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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: MAY 28, 2003
TOP STORY: U.S. WHACKS PRC FIRM FOR AIDING IRAN�S BALLISTIC MISSILE PROGRAM
COMMUNIST-RUN CORPORATION TO LOSE �HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS� IN U.S. CONTRACTS
The Bush Administration took aim at North China Industries (Norinco), a Communist-owned firm that had �assist(ed) in the Iranian ballistic missile program� (Washington Post), canceling �all export-import licences (UK sp) and contracts with the US� (BBC), and barring all Norinco imports. The Iranian firm on the receiving end of Norinco�s help, Shahid Hemmat, was also sanctioned. Also reporting: Newsmax
Shahid �is a key developer of Iran's Shahab-3 missile, which reputedly has a range of 800 miles, enough to reach Israel, Turkey and Afghanistan.� Iran is already developing biological and nuclear weapons, as has received Communist Chinese help on both fronts (see 12/26/02 and last Update).
The move �will cost Beijing �hundreds of millions� of dollars annually in lost sales in the United States� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). Norinco�s list of products its sells to the world and the U.S. include �vehicles and mechanical products, optical-electronics, chemicals, explosives, civil firearms, light industrial products and �special products.�� Now we have a better idea what �special products� means.
The specific acts by Norinco � �a key supplier of the People's Liberation Army� � were not mentioned, but the timing was � October 2002. That would be after the much-heralded August 2002 announcement that the so-called People�s Republic had supposedly tightened its arms proliferation to terrorist states (see 8/28/02 Update) � another reminder of just how little the Communists care about even their own rules.
One official said of the move, �This is the first time in the last 15 years that sanctions on China will have teeth.� As to the economic effects of the two-year import ban, the same official responded, �It's also inconvenient to have an Iranian missile come down on you.� How true.
PRC FIRM�S SEEDY HISTORY GOES BACK DECADES
The so-called People�s Republic, of course, denied any involvement by Norinco � the same firm that shipped guns by the thousands, including �2,000 illegal AK-47 automatic rifles . . . to U.S. Customs agents posing as Miami drug smugglers� (Washington Post), �operated a tank manufacturing outfit in Iraq,� and �allegedly sold chemical weapons precursors to Iran.�
All of this was par for the course for a firm �started in 1980 with the aim of making profits for the People's Liberation Army� that had acquired the reputation as �a supermarket for inexpensive, reliable weaponry.� One wonders why they were allowed to continue doing business in the U.S. for so long.
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA AND THE TERRORIST WAR
COMMUNIST CHINA JOINS REST OF UNSC, SAVE SYRIA, IN LIFTING IRAQI SANCTIONS
The Security Council voted 14-0 to end UN non-military sanctions against Iraq (CNN). Communist China was one of the 14. Also reporting: Washington Post
Check out this story and more on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
NORTH KOREA NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINA AND RUSSIA ISSUE NK WARNING � AT U.S.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Communist Chinese President/Party chief Hu Jintao issued a stark North Korea warning � at the U.S. The two labeled any use of force against the Stalinists �unacceptable� (CNN), and called for �security guarantees for the Communist North.� They also called on the Stalinists to �maintain a nuclear-free status.� Did they not notice the North already claimed to be a nuclear power? For more on the Putin-Hu summit, see International News.
NK NUKES BECOMING A �CARD� FOR COMMUNISTS TO PLAY AGAINST U.S.
PRC President Hu Jintao �may play the Korean card when putting pressure on Washington to at least refrain from selling sophisticated weapons to the self-ruled island� (Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN). Jiang Zemin � ex-PRC President but still Central Military Commission Chairman also looked to turn the North Korean nuclear situation to the Communists� advantage on Taiwan (see 10/23/02 Update).
For more on Communist China�s Stalinist ally, sign up for Monday�s North Korea Report.
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
WOMEN�S WORLD CUP BACK IN U.S.
FIFA, the organization in charge of world soccer (a.k.a. football outside of North America), decided to put the Women�s World Cup in the United States this year. It was scheduled to be in the PRC until the outbreak of SARS led FIFA to pull the plug there (see 5/7 Update). Report: Washington Post
HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
MIGRANT WORKER BEATEN TO DEATH FOR NOT HAVING THE RIGHT PAPERS ON TIME
Sun Zhigang, a native of the PRC rural interior who worked in Guangdong, �did not have the right papers on him� (BBC) when he tried to re-enter Guangdong. For this, he was beaten to death, even though a friend of his �brought along the papers� that should have had him released.
FIGHTING SARS: FIRST THE CADRES, NOW THE �FAMILY PLANNING OFFICIALS�
As the last Update noted, Communist China is mobilizing the cadres to help control SARS, having spent so much time controlling everything else in the PRC. Now the real experts at intrusion are coming: �85 million family planning officials� (Washington Times) will �conduct what is considered the first comprehensive survey of rural migration in a bid to curb the spread of SARS.�
For a snapshot of the, um, dedication of the �family planning officials� regarding Communist China�s hideous �one child� policy, see how they followed a family home to kill an infant born without their permission in the 8/30/00 Update.
SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME (SARS) NEWS
FIRST SARS CASE MAY HAVE BEEN IN JANUARY 2002
Just as the PRC was peddling a theory that SARS first popped up in the U.S. in February 2002 (which as the last Update reported was rather specious at best), Taiwan News (link courtesy Susan Prager, Member since 2003) reported that the disease may have actually began in January 2002 in Guangdong Province.
We know the disease was in Guangdong in November, at which time Communist secrecy allowed it to spread to Beijing, numerous provinces in the rural interior, neighboring nations in Asia, and around the world (see 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9, 4/16, 4/23, 4/30, 5/7, 5/14, and last Updates).
WHO SAYS GUANGDONG AND HONG KONG ARE OK, BUT NOT RURAL PRC
The World Health Organization ended its SARS travel advisories against Hong Kong and Guangdong Province, calling the disease �contained� there. They did not say the same thing about the rural interior, in which four provinces � Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, and Tianjin � are now suffering from SARS (CNN, BBC). This was the only news from Hong Kong this week.
HOSPITAL PATIENTS WHO CONTRACTED SARS WANT PROSECUTIONS
A number of SARS patients fell ill with the disease in hospitals, many during the period when the Communists didn�t want anyone to know about the disease. In response to the medical negligence, they �have begun to prepare to prosecute for faulty medical treatment� (BBC).
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
HU JINTAO VISITS RUSSIA, SIGNS ACCORD FOR OIL IMPORTS FROM SIBERIA
Communist Party chief and PRC President Hu Jintao began his first trip abroad in Moscow, a decision with �more than symbolism� attached. As Willy Wo-Lap Lam, CNN 5/27, noted, Communist China is looking to build upon its already close military ties with Russia � Russia is the PRC�s largest arms supplier � in �checking perceived U.S. expansionism.� Also reporting: BBC
The two also talked economics: in particular, they reached an agreement �to export Siberian oil� (Lam 5/28) from Russia to the PRC. Russia �will also be involved in the mammoth project to transport gas from western Chinese provinces to the industrialized coastal region.� Hu and Putin also called for � get this � �a multipolar, just and democratic world order� (Cybercast News). Did they say democratic?
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
NEW HEALTH MINISTER PROMISES BETTER ANTI-SARS EFFORT
As the number of SARS victims in Taiwan exceeded 500 (CNN), new ROC Health Minister Chen Chien-Jen promised better equipment for hospitals fighting the disease, and demanded that they �report cases honestly� (BBC). The World Health Organization gave the island democracy a boost, saying it found the growth of SARS cases did �not suggest an explosive escalation.�
UNITED NATIONS BANS TAIWAN OFFICIAL FROM CORRESPONDENTS� BRIEFING
In an unprecedented and despicable action, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan �barred a Taiwanese official from attending a news conference on Taiwan's efforts to gain entry into the World Health Organization� (Washington Post). Annan�s unprecedented interference with the U.N. Correspondents� Association was at the request of � no prizes for guessing � Communist China.
The UNCA heard from Annan that the Taiwanese official, Andrew Li-Yan Hsia, would be allowed to meet the journalists� group on Friday. The Secretary General reversed himself Thursday night. All the UN would say came from a spokesman who said the UN �has a firm one China policy� (Newsmax).
AMERICAN DOCTOR COMES DOWN WITH DISEASE
Meanwhile, an unnamed physician with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) helping Taiwan battle SARS came down with the illness himself. He is now back in the U.S., and being treated. Reports: Washington Post
TIBET NEWS
DALAI LAMA SENDS TWO ENVOYS TO BEIJING
Two envoys of the Dalai Lama, Tibet�s spiritual leader, were in Beijing this week for �a visit aimed at rebuilding relations between China and Tibet's exiled government� (BBC). The Dalai Lama had to flee Tibet in 1959 when the Communists crushed an anti-PRC uprising there. The Communists first occupied Tibet in 1951; over 1 million Tibetans have died since then.
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