| Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 25, 2002 TOP STORY: JIANG PREPARES FOR SUMMIT WITH BUSH; TAIWAN TO DRIVE AGENDA PRC THINKS PRICE TO PAY FOR TAKING ON U.S. �IS STILL PROHIBITIVE;� WILL CONTINUE TO BUILD UP STRENGTH, SEEK OUT ALLIES IN �COUNTERING� U.S. �UNILATERALISM� Communist Chinese President Jiang Zemin, in preparing for his summit with President George Bush at the latter�s Crawford ranch, has decided that Taiwan will top his agenda for the meeting. According to Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN), Jiang will use the meeting to push for �more pressure on Taiwan via the United States� and to ask Bush to stop giving �wrong signals� to the island democracy. Lam also took a look at the Communist long-term view, and finds that within the so-called People�s Republic �a consensus has been reached that despite China's growing military clout, the price to pay for taking on the U.S. is still prohibitive.� Lam did not explore what would happen when the price is no longer �prohibitive.� For now, the PRC is focusing �on building up its economic and military strength.� Meanwhile, the Communists are still on the lookout for �strategic alliances with other major powers in countering perceived American unilateralism,� choosing, as one unnamed diplomat put it, to �lend its support to whichever major country has first taken the initiative to challenge the U.S.� NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR COMMUNIST CHINA WANTS TAIWAN CONCESSIONS FOR �ACQUIESCENCE� ON IRAQ Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) reported that Communist China is ready give �acquiescence� to U.S. action against Iraq � in exchange for concessions on Taiwan, as noted in the last update. Lam, citing an unnamed Asian diplomat, gives details on the concessions desired: �clear indications about not supporting Taiwan independence� and �not selling Taiwan sophisticated military hardware� (see Top Story). Meanwhile, the Communists were preparing themselves for said �acquiescence� with a China Daily editorial that called on Iraq to �to cooperate with U.N. weapons inspectors fully� (CNN). Otherwise, the paper said Saddam Hussein �might give Bush the excuse he craves to forcefully carry out his coveted �regime change� in Iraq.� One could say the �acquiescence� still needs a little work. U.S. CUSTOMS AGENTS TO SCREEN SHIPPING FROM HONG KONG The U.S. Customs Bureau has come to an agreement with Hong Kong to allow American agents to �post U.S. agents at the territory's ports to stop terrorists from using shipping containers to stage attacks� (CNN). The deal was announced on Monday, although some �practical� details remain to be resolved. Also reporting: Cybercast News; for more on Hong Kong, see Human Rights and Freedoms News. Check out these stories and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS PRC-OWNED CHINA TELECOM APPLIES FOR PARTIAL OFFERING ON NYSE China Telecom, a subsidiary of the state-owned China Telecom Group, applied for a New York Stock Exchange offering of roughly 20 percent of itself (CNN). Despite the near $4 billion stock offer, the PRC-owned parent will still �directly own about 69.5 percent of the company,� making this a pure money-raiser for the Communist Party. Also reporting: BBC HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA ARREST ANOTHER ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP Communist police arrested Roman Catholic Bishop Wei Jingyi, according to the Cardinal Kung Foundation, cited by Newsmax.com. Millions risk jail or worse to remain loyal Roman Catholics in the underground Vatican-backed Church, rejecting the PRC-run �Patriotic Catholic Church.� Link courtesy Ron Vogel, Member since 2000 HONG KONG PROPOSING �ANTI-SUBVERSION� LAW The Communist-appointed government of Hong Kong has released for �consultation� a new �anti-subversion� law that was immediately panned by human-rights activists as a possible tool for the regime to stamp out dissent. The law is required under Hong Kong�s Basic Law � the document that supposedly protects the former British colony�s autonomy under �one country, two systems.� Reports: BBC, CNN The proposed law purports to protect freedom of expression, unless it is used �to levy war or use force or other serious offences to sedition.� Given the PRC�s history of calling anything it doesn�t want to hear �sedition� � one activist cited criticism of June 4, 1989 as an example � the concern is quite justifiable. LEADING CRITIC OF PRC APPOINTED ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF HONG KONG Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, an outspoken critic of Communist China, will succeed the late Bishop John Baptist Wu as leader of Hong Kong Catholics. Zen, banned from the mainland by the Communists in 1998, has ripped the PRC crackdown on Falun Gong (see below). He has also gone after Hong Kong for its treatment of 5,000 �migrant� children of Hong Kong residents, among other things. Report: BBC The �migrants� had won the right to live in Hong Kong under a court ruling, but Beijing overturned it at the �request� of the Communist-appointed Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa (see 04/03/02 update). Zen has also criticized the erosion of freedom under Tung�s regime, telling the South China Morning Post, �We do not want to see Hong Kong becoming like any other city in the mainland� (Cybercast News). For more on Hong Kong, see News on Communist China, East Turkestan, and the Terrorist War. FALUN GONG WAR: MOVEMENT GETS ANOTHER BROADCAST ON PRC SATELLITE . . . Falun Gong managed to get another broadcast condemning the Communist crackdown against it onto PRC television earlier this month (Washington Post). The Communists raised the ante this time, insisting the �hijacking� came from Taiwan. The island democracy called the notion �far-fetched� (BBC, CNN). . . . AS PRACTITIONERS ACCUSED OF INVOLVEMENT IN MARCH TV BROADCAST SENT TO JAIL Communist China sentenced fifteen Falun Gong members to jail for their alleged roles in broadcasting videos supporting the spiritual movement on Changchun and Songyuan television (BBC, CNN, Washington Post). The March broadcast highlighted a new avenue of resistance for Falun Gong, which has lost over 200 followers to a three-year Communist crackdown. See also 3/13/02 update. COMMITTEE TO PROTECT JOURNALISTS RIPS COMMUNIST ARREST OF WRITER The U.S.-based Committee to Protect Journalists called for Communist China to release Chen Shaowen, arrested by the Communists for what the Communist-run Hunan Daily called �more than 40 articles containing reactionary material� (BBC) on foreign web sites. According to CPJ, Chen is the 14th journalist arrested for posting articles the Communists find unsettling on the internet. AIDS ACTIVIST CONFESSES TO �LEAKING STATE SECRETS;� COMMUNISTS RELEASE HIM Wan Yanhai, the AIDS activist who helped reveal Communist China�s tainted blood-drives in the 1980s that infected over one million residents � and that was just in Henan province, confessed to �leaking state secrets� last week (BBC, CNN). Communist China then released him, after weeks of never admitting it had held him (see 9/4/02 update). Also reporting: Washington Post GOOGLE IS BACK, BUT NOT WITHOUT RESTRICTIONS The New York Times, in an editorial cited by the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, reported that Communist China�s lifting of the ban on the Google search engine was not complete. The PRC managed to integrate Google into the �Great Red Firewall� of blocks to sites and information it doesn�t want its own people to see. See last update and 9/4/02 update for more on the Google ban. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS ASSETS OF REPUTED RINGLEADER OF XIAMEN SMUGGLING SCANDAL UP FOR SALE Communist China auctioned of Lai Changxing, the reputed ringleader of the multi-billion dollar Xiamen smuggling scandal (BBC). Lai, whose YuanHua Group was at the center of the scandal, is in Canada fighting extradition � which could very well lead to his execution. Lai bribed hundreds of local, provincial, and national Communists while evading billions in customs duties for imported goods. 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. INTERNATIONAL NEWS NORTH KOREA, COPYING PRC, CREATES �SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION� North Korea appears to be serious about following Communist China�s �reform.� The BBC reports that the Stalinists have �set up a special economic zone in the north-western city of Sinuiji on the Chinese border.� Of course, for Communist China, these �special administrative regions� have led to massive corruption, while those outside the regions continue to suffer from deprivation. The North Korea Report has the latest on the Stalinist ally of Communist China. Sign up now to receive it every Monday. REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS TAIWAN�S FIRST LADY VISITS U.S., CALLS FOR UN TO ACCEPT ROC AS MEMBER Wu Shu-chen, first lady of Taiwan, came to the United States last week. During her stay, which lasts until early next week, she addressed the American Enterprise Institute and called for the United Nations to give the ROC representation as a member nation (Washington Times). At present, the island democracy remains the only piece of real estate on the planet without any representation in the UN. TIBET NEWS KARMAPA LAMA SAYS COMMUNIST CHINA IS �CHANGING ITS ATTITUDE� The Karmapa Lama told the BBC that Communist China was �changing its attitude towards Tibet,� leading him to believe a thaw in PRC-Tibet relations is possible. The Karmapa Lama, the third-ranking spiritual leader in Tibet, fled for India in 1999 due to Communist repression � this despite being hand-picked for his position by the Communists themselves. TIBETAN NETWORK HACKED BY COMMUNIST CHINA Some things, however, never change. The Washington Times (third paragraph) reported that �the Chinese government has repeatedly tried to hack into� the computer network of the Tibetan government-in-exile this month, via a virus designed �to plug into the network and steal information.� TIBETAN LITERATURE SAVED BY DIGITIZATION Thousands of Tibetan books saved from destruction by �refugees who carried them over the Himalayas when they fled from the Chinese invasion of Tibet in the 1950s� (BBC) are now going digital. The Tibetan Buddhist Resource Center is in the midst of a mammoth project to transfer the books � many of which are now �falling apart� � to CD-Rom and the internet. It�s up to 12,000 so far. Feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be interested in receiving it Anyonewho 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. |