| 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. Miss an Update, Weekly Links, or a North Korea Report? Find it on our web site. CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: NOVEMBER 27, 2002 TOP STORY: UKRAINIAN RADARS SOLD TO PRC MAY HAVE BEEN RESOLD TO IRAQ COMMUNIST CHINA DENIES CLAIM, UKRAINIANS SAY PRC ASKED FOR RESELL PERMISSION Communist China may have sold to Iraq radar systems bought from the Ukraine, according to a State Department report cited by CNN. Communist China denies transferring the radar systems to Iraq, and won�t say whether or not it bought them from the Ukraine. The Ukrainians, meanwhile, told American and British investigators that the People�s Republic �had asked for the "end user" clause in its contract to be modified so that the contract would allow for re-selling the systems.� That led the group to make Communist China �of particular concern� (Cybercast News) regarding a possible resale to Iraq. Also reporting: Washington Post Check out these stories and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page. OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS COMMUNIST CHINESE FLYING CLOSER TO EP-3 PLANES AGAIN . . . Communist Chinese military pilot are once again coming �within 250 feet� (Washington Times) of American EP-3 surveillance flights. While this is still farther away than the dangerous proximity to the EP-3s in which PRC pilots were flying before the Hainan outrage (see 4/5/01 and 4/11/01 updates), it�s a disturbing development nonetheless. . . . AS U.S. DESTROYER DOCKS IN COMMUNIST CHINESE PORT, FIRST SINCE EP-3 COLLISION Speaking of the Hainan outrage, for the first time since the two-week ordeal, an American naval vessel visited a port in mainland Communist China. The U.S.S. Paul F Foster docked in Qingdao over the weekend. A U.S. naval vessel had docked in Hong Kong earlier this year. Report: BBC HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL RIPS COMMUNIST JAILING AND KILLING OF WEB SURFERS Amnesty International � noting that Communist China had arrested 33 people for �internet subversion� (BBC, CNN), two of whom seem to have been tortured to death � demanded the release of the remaining 31. AI noted that the two deceased prisoners were practitioners of Falun Gong � the spiritual group that has suffered a horrific Communist crackdown that has killed over a hundred since 1999. OTHER MAINLAND NEWS JIANG FACTION KEPT HIM IN CMC CHAIR . . . More is coming out on just little power was transferred to Communist Party chief Hu Jintao. In a new report on the Communist reshuffle from last week, Willy Wo-Lap Lam (CNN) described Jiang�s retention of the powerful post of Chairman of the Central Military Commission �a big surprise� that had actually been pushed by the Politburo � which is stacked with Jiang cronies. Lam notes that the �treacherous Taiwan situation� (the Politburo�s words, not his) was the main reason Jiang�s �steady hand� won the day at the CMC. The CMC Chair is the post from which Deng Xiaoping wielded power over the PRC, including overruling then-party head Zhao Ziyang and ordering the military into Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. . . . AND HAS LED TO �STUNNING REVIVAL� OF IDEOLOGUES AND HACKS IN PARTY Meanwhile, Lam also finds another consequence of the CMC Chairman Jiang�s determination to stay at the top: �career party functionaries have been making gains at the expense of professional, less ideologically-inclined administrators and managers.� The biggest beneficiary of the �stunning revival� of �apparatchiks� in the party has been the Shanghai faction led by CMC Chairman Jiang. COMMUNISTS BUILDING PARTY CELLS IN �PRIVATE� BUSINESSES, LOOKING FOR CONTROL Lam also took note of the other side of Communist China�s opening up to �private� business � over 100,000 Communist Party cells in these �private firms.� The Communists, who still have no protections for private property, are �anxious to exert some form of ideological and organizational control over its quasi-capitalist members,� according to Lam. CLEAN NEEDLES FOR DRUG USERS, DIRTY ONES FOR EVERYONE ELSE Guangdong province has decided to take the sterile needles route to combat the spread of AIDS. The disease is, as the BBC (11/21/02) notes, �a highly sensitive topic.� It does not note one of the major reasons why, a Communist-inspired blood drive in the 1980s that became an AIDS biological superhighway � with roughly 1 million infected in Henan province alone (see 9/4/02 update). Meanwhile, the BBC report (11/25/02) cited a World Health Organization report that nearly a third of all hospital injections in Communist China are with dirty needles, and that in the rural areas the unsafe injection rate �can be as high as 100%.� Not only is that a boon for AIDS, but also for Hepatitis B, of which the PRC has the highest infection rate on the planet �by far.� WATER TO BE REDIRECTED IN PROJECT LARGER THAN THREE GORGES DAM Communist China plans to start next year on a massive project to shift 48 billion tons of water from rivers in the southern part of the PRC to the northern regions, which are parched thanks to drought and over-development. This project, likely to be bigger than the disastrous Three Gorges Dam, already has its critics, who cite ecological concerns. Report: CNN INCOMING PREMIER WANTS TO IMPROVE SITUATION IN HINTERLANDS Current Vice-Premier and likely future Premier Wen Jiabao � the prot�g� of �reform� Premier Zhu Rongji � has �made a commitment to raising the economic standards of the western regions� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN) after visiting impoverished Guizhou province last week. Zhu made repeated efforts to improve the lot of the impoverished rural interior, to no avail. INTERNATIONAL NEWS PRC MILITARY WANTS MORE RUSSIAN ARMS; JIANG WANTS NEW LIFE IN SCO . . . The Communist military is hoping for more Russian arms to flow when PRC President and Central Military Commission Chairman Jiang Zemin meets Russian President Vladimir Putin next week. Jiang himself is also hoping Putin will help breathe new life into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the �Chinese NATO� which hit the skids after 9/11/01. Report: Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN . . . AS RUSSIA BUILDS MORE NUCLEAR SUBS FOR COMMUNIST CHINA A good example of the military weaponry Communist China is currently receiving, and of which it desires quite a bit more, from Russia is the help to the Communists in developing nuclear missile-launching submarines, including the �upgraded Akula� (Newsmax.com) class, Russia�s most modern submarine. The PRC is Russia�s largest arms customer, and Russia is the Communists� largest supplier. YANG BIN CHARGED WITH BRIBERY Communist China charged Yang Bin, the �entrepreneur� who was supposed to lead Stalinist North Korea�s �special economic zone� in Sinuiju, with �bribery, fraud and other �commercial crimes,�� according to the Communist-run Xinhua news agency, cited by CNN. However, the real motivation for the charges may come from Yang�s appointment itself, on which the PRC �was not consulted� (BBC). Sign up for the North Korea Report, sent every Monday. SNAKEHEAD RING GOES ON TRIAL A ring of �snakeheads� is going on trial in Communist China for helping 730 people escape the PRC. The refugees are usually forced to pay exorbitant fees to these criminal enterprises in order to escape � in the case of this ring, about $20,000. Reports: BBC, CNN REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS PRC CONTINUING TO ADD MISSILES AIMED AT TAIWAN, INCREASE FIGHTER SORTIES Communist China has added improving �air-defense missile sites opposite Taiwan,� to its continuing deployment of missiles �currently within striking distance of the island at a rate of about 50 (more) missiles a year� (Washington Times-1, third paragraph). The Communists are also increasing the number of sorties flown by their fighters toward the PRC-ROC demarcation line. The new developments have led Taiwan to step up its own military patrols �keep a close eye on the area� (Washington Times-2), according to Tang Yao-ming, Defense Minister for the island democracy. FINANCE MINISTER RESIGNS Reacting to anger from farmers and fishermen against the reforms of credit unions that loan them money, ROC Finance Minister Lee Yung-san resigned last week. Finding a replacement has not been easy. Report: BBC HONG KONG NEWS U.S. WARNS COMMUNISTS ON HONG KONG �ANTI-SUBVERSION� LAW The United States government joined with human rights and democracy supporters in Hong Kong to criticize the new �anti-subversion� law the Communist-appointed HK government is proposing. State Department spokesman Phillip Reeker cited �serious concerns� (BBC) about the proposed law, which will go into effect at the end of the year. Reeker also noted that the local regime had refused to publish the entire law during the current �consultation� with the public. He also called for �a democratically elected government, answerable to the will of the people� to replace the PRC-appointed regime that currently runs the former UK colony. THREE PRO-DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS CONVICTED OF �UNAUTHORIZED PROTEST� The first �unauthorized protest� conviction in Hong Kong was imposed upon Leung Kwok-hung, and two students, Lo Wai-ming and Fung Ka-keung, three pro-democracy activists in the city. Report: BBC TIBET NEWS DALAI LAMA FACING DEATH THREATS A radical splinter group in the Tibetan community is threatening the Dalai Lama�s life for �befriending other branches of Tibetan Buddhism� (Washington Times). Some have called the splinter group, known as the Shungdens, �the Taliban of Tibetan Buddhism.� 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. |