| The next Update will be released on Thursday, January 2. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: DECEMBER 26, 2002 TOP STORY: ONE MAJOR DISSIDENT EXILED, ANOTHER ARRESTED PRC SEND XU WENLI TO U.S., ADMITS ARRESTING WANG BINGZHANG Xu Wenli, a founder of the China Democracy Party and a protest in the 1970s Democracy Wall movement, is now out of jail. The Communists set him free, but exiled him to the United States in the process. Xu had been unwilling to accept exile � even preferring prison � until he fell ill to Hepatitis B a few years ago. Report: CNN Xu himself was rather unimpressed with his own release, referring to himself as �a Christmas gift from President Jiang Zemin to President George Bush� (BBC 12/25/02) and part of a �political game� the so-called People�s Republic plays with dissidents in general. He also said the Chinese people �will make the leap� to freedom. Human rights groups echoed Xu�s skeptical outlook on the Communists. Days before Xu�s release, the Communists reinforced that outlook in admitting that they had arrested Wang Bingzhang, a pro-democracy activist in exile since 1979 who had disappeared this summer in Vietnam attempting to meet with labor dissident leaders (see 7/31/02 update), the political opposition that easily scares the Communists the most. Report: BBC 12/20/02 Xinhua, the Communist news agency, claimed that Wang and two other activists had been kidnapped and rescued. The other activists were supposedly freed, but Wang was charged with stealing �state secrets.� The Communists attached the now usual violent crime charge to give the arrest a veneer of respectability � in this case, �violent terrorist activities,� a charge that Wang�s compatriots dismiss as bunk. The other two dissidents, who are still missing, are Yue Wu, a labor activist during the Tiananmen Square protests, and Zhang Qi, the founder of Zhong Gong � a spiritual movement similar to Falun Gong which is suffering a Falun-like crackdown by the Communists. Like Wang, both left the comfort of the U.S. to meet with and help their fellow supporters of freedom from within the PRC. Wang had earlier snuck into the PRC in 1998 to help fellow dissidents, including Xu, found the China Democracy Party. He was expelled again in the crackdown against the CDP that led to the arrest of Xu and many others, including most prominently Wang Youcai. Also reporting: Washington Post NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR HUAWEI HELP TO IRAQ GOES AS FAR BACK AS 2000 Meanwhile, the German newspaper Taz � cited by the BBC � reported that Huawei Technologies � the PRC firm that built Saddam a fiber optic network to help integrate his air defenses (see 2/21/01, 2/28/01, 3/7/01, 3/14/01, 3/21/01, and 9/18/02 updates) � also sent along �hi-tech fibreglass parts for air defence (UK sp) installations� in 2000 as well as 2001. COMMUNIST CHINA HAD ROLE IN HELPING IRAN�S NUCELAR PROGRAM Iran, via front companies, used materials from Communist China to help build a nuclear facility in Natanz that was likely to be a secret nuclear weapons plant until The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) revealed them in August. While NCRI itself has a nasty history � including ties to the terrorist Iranian Mujahidin � the U.S., according to the Washington Post, finds the information �credible.� COMMUNIST CHINA TO CONTINUE THE CRACKDOWN IN EAST TURKESTAN Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN, reports that Communist China will continue to �crack the whip . . . against purported terrorist cells as well as underground dissident groups.� Lam also noted that the party chief in �Xinjiang,� Wang Lequan, is �believed to be close to new party General Secretary Hu Jintao,� ensuring that the crackdown will continue to have support in the highest echelons of power in the PRC. Communist China has used the terrorist war to justify its brutal repression of East Turkestan � an independent nation before the Communists took power in 1949 � and its Uighur Muslims. The PRC has made numerous claims of bin Ladenism in the region, without evidence. The United States agreed to call the East Turkestan Islamic Movement a terrorist group last August (see 8/28/02 update), but an American official publicly rebuked unnamed Communists who took the move to mean the U.S., approved of the crackdown against the Uighurs (see last update). Perhaps the fact that ETIM was later reported to be defunct and was never in the region had an effect (see 9/18/02 update). Check out these stories and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS COMMUNIST CHINA RIPS U.S. MISSILE DEFENSE PLANS Communist Chinese spokesperson Sha Zukang blasted American plans for a missile defense by 2004, saying it would �disrupt global strategic balance and stability� (CNN). The planned missile defense is mainly aimed at protecting the U.S. against terrorists and �rogue states� such as North Korea, Iran, and Iraq � all of which are allies or military clients of the PRC. GM TO OPEN FOURTH PLANT IN PRC General Motors will open a fourth plant in Communist China, in conjunction with its PRC-firm partner, Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation. Report: CNN INTERNATIONAL NEWS PRC SELLS NUKE CHEMICAL TO NORTH KOREA; COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE Meanwhile, Bill Gertz (Washington Times) reported that Stalinist North Korea � a PRC ally for over fifty years � succeeded in buying from Communist China the plutonium-making, uranium-enriching chemical known as tributyl phosphate (TBP). The chemical enables the Stalinists to produce enough nuclear weapons material for several bombs a year. According to CNN, U.S. officials called the deal, which involved around 20 tons of TBP �worrisome.� In a later piece, Gertz reported that the U.S.-China Security Review Commission would be looking into the TBP sale, as well as other �transfers of Chinese militarily useful goods to North Korea.� Sign up for the North Korea Report, sent every Monday. RUSSIAN GENERAL MEETS WITH XIONG GUANGKAI Russian General Uriy Nikolaevich Baluyevskiy met with PRC Lieutenant General Xiong Gaungkai � the fellow who was the U.S. for talks despite earlier threatening to incinerate Los Angeles (see 12/11/02 update) � for talks on �defense cooperation and regional security issues� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN). Russia is the PRC�s biggest arms supplier, and the PRC is Russia�s largest arms customer. MURDOCH�S FIRM SIGNS DEAL WITH PRC-RUN PROVINCIAL STATION Rupert Murdoch�s News Corporation signed a deal with Hunan Broadcasting Group, becoming �the first foreign broadcaster allowed to show its programmes (UK sp) on state-owned TV� (BBC). OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS (See Top Story) LIOYANG LABOR LEADERS OUT OF JAIL, �FAR FROM FREE� Communist China let two leaders of a major labor protest in Lioyang out of jail this week, but as the BBC reported, the two are �far from free.� Their �release� bans them from meeting with other workers in Lioyang, unless it�s to gather evidence against fellow protestors. For more on the Lioyang protests, see 3/20/02, 3/27/02, and 4/3/02 updates. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS JIANG ZEMIN�S PROT�G�S TAKE VICE-PREMIERSHIPS The cabinet of incoming Communist Premier (Prime Minister) Wen Jiabao is �weighted heavily with technocrats with ties to the Greater Shanghai Region� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN), and includes � surprise! � key members of Central Military Commission Chair/PRC President Jiang Zemin�s Shanghai faction. Three of the four vice-premiers, including the Executive Vice Premier, will be Jiang prot�g�s. COMMUNISTS SHUT DOWN BANK DUE TO DEBT The Communists shut down the debt-ridden China Huafeng Finance Corporation this week, due to its debt and what the BBC called �disobeying regulations.� The late firm is but one piece of a much larger problem. Over a third of all loans in Communist China � and perhaps �as much as 40%� � are �non-performing,� the euphemism for in default. Taiwan was quiet this holiday week. HONG KONG NEWS CONSULTATION PERIOD ON �ANTI-SUBVERSION LAW� ENDS, HK OVERRUN WITH PESSIMISM The three-month �consultation period� on the �anti-subversion� law proposed by the Hong Kong government, and demanded by the Communists who appointed it, has ended. The proposed law has provisions against ��treason, secession, sedition [and] subversion� against the Beijing government as well as the theft of state secrets� (Cyberbast News). The last of those provisions has long been the crutch used by Communists in the mainland to stop any trail of information deemed embarrassing. With that in mind, roughly 50,000 marched in opposition to the law a week and a half ago. Moreover, the people of the city have told pollsters they are more pessimistic than optimistic about HK�s future, for the first time since the Communists took over in 1997. TEN THOUSAND MARCH IN SUPPORT OF �ANTI-SUBVERSION� LAW Meanwhile, Supporters of the �anti-subversion� law brought 10,000 into the streets over the weekend � one of whom was the leader of the leading pro-Communist party in the city: the so-called Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong. Report: BBC No news was reported from Tibet this week. Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. 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]. 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