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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: AUGUST 27, 2003
TOP STORY: PRC GIVEN FAKE CERTIFICATION ON PROLIFERATION IN 1997
DISSENTING OFFICIAL SAYS HE WAS THREATENED WITH FIRING UNLESS HE GAVE COMMUNISTS A FALSE CLEAN RECORD ON NUCLEAR WEAPONS SALES
In 1997, the Clinton Administration gave Communist China a false certification �as a nuclear nonproliferator despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary� (Insight, also reprinted by World Net Daily). That evidence came in a report written by Jonathon Fox, then an arms-control specialist for the Defense Department.
According to Fox, his superiors threatened to fire him if he did not change his assessment to a favorable one for Communist China. The ensuing false certification was the basis for a technology agreement between the People�s Republic and the U.S. that �amounted to Washington providing a how-to treatise for Beijing's nuclear-weapons program.�
An analyst with the Pentagon, who asked not to be named, told the magazine that in the six years since the false certification, �there has been undeniable evidence of transfers of nuclear technology from the People's Republic of China to North Korea and Iran.�
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
ANOTHER CRACKDOWN ON INTELLECTUALS BEGINS
Communist China has ordered all debate on �political reform . . . far-reaching revisions to the constitution and . . . changes in the official history of the Tiananmen Square crackdown� (Washington Post) be stopped, and has �begun harassing leading academics, economists and legal scholars.�
The move ends an apparent loosening from the Communists, who had allowed limited discussion on some forms of political reform, mainly �intra-party democracy,� but never approaching the idea of the Communists losing power.
Communist China has pulled several of these temporary openings, followed by a major crackdown against those who took advantage of it � such as the �anti-rightist� campaign and, more infamously, the Cultural Revolution.
COMMUNIST CHINA ARRESTS SIX MORE CHRISTIANS, RELEASE ONLY THREE OF THEM
Communist police arrested the founder of a non-Communist Christian Church and five of his fellow Christians last month, and are still holding the founder and two others. Shen Shaocheng, now over 80, started the church �more than 25 years ago� (World Net Daily). The church is affiliated with the �Little Flock� Protestant church network.
The PRC allows only Communist-regulated churches to operate � everything else is an �illegal cult� to the Communists. Over 10 million Catholics reject the Communist-controlled church and remain loyal to Pope John Paul II. The number of anti-Communist Protestants is not exactly known, but is likely many times larger.
U.S. SAYS COMMUNIST CHINA RENEGGING ON HUMAN RIGHTS PROMISES
Well, knock me over with a feather. The Bush Administration says Communist China is �backsliding on human rights commitments it made to address U.S. concerns, including specific promises that helped persuade President Bush not to pursue a resolution condemning Beijing at a U.N. forum in Geneva this year� (Washington Post).
Specifically, the U.S. is upset at unfulfilled promises to release prominent political dissidents such as Yang Jianli, Rebiya Kadeer, and Wang Youcai (see 7/26/00, 12/6/00, 2/20/02, and 8/13 Updates). The Communists also reneged on allowing international human rights observers to visit the PRC and monitor the treatment of the people under Communist rule.
FROM THE FALUN GONG WAR: PRACTITIONERS FILE ANTI-JIANG LAWSUIT IN BELGIUM
Six member of Falun Gong, the spiritual movement suffering under a brutal four-year Communist crackdown, filed suit against Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin in a Belgian court last week. A similar suit against Jiang has been filed in the U.S. (see 1/15 Update). Report: CNN
Check out the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
NORTH KOREA NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA OFFERING CARROTS TO NORTH KOREA AS TALKS BEGIN
Communist China would love to have the rest of the world end its concern for North Korea�s nuclear weapons. The PRC is hoping North Korea can shift to the Beijing model of economic growth, but is also promising the North �to persuade the U.S. to make a clear-cut commitment on not invading North Korea� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN).
The guarantee would be in exchange for the Stalinists promising to �climb down on the WMD issue,� something the U.S. thought it won in the 1994 agreement with the North that won it two currently half-finished nuclear power plants and billions of dollars in fuel oil.
The six-party talks on North Korea�s nuclear weapons began in Beijing today. Opinion on the first day ranged from �tough start� (BBC) to �rift-free start� (CNN). Also reporting: Cybercast News, Fox News, Washington Post
U.S. TO PRC: LET UN HANDLE NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES
American Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner has called on Communist China to let the United Nations handle the issue, and decided the fate, of North Korean refugees hiding in the PRC. The Communists send back any refugee from its fifty-plus-year ally, forcing the refugees to live as non-persons. Report: BBC
Craner noted the U.S. Senate�s support for granting North Korean refugees asylum in the United States (under current U.S. law only South Korea can take them in). Several groups of refugees have used democratic embassies within the PRC as temporary havens.
Advocates for the refugees are hoping their plight will be discussed in the aforementioned six-party talks (Cybercast News).
For more on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA DISPUTE WITH JAPAN OVER ISLAND CHAIN CONTINUES
A dispute between Communist China and Japan over the island chain known as the Diaoyu to the PRC and the Senkakus to Japan intensified when nine members of the Japanese Youth League paid a visit to the largest of the island. Report: Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
MAINLAND REFUGEES HEADED FOR TAIWAN DROWNED BY SMUGGLERS
Smugglers who tried to bring 26 women to Taiwan from Communist China were instead �thrown overboard by the boats' crews to evade capture by the Taiwanese coastguard� (BBC). ROC President Chen Shui-bian �said the Beijing authorities should take some responsibility, claiming that young women risked their lives to flee from China.� Indeed.
TAIWANESE OFFICIALS ENRAGED AT BOEING OVER ANNETTE LU CANCELLATION
Boeing�s decision � likely under Communist pressure � to cancel a visit from ROC Vice President Annette Lu to its Seattle plant has understandably enraged officials in the island democracy (Washington Post). The move came just after Taiwan awarded a contract to Boeing for planes built for ROC-owned China Airlines (see last Week�s Links).
Annette Lu, elected with ROC President Chen Shui-bian on the Democratic Progressive Party ticket in 2000, is a fiery advocate for the Taiwanese people, and a constant thorn in the Communists� sides. The ROC Transport Minister is now proposing a cancellation of the Boeing contract (BBC). Can anyone blame him?
Hong Kong was quiet this week.
TIBET NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA PULLS THE RUG ON VISIT FROM DALAI LAMA�S OFFICIALS
Communist China �cancelled a long-planned visit to China by members of the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile . . . because some members of the delegation had engaged in what (the PRC) described as 'splittist' activities� (Radio Free Asia via BBC). Over 1 million Tibetans have died since the Communists occupied the independent nation in 1951.
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