiwan closer to formal independence � a subject that was never the subject of either ballot question. Internally, the Communists have �kept most Chinese dimly informed� (Washington Post).
OTHER REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
COMMUNISTS REVEAL MISSILE TESTS; CHEN BLASTS FRANCE
Before the vote, Communist China disclosed that it had �carried out at least five missile tests since January as part of a major buildup of missile forces� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). Meanwhile, Chen whacked France as �evil-hearted� (Washington Times, second item) for participating in joint naval exercises with the PRC (see last Update).
COMMUNIST CHINA BUILDING UP NAVY FOR FUTURE TAIWAN ACTION
The Communists� Taiwan obsession is also pushing its military buildup, particularly its navy. The PRC �has begun on about 70 military ships over the last 12 months, including a number of landing craft� (Washington Post), and �is considering acquisition of another two Soviet-designed Sovremenny-class destroyers to complement the three it already owns.�
STOCK FUND MAY PUT TAIWAN IN FIRST WORLD
The FTSE Group, a leading market ranking firm, announced that Taiwan�s economy could be re-labeled �developed,� i.e., first world rather than third, by September. South Korea is also under FTSE�s microscope for a possible economic promotion, as it were. Report: BBC
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR
Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
PAKISTAN MILITARY GETS INTEREST FREE $12 BILLION LOAN FROM COMMUNIST CHINA
Pakistan, newly minted �major non-NATO ally� by the Bush Administration despite its checkered history on the Taliban and al Qaeda, received a $12 billion, interest-free loan from Communist China, which has counted Pakistan as an ally for over fifty years (BBC).
EAST TURKESTAN HOMEOWNER DIES IN HOUSE CRUSHED UNDER COMMUNIST ORDERS
An unnamed man, likely to be a Uighur, died in his home when it was crushed by a bulldozer under orders from local Communists. It was just the latest example of the Communist repression in East Turkestan, occupied by the Communists in 1949. Report: Radio Free Asia via Epoch Times
NORTH KOREA NEWS
For more on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
JOURNALIST ARRESTED FOR COVERING NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES SET FREE
Communist China has released a South Korean journalist who covered the plight of North Korean refugees in the PRC (BBC). The Communists send back any North Korean refugee they can find, forcing the refugees to non-person status and, in the case of female refugees, either rape victims or sex slaves (see 1/14 Update).
COMMUNIST CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS NORTH KOREA
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing began a three-day visit to North Korea yesterday. The visit is �expected to focus on the North's nuclear weapons programmes (UK sp)� (BBC). The PRC �is seen as the key mediator in a nuclear confrontation between North Korea and the United States,� despite not having moved North Korea one inch on the subject.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
U.S. TO BRING ANTI-PRC RESOLUTION TO UN; COMMUNISTS END RIGHTS �DIALOGUE�
The United States will �seek a resolution condemning China for alleged abuses at the UN Commission on Human Rights currently meeting in Geneva� (BBC). The PRC responded by shutting down its human rights �dialogue� with the U.S. Also reporting: Cybercast News, Epoch Times, VOA via Epoch Times, Washington Post, China Support Network
U.S. TAKES COMMUNIST CHINA TO WTO OVER CHIP PROTECTIONS
The Bush Administration, citing an �unfair advantage� (BBC) given Communist Chinese chip manufacturers, is hauling the PRC before the World Trade Organization for failing to live up to the agreement that brought the Communists into the trade group. What effect this will have, and whether this would have happened outside an election year, is not known.
U.S. Trade Representative, Robert B. Zoellick warned that more such action could be on the way, perhaps in areas such as �agricultural products and financial services� (Agence France Presse via Epoch Times). Also reporting: Washington Post
COMPUTER CHIP ENCRYPTION STANDARD FREEZES OUT U.S. COMPANIES
As the aforementioned WTO case was put forth, two American computer chip manufacturers pulled out of the PRC �market,� citing the Communists� WAPI encryption standard for the chips. WAPI �was developed in China by 11 local firms and is controlled by them� (Epoch Times), thus giving the �local firms� a huge competitive advantage.
CHINESE-AMERICANS CLAIM TO SUPPORT COMMUNISTS
A Bendixen & Associates poll of Chinese-Americans �shows that the Chinese government enjoys considerable approval among the Chinese in America� (Washington Times). How much of that was driven by the Communists using the fate of family members in the PRC to suppress exiled opposition (see 8/8/21 Update) was not discussed.
COMMUNIST CHINESE FIRM TAKES A DIVE ON TRADING IN NEW YORK AND HONG KONG
Communist China�s plans to use a semi-conductor firm to make a quick buck hit as snag when Semiconductor Manufacturing International shares fell over 10% in New York. The stock even fell in Hong Kong, where PRC-run firms usually do well. Report: BBC
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
POSSIBLE EU LIFTING OF ARMS BAN PICKS UP MORE OPPOSITION
A number of leading experts on Communist China are giving voice to their opposition to plans for the European Union to lift its post-Tiananmen arms embargo against the PRC (Cybercast News). Germany and France have been spearheading the move for months (see 11/12/03, 12/10/03, 1/28/04, 2/4/04, and last Updates).
MORE PRO-COMMUNISTS ARRESTED IN DIAOYU ISLANDS
Japanese police arrested another group of �Chinese activists� who reached on of the Daioyu Islands. Communist China and Taiwan made claims on the Daioyu chain, which they call Senkaku �in the 1970s after oil deposits were found nearby� (BBC). This is not the first group of �activists� to reach the Daioyus (see 1/2/03 and 1/8/03 Updates).
PLANS ON KAZAKHSTAN-PRC PIPELINE CONTINUE
In another sign of Communist China�s plans to import Kazakh oil, �Kazakh Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov ordered the country's state oil and gas company to draw up documents related to a 1,300 km pipeline to northwest China� (RFA via Epoch Times). The first reports of the Kazakhstan-PRC pipeline surfaced last month (see 2/25 Update).
NEWS FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR
PRACTITIONER ARRESTED; DISABLED HUSBAND LEFT ALONE
Communist police arrested practitioner Guangzhen Li for distributing flyers defending the spiritual movement that has suffered a major Communist crackdown since July 1999. In arresting her, the Communists forced her disabled husband to fend for himself. Report: Rescue Our Family Members Organization via Epoch Times
CANADIAN TORTURED BY COMMUNISTS WANTS TO PROSECUTE UNDER HOME LAW
Kunlun Zhang, a Chinese-born Canadian citizen tortured and brainwashed by the PRC for his belief in Falun Gong (see 1/10/01 and 1/17/01 Updates), has asked Canadian authorities to prosecute Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin for authoring and overseeing the crackdown against Falun Gong that included his torture. Report: Epoch Times
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
PRISON LABOR CAMP PRODUCTS ON AMERICAN SHELVES
A number of American companies sell products made in Communist China�s prison labor camps (called �laogai�), despite numerous laws and agreements designed to end the practice. The number of Chinese prisoners literally worked to death to line the pockets of cadres throughout the Communist Party now stands at almost 7 million (Epoch Times).
This was a large part of what the AFL-CIO referenced in their petition to the Bush Administration calling for tariffs on PRC imports to protect American jobs and force Communist China to treat its own workers better (see last Update).
COMMUNIST INTERNET CENSORSHIP �LARGEST� EVER SEEN
Communist China�s campaign against free internet speech has become �the largest case of censorship of Internet media yet seen� (RFA via Epoch Times). Six of the most influential websites in the PRC were shut down, and the Communists also engaged in �massive email monitoring and deletion in the name of maintaining balanced public opinion.�
COMMUNIST PREMIER DEFENDS TIANANMEN SQUARE MASSACRE, CITES �STABILITY�
Communist Premier Wen Jiabao, one of the supposed �reformers� in the PRC, defended the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, citing the need for �unity of our party� and �social and political stability� (Epoch Times).
OVER 3,000 SIGN PETITION IN SUPPORT OF JIANG YANYONG
Meanwhile, a petition in support of Dr. Jiang Yanyong, the very good doctor who has called for the Communists to tell the truth about Tiananmen Square (see 4/9/03 and 3/10 Updates), has collected over 3,000 signatures. Report: Epoch Times
HE DEPU TORTURED IN PRISON
According to exiled China Democracy Party leader Xu Wenli, pro-democracy activist He Depu has lost a third of his weight while in prison, in large part due to repeated beatings and other torture since his arrest (see 3/12/03 Update). Report: VOA via Epoch Times
CATHOLIC BISHOP RELEASED AFTER TEN DAYS
Communist China set free Roman Catholic Bishop Wei Jingyi �following protests from the Vatican and others� (VOA via Epoch Times). The Bishop, who has been �in and out of Chinese labor camps for years,� is part of the underground Catholic Church, which rejects the Communist �Patriotic� church and remains loyal to the Vatican (see also 3/10 Update).
COMMUNISTS MAY CONSIDER CHANGES TO LABOR CAMPS
Sometime over the next five years, Communist China�s Parliament will supposedly consider �important changes� to its labor camp system. The labor camps operate completely outside judicial control, and treatment of prisoners there redefines brutal. Report: Epoch Times
COMMUNIST CHINA BANS COMPUTER GAME
The computer game Project IGI2: Covert Strike is now illegal in Communist China, �on the grounds it discredits the national image� (BBC). The game �portrayed the country as a base for terrorists.� Heaven knows how they reacted to Dragon in the Dark.
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CALLS ON PRC TO HALT DEATH PENALTY
Amnesty International �called for a moratorium on the death penalty in China� (BBC), citing �a dysfunctional criminal justice system . . . in which police allegedly used torture to elicit confessions from suspects who were later sentenced to death.� According to one Communist cadre, the PRC executes 10,000 annually.
CORRUPTION NEWS
CADRE BOLTS COMMUNIST CHINA UNDER SUSPICION OF CORRUPTION
Tong Yanbai, former Chairman of the Board of the PRC-run Henan Expressway Development Co. Ltd., bolted Communist China with his wife and a counterfeit passport. Tong�s firm had �serious problems� (Epoch Times), and all three of his ex-bosses at the Henan Department of Transportation �have been removed from their positions due to serious corruption.�
HEBEI CADRES HAVE NEW PLAN ON CORRUPTION: LEGALIZE IT
The Communists in Hebei have struck upon a new series of �breakthroughs� regarding corruption: if it helps the economy, it should be legal. The give-graft-a-chance plan has won the support of the Party and the �government� in Hebei; they claimed it was �the most influential document of 2004� (Epoch Times).
CORRUPTION PROSECUTION NUMBERS PLUMMET IN COMMUNIST CHINA
Communist China�s prosecutions for corruption fell over 75% last year, leading to only two possible explanations: corruption in the PRC is much lower this year than last (we didn�t buy that one either), or the Communists are putting the brakes on their vaunted anti-corruption drive (perhaps they�re following the Hebei model). Report: Asia Times via Epoch Times
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
RESERVES AT DAQING OIL FIELD SHRINKING
Reserves and production at the Daqing oil field, which supplies �close to half of China's oil� (BBC) is falling � a sign the PRC will need to import more oil. In March 2002, disgruntled workers in the Daqing fields demonstrated for two weeks and nearly marched on Beijing before the military put them down (see 3/13/02, 3/20/02, 3/27/02, and 7/24/02 Updates).
LEAD CONTANIMATION RUNS RAMPANT IN COMMUNIST CHINA
A survey of elementary school students in Shenzhen (the Communist city just outside Hong Kong) revealed that 65% of the children in the survey had lead contamination over �the international standard level of 100 micrograms per liter� (Central News Agency, Taiwan via Epoch Times). The sources of lead contamination were literally everywhere.
HONG KONG NEWS
IS HONG KONG IN THE NEW HOME FOR CORRUPT MAINLAND MONEY?
Hong Kong merchants are seeing mainland �tourists� engaging in luxury spending sprees, to the tune of over half a million HK dollars at once. Many HK residents are starting to worry �that Hong Kong has become a place for corrupt officials to freely spend the government�s money or even launder money� (CNA via Epoch Times).
No news from Tibet was reported this week.
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