31May2000

CHINA E-LOBBY UPDATE

PEKING UNIVERSITY PROTESTERS WIN MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR SLAIN STUDENT; BULLETIN BOARD SITES THAT SPAWNED PROTEST SHUT DOWN
After two days of student protests in Peking University, to mourn a slain student, university officials lifted a banned they had imposed on memorial services to her. Roughly 1,500 students held a candlelight march in Peking University to mourn the death of Qiu Qingfeng, a freshman, on Thursday, and 500 marched on Friday. Last week, Qiu was murdered while walking to her dormitory room. The officials at the Communist-run school blocked a memorial, and banned any show of mourning for her, including the customary white flower in order to �preserve stability.� Students reacted by placing posters condemning university officials for the decision � due largely to the proximity of the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre � and calling for the resignation of Beijing�s police chief and the head of the Public Security Ministry.

A memorial internet site (www.cn.netor.com) received over 13,600 hits for Qiu, more than triple the number of hits registered for a journalist who died in last year�s Embassy bombing during the Kosovo conflict. Over 3,000 messages were sent to the site memorializing her. University bulletin board sites also played host to student outrage at Qiu�s death and the school�s original ban on a memorial. Many say these BBSs, now inaccessible according to Agence France Presse, created the atmosphere for the demonstrations. On Thursday, they read eulogies to Qiu before marching quietly through campus to call for a memorial, and better security. Some continued protesting the poor security despite the announcement of a memorial service. Peking University had seen several protests durig the 1980s. The death of Hu Yaobang, the Communist Party chief dumped for not crushing the rallies, was the catalyst for the 1989 Tiananmen Square protest.

PRESIDENT CHEN TELLS COMMUNISTS: NO TALKS, NO TRADE, TRANSPORT, OR POSTAL LINKS
Chen Shui-Bian, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), demanded Communist China restart cross-strait talks, and said without them, � it is not possible� to have trade, transport, and postal links long sought by the Communists. �Our sincerity and goodwill are not enough,� said Chen in talks with a visiting U.S. Congressman. �The Chinese Communists must reciprocate with sincerity and goodwill to reopen the door of negotiation so cross-strait relations can be improved and there can be further discussion on the opening of the three links.� Chen had previously pledge to review the forty-year ban on trade, transport and postal links with the mainland. Communist China has demanded talks under the �One China� principle, while Chen has said �one China� can be an issue for discussion, but was unacceptable as the framework for cross-strait talks.

TOKYO GOVERNOR INVITES EX-TAIWANESE PRESIDENT, LIKENS COMMUNISTS TO NAZIS
Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara laid into Communist China again. While in Taipei for Chen�s inauguration, Ishihara told reporters the Communist leadership in Beijing would be seen as Nazi Germany was. �If Jiang Zemin pulled the trigger and started a war to merge with Taiwan, he would be the Hitler of China,� said Ishihara. Ishihara also invited former ROC President Lee Teng-Hui to visit his city, and said the world would be fine with �one China and one Taiwan.� That particular language is usually taken as rhetoric supporting formal independence for the Taiwan, and the People�s Republic of China responded with their usual angry slanders. On Thursday, Zhang Qiyue, Foreign Ministry spokesperson for the Communist China, called Ishihara �a notorious anti-China activist, who evil motives are clearly seen by all.� Ishihara has repeatedly slammed Communist China for its appalling human rights record, especially in Tibet, and saber rattling regarding Taiwan. He has even gone so far as to say Communist China is fighting �another Cold War� with Asian democracies, the only elected official in Japan to use the term. The Japanese government, which doesn�t see eye to eye with Ishihara on these issues, distanced itself from his remarks.

COMMUNIST CHINA BANS TAIWANESE MEGA-STAR FOR SINGING AT CHEN�S INAUGURATION
In a remarkable fit of pique, Communist China has banned all appearances of and advertisements with Asia mage-star Chang Hui-mei, known as A-mei, because she sang the Taiwanese national anthem during President Chen�s inauguration. The ban forced Coca-Cola and others to bring their recent ad campaigns to an abrupt halt. �We received notice Friday they will stop playing the advertisements,� said Brenda Lee, a Coca-Cola spokeswoman. �They didn't explain the reasons. They just said they received orders from above.�

President Chen criticized Communist China�s move, done out of fear that A-mei sang the anthem because she supports independence. �It's really unimaginable that (she) invited suppression when she sang the national anthem on the soil of the Republic of China (ROC)," he said. �Is it the proper way to treat sisters and brothers?� A PRC spokeswoman on state television said the ban against all �songs, advertisements and programmes� has been in place since May 10. �This is a political issue,� she said. �She went too far on such a big occasion. If a singer behaves like this, how can we allow her to still appear on the mainland?�

U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT INCLUDES TAIWAN AS AN �ESPIONAGE THREAT�
In a move that stunned a number of former FBI and other intelligence officials, Attorney General Janet Reno has classified Taiwan as a hostile intelligence threat in a memo sent to the FBI in early 1999. The classification, a major departure from previous administrations, shocked ex-intelligence officials, one of who flatly said if Taiwan was to be added to this list, so should Israel, Pakistan, India, and France. All the officials said that while Taiwan is engaged in some minor information collecting, not one espionage case against the ROC has been started. Frances Fragos Townsend, the Justice official who rejected repeated FBI requests for a wiretap of suspected Communist Chinese spy Wen Ho Lee, wrote the memo for Reno�s approval. The memo, in effect, marks the small democratic government astride Communist China a national security threat.

OTHER TAIWAN NEWS
Communist China began military exercises in Fujian province, which directly faces the Taiwan, on Thursday, with more drills slated for next month. Taiwan�s defense ministry reported the �routine artillery firings� a day before they began, but said they were normal military drills, and that no ROC-controlled areas we endangered. He also said there have been no signs of abnormal activity in the PRC military since Chen�s inauguration. Over the weekend, Communist China used a combination of carrots and sticks in their continuing attempts to convince Taiwan to reunify. While the Communist People�s Liberation Army threatened to leave pro-independence Taiwanese �buried in a sea of fire,� Communist Vice Premier Qian Qichen remarked that the PRC planned to use �dialogue, negotiation, and exchanges� to solve the issue. The Communist-run People�s Daily also ran an editorial extolling the �10 merits of peaceful reunification.� They included: being part of a �superpower,� saving money on defense spending, and shelter from �global imperialism.� The list did not include the things that many Taiwanese hold more important: political and economic liberty, human rights, and control of their own destiny.

SENATE REPUBLICANS MAY LINK PNTR TO BUDGET DEBATE WITH PRESIDENT CLINTON
The bullet train the U.S. Senate was supposed to be for Permanent Normal Trade Relations with Communist China may become part of the budget train wreck. U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell, a leading member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the Senate should hold PNTR hostage to a number of spending bills President Clinton has threatened to veto. McConnell said he wouldn�t give PNTR to the President for signature until �he signed the last appropriations bill.� He even went so far as to say PNTR could become �the first accomplishment of the next administration,� i.e. dead for the year, if Clinton doesn�t cooperate on the budget. Meanwhile, some believe the Senate will add national security amendments to the measure, forcing a conference committee, and possibly giving a jurisdictional argument to Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms (Republican � North Carolina), a leading PNTR foe.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN CHARGES CORPORATE LOBBISTS OFFERED $200,000 FOR HIS VOTE
Utah Republican Merrill Cook has charged that Political Action Committees (PACs) of the Chamber of Commerce 2000 offered him $200,000 in campaign contributions from multinational corporations in exchange for dropping his opposition to PNTR. Cook, who rejected the offer and still voted against the bill in the House, told reported David Bresnahan of the offer, according to www.WorldDailyNet.com. Cook�s staff did not identify the corporations who would have contributed the offered money, and did not know if any other congressmen were given similar offers. The House passed PNTR by a 237-197 margin. Communist Chinese President Jiang Zemin called President Clinton personally to thank him for getting PNTR through. It is still expected to pass the Senate, though not nearly as easily as before (see above).

U.S. MILITARY SEES ASIA AS PLACE FOR NEXT LIKELY WAR, VIEWS COMMUNIST CHINA WARILY
The Washington Post reports that an upcoming Pentagon report, to be released this week, sees Asia as the most likely region to see a conflict involving U.S. troops, and Communist China as a potential source of that conflict. The paper reported the military, especially the Navy and Air Force, is shifting their focus away from Europe and toward the rapidly changing situation in Asia. Of particular concern to the Pentagon is ensuring continued troop presence in Japan and South Korea to protect against increasingly hostile Communist China and establishing closer relations with nations in Southeast Asia. Communist China itself is rarely mentioned by name, in part to avoid worrying European allies and irking Communist China, which might bother the current occupant of the White House, who has called Communist China a �strategic partner.�

COMMUNIST CHINESE CLAIM SUCCESS IN PATRIOT-LIKE ANTI-MISSILE TEST
Communist Chinese military claimed they had successfully tested an anti-missile system capable of shooting down incoming cruise missiles. The military-run People�s Liberation Army Daily said the system, which apparently is a smaller version of the Patriot system as it can be carried by only one soldier, shot down an incoming cruise missile in the northeastern Lanzhou region. No further details were available.

COMMUNIST CHINA CRITICIZES PRESSURE FOR KHMER ROUGE TRIAL IN CAMBODIA
Also on Thursday, Communist China told the world to stop pressuring Cambodia to try members of the vicious Khmer Rouge regime of the late 1970�s. Communist China, through spokesperson Zhang, also called for the international community to let Cambodia handle the trial internally. Currently, plans for a joint UN-Cambodian tribunal are moving slowly. Communist China helped bring the Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, to power in 1975. They murdered over two million Cambodians before a 1979 invasion by Vietnam.

FALUN GONG PRISONER ON HUNGER STRIKE DIES AFTER COMMUNISTS FORCE-FEED HER
Mei Yulan, a Falun Gong practitioner who went on a hunger strike the day after her arrest died of injuries arising from Communist attempts to force-feed her, according to member of the movement. The member, who asked not to be named, told Agence France Presse that Mei was arrested in Beijing on May 13 for conducting the movement�s well-known breathing exercises. She went on a hunger strike the next day, and on May 17, police wrongly inserted a tube to force-feed her. The injuries from that caused a coma from which Mei never recoverd. Earlier this week, the Information Center on Human Rights and Democracy reported that practitioner Yao Baorong died after jumping for the 5th floor of the Lanzhou City police station.

COMMUNIST CHINA CRACKING DOWN ON MUSLIM BELIEVERS IN XINJIANG PROVINCE
Determined end the cause of �separatism� violent or peaceful in Muslim-heavy Xinjiang, Communist China has sent large propaganda teams to the western border city of Kashgar. The groups are going from house to to houes, according to the BBC, to warn residents against �separatism or illegal religious activities.� Xinjiang province is majority Muslim, and those who follow Islam, known as the Uighurs, have cultural and linguistic links to Turkey and Central Asia. Those supporting Muslim independence � as the proposed state of East Turkestan � include some violent guerillas. The region�s porous border makes it difficult even to determine who committed these acts � residents of foreigners � let alone arrest them.

TIANANMEN VICTIMS� FAMILIES DEMAND CRACKDOWN LEADER BE PROSECUTED
Families of those murdered in Tiananmen Square in 1989, along with those injured in the military attack that ended the protest, have written Communist China�s Supreme People�s Procuratorate, the top prosecutor to demand that then-Premier Li Peng be charged with illegally ordering the military into the square. The group said that Li, who is still No.2 in the Communist hierarchy, conducted and �extensive slaughter of peaceful demonstrators and peaceful civilians� which �seriously violated not only China's constitution but also the international obligations of sovereign countries to protect humanity.� The letter is a follow to one sent last May demanding an investigation into the Tiananmen massacre. The SPP never replied, despite a law that compels it to reply to a civilian request for an investigation. The SPP said it had not received the recent letter calling for Li�s prosecution. Then again, they still deny they received the letter from last May.

COMMUNIST CHINA REJECTS DONATIONS FOR FAMILIES OF TIANANMEN VICTIMS
Communist China once again announced it would not allow relatives of Tiananmen Square victims to receive donations raised for them from overseas. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhang Qiyue told reporters that the Tiananmen Square massacre was �a correct conclusion on the political turmoil,� and that �no foreign country should interfere in China�s affairs.� Communist China has routinely froze or seized money intended for victims� families. In April, they stopped Lois Wheeler Snow, widow of Communist-sympathizing author Edgar Snow, from delivering money and words of encouragement to Ding Zilin, who lost her son in the killings. A human rights activist was forced to hand over $25,000 raised for Tiananmen relatives to the government, and according to Human Rights in China, when he returned to the U.S. and froze the funds, the Communists threatened to take his father�s home unless he removed the freeze.

BEIJING ALLOWS NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEES TO BE �DIRECTLY ELECTED�
Over 5,000 neighborhood committees, roundly accused of spying for the local Communists, will be �directly elected� starting next month, according to Beijing officials. State-run China Daily reported that the local government had considered a success the trial experiment of 200 elected committees, whose members in the past had been all appointees. No election guidelines were reported, leaving one to wonder just who can run in these �direct elections.� Neighborhood committees are a running constant in the Communist capital, monitoring sanitation standards and other services. They also watch for �any suspicious activities,� which has led to several charges of spying on local residents, including one disgruntled resident who spoke to Agence France Presse on the condition of anonymity. �They have a habit of meddling in your personal life,� said the resident. �They are mostly old women with red arm bands work who spy for the local government. They report you even if you fight with your wife or if a family has too many children.�

COMMUNISTS END SINGLE-PAY HEALTH CARE FOR STATE-OWNED MULTI-PAY SYSTEM
Communist Chinese officials announced they were scrapping the single-payer, collective health-care system over the next few years for a system that allows for a profit-based sector. Song Xiaowu, from the Economic Restructuring Office of the State Council, said in a press conference, �Competition between hospitals should allow for the improvement in the quality of medical care while also lowering costs.� This competition does not include private hospitals not owned the by government, wither directly or through a state-owned conglomerate. He made no reference to the Communist government giving up ownership of any �competing: hospitals.� Another health official echoed Song�s words, saying profit seeking had a role in the �public sector,� but that these �independent� entities would not go into private hands.

FBI OFFICIAL TESTIFIES CAMPAING FINANCE INVESTIGATOR PRESSURED ABOUT RENO
Neig Gallagher, the FBI�s assistant director for national security, testified in congressional hearings last Wednesday that he was �positive� Justice Department investigator Lee Radek told him he was under pressure over the 1996 campaign finance probe due to concerns that Attorney General Janet Reno could lose her job over it. Radek who was and is head of the Justice Department�s Public Integrity section, which investigates corruption charges against public officials, emphatically denied saying that in testimony later that day. The issue surfaced after an FBI memo from Louis Freeh was released discussing the conversation Radek had with Gallagher and FBI Deputy Director William Esposito. One of the lead issues in the still ongoing probe is Communist China�s attempt to influence the American election through laundered political contributions.

COMMUNIST CHINA�S BIGGEST NAME IN �PRIVATE� ENTERPRISE GIVEN LIFE FOR FRAUD
Mou Qizhong, once known as the living example of entrepreneurial success in Communist China, was sentenced to life in prison. He was once considered the richest man in the PRC and was called a �hero of reform� by the Communists in 1995. Mou built his fortune on letters of credit obtained from his connections with the state-owned Wuhan trading company. Wuhan, being a government-owned importer and exporter, was able to use borrow foreign currency from state-run banks, which were forbidden to loan such currency to private exporters. Mou had planned to use a $75 million line of credit acquired through Wuhan to finance the launching of several satellites on Russia rockets, but it soon unraveled, and his Communist lenders had him arrested in January 1999, and convicted in November. The Washington Post said Mou�s company was at least $40 million in debt, while the Beijing Morning Post reported the debt at $80 million.

OTHER CORRUPTION NEWS
Li Changhe, a high-ranking member of the Pingdingshan City hierarchy, was given a death sentence for hiring hit men to silence an outspoken critic. Li had believed that Deputy mayor Lu Jingyi had organized a number of meetings between farmers complaining about the city�s illegal collection of �fees.� Last June, two hired killers stabbed Lu, seriously injuring him, and killed his wife. Xinhua, the Communist news agency, reported that investigators found Li had taken $16,000 in bribes while at a lower office in Pingdingshan City.

In Chongqing Municipality, the deputy mayor Qin Changdian was bounced from his Communist party and government post for accepting bribes to import a sub-standard production line. Qin was also vice-chair of the Communist Party�s Municipal People�s Congress. According to Agence France Presse, took $3,000 in cash and about $2,500 in jewerly to import the system that was never used and caused $10 million in losses. Qin�s partner in the scheme, Wang Shihui, was also removed from his city and party positions.

In Guangxi province, home to Cheng Kejie, eight prison officials were arrested for taking over $40,000 in bribes to reduce sentences of their inmates. Hu Yaoguang, Luocheng Prison�s former vice warden, was sentenced to 17 years. Cheng, a former high-ranking national Communist, was arrested last month for taking over $4.5 million in payments while head of Gaungxi province. Corruption is so widespread in Communist China that analysts have projected over $15 billion in mainland savings accounts were embezzled or extorted.

TIBET NEWS
Fourteen Buddhist monks, joined by exiled Chinese dissident Harry Wu, began a 180-mile march from San Diego to Los Angeles for Tibetan freedom. The marchers started on Memorial Day, and are covering about 10 miles a day. Wu, who spent 19 years in Chinese prisons for pro-democracy activism, was emphatic in his call for Communist China to respect Tibetan human rights and religious freedom. �We are not going to give up and the fight will lead to our victory,� said Wu. �We have only one enemy � communist China.� Communist China seized Tibet in 1950. A 1959 uprising was brutally crushed, forcing the Dalai Lama, Tibet�s spiritual leader, to form a government-in-exile in India, where he has advocated Tibetan autonomy ever since. It is estimated over 1.2 million have been killed in Tibet since the uprising was put down.

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