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CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE: DECEMBER 30, 2004
Dragon in the Dark: How and Why Communist China Helps Our Enemies in the War on Terror is now available here (or call 1-888-280-7715).
The next Summer Olympics begin in Beijing at 8AM EST on August 8, 2008 (BBC). Will the U.S. take part in a Communist Chinese version of the Munich Nazi propaganda event of 1936? Sign the petition for an American boycott of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
TOP STORY: AUTHORS OF RURAL PRC EXPOS� ON TRIAL FOR LIBEL
COMMUNISTS TRY USING CADRE TO SUE, BUT TRIAL DOESN�T FOLLOW THE PLAN
Communist China banned An Investigation of China's Peasantry, which the Washington Post called � in quite an understatement � �a literary exploration of poverty and the abuse of power in rural China.� The Communists, who saw it more as the dangerous expos� of their brutality against their own people it really was � also pushed a rural cadre to file a libel suit.
Unfortunately for the Communists, the authors chose the defense of proving all of the statements in Investigation to be true. The result was a complete spectacle that has so embarrassed the Party that, rather than simply impose a verdict for the cadre, �several officials have contacted the authors and their attorneys and urged them to settle the case.�
OTHER HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS NEWS
EXODUS FROM THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY CONTINUES, EXILE PREDICTS FALL
The flurry of resignations from the Chinese Communist Party (see 12/15 and last Updates) continued in scope and numbers. Among the more than 2000 CCP members who have quit is Xiaomin Huang, the PRC�s first ever Olympic swimming medalist; she �had been forced to participate in the CCP after she won the silver medal� (Epoch Times 12/24) in 1988.
Meanwhile, in a discussion on the Epoch Times� Nine Commentaries on the Chinese Communist Party, exiled dissident Wei Jingsheng predicted that the party would fall from power �sooner or later� (Epoch Times 12/30). We can only hope.
POLICE FIRE INTO GUANGDONG �RIOT� CROWD OF OVER 50,000
In an echo of the Hanyuan massacre (see 11/10, 11/17, 11/24, and 12/1 Updates) PRC police �fired into the crowd� (Voice of America via Epoch Times) gathering in Guangdong to protest the police beating to death �a relative of a student injured in a traffic accident.� The victim was apparently coming to his relative�s aid in �a dispute over compensation.�
The reaction to the murder was called a �riot� by VOA, but the Washington Post (fifth item) noted that �Hong Kong's Wen Wei Po and Apple Daily newspapers differed widely over . . . what led to the clash.� Wen Wei Po is the PRC�s lead mouthpiece in Hong Kong, while Apple Daily is friendly to anti-Communists, so the term �riot� must be taken with a lump of salt.
NEWS ON COMMUNIST CHINA, EAST TURKESTAN, AND THE TERRORIST WAR
Check out the latest on the Communist China and the Terrorist War page.
COMMUNIST CHINA HOSTS IRAQI FOREIGN MINISTER
Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari visited Communist China over the weekend for talks, largely centered on Communist China�s thirst for Iraq�s oil (VOA via Epoch Times). Of course, Communist China wanted nothing to do with Zebari, or any Iraqi opposed to Saddam Hussein�s Ba�athist regime prior its upending in 2003.
In fact, Communist China sold Saddam a fiber-optic network to integrate his air defenses, weapons of mass destruction components, and missile launching patrol boats � the U.S. intercepted the last of these (see 2/21/01, 2/28/01, 3/7/01, 3/14/01, 3/21/01, 12/18/02, 2/5/03, 3/19/03, 4/9/03, and 12/17/03 Updates).
Additionally, the People�s Republic, through its military-owned firm Norinco, sold gyroscopes and other missile parts to Saddam, and was paid via �oil-for-food� vouchers, which in the case of Norinco were worth over $350 million (see 10/6 and 10/13 Updates).
NORTHERN KOREA NEWS
Sign up for Monday�s Northern Korea Report.
REFUGEES IN CANADIAN EMBASSY FLOWN TO FREEDOM
Forty-four refugees from Stalinist-controlled northern Korea who have been holed up in the Canadian Embassy in Beijing since September were flown to �an undisclosed third country� (BBC). This means they will be spared repatriation, which is what Communist China does with any SCNK refugee it can find that doesn�t reach a democratic embassy first.
The Communist policy of forced repatriation � and the torture the refugees face once they are back in the Stalinists� clutches � has led hundreds of thousands of refugees to live as nonpersons in the PRC (see 3/20/02, 5/8/02, 5/15/02, 5/22/02, 6/19/02, 7/31/02, 9/4/02, 9/11/02, 1/22/03, 1/14, 7/14, 7/28, 9/1, and 9/29 Updates).
OTHER AMERICAN-RELATED NEWS
TAIWAN TO U.S. ON ARMITAGE COMMENTS: SAY WHAT?
Taiwan has asked the U.S. �to clarify recent comments by a top State Department official� (VOA via Epoch Times), namely Richard Armitage, who publicly backed away from a previous commitment by the President to come to Taiwan�s defense in case of a PRC attack (see 4/25/01 and last Updates). The State Department has yet to respond.
POWELL ADVISES PRC AND TAIWAN �REACH OUT TO ONE ANOTHER�
Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell did respond to a Communist white paper which called for �the Chinese people and armed forces� to �resolutely and thoroughly crush� the ROC if it makes �a major incident of �Taiwan independence�� (Bill Gertz, Washington Times). He called on the PRC and Taiwan to � we kid you not � �reach out to one another.�
OTHER INTERNATIONAL NEWS
FROM RUSSIA: BAD NEWS ON MILITARY COOPERATION (THERE WILL BE SOME) . . .
Russia and Communist China will conduct �an unprecedented military exercise in the second half of 2005 . . . involving naval ships and aircraft� (BBC). While it will be the first joint war games for Russia and the PRC, the Communists are already Russia�s largest arms customer: �Russian observers say that China gets half of Russia's weapons exports.�
. . . AND GOOD NEWS ON SIBERIAN OIL (IT�S LIKELY HEADED FOR JAPAN)
Meanwhile, Russia�s Natural Resource Ministry �endorsed Japan's plan for a Siberian petroleum pipeline,� according to Yomiuri Shimbun (cited by United Press International via the Washington Times). According to Russia�s Vedomosti (also cited in the Times link), �Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov . . . is expected to consent to the pipeline this week.�
Communist China had previously hoped it would be the recipient of Siberian oil, but the prospect of �exports to South Korea, Southeast Asia and the Pacific coast of the United States as well as Japan� � plus the fact that the PRC had contracted the now-crippled Yukos Oil to build its pipeline � helped Japan win the day (see 7/16/03, 2/25, and 4/7 Updates).
ISRAEL HARPY DEAL SPARKS CONTROVERSY IN PARLIAMENT AS PM PONDERS PRC VISIT
A committee of Israel�s Knesset (Parliament) �demanded full disclosure of the deal with China� (World Net Daily) for the purchase and upgrade of Harpy drones. In response, Israeli Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron stiffed the committee. Meanwhile, an unnamed source insisted that the U.S. knew of the entire Harpy deal, upgrades included.
The source also acknowledged �the U.S. did request Israel cancel its contract with China,� but denied that anyone had called for Defense Ministry Director-General Amos Yaron's resignation (see last Update). The situation is so muddled that it was a member of Israel�s most left-wing faction in the Knesset who uttered the loudest opposition to the deal.
Meanwhile, Israel Prime Minister Ariel Sharon received PRC Deputy PM Tang Jiaxuan, who invited Sharon to visit Communist China to �improve bilateral relations� (Epoch Times). However, the trip would likely be scotched unless �Israel and China are able to get over the friction arising from a snagged Israeli-Chinese weapons deal,� i.e., the Harpy fiasco.
VENEZUELA AND COMMUNIST CHINA SIGN OIL DEAL
Communist China�s two greatest priorities � oil sources and anti-American regimes � came together in an oil deal with visiting Venezuelan caudillo Hugo Chavez, who �offered to supply 120,000 barrels of fuel oil a month to China� (BBC). Chavez also �said his country would put its many of its oil facilities at the disposal of China.�
HONDA WINS COPYRIGHT RULING IN BEIJING
Honda won $177,600 in compensation for copyright violations by Chongqing Lifan Industry Group for �selling Honda brand motorbikes� (BBC) without the company�s permission.
REPUBLIC OF CHINA (TAIWAN) NEWS
COMMUNIST CHINESE �PARLIAMENT� EXAMINING �ANTI-SECESSION� LAW
Communist China�s rubber-stamp �parliament� � called the National People's Congress � �began deliberating a proposed �anti-secession law� aimed at preventing Taiwan from declaring formal independence� (Agence France Presse via Epoch Times). The move has been pegged by Taiwanese leaders as a pretext for invasion (see also last Update).
Invasion threat aside (not to belittle it), the idea that the PRC �legislature� can pass a law regarding Taiwan, where the Communists have never set foot, is absurd on its face.
FORMER PRESIDENT LEE TENG-HUI VISITS JAPAN
Lee Teng-hui is in the middle of a visit to Japan, which earned the Communists� �strong dissatisfaction� (Washington Post) at Japan�s willingness to host �a complete troublemaker on the international stage,� as a PRC mouthpiece put it. Lee, the first president elected by Taiwan�s people, is a leading political ally of anti-Communist President Chen Shui-bian.
No news was reported from Hong Kong or Tibet this week, save whispers from the Communist mouthpiece Xinhua about the commutation of Tenzin Delek Rinpoche�s sentence, which was already covered in the last Update.
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