China's 'New' Stance on Dalai Lama Not Unexpected

By Zhang Tianliang The Epoch Times

Apr 30, 2008

A member of pro-Tibet group holds a banner printed Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in Nagano on April 25, 2008. "The CCP agreed to hold talks with the Dalai Lama's aides only to appease the growing trend of boycotting the Beijing Olympics." (Kazhuiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images)

The Xinhua News Agency, China's major mouthpiece, has reported that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is willing to hold talks with the Dalai Lama. Many Western media outlets described this development as "unexpected." Actually, this is not surprising at all.

Recently, the CCP has shown a streak of yielding to pressure. The most striking example might be its cutting of the "Stamp Duty" on stock market transactions on April 23, and closely followed by announcing a willingness to talk with the Dalai Lama's aides. The cause for such developments lay partly in the CCP's eagerness for the Olympic Games to meet with success. However, there are two underlying issues here that should be noted. Firstly, the CCP is facing a grave crisis and is left feeling that it has no way out other than giving in to pressure.

The CCP has yielded while under pressure before in history. Actually at times it took pains to set up a more democratic and open-minded image. For example, after defeated by the Kuomintang armies in 1934, the CCP army escaped in a circling retreat that reportedly traversed some 12,500 kilometers (8,000 miles). During the massive retreat, the CCP constantly cried out slogans such as "Resist Japan," and "All Guns Aim Towards the Foreign Invaders." They even started to address Jiang Kai-Shiek as "General Jiang" in their propaganda, instead of his former "official" title "Jiang the Thief." Prior to the civil war between the Kuomintang and the CCP, the CCP was a fledgling entity. To avoid immediate defeat, the CCP chanted the slogan "Peace and Democracy," gesturing a willingness to solve its problems through diplomacy. However, once the CCP feels it has power over either friend or enemy, its despotic nature comes to full fruition. Despite this rigid and ferocious character, throughout its building-up era, yielding was the CCP's only strategy to survive.

Since the CCP took over China, it has rarely yielded to either international or domestic pressure. However, under the threat of 15 million desperate Chinese stockholders, the CCP decided to cut the Stamp Duty. The CCP was worried that if the stock market continued to collapse, the vast number of stockholders would take to the streets to demonstrate, further calling into question the CCP's ability to host the Olympic Games, not to mention rule the country.

The CCP agreed to hold talks with the Dalai Lama's aides only to appease the growing trend of boycotting the Beijing Olympics. Many world leaders have explicitly announced that they won't attend the Beijing Olympics Games' opening ceremonies. It has been a heavy blow to the CCP, who had longingly hoped to gild its international image with the halo of Olympic Games.

Facing the massive movement of Chinese people withdrawing from the CCP and its affiliated organizations (now at 35 million), the CCP feels even weaker than it did during the time of the 1935 massive retreat. It desperately needs a boost like that of the international spotlight shining on an Olympic host could provide. Therefore, shows of concessions can be reasonably expected. Secondly, these concessions are only maneuvers meant to buy time in the short-term. They are insincere and the CCP certainly has no intentions of solving these issues.

For example, China's stock market problem is not rooted in a mere "Stamp Duty" problem. Cutting this tax only reduced the cost of stock transactions, but did not solve the overall economic problems of China. A high rising inflation index, the appreciation of the Chinese currency, foreign investment leaving China, the real estate bubble and malicious corruption are the congenital stubborn illnesses of China's stock market.

To solve the stock market's problem and build up a healthy investment environment, China has to implement open, fair and just policies. The realization of such policies rely on the realization of freedom of press, a just and independent legal system as well as freedom of assembly, association and demonstration. Without fundamental changes in these areas, cutting the Stamp Duty will have no real effect. Some people believe that China's stock market will crash following a short advancement, which I totally agree.

Talking with the Dalai Lama is another feign of sincerity on the part of the CCP. Both sides have held talks at least five times in the past. No improvement was made since all these talks were behind closed-door. The CCP merely uses these to buy time and butter foreign relations. The question of whether the current problem in Tibet can be solved depends on whether the CCP allows independent investigations (for example, by the UN) and makes the facts public. As for Tibet's long term religious freedom, cultural protection and the ethnic relations between Han people and Tibetans, whether the CCP can allow international observers to participate in negotiations and supervise the implementation of any agreements, is the real test on the CCP's sincerity.

Solving the religious and cultural issues of Tibet is tied to the fulfillment of the constitutional rights of Chinese citizens. The solution to this problem will bring about the constitutional rights for members of the underground Catholic church, Christian family church members and Falun Gong practitioners. It has the same effect of "pulling one hair may move the whole Body." And all of these issues are those that the CCP dares not to even touch.

In my April 11 article "Does the CCP have the sincerity of hosting the Olympic Games well?" I predicted that the CPP would yield its position in the Tibet problem, and proposed three indicators to test the CCP's sincerity in hosting the Olympic Games, namely, "Open up the Internet, abolish laws that violate the Constitution, and release all people imprisoned because of their faith." From the Stamp Duty to the Tibet incident, if anyone thinks that the CCP has improved, then he or she has been fooled by the CCP. But don't take my word for it. Just remember the three indicators that I mentioned above and closely observe the CCP's actions.

Click here to read the original article in Chinese

These Olympics Are A Disgrace!

Watch the Light Club video here playing at New Haven Ct Human Rights Torch Relay.

April 29, 2008
Op/ed: By John Kusumi

The rock band Light Club has been busy, touring with the Human Rights Torch Relay (HRTR). HRTR is an activists' relay, with an anti-Olympic torch. Its purpose is to point out -- and its slogan says -- that "The Olympics and crimes against humanity cannot co-exist in China."

Does China still have crimes against humanity? Oh you betcha. The public over the age of 35 still remembers when China's bloody Tiananmen Square massacre of innocents flashed across our television screens. That was in 1989, but it left a strong impression on people, similar to more recent news events like the tsunami in Asia, or Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Those events have it in common that they were eye-popping tragedies, occurring to helpless people in the full view of television cameras. People sat up and took notice, leaning into (towards) their television sets. According to Pew Research at the time, 45% of Americans were closely following the political turmoil in China.

here are non-lethal methods of crowd control, namely tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets. They sting and they bruise and they inconvenience, but at least the activists live to complain about them. The Chinese government could have reached for those implements, but instead they called out 300,000 army soldiers, gave them live ammunition, and sent them to Tiananmen Square.

3,000 dead bodies later, the army re-took control of the Square from pro-democracy demonstrators, who had controlled Tiananmen Square in the previous two months' uprising in favor of freedom and liberty and human rights. Up to the present day, it is the same blood stained government that rules China, a land that continues to need the political reform that its people were demanding.

Many in the American public remember it. But some could be forgiven for thinking that China solved its problems, or for asking as above, "Does China still have crimes against humanity?" --That is, up until the recent crackdown in Tibet. Now, suddenly, Chinese human rights abuse has returned to the news and now, suddenly, the brutal nature of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led government is again visible.

The Tibetan crackdown is undoing the Orwellian work of Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. They had so carefully sanitized China's image that many Americans are still unaware about the Falun Gong crackdown, another example of persecution and mass murder, which has been afflicting China since 1999. Can the American news media cover something up for nine years? Yes! --The Falun Gong persecution is a living (and dying) example of just that.

Disgracefully so, the American news media turns to fluffy, non-substantive news. Celebrity gossip and "white chicks in trouble" are preferred by lazy news editors who cannot, or will not, pin down substantive stories. If a story suggests "America in trouble," or "China in trouble," it may be left on the cutting room floor due to breaking news about Britney Spears. It's what we have come to expect from America's bought off news media.

I am with groups including the Freedom First Olympics Second Coalition, the Human Rights Torch Relay, and the China Support Network. (They were begun by the Chinese democracy movement, the Falun Gong and Americans respectively.) At our events, the stories of persecution are told. During the month of April, this torch appeared in many cities around the U.S., and another version of the campaign appeared in China itself.

The Chinese democracy movement is arguably a community of its own, with long established public figures -- leading Chinese dissidents. In my shoes as founder and director emeritus of the China Support Network, I enjoy high level access in this community. When dissidents and Falun Gong had a joint dinner for top organizers, I was seated at the head table next to a very familiar face, an anchor woman for New Tang Dynasty Television. She related that she had called CNN with our big news story, but that they didn't believe her.

Imagine that -- CNN implies or insinuates that news from that woman, or that TV station, or from our whole pro-Chinese democracy community -- is without credibility! I'm in this community. Our news is solid, not sketchy. What becomes sketchy, in the upshot of this story, is the integrity of CNN. Well, I can say again that compromised, distorted, or non-news is what we have come to expect from America's bought off news media.

As for bringing up entertainment news, two can play at this game. Our community has Tim Britt, formerly the guitarist of NoManZero, and now the founder of a band called Light Club. Why would I tell you about this guitarist who plays modern rock? Well, he co-authored a song that is embraced by the China Support Network (CSN). 'Remember Tiananmen Square' is now the CSN's theme song.

Britt also wrote a song, 'Freedom First (Olympics 2nd)' that now serves as theme song for the Freedom First Olympics Second Coalition. New Tang Dynasty Television assisted by making music videos out of 'Remember Tiananmen Square' and another Tim Britt song, 'Bye Bye CCP.' Light Club has yet to be discovered by the music industry; so far it seems like the in-house rock band of the China Support Network.

They have been rocking at our rallies, raising awareness about Chinese abuses and opposition to the 2008 Olympics which are slated to be held in Beijing, China this summer. Their latest appearance in New Haven, Connecticut has been turned into a YouTube video.

They are a crowd pleaser. At the video's start, Britt blasts the Chinese government and makes it clear that one can still be hot under the collar about the Tiananmen Square massacre, all these years later. There has never been justice for the victims or for their families. Tiananmen Square remains a matter without closure. And so, Tim Britt sings about it and rocks on!
4/28/2008

SKorea: Pundit Likens Beijing Olympics to Nazi-Era Games

The Chinese students mobilized by the embassy to "protect the olympic torch" have gone wild since the leg in Australia. In South Korea, it got extremely nasty, as protesters were
literally lynched by angry mobs, as this video shows--watch it here. One guy being attacked by plenty of red flag holders.

Chosun Ilbo Korean: Pundit Likens Beijing Olympics to Nazi-Era Games
Jin Jung-kwon

A political commentator renowned for his sharp tongue has likened the Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Berlin Olympics under Nazi rule after Chinese mobs ran rampant here during the Seoul leg of the Olympic torch relay on Sunday. “China seems to have no intention of making the Olympics a festival that people around the world can enjoy together,” Jin Jung-kwon, a lecturer in German language and literature at Chung-Ang University, said in a radio program on Monday. “Instead, it seems it’s trying to use it as an opportunity to display its power and bring the whole world under its red flag.” Jin said it was “in keeping for people with such thinking to cause open violence in the streets.”

“The Berlin Olympics did not aim to promote world peace but to propagandize the Nazis’ imperialism,” he said, and it was significantly also a period when street violence against minorities was rampant. He added the violence in Seoul caused him to realize how “terrible” the climate in China itself must be, considering that the violent protesters here had already been exposed to a freer society. “It makes me shudder to imagine what is happening in Tibet,” he said. The Chinese mobs on Sunday surrounded and beat up Koreans protesting China’s violent crackdown on independence protests in Tibet.

Asked whether some critics were muddying waters by linking the Tibet issue and the Olympics, Jin answered the matter should be judged based on universal human values. “The global modern mindset requires breaking away from a totalitarian way of thinking,” he said. “China should be able to take an objective look at itself if it wants to be respected in the world.”
(englishnews@chosun.com )

Bigots of the U.S. news media

Op/Ed PEN: Diary Entry by John Kusumi

Musings about the media

::::::::

Particularly in U.S. newsrooms, why are there those who will immediately turn up their noses, and disconnect from the discourse, when they come upon the words Falun Gong?

Imagine if you will, an editor who is confronted about this. The reply, at the bottom line, is apparently this: "Well, they may exist, but we'll not run their news." To any such editor, I don't mind saying -- "You, sir, are a bigot. Furthermore, this editorial decision reveals a culture of death which is in fact celebrated by the American news media. It sides with evil, and it reinforces my observation that U.S. news has been genocidally correct." That is why my book manuscript is titled, Genocidal Correctness. If published, it will expose the bigotry of the U.S. news media.

Why does it seem apparent -- if we look at news coverage -- that first-class news comes from Tibetans, and second-class news comes from Falun Gong? Why do editors reject Beijing's propaganda about Tibetans, but fall in line with Beijing's calumny and slander for Falun Gong? Why do the American people have a right to know about a crackdown against Tibetans, but seemingly no right to know about a crackdown against Falun Gong? Why should news readers in the public be "kept out of the loop"?

The persecution of Falun Gong appears in reports of the U.S. State Department. If the government knows about it, why keep the public in the dark?

Perhaps I should assert that the U.S. journalism profession is made up of two types of people: defense contractors (Brian Williams, Tim Russert), and wannabe defense contractors (those who wish they were Williams or Russert). Our media have been promulgating one sided "news" for years. The public is highly suspicious of the media, and rightly so. In my eyes, the U.S. lacks a journalism profession with integrity and credibility as such.

In the case of Falun Gong, the defense contractors who run newsrooms with calculated bigotry are "leaving the Jews in the gas chambers." When the Communist Party falls and the "gates of Auschwitz" are opened up, the world will see what was covered up by Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather. The world will be shocked by the scale of persecution, suffering, and inhuman treatment that was endured by adherents of Falun Gong.

The world will have to (once again) swear, "Never again." Never again. When those words became famous once before -- after revelation of the Jewish holocaust in Nazi Germany -- apparently, Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather were heedless.

Really, historians will have to revisit the tenure of Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather. The historians will have to pass judgments on their legacies. But I feel that when we again swear "Never again," that it will have a new meaning this time. We should never again have three men who think they are the bottleneck for political information; who think they are the ultimate arbiters of what passes for truth. We should never again leave it up to three men to define our public discourse in this country. In short, we should never again have the tenure of Jennings, Brokaw, and Rather.

Elsewhere, I have described theirs as an era of Orwellian black propaganda. Let's not go back to the Jennings-Brokaw-Rather (JBR) years. The journalists who came after JBR still have not been equal to the task of setting the record straight. They certainly shold move Falun Gong persecution to the fore. America's media ought to evolve a back bone, or else I should continue with articles like this one, to vividly expose the profound depths of genuine evil at the U.S. news media.

Never again. Never again! NEVER AGAIN!!

/s./ JPK

The first Generation X presidential candidate, John Kusumi was the 18-year-old for U.S. President in 1984 (Independent / Practical Idealist). He is the founder and Director Emeritus of the China Support Network, formed with fellow Americans in 1989 to respond to the tragedy of China's Tiananmen Square massacre. He is also a leader of the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition -- a combination of many groups that are opposed to Beijing's Olympic Games unless China first is free. He is also a columnist, podcaster, public speaker and advisor to leading Chinese dissidents, with material at Kusumi.com.

The Olympics, Dehumanization, and Organ Harvesting

By Dr. Torsten Trey Special to The Epoch Times

Apr 24, 2008

People act out a simulation of organ harvesting in China on Falun Gong practitioners, during a rally in Ottawa. (Noé Chartier/The Epoch Times)

Related Articles

- David Matas Explains Organ Harvesting in China Friday, April 11, 2008

- Taiwanese Vice President Condemns Organ Harvesting in China Tuesday, December 18, 2007

- The Ongoing Catastrophe of Organ Pillaging in China Monday, December 10, 2007

In 2001, when bidding to host the 2008 Olympic Games, the People's Republic of China pledged to improve human rights—and won the bid. Many Chinese people were excited, but not all.

One of the most barbaric human rights violations of the 21st century had begun: Prisoners of conscience—Chinese people—were being used as living organ banks and their organs harvested for transplantation. They were being slaughtered like animals.

Only in 2006 did the world learn of these atrocities after witnesses fled China in order to tell of them. A doctor's wife risked her life in early 2006 when she publicly stated that her husband—then a surgeon in China—had removed corneas from 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners. A journalist likewise risked his life to report of Falun Gong practitioners detained near a hospital, where they were held until used for organ harvesting.

An investigative report by David Kilgour, the former Canadian secretary of state (Asia-Pacific) and David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, followed. That report estimated that over 40,000 adherents of the Falun Gong movement had been killed for their organs since 2001.

Kilgour and Matas recorded phone conversations with surgeons in multiple hospitals in China with shocking results.

Excerpts of one call in May 2006 read like a shopping trip to a mall: "Do you have organs from Falun Gong practitioners?"

Answer: "Yes."

Question: "Was it from healthy Falun Gong practitioners?"

Answer: "Correct. We would choose the good ones. ... It is very easy to get them."

Many Falun Gong practitioners who survived being held in the labor camps, where they were subjected to torture and brainwashing, reported being systematically blood tested. The good health of the victims is of no concern to the torturer.

Blood tests are expensive. Who pays for them? What is the payout? A transplantation will amortize the investment. A kidney transplant is offered for US$60,000 on the Web sites of some Chinese hospitals.

Jennifer Zeng, in her book "Witnessing History," tells of being given such a medical exam in a camp that is 19 miles from the main Olympic venue in Beijing.

Kilgour and Matas argue that the organ harvesting is only possible because of the Chinese regime's systematic dehumanization of Falun Gong adherents.

Once the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) outlaws a certain group of people, such as academics or former landowners during the Cultural Revolution or students protesting for democracy in 1989, they lose all the basic rights of a human being. They even lose the right to life and can be treated as bio-mass, as animals—if not less.

The life of such an individual counts for nothing. A military doctor, like any other military personnel in China who is trained to execute the order given by his superior, won't hesitate to extract the organs from such "class enemies" if asked to do so.

Organ harvesting is only the most brutal result of the marginalization and dehumanization visited on Falun Gong practitioners. The Olympics themselves provide another example.

In November 2007, the director of the Beijing Olympics media center, Li Zhanjun, stated in an AP interview that Falun Gong adherents are excluded from the 2008 Olympic Games.

The Olympic Charter prohibits discrimination at all Olympic sites, but the CCP's hatred against Falun Gong is so strong that the Chinese regime cannot comply with the Olympic Charter.

The CCP threatens to reduce the Olympic Charter to a guideline without life, while at the same time using the Olympics to reinforce its dehumanization of Falun Gong, with the entire world as a witness.

If this dehumanization continues, then the killing for organs may also continue—and may go on even during the Olympic Games.

Many voices reiterate that the Olympics and politics should be separated. Basic human rights are not a monopoly of politics; they are inherent in our humanity. Only communist China aims to make the Olympic Games, which used to be a peaceful gathering of all people in the world, an event that negates the humanity of us all.

Dr. Torsten Trey is the chief executive director of Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (https://www.dafoh.org/).

Chinese Embassy Secretly Organize Overseas Chinese Students to Support Olympic Torch Relay in Japan

By Wang Riyue Epoch Times Staff

Apr 25, 2008

Pro Chinese supporters wave flags during the Olympic Torch relay in Canberra, Australia. How many were paid to be there? (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

Related Articles

- Canberra Olympic Torch Relay Awash With Flags of Red Thursday, April 24, 2008

- Heavy Rain Disrupts Malaysian Leg of Olympic Torch Relay Thursday, April 24, 2008

- Red Army Tactics Taint Torch Relay Tuesday, April 22, 2008

- Chinese Embassy Drummed Up Pro-China Support, Says Stanhope Thursday, April 24, 2008

- Japan Tells China Tibet is International Issue Saturday, April 19, 2008

JAPAN—Chinese Student and Scholar Associations (CSSA) in Japanese universities have received notice from the Chinese Embassy, asking them to mobilize all possible manpower to Nagano on April 26 to support the Beijing Olympic Torch Relay.

Sources disclosed that yellow T-shirts will be distributed to them by the Embassy on the occasion. The Embassy will also give every one a bottle of mineral water and a pen. All expenses incurred will be paid by the Embassy.

In addition, participants were told by the Chinese Communist embassy to claim that the activity is spontaneously organized by unofficial organizations, which has nothing to do with the embassy.

Sources also revealed that the Chinese Embassy in Japan has received orders to prevent human rights protests similar to those that happened in the UK and France from recurring in Japan at all costs.

It has been repeatedly exposed by media that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) manipulates overseas Chinese students to work for them. It is used to incite students and secretly develop spies to infiltrate amongst students.

Wei Jingsheng, a well-known Chinese democratic activist pointed out that the CCP on one hand deceives and makes the public fanatical with its control of media, especially Chinese media. On the other hand it threatens and lures students with gains through the operation of its embassies and consulates, overseas education bureaus, and student associations.

These are just a few selections from our special report:
CCP Student Spies:

Red Army Tactics Taint Torch Relay

Chinese Student Group at Duke to Be Investigated

Australian CSSAs: Love Your Party, or Else

Former Chinese Student Organization President in U.K. Reveals Consulate Control

CUCSSAs Are Key Bases for CCP Spies

Bribes, Spies, and Politics

Former Caltech Chinese Student Leader Tells of Consular Control

An Un-Peaceful Rise at Columbia University

Wei said that the Chinese embassies tightly control overseas students. Student associations in all places are de facto intelligence agents of the CCP. The CCP monitor students through student party members and government funded students. Some students have family in China. They are not sure whether they can stay in the foreign countries in future. So they are afraid that they will be in trouble once they return to China if they offend the CCP.

"The so-called patriotism is instigated by the CCP on purpose," said Wei, "The distorted mentality is also a product of the CCP's authoritarian politics. If there is no control from the embassies, no rumors and propaganda made by the media, and no disturbance from the spies, I think many students can still distinguish right from wrong."

Former Chairman of the Student Federation: Chinese Scholar Associations Are Spy Organizations

Dr. Liu Wei was chairman of the Student Federation in Manchester City, United Kingdom in 1998-9 and the executive committee of all student associations in the UK. He said, "The skeleton members of the student associations are appointed by the Education Department of the Chinese Embassy or the Education Unit of the Chinese Consulates. The Education Department regularly calls meetings with the skeleton members. The officials of the Department will assign the political work that the CCP asks the overseas students to do in order to extend its domestic policies overseas."

Zhang Yang is former director of the international department of the CSSA in Tohoku University, Japan in 1996. He disclosed that inside the Chinese Staff Association, there is an underground party branch that is under the direct control of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo. Sources disclosed that the president of the association can often read confidential documents at the ministerial level. The president has been recommended by the Chinese Embassy on behalf of overseas scholars, and has attended the meeting of Chinese Congress session many times. "Japanese police has investigated my relationship with the CCP many times," said Zhang.

On the website of CSSA of University of Tennessee in the United States, it clearly states that financial assistance is provided by the Chinese Embassy. On its bulletin board on April 14, 2006, it revealed that out of the total of $US 1,750 revenue received by the CSSA in 2005, US$ 1,400 was from the Chinese embassy. It was used for the costs of all activities, such as the Chinese New Year festival, receptions for embassy officials, and so on.

In Ireland, the contact phone and address at the bottom of the website of the CSSA is the Education Department of the Chinese Embassy in Ireland. It shows that although the association is a non-government organization on the surface, it is actually an organization belonging to the CCP. On the website of the CSSA of Würzburg in Germany, the charter explicitly wrote, "All financial reports of the CSSA has to be submitted to the Embassy after it is disintegrated."

The investigation of the World Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong reported that the two consultants of Columbia University Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CUCSSA) are officials of the Chinese Consulate.

The chairman and vice-chairman of the CUCSSA directly take orders from the Consulate. They receive $US 1,500 to 3,000 from the Consulate every month respectively, have regular meetings in the Consulate to help the CCP to execute its policies overseas.

The report pointed out that 3 of the 4 important items listed in the website of the Chinese consulates to work on are aimed at groups disliked by the CCP: Tibet, Taiwan, and Falun Gong.

Click here to read the original article in Chinese

Duke Chinese Student Targeted After Rally

Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association suspected of planning uproar

By Xin Fei Epoch Times Staff

Apr 25, 2008

Wang Qianyuan (yellow shirt, facing away) is surrounded and insulted during her mediation between two demonstration groups. (Internet photo)

Related Articles

- Chinese Embassy Secretly Organize Overseas Chinese Students to Support Olympic Torch Relay in Japan Friday, April 25, 2008

- Chinese Student Group at Duke to Be Investigated Wednesday, April 23, 2008

- Tales of Two Chinese Girls Wednesday, April 23, 2008

- Red Army Tactics Taint Torch Relay Tuesday, April 22, 2008

- Chinese Student in U.S. Attacked for Standing Up for Tibet Monday, April 21, 2008

- Duke Student Targeted After Attending Tibet Rally Friday, April 18, 2008

Duke University freshman Wang Qianyuan, who attempted to mediate between pro-Tibet protesters and pro-China counterprotesters at a rally on campus, has been targeted for online attacks by ethnic Chinese in the United States and in China.

The rally on the Duke campus took place on April 9 in the wake of peaceful protests in Tibet that began on the 49th anniversary [March 10] of an uprising against the Chinese communist regime's rule. The protests turned violent later and many Tibetans were beaten and killed, despite the regime's denial.

Wang, when she saw about 400 Chinese people, waving Chinese flags and shouting slogans, facing off against 12 pro-Tibet demonstrators, tried to get the two groups to talk. She even agreed to write "Free Tibet, Save Tibet" on one student's back only if he would talk to the pro-China group. As a result, she was thought to support for the independence of Tibet, though she didn't join the Tibetan demonstration.

After the rally, Wang, whose personal information was posted on the Web site of the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association (DCSSA) and distributed over several Chinese-language Web sites, received various abusive phone calls and e-mails. Even an image posted the next day on a popular Internet forum with Wang's photo, appeared with the word "traitor" written on her face. Her parents in China also received threats, and their home in Shandong's Qingdao City was damaged. They have been forced into hiding.

On April 17, China Central Television (CCTV) set up a special column on its Web site, calling Wang the "ugliest Chinese student abroad." Wang's high school, the Qingdao No. 2 Middle School, revoked her diploma.

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Wang said she was not in favor of Tibetan independence, but she "could help try to turn a shouting match into an exchange of ideas." Wang pointed out that she has concrete evidence showing that the DCSSA manipulated or staged the Chinese students protest against the Tibetan demonstration, along with the malicious Internet attacks on her.

'Their So-called Patriotism Really Harms the Nation'

As explained by Wang Qianyuan, a dozen of human rights activists organized the rally, with the theme "Spiritual and Religious Freedom," and later faced off with a much larger pro-China counter demonstration.

She said, "Actually, I was not thinking about the Tibet issue at that time; I was only thinking about China. There was not even a Tibetan in this rally. What we discussed was human rights issues in Tibet, not the independence issue. I was trying to tell my fellow Chinese people that they would destroy their own future and defame their homeland if they insist on doing so. Their so-called patriotism is really a behavior of harming their own country."

Wang's parents in China also received threats, and their home in Shandong's Qingdao City was damaged. They have been forced into hiding.

"But they didn't listen to whatever I told them, they just used a very loud and weak childish way to attack me," added she.

Supported by Her Parents

She said that she recently contacted her parents, and confirmed that a video camera had been installed outside their ruined apartment. Her parents have moved out.

As for the scandalous remarks on CCTV's website, Wang thought there is nothing so ridiculous as a Chinese student being slandered in such a manner.

Wang explained her parents' attitude toward the incident, "They trust me, and naturally they know my character. At the beginning, they thought I should simply give in and apologize publicly. I told them, "That can't be done. Once I made an apology, I would bear a life-long curse for what I didn't do. It is no different than giving them an excuse for them to harm me and my parents at will. Later my parents thought what I did is right and turned to support me."

Student Demonstration Manipulated by DCSSA Behind the Scenes

Wang also said that the Chinese student counter demonstration [against the Tibetan demonstration] on April 9 was organized and manipulated by the DCSSA.

She pointed out that the funniest part was that the DCSSA called those Chinese participants the primary responsible for the incident, but actually it is the DCSSA that arranged them to come for the demonstration.

As for the mindset of those Chinese people who came to demonstrate, Wang thought that many of those people didn't know what really happened, but were merely followers.

According to Wang, some Chinese students sent by Chinese authorities, who aren't confident of their English, have difficulties understanding their lectures. Thus they can't participate in various activities outside and inside the campus. Instead, they actively participate in the activities organized by Chinese people.

She also added, "In fact, a large portion of students didn't follow the DCSSA. Those who are so competent, didn't take part. They were just watching from the sidelines, silently. Many have a strong antipathy to the DCSSA's practice, but don't express it publicly out of various concerns."

"The leaders asked those people to participate in the protest via email, and after the conflict claimed in another email that they had taught them a lesson."

DCSSA Incites Hatred

In addition to publishing her personal information on the Internet, the leaders of the DCSSA also provoked and incited a slam on her over Internet. "They called me a traitor," Wang said.

She said that the information put out on her couldn't have been posted on the DCSSA's website without approval. They carefully selected and processed the information in a way that leads to the prejudicial conclusion that Wang Qianyuan is a traitor.

"In fact, they don't know that I have kept the record of every online document they put, so they are on very shaky ground now."

"The leaders asked those people to participate in the protest via email, and after the conflict claimed in another email that they had taught them a lesson. I have backups of all the e-mails."

DCSSA is a Dreadful Organization

Wang said that she had a lot of detailed first-hand evidence showing that the whole incident was manipulated by the DCSSA. She also stated that she would make public at the right time.

She said, "The DCSSA is actually a dreadful organization. They keep contact with students to find out if there is any different opinion among them. If there is, then they block the spread of it.

Wang said that she was not the first one attacked or harassed by the DCSSA. After being punished for collective cheating, some members of the DCSSA even insulted and threatened the American Professor. They also claimed that they would first wipe out the Chinese that have different thinking, and then deal with Americans. The Chinese who criticized what they did also received serious death threats.

In addition, Wang disclosed that the DCSSA is subject to be protected from the Chinese Consulate. "We have proof from their financial documents," she said, the organization has a very close relationship with the Chinese Consulate, and takes orders directly from it on many affairs.

She mentioned that the U.S. FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) is currently investigating the DCSSA. "The investigation, actually, was initially launched long ago," she said.

Her High School Reinforced 'Patriotic' Education

In the aftermath of this incident, many people from all over the world have contacted Wang Qianyuan, some bearing good will and encouragement, while others openly harassing her.

According to Wang Qianyuan, Chinese officials have also contacted her. One person admitted to being an official, and told her that it was safe for her to return to China now, and that her parents were also safe.

"He was trying to trick me all along, trying to silence me. He told me to never speak with the media."

Wang Qianyuan said, "What really broke my heart is that even my former teachers want to make a clear distinction with me. Fortunately, there are many people, unknown to me, who have helped and encouraged me. Their actions have deeply touched me."

Wang graduated from Qingdao No. 2 High School. She said that the school recently made a declaration expelling her from a school list, and posters of the declaration have been put up throughout the campus. After convening an assembly to condemn her, her high school has reinforced patriotic education.

The Communist Regime's Tyranny Distorts Citizens' Views

Wang stated that, "The popular nationalistic views now are but the product of years of hatred and discontent. It is as if this was a cultural revolution, but it really isn't. The citizens have combined all their pent-up discontent and frustration felt at home and at work, and now, under the protection of the [anonymity of] the general public, are all venting it out together."

"In actuality, this is all caused by the Party Culture—a phony culture—combined with tyrannical control. For example, when a child is born, if the parents constantly educate the child by violent means, this child will grow with low emotion-regulation ability and high anger and venting level, and will have a proclivity to violence."

"The Chinese Communists Party have been lying all along. Chinese people know that a lot of what the Party says are lies, but no one dares to speak out."

'We are All Victims'

Regarding those online attacks on her, Wang Qianyuan said that she bears no resentment towards those people. She said that the Chinese communist regime is really a violent one, and she understands the people's voices. She felt the DCSSA were also victims as well.

"Nobody can get away from law and justice. They are villains for not having the courage to admit what they have done." —Wang Qianyuan

She said that the system in China right now is making it so people do not dare to speak out. It has become harder and harder to tell the truth, so Chinese people have to live by wearing masks. That is actually against morality and natural law.

Hiring a Attorney

Wang Qianyuan said that she has hired an attorney to take care of this case.

She said that she is not the kind of person who likes punishing other people. Her parents have always taught her to return good for evil. But she thinks that the DCSSA has already committed so many wrongdoings, that there is a need to rectify the situation.

The DCSSA claimed that they have nothing to do with this incident when a school newspaper reporter interviewed them. According to Wang, the DCSSA tells lie to a ridiculous degree―they denied what they had done while quickly deleting all the evidence from e-mail and the website. She, fortunately, has already made a copy of all the relevant evidence.

She also said, "Nobody can get away from law and justice. They are villains for not having the courage to admit what they have done."

She explained that she had already provided the details of the matter and evidence to the attorney, who will decide how to take the next step.

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CBC - It's our duty to shine a light on China

I'm not sure why my comment didn't get posted in response to this. Obviously, someone at the CBC is not ready to hear the truth even if it's spelled out for them. Bless Canada and the CBC!

Mr. Moore, I would appreciate it, if you wouldn't call Falun Gong 'a cult' when reporting on the Games next August. That's just a defamatory lexicon used by the Chinese communist party et al to justify the murdering of Falun Gong practitioners on the operations tables across China for organ theft to go to transplant tourists. Thanks in advance for your kind cooperation and responsible journalistic effort.

BTW, Beijing is about the most unfit Olympic host that anyone could ever think of. Since they got the Games in 2001, all human rights organizations agree that more deaths have occurred inside China under the pretext of the Olympics. Nearly 2000 Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested since January 1--media is mute--focusing their effort outside China.

Helloooo! The blood bath has officially begun inside China! How many more 'undesirables' will be swept under the rug before August?

Too bad the IOC doesn't remind Beijing that this kind of behaviour goes against the Olympic Charter as they should, thus disqualifying any dictatorial host. Rogge's soft whisper 2 weeks ago about human rights is not enough. He should at least urge them to live up to the standard of Olympism and human dignity!

Rae's Rebuke Not Based on Facts, Says Expert

By Matthew Little Epoch Times Staff Reporter

Apr 24, 2008

Liberal MP Bob Rae has raised the ire of human-rights advocates by criticizing an MP who drew comparisons between the upcoming Beijing Olympics and the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany.

Last week, Rob Anders, a Conservative MP for Calgary West, repeated his criticism of awarding China the Games in light of the ongoing human rights abuses happening there.

"You know, I think this regime has one of the worst human-rights records on the face of the planet, and we should be careful that we are not used to try to whitewash that or give it credibility," Anders told CTV's Newsnet.

Bob Rae, the Liberal Party's foreign affairs critic called Anders' comments a "gaffe" and suggested such words could damage Canada international reputation.

"Now we have a senior government MP and chair of the Veterans Affairs committee further damaging our already-strained relationship with China by comparing its government to Nazis."

Rae went on to say that comparing the Chinese Communist Party with the Nazis "trivializes one of the most horrific regimes mankind has known."

But David Matas, a renowned Jewish human rights lawyer who is the senior legal counsel for B'nai Brith and an expert on both anti-Semitism and human rights in China, said it is Rae, not Anders, who needs to reconsider his comments.

"I think what he said is less grounded in reality than what Rob Anders said," said Matas, who last year received the Canadian Bar Association's human rights award.

"I don't know a lot about Anders but I know enough about China to know that what he is saying is well grounded in fact."

Matas said there were noteworthy similarities between the 1936 Games in Nazi Germany and 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

"They're both repressive governments and they're trying to use the Olympics as a form of glorification and self-justification."

The most notable difference Matas pointed to between the two regimes was that while Nazi Germany invaded other countries to kill Jews, China has killed people within its own borders. Estimates place the number of deaths the Chinese communist regime has caused at 65 – 80 million.

"I think Mr. Rae has chosen poor grounds to try to defend Communist China and its human rights abuses," said Matas. "I think that's a poor political decision on his part."

Another lawyer and China expert, Clive Ansley, one of a handful of lawyers to have litigated in Chinese courts and the first foreign lawyer to open a law office in Shanghai, also found Rae's comments off base.

"I think that Rob Anders' comments were absolutely accurate and right on the money. I don't think anybody who knows what is going on in China and has any kind of a conscience can help but make the same parallel."

Anders isn't the first to have drawn comparisons between the Chinese communist regime and Nazi Germany. Rabbi Reuven Bulka, co-president of the Canadian Jewish Congress has also made references to the Nazi regime in condemning the Chinese communist regime's persecution of Falun Gong.

Bulka says the regime has been harvesting organs from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners and selling them in a lucrative organ trade, including to foreigners.

In previous interviews with media he has said the West should threaten a wholesale boycott of the upcoming Olympics.

"I know that we want their [China's] trade but we have to ask ourselves, do we want to trade with a partner that is so barbaric?" Bulka told a 2006 rally on Parliament Hill.

"We don't want that, and that is not what we stand for. It is so un-Canadian what is happening. And I can imagine, for example, how would anybody have anything to do with Nazi Germany in its heyday."

Rae, who is out of the country at press time, could not be reached for comment.

5 Congressmen speak at the DC Human Rights Torch Relay

Great speeches by 5 US congress members delivered on April 9 @11:30-12:30 at the US Congress Cannon Building at a Human Rights Torch Relay event. Take a look.

Congressman Rohrabacher

罗拉巴克议员说，“我们应给历史留下纪录，当今世界上的这一代人不能接受让犯下这么多反人类罪行的国家主办奥运。”(丽莎摄影/大纪元)

http://www.youmaker.com/

Congressman Tom Tancredo
http://www.youmaker.com/video/sv?id=6c9e50dcc6fa48c9817d16e544e046bc001

CongressWomen Sheila Jackson-Lee
http://www.youmaker.com/video/sv?id=7e711cbee6e3496e8b99e17cb34fafc9001

Congresman Thaddeus McCotter
http://www.youmaker.com/video/sv?id=9a1de3c493a74e6cb46df738fad21d3b001

CongressWomen Maxine Waters
http://www.youmaker.com/video/sv?id=ce7f587e3b30462cbc7538af8ced081f001

The Chinese Communist Party Incites Enmity to Divert Attention From Its Crisis

By Xin Fei Epoch Times Staff

Apr 22, 2008

Recent unrest in Chongqing City. Besieged by problems such as the recent sharp fall of China's stock market and skyrocketing commodities prices, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has instigated sentiments of nationalism to turn the anger of the Chinese public towards Western countries. (Photo by a net surfer from mainland China)

Besieged by problems such as the recent sharp fall of China's stock market and skyrocketing commodities prices, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has instigated sentiments of nationalism to turn the anger of the Chinese public towards Western countries.

As the CNN event developed, the CCP also incited people to boycott Western media that included the BBC and FOX-NEWS. At the same time while mainland Chinese start to boycott foreign merchants such as Carrefour, L'Oreal and Kentucky, etc., overseas Chinese were also gathering to protest against the Western media.

Senior journalist Zhang Weiguo and Guizhou freelance writer Zeng Ning said in their interview with The Epoch Times on April 19 that the CCP had a political objective for inciting the conflict between the Chinese public and Western society—that is to divert attention away from domestic problems it is currently facing and hence break away from both domestic and overseas crises.

They also pointed out that the number of signatures compiled by the CCP did not represent public opinion.

CNN commentator Jack Cafferty and CNN issued formal statements on April 14 and 15, respectively expressing that "a bunch of goons and thugs" in their speech referred to the Chinese regime not the Chinese people, and they apologized to the Chinese. But the CCP Ministry of Foreign Affairs and China's mouthpiece media, Xinhua News Agency, among, others continued to stir up hatred and demanded apologies from CNN again. The CCP even started collecting signatures on the Internet.

Trend editor-in-chief Zhang Weiguo pointed out that, the CCP incited the public to protest against CNN; it looked like a media event but was actually a political event in essence.

Zhang said that after the recent massacre in Tibet, the CCP once again is inciting sentiments of nationalism, using the Chinese public as its shield. The CCP used its inherent weapons of fighting and the mechanism of mobilization to fight against the voice and strength of the international community that is criticizing the CCP's despotic totalitarian authority. This implies that the CCP is trying to get rid of its present predicament and the crisis it is facing.

Recently, the CCP's mouthpiece Xinhua.net downplayed news such as the sharp fall of China's stock market and plummeting real estate prices that had caused suicides and public anger. Instead it repeatedly reported in positive tones that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has demanded an apology from CNN and declared that CNN "attempted to create disharmony in the relationship between the Chinese people and the Chinese government."

In response to Cafferty's speech, Zhang Weiguo thought thatfrom a professional journalistic point of view, Cafferty could have been more cautious, but even if the speech was extreme, everyone could see that he meant to criticize human rights in China under the CCP's regime.

"The CCP's propaganda is unilateral and news is censored. If everyone could watch complete CNN and Western media reports, they would have different thoughts."

Additionally, Zhang Weiguo said, "CNN also criticized the White House, but we have never heard that the White House requested an apology. Isn't this a joke."

Guizhou freelance writer Zeng Ning said, "Since the Tibet massacre has brought on the Western society's unanimous condemnation of the CCP's despotic dictatorship, domestic sentiment has also been boiling. Other than using it as an aid to incite the Chinese public's hatred of the Western world and tying the Chinese public to the same battle truck with it to resist the values of Western—democracy, freedom, and human rights—the CCP has no better way to go."

Zeng Ning indicated that, with the economy starting to go down hill in 2008, the Tibet massacre was a sign that is speeding up the demise of the CCP. More than 35 million people have quit the CCP and its affiliated organizations, and the human rights torch relay is spreading in mainland China. These are all sounds of justice that is directly advancing the disintegration of the CCP.

Some observers revealed that, to the voices of anti-Western media, some forums said nearly ten thousand people participated but only dozens of messages were shown.

Zeng said that he had also noticed this situation. The CCP has used Internet spies (police) to monitor the network all along, and has deleted BBS articles that did not conform to its benefit. The remaining messages were either messages posted by Internet spies or messages that conform to the CCP's benefit. The so-called number of web users' signatures was inflated or faked. The CCP regime did not represent the Chinese people.

Zhang Weiguo pointed out that those who did not understand the true situation in China might think what the Western media faced was pressure from the Chinese public. The fact was that there has been no real public opinion in China. Various appearances were all instigated and concocted by the CCP.

He added, "Is the kind of craziness from the Cultural Revolution public opinion? Is suppression of Falun Gong public opinion? Is the Tiananmen Square Massacre public opinion? They are not. This so-called public opinion is only a tool and a bargaining chip of the CCP for attacking dissidents."

"Actually there has been no public opinion since 1949."

Zhang also said that the Chinese people's discontent with the Western media was somewhat deceptive. The way one expressed his discontent with the Western media was in agreement with the CCP's taste and political needs, therefore, there was no political risk. Actually, he was venting his discontent with the CCP regime.

In Zhang's opinion, the recent event was a symbolic event to the Western world's understanding of the CCP and the CCP culture. It was a turning point for the Western world's understanding of the CCP's problems.

As to overseas Chinese protesting against Western media, Zhang Weiguo pointed out that the situation was very complicated in the overseas areas where the CCP's managed to mount brilliant united front schemes. In the free environment of the Western world, large numbers of spies were dispatched and pro-CCP groups were organized in the name of overseas Chinese communities or foreign organizations. They said things that were inconvenient for the CCP to directly say, and they did what the CCP wanted but were unable to directly do. This was the CCP's way of presenting a united front and trying to disrupt the influence of Western society.

Click here to read the original article in Chinese

China firm on torch defence

The Age - Brendan Nicholson, Canberra and Mary-anne Toy, Beijing
April 23, 2008

...A former human rights commissioner yesterday fanned controversy surrounding the Beijing Olympics by accusing China of approaching the Games in a manner reminiscent of the way Nazi Germany approached the 1936 Berlin Games.

University of Sydney adjunct professor Sev Ozdowski said the forced removal of people living in Beijing to make way for the Games; the likely exclusion of Falun Gong and other dissidents from the Olympics and China's attempt to use the Games to present itself as a new world power all echoed Nazi behaviour.

Dr Ozdowski — who as human rights commissioner wrote a major report on the mandatory detention of children in immigration — saidChinese authorities were trying to use the Olympics to enhance China's status as a world power and economic success.

After scuffles broke out when the Olympic torch was in London, Paris and San Francisco, Mr Rudd said: "The physical security of the Olympic Torch will be provided by Australian security officials only."

Mr Rudd said the Chinese attendants would travel in a bus, except when they were needed to light a fresh torch as a new runner took over. (more)

China's new nationalists

Boston Globe, United States - April 21, 2008

As the Summer Olympics approach, some disturbing aspects of contemporary China are coming into view. A worldwide audience has learned what human rights activists have long known about Beijing's complicity with dictatorships in Sudan and Burma. The Chinese communists' harsh repression in Tibet sparked protests along the route of the Olympic torch relay and on college campuses. And as China spreads blatant lies that the Dalai Lama is inciting violence in Tibet, the government's campaign to keep the Olympics free from politics looks like an excuse for imposing on the rest of the world the sort of censorship that prevails inside China.

But there has also been a less obvious revelation: an increasingly zealous nationalism among Chinese youth. This mood of patriotic passion can be seen in counter-demonstrations organized by Chinese student associations in the United States against supporters of a free Tibet. It is no less striking in Internet imprecations fired off not only against Tibetan "splittists" but also against the rare Chinese student who dares to call for mutual understanding between Chinese and Tibetans.

This kind of witch-hunting occurred at Duke University last week, when a 20-year-old freshman from mainland China tried to encourage dialogue between a large group of Chinese student demonstrators and a smaller group of Tibetans and their supporters holding a vigil for human rights. She was vilified as a traitor. Her personal information was released into cyberspace. Hundreds of thousands of angry and threatening posts appeared on Chinese websites. Her parents back in China were threatened and had to go into hiding for their own safety.

It is not easy to determine how much of this nationalistic frenzy may have been fostered and organized by Chinese communist officials and how much is attributable to the sort of high-spirited group pride common to the youth of other nations. The Beijing authorities eased up on their restriction of online forums as they observed the patriotic tenor of reactions to foreign criticism.

There is a crucial distinction between a healthy, constructive nationalism and the pathological variety that Adolf Hitler sought to inject into the Berlin Olympics of 1936. Nevertheless, the nationalistic vehemence that has come into view this spring among China's best and brightest is a troubling phenomenon. It suggests that nationalism has replaced Maoism or Marxism as the legitimating credo of China rulers - and that the critical spirit defining the Tiananmen protests of 1989 has given way in some quarters to an emotional identification with the ancient idols of blood and soil.

Free or not? Conference ponders Beijing Olympics challenge for journalists

IHT: Friday, April 18, 2008
The Associated Press

PARIS: Secret police tails. Reprimands or perhaps even expulsion for writing about topics sensitive for the Chinese Communist Party. Big Brother propaganda apparatchiks working overtime to stifle negative news.

These were some of the grim scenarios painted Friday at a Paris conference by press freedom groups about working conditions that foreign reporters might face at the Beijing Olympics this August.

China's viewpoint wasn't heard: the two-day meeting's organizers said Beijing Games officials, the International Olympic Committee, leading sports manufacturers and NBC, which holds the U.S. rights to broadcast the Olympics, declined or did not respond to invitations.
China insists it will keep promises made in Beijing's winning bid in 2001 that reporters will be allowed to cover the games as they did previous ones. But Chinese officials stop short of explicitly guaranteeing unrestricted reporting.

"We welcome media from all around the world to come to Beijing and report about the Olympics. We'll follow the practice of the Olympic Games, keep our bidding promise and provide convenient support to reporters covering the games," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said this week. "In the meantime, I hope they will be objective and balanced in reporting, and show their professional ethics and quality in their work."

In the wake of violent anti-government protests in Tibet and across western China last month, China has detained journalists and banned them from parts of the country. Speakers at the conference agreed that reporters who limit themselves to covering sports in Beijing will likely be fine.

"If you've not been to China before, you are going to be wowed by the modernization," said Merle Goldman of Harvard University, author of the book "From Comrade to Citizen: The Struggle for Political Rights in China."

She also said, however, that China's government "is frightened by its own people" and warned of virulent nationalism bubbling among younger Chinese.

Western reporters in China have recently received aggressive phone calls, e-mails and text messages, some with death threats, supposedly from ordinary Chinese complaining about alleged bias in coverage of the Tibetan protests.

The harassment has targeted foreign television broadcasters — CNN in particular — and broadened after mobile phone numbers and other information for reporters from The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today were posted on several Web sites in China.

Chinese journalist Gao Yu, imprisoned for nearly six years in the 1990s on charges of leaking state secrets, said that foreign reporters should expect police surveillance because it "is just run of the mill."

"If you are only doing sports, I guess you will be quite free. But journalists will have problems if they concern themselves with things that don't make the Chinese government happy," said Gao, who traveled from Beijing for the Paris conference. Such topics include Taiwan, Tibet and China's western Xinjiang region, as well as the government's treatment of the banned Falun Gong movement, dissidents and AIDS infections, to name just some.

"At the most serious, you could be expelled or possibly be warned or the foreign ministry or others will talk to your media organization," Gao added.

In fact, expulsions have been rare over the past decade or more. Warnings are more common: China's foreign ministry this week summoned CNN's Beijing bureau chief to protest after commentator Jack Cafferty referred to China's leaders as a "bunch of goons and thugs."

Another concern is the safety of Chinese citizens who work for foreign reporters, doing translation, arranging interviews and providing tips. They "may well be most at risk" if the interviews or information are deemed sensitive, said Paul Steiger, former managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and chairman of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

Some 30,000 officially accredited and non-accredited journalists — a ratio of roughly three reporters for every athlete — will likely be in Beijing.

The Associated Press expects its reporters will be able to work in Beijing as they have at previous Olympics, Steve Wilson, the international news agency's European sports editor, told the Paris conference.

And in today's market-driven China, the prospect of reporters in trouble offers an economic opportunity. Chinese legal scholar Li Baiguang left laminated advertising cards for participants in Paris, offering a 24-hour telephone hot line for "foreign journalists who may need legal advice during the Olympic Games."

"In the event of search of detention," said the card, "remember that you have the right to remain silent and to consult a lawyer."

Calgary MP compares China to Nazi regime

Member of parliamentary delegation meeting Dalai Lama

Richard Cuthbertson and Becky Rynor, Canwest News Service Published: Thursday, April 17, 2008

Related Topics

• Buddhism

• Chinese Politics

• Ann Arbor

• Communist Party of China

• Adolf Hitler

National Post: OTTAWA -- Calling China "the worst human-rights abuser in the world," Tory MP Rob Anders is heading to Ann Arbor, Mich., Frday to meet with the Dalai Lama to discuss concerns about the upcoming Olympics in China.

"I want to go and talk to the Dalai Lama," Mr. Anders said Thursday.

"Partly, by doing so, I think we're highlighting the issue, but, as well, I want to ask him about the cultural genocide that is going on there."

Mr. Anders compared this year's Beijing Olympics to the 1936 Games held in Berlin when Germany was under Nazi rule, arguing that China is the wrong choice to host the Games.

"I absolutely 100% think it compares to the Berlin Olympics in 1936," he said.

"You've got Falun Gong practitioners, which are not allowed to participate in the Olympics. Adolf Hitler had issues with Jews being able to participate in the Olympics in 1936."

Adherents of Falun Gong say they follow Buddhist tenets of "truthfulness, compassion and tolerance" through meditation and exercise, but the Chinese Communist Party has banned the practice, calling it an "evil cult" that threatens state security.

MR. Anders, the MP for Calgary West, is an outspoken critic of China and a member of the Parliamentary Friends of Tibet, an all-party group formed in 1990 by members of Parliament and senators concerned about the political situation in Tibet.

Eight years ago, Mr. Anders also crashed a Chinese New Year's event on Parliament Hill wearing a Free Tibet T-shirt.

Mr. Anders called China "the worst human rights violator in the world, right now."

"And, I think their record in terms of deaths and atrocities far overshadows those in the Second World War. If you look at the people who were killed during the Great Leap Forward and the cultural revolution under Mao, it makes the deaths on the Russian front in the Second World War look small in comparison," he said.

Mr. Anders stopped short Thursday of calling for an outright boycott of the Olympics, but he did say no Canadian politician should attend the games, nor should any Canadian athletes be used as "propaganda tools."

"I'm sensitive to the fact that we've had Canadian athletes . . . who have trained for years," Mr. Anders told a CBC radio program, the Calgary Eyeopener.

"They're good athletes; they want to have the opportunity to compete. But I don't want to see them used as a propaganda tool for the Chinese communists."

MR. Anders said many Chinese Canadians are also frustrated with the Chinese government.

"If people could see the forced labour camps [in China], they would understand. . . . There's goods that are being purchased in Canada today that are made in forced slave labour, in Chinese labour camps."

When told of MR. Anders remarks, the president of the Chinese Professionals and Entrepreneurs Association of Calgary said: "Rob Anders - he's amazing."

Hujun Li said he totally disagreed with the remarks and said Mr. Anders had gone too far.

"He's just trying to do something to hurt Chinese," said Mr. Li, who lives in Anders' riding.

Calgary MP Deepak Obhrai, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Foreign Affairs, said Mr. Anders was speaking as an individual and his comments are not reflective of government policy.

Others expected to meet with the Dalai Lama at the University of Michigan are Senators Consiglio Di Nino and Mobina Jaffer, MPs Ken Boshcoff, Diane Bourgeois and Peggy Nash, as well as Ontario provincial politicians Cheri DiNovo and David Ramsay.

Calgary Herald, Canwest News Service

Beijing’s Obvious Hand at the U.S. Olympic Torch Run

April 16, 2008 | 1434 GMT

*By Rodger Baker

Stratfor: The April 9 Olympic torch relay in San Francisco opened a window into the organizational capabilities of the Chinese government and its intelligence collection apparatus inside the United States. From the coordinating efforts of the city’s Chinese Consulate, down through local Chinese business and social organizations, and on to the pro-China supporters who photographed the event, the operation showed an efficiency and organizational capability not seen among the anti-China demonstrators. The run also revealed a high level of sophistication, planning and control in the pro-China camp.

A Day of Confusion

The torch relay in San Francisco proved a mixed bag of anti-China and pro-China demonstrators, as well as spectators simply hoping for a glimpse of the symbol of the Olympic Games. Pro-Tibet and other demonstrators altered their tactics in San Francisco following clashes surrounding the torch run in London and Paris — where pictures of a protester with a Tibet flag trying to snatch the torch from a handicapped torchbearer left the protesters looking worse than China. As a result, the demonstrators in San Francisco planned to impede the progress of the relay rather than attempt to extinguish the torch or interfere with the actual torchbearers. The massive gathering at the beginning of the torch route, and the blocking of a bus carrying Chinese security officials and items related to the torch run, triggered the organizers of the relay to change the route completely. In part, then, the protesters interrupted the relay effectively, though not in the manner they had hoped.

The on-the-fly changes in the torch relay route, which left many spectators waiting down near the piers when the torch was running along the hills several blocks away, allowed the relay to progress relatively smoothly, interrupted only a few times by protesters attempting to block the route or by a few demonstrators bearing little sign of affiliation with the Tibetan or Darfur causes who threw water balloons at the torch. The heavy police and Diplomatic Security Service presence around the torch runners largely kept demonstrators on the sidewalks, while the moving roadblocks and the unclear torch route left demonstrators unsure of where they could amass to intercept it. The security organizers, then, were relatively successful in their efforts to allow all planned participants to carry the torch with minimal interference.

In the end, neither protesters nor security “won” the day. Amid the confusion, however, the groups that showed a very strong sense of organization and planning were the pro-China demonstrators. Their coordination demonstrated the ability of the Chinese government, via its local consulate and its association with overseas Chinese organizations, to rally and coordinate large-scale activities inside the United States — and to use these activities for intelligence collection.

Pro-China Preparation

By 8 a.m. April 9, the pro-China demonstrators were taking up positions along the planned torch relay route, pulling in groups carrying Chinese, U.S. and Olympic flags, and equipped with cases of food and water. However, these were not spontaneous gatherings of overseas Chinese supporting the motherland, as Beijing media have portrayed them. Rather, there was a coordinated effort between local Chinese business and social associations and the consulate to attract, equip, deploy and coordinate the large pro-China turnout. This is in contrast to the Free Tibet, Save Darfur and other anti-China protesters — who often seemed disorganized.

By some estimates, as many as 50 busloads of Chinese from other parts of California were brought to San Francisco. Many of them paid (by some accounts $300 each) to come out for the day in support of Beijing. They were placed in groups along the anticipated torch relay route and given Chinese and Olympic flags, as well as American flags (the latter a tactical move to show they were not anti-U.S., but rather pro-China — a distinction made all the more apparent by the fact that most anti-China protesters did not carry U.S. flags, and some also were critical of the U.S. government).

In addition to those bused in from out of town, many of the local Chinese business and social organizations were involved in fielding groups of pro-China supporters, and these were similarly equipped. Most groups also were supplied with cases of water and food — something not seen among the anti-China demonstrators, who appeared more a gathering of individuals than prearranged groups. One local Chinese organizer was overheard saying they had spent some $30,000 on food and water for the day of the torch run — perhaps not a large amount overall, but a clear investment to ensure that there was group cohesion among the pro-China demonstrators.

In addition to many older overseas Chinese posted along the route, there also were numerous Chinese of college age, many representing several overseas and mainland Chinese student associations. Some carried a large flag representing China’s Tsinghua University, which produces many top Chinese officials, and among the others were local chapters of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association. During the run, some of these students challenged the American Free Tibet or Saver Darfur protesters to discussion, asking, for example, whether they had been to Tibet or diverting accusations of Chinese military support to Sudan with counteraccusations of U.S. military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan. In general, the Chinese side kept the confrontations rather civil, seeming to have been well prepared to respond (suggesting they had been provided with materials on how to respond in advance). On numerous occasions, however, the anti-China demonstrators in these one-to-one confrontations would resort to their own chanted slogans or just shout that the Chinese were liars.

The organization of the pro-China contingent was further demonstrated by its self-policing efforts. While the anti-China demonstrators ignored the barriers along the route and moved into the streets, far fewer pro-China demonstrators did so. When one did cross, the pro-China group would shout at them to return behind the barriers and “follow the rules.” There was clearly a concerted effort to make the Chinese demonstrators appear as the more controlled, more peaceful and less confrontational participants — part of a broader PR strategy .When confronted by a large group of pro-Tibet demonstrators, for example, the Chinese often simply ignored the repeated cries of “China lies, people die” and instead broke into song, effectively ending the exchange.


Instigation and Intelligence Collection

There was at least one exception to the restraint shown by the pro-China demonstrators, however, suggesting they were not entirely the innocuous gathering they sought to portray. On numerous occasions, individuals or small groups carrying cameras would seek to incite the anti-China demonstrators to acts of confrontation or violence, frequently by parading through the middle of a group of Free Tibet or Save Darfur demonstrators with a large Chinese flag, walking back and forth through the group. In some cases, small scuffles broke out — and pictures were snapped — though the anti-China demonstrators soon deployed individuals to try to keep the two opposing sides separated. The same day, Chinese media ran photos of pro-Tibet demonstrators shoving pro-China demonstrators, “proving” their point that the Tibet supporters are violent.

It was no accident that the photographs appeared so quickly in the Chinese media. In addition to the demonstrators, numerous individuals were sent out with cameras. Although cameras are expected at such an event, many of the photographers were collecting images either for Chinese propaganda purposes or to identify anti-China demonstrators in order to identify pinpoint “troublemakers” who might be planning to attend the Olympics in Beijing. With their pictures on file, Chinese authorities can then either deny their visas or monitor them more closely when they arrive in China.

In addition, Beijing has been trying to locate the organizers of anti-China protests and demonstrations overseas, ones who may be planning action in China, in order to infiltrate their groups and gather intelligence on their planned activities. This is not new for Beijing — as the Chinese Embassy official who defected in Australia a few years ago demonstrated by revealing the details of Chinese infiltration of and spying on Falun Gong supporters in Australia. Beijing also has been seeking out U.S. and other foreign academics for their insights on potential demonstrations in Beijing, hoping to get information about individuals and tactical details of plans in order to pre-empt or at least effectively counter them.

In addition to the intelligence collection efforts and the careful organization and coordination of the pro-China demonstrators in San Francisco, electronic countermeasures also were used to disrupt the communications and activities of the anti-China demonstrators. In some cases, the cell phones of the anti-China organizers were spammed with prank calls and text messages in order to limit their effectiveness as a coordinating tool — particularly as the torch changed routes. There also were unconfirmed cases of limited cell-phone jamming, likely using the short-range cell-phone jammers that were popular a few years ago. These created intermittent and isolated interference with cell-phone reception, further deteriorating the communications and coordination ability of the anti-China demonstrators.


Beyond San Francisco

Furthermore, China did not limit its activities to San Francisco. It also organized a smaller response to the Dalai Lama’s visit to Seattle, Wash., a few days later. Chinese Consul General in San Francisco Gao Zhansheng sent a letter to University of Washington (UW) President Mark Emmert urging him and other UW officials to refrain from meeting with the Dalai Lama or from giving him a platform for political or “separatist” activities. Additionally, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association sent an open letter to the UW leadership and met briefly with Emmert and Provost Ed Taylor, asking them to limit the Dalai Lama’s opportunity to use his visit for political reasons. Several hundred pro-China students also staged a demonstration outside the Dalai Lama’s speaking venue in Seattle on April 14, using the Internet to coordinate banners, chants and actions.

Throughout the United States there have been reports of other group actions by Chinese students and activists, from Internet-based activity promoting boycotts of French goods following the Paris torch relay to a push to “correct” foreign media coverage of the Tibet riots and the Tibet issue overall. But there also have been more aggressive instances. For example, at least one Chinese student at Duke University received threats after attending a pro-Tibet rally, while others have had their personal information, including their phone numbers and Chinese identification cards, posted on the Internet bulletin board hosted by the university’s Chinese Student and Scholar Association (the association denied responsibility, saying those postings were the actions of individuals). The students’ concern, however, is that the information will get back to Chinese authorities and thus undermine their future prospects in China or even lead to further harassment of themselves or their families.

China has had a long reach into the Chinese community in the United States for quite some time, and frequently uses this community for espionage , both within the community itself and against American companies, the military and the technology and political spheres. Also, Chinese consulates in the United States have helped facilitate pro-China gatherings in the past. However, while it already was known that China was anxious to restore its image after the Tibet unrest and the trouble with the torch run in London and Paris, the effort and coordination Beijing exhibited in San Francisco, through the consulate and local Chinese business and social organizations, was rather impressive.

There are no estimates of the number of pro- and anti-China demonstrators at the San Francisco event, though the former easily totaled several thousand. Additionally, the actions of the pro-China camp, along with the supporters’ placement along the anticipated route, demonstrated a much more centralized and coordinated organization than the anti-China groups — and revealed the depth to which the Chinese government can organize and deploy its overseas population, even in the United States.