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June 17, 2007 (Sunday) － Issue No. 106 |
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Death of a Ministerial-Level Official: Suicide or Homicide? |
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Bush
Dedicates Memorial to Victims of Communism |
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Sixty-four
Percent of Hong Kong Residents Favor Direct Election |
| CCP
Sets Traps for Western Politicians Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese consulate staff stationed in Sydney, Australia, revealed during a press conference at the Ottawa Parliament how Beijing manipulates western politicians to persecute Falun Gong and others who support freedom from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)....…Full Article |
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U.S. Senators Unveil Bill Pressuring China on Currency Countries with a material global account surplus and a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States would be classified as "currency manipulators, without regard to intent…"......…Full Article |
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The sudden death of 62 year-old Song Pingshun, chairman of the Tianjin Municipal Political Consultative Committee in his office has caused numerous rumors regarding the actual circumstances of his death. The Chinese communist regime has reacted by withdrawing news reports and deleting a large number of internet articles regarding the background of Song's death. There are various reports regarding the cause of Song's death. The earliest overseas report claimed he died by murder when his throat was cut. Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported that he died of a gunshot wound according to a Tianjin resident, among other reports. The hidden facts surrounding Song's death have become even more prominent. On June 9, Xinhua suddenly deleted its June 4 report regarding the incident. The regime has also deleted all other reports on the internet. Judging from the regime's past corruption cases, in a normal anti-corruption investigation, suicide should not have been the only escape for Song according to his political position and roots. Song had worked in the Political and Legal Affairs office of the Tianjin Public Security Bureau for over 20 years. He had superior performance ratings after the persecution of Falun Gong was initiated. Luo Gan, chief of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Committee, was his boss, who later became the head of the infamous 610 Office for the extermination of Falun Gong. On April 25, 1999, over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners visited Zhongnanhai, where the regime's central authority is located in Beijing. This incident led to the persecution of the Falun Gong. However, the real cause of this incident was the violent arrest of Falun Gong practitioners by the Tianjin Public Security Bureau. The persecution of Falun Gong, the biggest repression in the regime's history, was started by the Tianjin Public Security Bureau's actions while Song was in charge. Song naturally became the direct manipulator of the incident. According to a current investigation, all military hospitals in Tianjin are involved in the harvesting of organ from live Falun Gong practitioners. Judging from the above information, Song, as a hard core supporter of and Luo was very possibly directly involved in the organ harvesting operation. Song knew too much. If Song was investigated or looking for another boss, he would become a lethal weapon to Luo and Jiang. Recently, in the regime's internal power struggle, Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabo won a landslide victory over Jiang Zemin's faction. According to insider information, secret investigations into the persecution of Falun Gong from different political and security systems have started, including the truth of the April 25 Zhongnanhai Appeal, the Tiananmen Square Self-Immolation, etc. It is also logical for Jiang's faction to destroy any evidence now, because they are losing control on the political battlefield. Luo Gan and others must destroy witnesses as an important preventative measure. Besides, the Central Discipline Committee is already paying attention to the Song affair. Is it possible
that Hu would turn down Song's defection and refuse a weapon against
his political enemy Jiang Zemin and Luo Gan, just to snare Song for
corruption and affairs related to his private life that are typical
for party officials? Back President Bush officially dedicated Washington's newest monument, the Victims of Communism Memorial, in a ceremony near Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The Memorial centers around a bronze replica of the papier maché Goddess of Democracy statue erected by the Chinese students on Tiananmen Square in 1989, shortly before the Chinese army attacked, killing thousands. The ceremony was organized to fall on the twentieth anniversary of Ronald Reagan's famous speech at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate when he proclaimed, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" Just over two years later, in November 1989, the people of Berlin indeed tore down the wall and the Soviet Union soon began its collapse. An engraved plaque on the front of the statue bears the message, "To the more than 100 million victims of Communism and to those who love liberty." A similar plaque on the back reads, ""To the freedom and independence of all captive nations and peoples." U.S. Representatives Tom Lantos (D-Ca) and Dana Rohrabacher (R-Ca) were among those who joined the President under a blistering early-summer sun along with former Attorney General Edwin Meese, Christopher Cox, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as many other dignitaries, ethnic leaders, and supporters of the memorial. "The sheer numbers of those killed in Communism's name are staggering, so large that a precise count is impossible," Bush said. "According to the best scholarly estimate, Communism took the lives of tens of millions of people in China and the Soviet Union, and millions more in North Korea, Cambodia, Africa, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, and other parts of the globe." The Institute on Religion and Public Policy reports that Communism has killed more people than all of mankind's wars from all of history put together. Bush continued, "Like the Communists, the terrorists and radicals who attacked our nation are followers of a murderous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent, has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims. Like the Communists, our new enemies believe the innocent can be murdered to serve a radical vision. Like the Communists, our new enemies are dismissive of free peoples, claiming that those of us who live in liberty are weak and lack the resolve to defend our free way of life." The President
shook hands with organizer of the event Lee Edwards, along with Dr.
Sen Nieh a Taiwanese coordinator for the Quitting the Chinese Communist
Party Service Center in Washington DC, before leaving to attend a
closed meeting with key republican legislators. Back Qi Chonghuai has been a news reporter for 13 years. He is a correspondent of China Legal News Legal System Morning Post (Fazhi Zaobao) in Shandong Province. China Legal News is a national media. Because he has written numerous sensitive reports, a lot of his articles were not published in newspapers, periodicals or on websites in mainland China, and he has been approached and harassed from different sources. He feels helpless facing the enormous pressure. The Epoch Times recently conducted an interview with Qi Chonghuai Qi Chonghuai exposed that China's Ministry of Publicity once released a regulation, which states 27 types of events that are not allowed to be reported. These include emergency accidents, Falun Gong issues, birth control issues, laid-off worker issues and farmers deprived of their lands. In June, 2006, Qi reported a forced house demolition incident together with other reporters from Market News of People's Daily and China Talents . They wrote the report "Hezhe Officials Say No Place Can Escape Death in Relocation." The report was published in the magazine Observation on November 29. Local residents downloaded this article, copying and posting it in the area of Hezhe City. Later, Observation was ordered to stop publication. Hezhe officials attempted to bribe Qi to keep him quiet. Reports Banned Sevier Corruption
and Degeneration of China's Media Qi pointed out that after Beijing Common People Magazine (Baixing Zazhi) received his article "Zoucheng City Woman Experiences Naked Accident," the magazine editor did not approve the news for publication but instead contacted the local government to extort money. Qi said that news media has degenerated to the deepest pit because of the crux of the system problem. Interest groups that may be exposed trade with reporters for news and bribe newspaper reporters. Media workers wallow in degeneration and are dragged into the corruption. All these make some righteous reporters and editors feel tremendous pressure and heavy heartedness. It is quite common in China for a righteous and responsible reporter to be beaten and threatened while going about their duties. Articles Published
by The Epoch Times Attract Readers' Attention HONG KONG—A survey conducted by Hong Kong Baptist University reveals that 64 percent of Hong Kong residents interviewed are in favor of direct elections for the functional constituency seats, one of the territory's Legislative Council by the year of 2012. The survey was entrusted by a group headed by the former Chief Secretary for Administration, Mrs. Anson Chan. Conducted in late April, the survey interviewed 900 people. The statistics show the general public in Hong Kong strongly support making changes to the Legislative Council starting from 2008 with ultimate goals to implement direct elections for the chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) and all of the members of the Legislative Council. In addition, 56 percent of the interviewees support expanding the scope of corporate ballots for the functional constituency seats in the upcoming Legislative Council's election in 2008 so that board of directors and company executives have the right to vote. Forty-five percent of the interviewed people also indicate they favor the reconstruction of the 30 functional constituency seats down to 10. Eventually, all of the seats in the Legislative Council will be filled through direct elections. According to the survey, 69 percent of the interviewees are aware that Donald Tsang, the incumbent Chief Executive of HKSAR, has promised to establish the roadmap and timetable of universal suffrage before his term completes in 2012. About 68 percent also consider direct elections for the chief executive is beneficial in ensuring the justice of government's policy. Mrs. Anson Chan's group, known as "Core Group", was established immediately after her announcement on Sep. 23, 2006 that she would not participate in the 2007 campaign of the chief executive. The "Core Group" conducts studies on the reform of Hong Kong's political system and promotes general public's rational, all-party discussions over political and constitutional reforms, hoping to improve the administration and policy execution of the HKSAR's government. Note: [1] Among
the existing 60 members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, 30 are
elected by geographical constituencies through direct elections, and
the remaining 30 members by functional constituencies. Back OTTAWA—On June 6, Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese consulate staff stationed in Sydney, Australia, revealed during a press conference at the Ottawa Parliament how Beijing manipulates western politicians to persecute Falun Gong and others who support freedom from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chen gave the example of an Australian politician. This politician had sex with a girl under 16 years old in China in China and was detained. He wrote a statement and was then released secretly. Under threat of his crime being exposed, the politician always speaks highly of the Chinese Communist regime on TV and at other important meetings. "Important figures, Australians or Canadians, are all under strict watch when they visit China. Beijing can easily set up a trap to frame anyone if necessary," said Chen. Chen said there are two ways the CCP uses to infiltrate the western governments. One is to bribe the government officials, for instance, by treating them to travel in China for free. The other is giving out fellowships to Canadian students to study in China. The scholarships are not given out to the general public, but to the politician's children so they can study in China for free and with allowances. "Without any competition, this application is unethical; the scholarships are a form of bribery," Chen says. The Falun Gong Issue is a Priority Chen said the CCP classifies people overseas into five groups and then tries to persecute them. These groups are Falun Gong, democratic activists, Taiwan, Tibet human right activists and Xinjiang human right activists. In recent years, the CCP has intensified the suppression. "The CCP's foreign policies are extensions of their domestic policies. It targets those who are perceived threats to the CCP's power overseas. The CCP now focuses mostly on Falun Gong because they have the biggest following and steadfast belief," says Chen, "Sixty percent of the CCP's effort (finance and manpower) is spent on suppressing Falun Gong, 20 to 30 percent on Taiwan, and five to ten percent on other issues." Decades of Work to Control Overseas Chinese Chen said, "The CCP's foreign policy is to thoroughly control the Chinese population overseas. For decades, the CCP has worked really hard on it and has achieved great success. The CCP has built a system with a pyramid structure. The system controls overseas Chinese in the name of solidarity." There are groups like this in every country, including Australia and Europe. These groups all have names using the terms association, federation or congress of Chinese, etc. Others, like the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification or associations of professionals, are all groups set up by the CCP to control overseas Chinese.Back U.S.
Senators Unveil Bill Pressuring China on Currency Back WASHINGTON—The top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Banking Committee said Tuesday they would introduce legislation giving the U.S. Treasury Department stronger tools to confront China's currency practices. "A change in our currency manipulation policy is long overdue," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said in a statement. "America's companies and workers deserve an opportunity to compete on fair terms with countries such as China." Dodd and Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, announced their plans just one day before the U.S. Treasury Department releases a semi-annual report on foreign currency practices, which is expected to again stop short of formally labeling China a currency manipulator. Many lawmakers believe China deliberately undervalues its currency by as much as 40 percent to give Chinese companies an unfair advantage in international trade. The U.S. Treasury Department has pushed China to move to a more flexible market-oriented exchange rate policy, but has frustrated many lawmakers and manufacturers by refusing to label China as a currency manipulator. Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he still believed the best way to get China to move faster on currency reform was "through direct discussions and negotiations, not through legislation." Dodd and Shelby said their bill would change the definition of currency manipulation to make it harder for Treasury to avoid making that finding for China. Countries with a material global account surplus and a significant bilateral trade surplus with the United States would be classified as "currency manipulators, without regard to intent," they said. The National Association of Manufacturers praised that provision in particular, since current law requires the Treasury Department to find a country is intentionally manipulating its currency for an unfair advantage. However, the business group said it needed to further study the bill before deciding whether to support it. The bill would also require a number of Treasury Department actions once currency manipulation is found. Those including developing a plan of action within 30 days that sets benchmarks and timeframes for the foreign trading partner to reform its currency practices. It mandates U.S. action through the International Monetary Fund to pressure countries to end currency manipulation, and authorizes the Treasury Department to file a World Trade Organization case if "goals and benchmarks are not met within 9 months." The legislation also creates a process for Congress to formally voice its disapproval if Treasury fails to cite a country for currency manipulation. Other provisions would hold Treasury's feet to the fire in terms of pressuring China to open its financial services markets to more U.S. companies. Senior Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have also said they plan to move currency legislation this year. Back |
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