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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: JUNE 25, 2003
TOP STORY: COMMUNISTS START ANOTHER MEDIA CRACKDOWN
BEIJING PAPER CLOSED AS HU JINTAO ESTABLISHES DICTATOR CREDENTIALS
The whispers of Hu Jintao as a closet reformer went silent last week as the so-called People�s Republic of China �launched a media crackdown, closing one newspaper and ordering all publications to stop reporting on sensitive topics� (Washington Post). The paper shut down was the Beijing New Times.
Meanwhile, the Communists ordered the following subjects off-limits to reporting: SARS and the Communist cover-up of same, Jiang Yanyong � the doctor who blew the whistle on the Beijing cover-up, murdered migrant worker Sun Zhigang (see Human Rights and Freedoms News) and Zhou Zhengyi and Yang Bin, two �private� businessmen under arrest for corruption.
For more on SARS, see (see 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9, 4/16, 4/23, 4/30, 5/7, 5/14, 5/21, 5/28, 6/4, 6/11, and last Updates). Regarding Zhou and Yang, see 10/9/02 and 11/27/02, 6/4, 6/11, and last Updates).
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
U.S. OPPOSES TAIWAN WHO REFERENDUM; ROC FEARS �PERCEIVED TILT� TOWARDS PRC
In a move the Taipei Times ripped as �conspiring with the unelected dictators in Beijing to frustrate popular democracy in Taiwan� (cited by Cybercast News 6/24), the United States � through its odious, de facto ambassador to Taiwan, Doug Paal � told Taiwan it would oppose a referendum on joining the World Health Organization as an observer nation. Also reporting: World Net Daily
Communist China � who still claims sovereignty over Taiwan despite having never set foot there � also opposes the referendum. The U.S. reaction has led at least one high-ranking legislator in Taiwan to express fear of a �perceived tilt toward China� (Washington Times) from the U.S. Sadly, regarding Doug Paal, a well-known PRC sympathizer (see 3/1/02 Week�s Links) it�s more than �perceived.�
State confirmed as much by saying it �was against any action or statement by Taiwan that could increase tensions with the mainland or make dialogue more difficult to achieve� (Cybercast News 6/25). Taiwan News demanded the U.S. �recall Paal for improperly intervening in Taiwan's domestic political affairs.� This was the only news on Taiwan this week.
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
COMMUNISTS ARREST 12 CHRISTIANS
Communist China arrested twelve followers of a non-Communist Christian church, and eight of them �had been sent for re-education through labour (UK sp), effectively a prison sentence that under Chinese law requires no trial� (BBC). Millions refuse to attend the Communist-run Christian churches in the PRC � 10 million are Vatican-loyal Catholics and several times that number are underground Protestants.
MIGRANT LAW JUNKED
Communist China has dropped its much-despised migration law, which allowed police to jail anyone who was not given authority to live in particular areas within the PRC, following the outrage over the death of Sun Zhigang (see 5/28 and 6/11 Updates). Sun was beaten to death in prison in Guangdong Province after forgetting to bring his temporary registration papers with him. Report: Washington Post
Days later, the Communists banned �torture, extortion, and other beatings� (BBC) in the �detention centers,� and took them out of police control. However, the �detention centers� still exist, and � in case anyone still thinks this is more than short-term damage control � as the Top Story noted, the PRC banned all reporting on this subject in the Communist media.
SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME (SARS) NEWS
WHO CLEARS BEIJING FOR TRAVEL, BUT PEOPLE ARE MORE SKEPTICAL OF COMMUNISTS
The World Health Organization lifted its travel advisory on Beijing, saying the capital�s risk of SARS is �minimal� (CNN). Over 300 died from SARS, which the Communists allowed to spread by covering it up when it first flared up in Guangdong Province last November. Also reporting: Washington Post
As for the people of Beijing, they have grown �a little harder to persuade� (BBC) in light of the aforementioned Communist cover-up. One unnamed SARS victim had this to say: �I used to believe everything the government told me. But now, after Sars, I will weigh everything the government says very carefully, and I'll judge how much of it is true.�
OTHER MAINLAND NEWS
CMC CHAIRMAN JIANG ZEMIN NOT DONE YET
Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin has forced PRC President and Party boss Hu Jintao into �a strategic retreat� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN). Hu�s main thrust, something he calls �intra-party democracy� has fallen victim to Jiang�s Shanghai faction, still the largest in the Chinese Communist Party. Of course, Hu�s idea of �democracy� includes no challenges to Communist rule.
Meanwhile, the fate of �private� businessmen Zhou Zengyi � who owed his success to his ties to Jiang�s faction (see 6/4 and 6/11 Updates) � is up in the air again, thanks largely to the work of Jiang. The CMC Chair is trying to get one of his cronies on the Politburo Standing Committee � the only body with power equal to the CMC � to have a role in the investigation of Zhou.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
VAJPAYEE VISITS BEIJING; DROPS SUPPORT FOR DALAI LAMA, OR DID THEY?
Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is in Beijing, near the end of a six-day trip to the Communist capital. Vajpayee �signed nine agreements to boost relations� (BBC 6/24) between the PRC and India, two long-time rivals who fought a bitter border war in 1962. More disturbing, Vajpayee agreed to recognize occupied Tibet as a part of the PRC. Also reporting: CNN, Washington Post
Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, notes that the Communists �are eager to improve relations with once-hostile countries including India and Vietnam so as to counter America's perceived �anti-China containment policy.�� The �dramatic enhancement in India's ties with the U.S. since 2001� has, according to Lam, made this a pressing issue with the PRC.
Within days, however, India insisted its position on Tibet �hasn't changed,� and that the Dalai Lama, who has led a Tibetan government-in-exile ever since an aborted anti-Communist revolt in 1959, is �still welcome in India� (BBC 6/25). This led BBC correspondent Jill McGivering (previous link) to call the move �a classic case of political fudge.� This was the only news on Tibet this week.
JAPAN TURNS BACK CHINESE �ACTIVISTS� FROM DISPUTED ISLAND CHAIN
The Japanese navy had to turn away 13 �activists� from Communist China and Hong Kong who attempted to sail to the disputed Senkaku Islands, an island chain claimed by the PRC, Taiwan, and Japan. The Communists became particularly miffed after Japan leased three of the islands in dispute (see 1/2/03 and 1/8/03 Update). Report: BBC
HONG KONG NEWS
CITY IS FREE OF SARS, ACCORDING TO WHO, BUT EFFECTS STILL LINGER
The World Health Organization declared Hong Kong free of SARS, after nearly three weeks without a single reported case. The city lost 296 people to the virus after the Communists kept the disease a secret from last November until this spring. The city�s economy is still in deep trouble, and the initial reaction of the Communist-appointed government brought it more �widespread criticism� (BBC).
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