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May 20, 2007 (Sunday) － Issue No. 102 |
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Wen
Jiabao Distressed About China's Out-of-Control Stock Market |
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Six
Lawyers Defend Falun Gong Practitioners |
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Elderly
Chinese Woman Resists Forced Relocation |
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Communist Regime Nears its End In my view, the appearance of this sort of propaganda amidst these crack downs signals the end of the Chinese Communist Party. Throughout history, all dictatorships have made similar pronouncements in their last period....…Full Article |
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Chinese Professor Believed Deported from Russia According to a statement released by the Falun Dafa Association of Russia, the deportation of Prof. Gao is a violation of Article 33 of the International Convention on Refugees, which Russia has ratified......…Full Article |
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During a State Council's Standing Committee meeting, Chinese Primer Wen Jiabao remarked, "The security and stock markets are continuing to grow. Since last November, there have been five warnings. Since then several measures have been put into place to cool down the situation. This converse phenomenon is an artificial manipulation of the stock market. Facing a situation like this, my heart is always very tense and I am constantly perspiring. Once this financial crisis happens, the stock market will be the first to suffer. In fact, a bubble stock market has already come to the surface and formed. It is a time-bomb waiting to detonate." I Certainly Should Assume Responsibility' Wen admitted, "I should certainly assume the responsibility along with the State Council. However, once the stock market goes into a slump and leads towards collapse, it will be a nationwide political, economic and social disaster. Who can afford it? The State Council also can't afford it, this is karmic retribution!" Investors Have Exceeded 100 Million The latest data indicates investors exceeded 100 million people at the end of March, reaching a number of over 103,700,000 people. Professional stock brokers account for more than 13.3 million people. The average city stock price has reached 50 times the market value. Some even reached 250 times the market value which is nearly 12 trillion yuan (US$1.5 trillion). Nearly 1.3 trillion yuan ($0.16 trillion) worth of properties have been mortgaged. Who is controlling the stock market? Wen's "anxiety" and "cold sweat" is real. If the Central Committee announces that the stock market has become a bubble market or it is over-purchased, the consequences will be too severe; if the Central Committee allows the stock market to continue to rise, it will inevitably result in a disaster. Beijing's political and economic circles are all asking: Which force can contend with the Central Committee's macro-control? Which force can manipulate the stock market and make it continue to heap up while the Central Committee is trying to cool things down? Obviously, this
is a power struggle transferring from the political domain to the
economic sphere. It is very obvious that stock markets are being manipulated
to put Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao in a helpless situation. Back On April 27, Falun Gong practitioner Wang Bo, sentenced to a five-year prison term without legal justification, was joined by six Beijing defense attorneys and her parents at the Shijiazhuang City Intermediate Court in Hebei Province. The defense argued on behalf of her freedom of belief and human rights. Falun Gong spokesperson Zhang Erping, New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) commentator Yang Jingduan, and New York and Washington D.C. based attorney Ye Ning, discussed the importance of this case on NTDTV's program "Hot Topic." One of Wang's defense attorneys, Teng Biao, joined the discussion online, briefing the panel on the background of the case. Teng is the defense lawyer for Wang's mother, Liu Shuqin. Here is a summary of Wang Bo's case: Wang Bo was sent to a labor camp for holding a Falun Gong banner on Tiananmen Square in 2001. In 2002, CCTV—the Chinese Communist Party's official television station—broadcast an influential episode of their "Focal Point" program claiming that Wang Bo was convinced to give up her practice. In 2005, Wang posted an online video she made documenting her forced brainwashing experiences. Due to this posting, as well as various Falun Gong related materials found at her house, the Changan People's Court sentenced her and her parents to four and five years imprisonment respectively. During that initial trial, the family was unable to find any lawyers who dared to defend them. With the second trial, six lawyers, including myself, took on this case. Host: There are very few lawyers in mainland China who defend Falun Gong practitioners. Attorneys Guo Guoting, Yang Zaiyin and Gao Zhisheng were all persecuted. They were fired from their respective firms, or had their firms closed down, they lost their license, or were even exiled. Teng: I think Falun Gong practitioners have fundamental rights. The constitution also acknowledges freedom of belief. So I feel that they have the right to obtain legal counsel. I think suppressing freedom of speech and freedom of belief is a very serious problem. The long-term suppression and persecution of Falun Gong, which has continued to escalate since it began in 1999, has now hit a critical point, falling far below the line of fundamental humanity. In the face of
this persecution, intellectuals and attorneys in mainland China remain
silent for various reasons. This kind of silence is unconscionable,
and that is why we're here to defend Wang Bo. Back The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission recently met with Sound of Hope Radio Station in Batam Island and asked them to be careful of its program content regarding the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) because they have been getting pressure from the CCP. In a recorded interview, staff member of Indonesia Batam Sound of Hope Radio Station Mr. Li revealed, "they said that we have reported too many negative aspects of the CCP and asked us to tone down our reports about the CCP as our radio station has been broadcasting the Nine Commentaries and comments on current affairs and world news during these two years." Another staff member Mr. Lu said, "Because this radio station often broadcasts true stories about Falun Gong and reveals the common and widespread problems in mainland China such as corruption, human rights violation and persecution of Falun Gong, they said it would affect the relationship between the two countries." Indonesia Batam Sound of Hope Radio Station was founded in May 2005. It broadcasts on the FM band (106.5 MHz). Mr. Li said, "We are an independent registered commercial radio station in Indonesia and a foreign country doesn't have the right to interfere in our broadcasts. Therefore, we can continue to broadcast, ignoring any such interference from outside of the country." Indonesian Broadcasting Commission member, Sasa Djuarsa Sendjaja, was reported in the Indonesia Times (Jakarta) as saying that the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission wouldn't arbitrarily revoke any radio station's license. They would have to consult with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and State Intelligence Agency and they would also be bound to listen to the views of the Journalism Commission and check if the content of the station is up to the standard of Indonesian journalism. On the other hand,
Indonesian Parliament Information Commission member Mr. Dariusz pointed
out that they must reject this request from the CCP because the Indonesian
government can't constrain freedom of speech on top of the fact that
it comes from an external country trying to interfere in the workings
of another country. A radio station's broadcasting content is the
domain of Indonesia's internal affairs and foreign governments have
no role to play. Back May 13 was Mother's Day, but for 86- year-old Zheng XiaoLan living at 53 Dajinggang in Hongzhou City, Zhejiang Province, it was not a happy day at all. Instead, she was in a great panic because the Hangzhou City Administration And Law Enforcement Bureau forced her to relocate to an old apartment building in Sanliting, a suburb of Hangzhou City. Dajinggang has been a lively street since the Song Dynasty (around the 13th Century). To date, quite a few traditional shops such as the Hu Qingyu shop, the Zhang Xiaochuan shop, the Zhu Yangxin herb shop and other residences are located on the street. Local government and business enterprises like the street and want to develop it into a new business area. Many residents resisted the forced relocation, but it was in vain. On May 11, 2007, when many government officials and police came to the street and forced her to relocate, she crawled to the top of the building to resist. This encouraged many people to watch and protest. Those government officials and police had to give up and leave. In the following several days, she had to shut the door and stay at home fearing that she would be kidnapped and her home would be torn down. During her stay, food and water were delivered by her daughter each day. Anxiety along with both physical and mental exhaustion made the healthy old lady suddenly thin and pale. She had to take cardiovascular prescriptions to survive. On May 15, the
old lady came out of her home to have a bowl of hot rice porridge
under the protection of many neighbors. Meanwhile, she took care of
the yaupon trees she planted a long time ago. Fifteen minutes later,
when a patrol car came by, she returned to her little room and continued
to look outside periodically. Back In the past two years, many people have often heard the phrase "The New Government of Hu [Hu Jintao] and Wen [Wen Jiabao]." Yet the so-called "new government" still cracks down on political dissenters, Falun Gong practitioners, and house church members. In my view, the appearance of this sort of propaganda amidst these crack downs signals the end of the Chinese Communist Party. Throughout history, all dictatorships have made similar pronouncements in their last period. There have been many dynasty changes in Chinese history, and although the governments were each quite different from each other, they all have one thing in common: in a dynasty's early stages the number of government officials is small, the power of the new emperor is strong, the distribution of social goods is simple and clear, and the communication between the levels of government are relatively good. When the end of one dynasty approaches, the number of government officials increases dramatically, government structure becomes complicated, the social gaps are disproportionate, and there are severe communication blockages between all levels of society. One of the most conspicuous traits appearing during the end of a dynasty is that while the emperor still holds power, that power has been significantly weakened. It is then more accurate to call the bureaucratic system a dictatorship, rather than an imperial dictatorship. The reigning chaos in China is caused not only by the communist regime, but the communist regime should definitely bear the main responsibility. The biggest problem in China is the lack of basic moral values at every level of society. During the debate of the newly passed "Real Right Law," people tangibly saw this chaos. In debates on important social topics, Chinese people can bring out all kinds of theories to support themselves, theories that often contradict each other. The reason for this social chaos is that throughout communist history in China, the regime keeps changing the Constitution and the laws. The regime has never stopped revising its ideological principles. It has confused the whole society and everyday Chinese people have lost sight of the common good in any debate on important social issues. To average people, the regime can no longer be believed, so it is useless to converse with it. With no basis for mutual trust, discussions of any sort are impossible. The change of a dynasty might happen overnight, or it might happen slowly over a long period of time. But today when you can clearly see the storm coming, why are you still wandering around outside? Back Chinese
Professor Believed Deported from Russia Back Russia for the second time in less than two months is believed to have deported a Falun Gong adherent who is an accredited U.N. refugee. On Sunday morning Russian Federal Immigration Service (FISR) police forcibly removed from his home Prof. Gao Chunman. Gao is a 73-year old emeritus professor of China's elite Tsinghua University and also happens to be an invalid. Gao's departure from Russia for China has not yet been confirmed, but the intention to deport him has been. Mira Gao learned at around 6:30 p.m. Sunday St. Petersburg time what had happened to her husband. Immediately after he had been removed from their home, she had called the district police station to report his abduction. That evening the police station called her and reported that the whereabouts of Gao Chunman had been uncovered: He was in Moscow and was intended for deportation to China on the first flight to Beijing. Mrs. Gao, Red Cross staff, and local Falun Gong practitioners had spent the afternoon looking for the whereabouts of Prof. Gao. Violation of International Convention According to a statement released by the Falun Dafa Association of Russia, the deportation of Prof. Gao is a violation of Article 33 of the International Convention on Refugees, which Russia has ratified. According to that convention, Russia has the responsibility not to send persons in immediate danger outside of its territory. In 2000 Professor Gao had been forced to leave China due to the persecution of Falun Gong, which he had practiced since 1994. According to Mrs. Gao, the immigration agents produced no papers or court orders and gave no reason for the abduction. Mr. Erping Zhang, spokesperson for the Falun Dafa Information Center, commented on the abductions of Gao Chunman, Ma Hui, and Ma Jing Jing. "Clearly the Chinese communist regime has pressured Russian authorities into abducting and deporting individuals simply because they practice Falun Gong. These incidents are clearly a violation of international law, and that Russian authorities would bow to such pressure from the Chinese regime is disgraceful." Back |
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