US, China square off

Asia Times - Dec 23, 2006 Page 1 of 3
ASIA HAND
By Shawn W Crispin

BANGKOK - Of all the factors that contributed to Thailand's mid-December decision to impose restrictive controls on short-term capital flows, which subsequently flattened the stock market and sparked howls of discontent from foreign investors, Thai authorities' primary motivation for the fateful policy was left unnamed, but clearly it was China rather than the US.

The rapid appreciation of the free-floating Thai baht against the fixed-rate Chinese yuan rather than the US dollar had in recent months severely eroded Thailand's overall export competitiveness, particularly in the crucial electronics sector, which accounts for about 35% of Thai exports. If the baht-yuan gap had widened further, Thai central bank authorities feared that a stronger baht would have bankrupted its exporters and severely crimped economic growth.     more ...

U.S. Not Winning War in Iraq, Bush Says for 1st Time

President Plans to Expand Army, Marine Corps to Cope With Strain of Multiple Deployments

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 20, 2006; 10:20 AM

President Bush acknowledged for the first time yesterday that the United States is not winning the war in Iraq and said he plans to expand the overall size of the "stressed" U.S. armed forces to meet the challenges of a long-term global struggle against terrorists.

As he searches for a new strategy for Iraq, Bush has now adopted the formula advanced by his top military adviser to describe the situation. "We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush said in an interview with The Washington Post. The assessment was a striking reversal for a president who, days before the November elections, declared, "Absolutely, we're winning."      more ...

President Wants to Increase Size of Armed Forces

By THOM SHANKER and JIM RUTENBERG
New York Times - Published: December 20, 2006

WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 — President Bush said Tuesday that the United States should expand the size of its armed forces, acknowledging that the military had been strained by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and would need to grow to cope with what he suggested would be a long battle against Islamic extremism.

“I’m inclined to believe it’s important and necessary to do,” Mr. Bush said. He said this was an “accurate reflection that this ideological war we’re in is going to last for a while, and that we’re going to need a military that’s capable of being able to sustain our efforts and help us achieve peace.”

Speaking in an interview with The Washington Post, Mr. Bush did not specify how large an increase he was contemplating or put a dollar figure on the cost. He said that he had asked his new defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, to bring him a proposal, and that the budget he unveils at the beginning of February would seek approval for the plan from Congress, where many members of both parties have been urging an increase in the military’s size.       more ...

Indonesia sees anti-Bush rallies

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, to protest against Monday's visit by US President George W Bush.

BBC News - Last Updated: Sunday, 19 November 2006, 20:46 GMT

US foreign policy provokes deep anger among some groups in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.  But Indonesia is a key regional ally for the US and ties between the two governments remain strong.  Mr Bush's talks are expected to include security co-operation and US economic assistance for Indonesia.

Hundreds of police officers lined up at the presidential palace in Jakarta as demonstrators gathered outside on Sunday to stage the latest in weeks of anti-US protests.     more ...

Bush strikes a 'grand bargain' with Vietnam

Asia Times - Nov 16, 2006
By Shawn W Crispin

When US President George W Bush arrives in Vietnam on Friday for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit [1], he'll be looking to burnish his foreign-policy credentials after last week's bruising congressional election defeat, which was widely viewed as a referendum on his government's ill-fated invasion of Iraq.

But any pretensions that Bush may make toward policy success in Vietnam should be viewed just as incredulously as his administration's various other spurious declared victories for democracy in the Middle East.     more ...

U.S. stresses PRC piracy woes

Commerce chief says China copyright theft threatens trade ties

Agence France-Presse
Page 10
2006-11-15 12:46 AM

Pirated DVDs, like "Catch Me If You Can," are openly on sale in a store for 10 yuan (US$1.25) in Beijing, China.

Rampant Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property rights is weakening American support for a deeper trade relationship between the two giants, U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said yesterday.

Gutierrez acknowledged that China has made strides in curbing IPR piracy but said Beijing's continued tolerance of it leaves the country short of fulfilling its World Trade Organization commitments.

"Another victim of widespread IPR theft in China is American support for expanding our trade relationship," Gutierrez told a gathering of business executives in Beijing.

He also warned the piracy problem was giving ammunition to protectionist voices in Washington.       more ...

PREPARING FOR A NEW COLD WAR, Part 1
A war the West can't win

Asia Times
By W Joseph Stroupe
Nov 14, 2006

We are not concerned here with the implausible scenario of a Soviet-style collapse of the American superpower, perhaps induced at the hands of the rising East. Nor is it about the destruction of the US. Rather than thinking in such unrealistic black-and-white terms, the reader should consider whether the current US global position of dominance is at risk, not the existence of the US as a superpower.

Too many persons have become captive to thinking merely in terms of of black and white - the US destroys Russia and/or China, or conversely, they destroy the US. Or, the US economy collapses in ruins or else it upholds its global dominance, with no consideration given to any eventuality somewhere between those two ends.    more ...          Part 2 (Asymmetric challenge to the US colossus)

US warns on China sub encounter

By Jonathan Kent
BBC News, Kuala Lumpur
Last Updated: Tuesday, 14 November 2006, 11:29 GMT

The US navy has confirmed reports of a close encounter between one of its battle groups and a Chinese submarine in the Pacific late last month.

US Pacific Commander Admiral William Fallon said the incident had had the potential to escalate.  He called for better communications between the two sides.  He dismissed as rather sensational a report that a Chinese submarine had stalked the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships  But he did concede that the Chinese vessel had been close, which left both sides open to the potential for miscalculation.       more ...

Defenses on subs to be reviewed

By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 14, 2006

Navy officials confirmed yesterday that an aircraft carrier battle group failed to detect a Chinese submarine that surfaced within weapons range of the USS Kitty Hawk. Anti-submarine defenses for the carrier battle group will be reviewed as a result, they said.

"It was not detected," said one Navy official of the encounter with a Chinese diesel-powered attack submarine. "And we're concerned about that, obviously."

The Chinese Song-class attack submarine surfaced near the carrier in deep waters off Okinawa on Oct. 26. It was armed with wake-homing torpedos and anti-ship cruise missiles.       more ...

China sub secretly stalked U.S. fleet

By Bill Gertz
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 13, 2006

A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected, The Washington Times has learned.
The surprise encounter highlights China's continuing efforts to prepare for a future conflict with the U.S., despite Pentagon efforts to try to boost relations with Beijing's communist-ruled military.     more ...

Chinese Regime Anxious About Pelosi's Victory

By Wu Guiying
Epoch Times Staff Nov 13, 2006

Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi speaks to the press, November 8, 2006 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Experts generally believed that a victory by Pelosi, one of the most ardent critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its human rights abuses, would make the CCP most anxious about future U.S.-China relations.

The 2006 mid-term elections positioned the House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi, to be the first female Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Experts generally believed that a victory by Pelosi, one of the most ardent critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its human rights abuses, would make the CCP most anxious about future U.S.-China relations. China's official response to Pelosi's rise is cautious. When asked to comment on future China-U.S. relations on November 9, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu said, "To maintain a healthy bilateral relationship serves the common interests of both China and the United States."     more ...

.... during the first few hours of any conflict with China,

it will be critical for U.S. armed forces to not only withstand an attack, but also to organize an effective counter-offensive – projecting concentrated power at multiple points to eliminate any immediate or latent threats. To achieve this objective, U.S. forces dispersed throughout Asia and the western Pacific must be given the ability to quickly consolidate, making any offensive military operations undertaken by China’s newly christened combat forces extremely difficult.

There is little question that the U.S. will remain the world’s dominant power for some time to come. Any U.S.-China military confrontation in the Pacific at this time would result in an abrupt end to Beijing’s grand plans for influence and power, relegating the country once again to regional serfdom. Even worse for Beijing, a resounding military defeat at the hands of the U.S. would almost certainly ignite a civil war within China, resulting in the end of the country’s totalitarian regime.     more ...

Unrestricted Warfare:
China's Master Plan to Destroy America


Softcover
ISBN: 0-9716807-2-8

By Colonels Qiao Liang and Wang Xiangsui
Introduction by Al Santoli

As incredible as it may be to believe, three years before the Sept. 11 bombing of the World Trade Center a Chinese military manual titled Unrestricted Warfare touted such an attack – suggesting it would be difficult for the U.S. military to cope with

Here is an excerpt from Unrestricted Warfare:

“Whether it be the intrusions of hackers, a major explosion at the World Trade Center, or a bombing attack by bin Laden, all of these greatly exceed the frequency bandwidths understood by the American military...”

Surprisingly, Osama bin Laden is mentioned frequently in this book.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Americans and the world witnessed one of the most horrific acts ever to take place on American soil.

Our media and government were quick to declare the acts of that day as simply terrorism by a nationless group known as al-Qaeda.

In reading China’s military manual Unrestricted Warfare, you will learn that the events of Sept. 11 were not a random act perpetrated by independent agents.

Instead, Chinese military planners believe that terrorism is just one of the many tools at the hands of nations and their terrorist allies to wage total war against the United States.

You will be surprised to learn:

• The two PLA colonels who authored Unrestricted Warfare have been hailed as heroes in China since Sept. 11.
  


• The Chinese state-run propaganda machine is cashing in on the terror attacks ... producing books, films  and video games glorifying the strikes as a humbling blow against an arrogant nation.



• Chinese Communist Party officials are saying that President Jiang Zemin has obsessively and gleefully  watched and re-watched pictures of the aircraft crashing into the World Trade Center.



• The CIA’s own translation agency reported that this book identifies the U.S. as China’s main enemy, and details how a weak nation can destroy America using unorthodox attacks – like the 9-11 attacks.
  
  
China is preparing itself and encouraging others to engage the U.S. in total war. The book is chock full of plans and strategies, from using computers, to smuggling illegal immigrants, to manipulating the stock markets, to influencing the U.S. media, to using weapons of mass destruction – all to destroy America.

The doctrine of total war outlined in Unrestricted Warfare clearly demonstrates that the People’s Republic of China is preparing to confront the United States and our allies by conducting “asymmetrical” or multidimensional attacks on almost every aspect of our social, economic and political life.

The media and Congress are keeping a lid on this book because of the implications of U.S.-China economic and trade relations.

Now They Tell Us
Neo Culpa

by David Rose Vanity Fair (VF.COM) November 3, 2006

As Iraq slips further into chaos, the war's neoconservative boosters have turned sharply on the Bush administration, charging that their grand designs have been undermined by White House incompetence. In a series of exclusive interviews, Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum, and others play the blame game with shocking frankness. Target No. 1: the president himself.       more ...

China’s Milestone, Our Millstone

NY Times - Published: October 21, 2006

The Chinese sell a lot of merchandise in the United States and, in the process, accumulate a lot of dollars. They then loan many of those dollars back to the United States in exchange for all manner of American i.o.u.’s, including Treasury bonds, federal agency bonds, and private-sector debt.

America’s indebtedness to China, as a result, is staggeringly high, although the Bush administration — which needs foreign loans to help finance the budget deficit — seems unfazed. But there is reason for pause. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that China’s holdings of foreign currency and securities would soon top $1 trillion, a fivefold increase since 2000. Roughly 70 percent of that is believed to be in dollars or dollar-based assets.

Of course, $1 trillion does not confer significantly more clout than, say, $990 billion. But the size and growth of China’s holdings mean increasing vulnerability for the United States.    more ...

Why the net should stay neutral

Is it time to let internet companies provide premium access to paying websites and services? No, says technology commentator Bill Thompson.       more ... .

Ex-Bush Aide: White House Officials Called Evangelicals 'Ridiculous'

ABC News - By JAKE TAPPER and KENDALL EVANS

Oct. 16, 2006 — For the White House, the charges coming their way this morning in the new book "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction" must seem anything but heaven-sent.

The accusations are coming from an unlikely source: David Kuo, former deputy director of the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, which channels federal dollars to religious charities

Kuo says the office was misused to rally evangelical Christians, the Republican base voters, to get GOP politicians elected. Not only that, Kuo claims Bush officials mocked evangelical leaders behind their backs, alleging that in the office of political guru Karl Rove they were called "the nuts."    . more ...

FBI raids home of congressman's daughter

CNN News - 5:06 p.m. EDT, October 16, 2006

(AP) -- The FBI raided the homes of [Republican] Rep. Curt Weldon's daughter and a close friend Monday as it investigates whether the congressman improperly helped the pair win lobbying and consulting contracts.
more ...

Poll: Support for Iraq war at all-time low

CNN News - 4:49 p.m. EDT, October 16, 2006

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A poll conducted for CNN over the weekend suggests support among Americans for

the war in Iraq is dwindling to an all-time low. Just 34 percent of those polled say they support the war, while 64 percent say they oppose it.

Women led the opposition, with seven in 10 saying they oppose the war. Twenty-eight percent say they support it, which is the lowest support among women in any CNN poll taken since the invasion more than three years ago.

Support among men is stronger, with 40 percent supporting the conflict and 58 percent opposed to it.

This comes as the nation's top general acknowledged the overall strategy in Iraq is under review. Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told CNN that military plans, including the linchpin of U.S. exit strategy -- reliance on Iraqi forces to take up the fight -- is being reviewed.  more ...

U.S. Officials Call On [communist] China to Help Enforce U.N. Resolution on N. Korea

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 16, 2006; Page A15

One day after passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution punishing North Korea for its apparent test of a nuclear weapon, senior U.S. diplomats said yesterday that China must help enforce it and use economic leverage to compel Pyongyang to return to disarmament talks.

The resolution, passed unanimously, calls on states to prevent North Korea from selling or buying certain banned weapons and technology. But China said Saturday that Beijing would not inspect cargo entering or leaving North Korea, for fear of raising tensions in the region. more ...

Never Forget Tiananmen Square 1989
Caution ... This video contains graphic scenes



Does the Future Belong to China?

Newsweek

China's rise is no longer a prediction. It is a fact. It is already the world's fastest-growing large economy, and the second largest holder of foreign-exchange reserves, mainly dollars. It has the world's largest army (2.5 million men) and the fourth largest defense budget, which is rising by more than 10 percent annually. Whether or not it overtakes the United States economically, which looks to me like a distant prospect, it is the powerful new force on the global scene.    more ...

Taiwan travesty: Time to bring island nation back inside the UN fold

Calgary Sun, September 10, 2006
By PAUL JACKSON

It boggles the mind to realize most of the nations in the UN are brutal dictatorships, many with appalling human rights records, and who often thwart initiatives by western democracies to get the UN back on track and make it face its responsibilities, while

Taiwan, a thoroughly democratic nation of 23 million, is repeatedly denied membership.

Communist China, with the largest military in the world, and a nation condemned for "harvesting' body parts of living men and women to be used for transplant purposes, threatens any move by countries to re-admit Taiwan, will see those nations suffer severe economic consequences.     more ...

Immigration Judge Severely Criticized For Bias Against Chinese

By David Hsieh, World Journal

Original translation by Independent Press Association New York

In a recent ruling, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reprimanded an immigration judge who is known for his prejudice against Chinese asylum seekers and reassigned the case due to Judge Jeffrey Chase’s perceived bias.  Chinese immigration lawyers hailed the decision as justice finally served.
more ...

Man who revealed PRC forced abortion gets jail term

Associated Press - 2006-08-25 02:44 AM

A blind activist who was arrested after recording complaints of forced abortions was sentenced yesterday to four years and three months in prison on what his supporters say were phony charges, a defense lawyer said.

Chen Guangcheng was convicted of damaging property and "organizing a mob to disturb traffic" after a trial in the eastern province of Shandong, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Chen's supporters say local officials fabricated the charges against him in retaliation for his activism.

Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, said he would appeal. "I did not expect such a harsh sentence," Yuan said by phone from their home, where she was under house arrest.     more ...

China jails blind rights activist for over 4 years

Rueters - Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:00 AM ET

By Chris Buckley

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court jailed a blind human rights campaigner for four years and three months on Thursday, state media announced, prompting other activists to warn of a clampdown on China's "rights defenders."

Chen Guangcheng, who was tried last Friday without his own lawyers present, drew international attention last year by accusing officials in east China's Shandong province of enforcing late-term abortions in a population control drive.

Chen, 34, was charged with damaging property and disrupting traffic after a protest erupted in his home Dongshigu village in February, but his family and lawyers said the charges were concocted.

The verdict from Yinan County Court in Shandong came as a shock to Chen's wife, Yuan Weijing, who had not been notified by the court.      more ...

LOU DOBBS: Red star rising

CNN Television Broadcast Transcript (Earlier Telecast)

Joining me now, Gordon Chang, one of this country's leading authorities on communist China, author of "Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World"; Frank Gaffney, president of the Center for Security Policy, co-author of "War Footing."

Gentlemen, good to have you here.

Let me start with you, Frank. The Pentagon acknowledging that there is now a tipping point in the Asian-Pacific region and China is driving it.

FRANK GAFFNEY, CENTER FOR SECURITY POLICY: This is not exactly news to anybody who has been following China, but it's probably news to most Americans, because this is not a message that's been communicated.

DOBBS: Not to the audience of this broadcast, Frank.

GAFFNEY: That's correct. But this has not been adequately communicated, I think, beyond this broadcast, Lou, simply because particularly since 9/11, we've been trying to foster this idea that the communist Chinese are actually our allies in the war on terror. This report makes it pretty clear they are arming to be something very different.       more ...

Iran, China Discuss Cultural Relations

Fars News Agency
August 16, 2006

TEHRAN (Fars News Agency)- Visiting Chinese Deputy Culture Minister met with Iranian Vice-President and head of Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization here on Tuesday.      more ...

U.S. walks fine line with China, Taiwan

Saturday, August 12, 2006 · Last updated 10:30 a.m. PT
By PETER ENAV
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

ILAN, Taiwan -- The weaponry is heavily American - F-16s bombarding a simulated Chinese flotilla, Cobra helicopters targeting invading ground troops, Patriot missiles streaking across the azure Asian sky. more...

The central government was trying to tighten control over foreign investors in internet ventures in a crackdown that a state newspaper on Friday said could see some companies stripped of operating licenses.  more ...

China links US Mideast stance to Iran measure

Thu Jul 27, 2006 02:36 PM ET

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - China on Thursday warned the United States that its opposition to a statement condemning a deadly attack on a U.N. post in Lebanon could jeopardize U.N. negotiations on Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The United States was blocking a U.N. Security Council statement on Israel's attack on the outpost in southern Lebanon, despite what council diplomats called many compromises by Beijing.

But the envoys said there was some hope a policy statement would be adopted late on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in Malaysia on Friday.
more ...

The real war in Iraq -- the one to determine the future of the country -- began on Aug. 7, 2003, when a car bomb exploded outside the Jordanian Embassy, killing 11 and wounding more than 50.

That bombing came almost exactly four months after the U.S. military thought it had prevailed in Iraq, and it launched the insurgency, the bloody and protracted struggle with guerrilla fighters that has tied the United States down to this day.       more ....

Important, must-read book!   

While China publicly states that it is not a threat to U.S. national security, dangerous actions taken by the Chinese government are putting America and her allies at risk.

China is arming Iran with advanced missile technology. Recent Iranian missile tests highlight the close working relationship between Beijing and Tehran         more ...

YJ-63 missile technology appears to be identical to the Iranian Raad missile co-developed by Tehran and Beijing. The Raad missile provides Iran with a long-range standoff-attack capability against naval targets. Iranian press reports describe Raad as capable of being ship- or shore-launched. The Raad is reportedly in production.

According to Aviation Week, Iranian Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani was reported saying that Raad had a range in excess of 300 miles.

While the missile appears intended for the anti-ship role, it can be employed as a land-attack weapon. The Silkworm missile on which Raad is based carries a 1,100-pound warhead. This allows the Raad to be fitted with a biological, chemical or nuclear payload.

China is reported to have provided Iran with the technology to produce the HY-2 Silkworm. Beijing has repeatedly said that it would abide by the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in order to avoid economic and political sanctions required by the MTCR agreements. The nonbinding MTCR requirements restrict ballistic or cruise missiles capable of delivering a 500-kilogram payload over 300 kilometers. The performance of the Raad exceeds the MTCR restrictions.       more ...

Quork a hot new blog site
more ...

CNN's Lou Dobbs: Hu's visit shows who's in charge
By Lou Dobbs - CNN

Chinese President Hu Jintao has made meeting American business leaders a priority on this trip.

NEW YORK CITY (CNN) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao meets with President Bush in the nation's capital Thursday after a cross-country trip for Hu that follows his state dinner with billionaire Bill Gates.

The Chinese president's first two days in this country included stops at Boeing and Microsoft, raising questions about the purpose of President Hu's visit. The fact that Hu's summit at the White House comes only after touring two of our most profitable businesses means "checkbook diplomacy" is no longer purely an American strategy.      more ...

Outsourcing has found a fierce opponent in journalist Lou Dobbs. Since 2003, his CNN news show Lou Dobbs Tonight has featured a recurring segment in which Dobbs and his team report on corporations sending jobs overseas. He has compiled an online list of outsourcers, and recently wrote a book on the practice entitled Exporting America. Dobbs recently spoke with MotherJones.com about outsourcing and its effects, current and potential, on the American economy.    more .....

Inside the Pitchfork Rebellion
        A Time Magazine Expose'       more...

Insurgent Leader Al-Zarqawi Killed in Iraq
By Ellen Knickmeyer and Jonathan Finer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, June 8, 2006; 8:12 AM

BAGHDAD, June 8 --Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the mastermind behind hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq, was killed Wednesday evening by an air strike northwest of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday.      more ...

It was only a few years ago that Republicans castigated the Clinton administration for the way it treated Taiwanese leaders who had stop over visits to the United States during trips to countries that maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name).

Those criticisms were warranted. Clinton officials treated both current Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian and his predecessor, Lee Teng-hui, as pariahs. During their stopovers, they were prevented from even meeting with members of Congress or the media–much less being allowed to give public speeches. Republicans accused the administration of kowtowing to China, which claims that Taiwan is merely a renegade province.      more ...

Beijing appealed to Washington on Thursday to stop selling rival Taiwan advanced weapons, as a top American admiral visited in hopes of improving US-Chinese military ties.

The United States should "cease the sale of advanced weapons to Taiwan and military exchanges," said Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman.      more ...

Bush’s passion for “exporting democracy” doesn’t apply where U.S. corporations think there’s money to be made in a repressive dictatorship.

The embarrassing American policy of toadying to China while selling out Taiwan was on display over the past couple of weeks in all its glory.  

First China's president Hu Jintao was welcomed to the White House, given a fancy lunch and a military salute, and generally treated like the maximum leader he wanted to present himself as to his repressed subjects. (Okay, our own maximum leader George Bush made the faux pas of pulling Hu by the sleeve when the confused Hu headed off a stage in the wrong direction, but that was just Bush being Bush.)

Then, when Chen Shui-bian, the twice-elected president of Taiwan, tried to stop over for the night in San Francisco, en route to a visit to South America, he was denied permission by the U.S. government.

Note that since the U.S. technically doesn't recognize the Taiwanese government, Mr Chen is officially a private citizen, and Taiwanese citizens travel freely to the U.S.--in fact they are one of the largest group of visiters to America annually. He should not have even needed permission to visit.

The denial of President Chen's request to sleep in San Francisco was a deliberate slap-down designed to register the Bush administration's anger at Chen for having continued to promote Taiwan's independence from China, which continues to say it wants to take over Taiwan.

If the Bush administration is serious (yeah, right) about its rhetoric of promoting democracy around the globe, it should be backing Taiwan, the first example of a functioning democracy in China's history, to the hilt.

But that would not make American corporations, which are falling all over themselves trying to kowtow to the Chinese government and get permission to invest in the Chinese market, happy.

American corporate leaders are ready to sell Taiwan's 23 million people down the river in a flash if they can get to market their wares to China's 1.3 billion would-be consumers.

So in China, we have the repulsive example of American companies like Yahoo and Google actually helping the Chinese government to shut down democratic debate on the Internet, even to the point of helping China's police apparatus to track down and arrest people who are posting pro-democracy essays on the web, all the while espousing the Freedmanesque bromide that bringing capitalism to China will inevitably bring freedom along with it.

The next time Bush mouths his platitudes about America spreading democracy, some reporter ought to have the guts to ask: "What about Taiwan?"
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Taiwan’s US stopover denial seen against Iran backdrop
Pakistan Daily Times
Saturday, May 06, 2006
By P Parameswaran

The Taiwanese president’s apparent refusal to second the US line on the Iran issue has made relations between both countries tense

The United States decided to bar a stopover by Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian on his way to Latin America to avoid angering China, whose backing for UN action against Iran is critical, analysts said. more ...

Ilegal Immigrants are NOT immigrants!
Amnesty is not fair to those who immigrate.


And to those who immigrate, read this:

"In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...

There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

--Theodore Roosevelt, 1919      More of Theodore Roosevelt's thoughts on Americanism ....

The Chicken Hawks Hall of Fame Video    more ...


Gao Zhisheng: Let's See Who Lives Longer
By Gao Ling
Epoch Times China Staff Apr 19, 2006

Attorney Gao Zhisheng in northern Shaanxi Province (Ma Wendu)Provincial police became upset after attorney Gao Zhisheng, renowned Beijing-based human rights lawyer, stayed overnight in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province. At 1:00 p.m., under the orders of Beijing authorities, Shaanxi secret police started singing songs outside Gao's hotel room so that he would not have a peaceful rest. At 7:57 p.m., a secret policeman burst into Gao's room and asked him, "When are you going to leave? Hurry up! Leave!"      more ...

Click here to read the original article in Chinese

BEIJING, China (AP) -- When Hu Jintao made his first visit to Washington, the then-vice president of China never deviated from the official policy line, leaving Bush administration officials perplexed as to what kind of leader he would become.

Four years later, Hu arrives in the U.S. on Tuesday with an answer to that question: He is president and undisputed leader of a fast-rising nation whose emergence poses economic, diplomatic and security challenges for Washington.        more ...

Taiwan, trade to top Hu-Bush talks
Sunday, April 16, 2006; Posted: 10:36 p.m. EDT (02:36 GMT)

(CNN) -- Taiwan, bilateral trade, international security and human rights are expected to dominate this week's historic talks in Washington D.C. between U.S. President George W. Bush and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao.

But the two leaders will have a different priorities, with Taiwan at the top of the Chinese agenda, and the burgeoning U.S. trade deficit with China heading Bush's list, according to experts.     more ...

Falun Gong Members Ask President Bush For Help

April 17, 2006 2:20 p.m. EST
Andrea Moore - All Headline News Staff Reporter

Taipei (AHN) - Taiwanese members of the Falun Gong spiritual movement are requesting President Bush to use President Hu Jintao's visit to press Beijing to stop abuse of sect members in China, despite a US investigation that found no evidence to back recent claims.

The group made the appeal to the American Institute in Taiwan, the defacto U.S. embassy in Taiwan since Washington switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.      more ...

Bush won't rebuke Chen: ex-US official
LET DOWN: A former director of Asian affairs in Washington said that Hu Jintao is likely to be disappointed if he expects President Bush to publicly chastise Chen Shui-bian

Taipei Times - By Charles Snyder
STAFF REPORTER IN WASHINGTON
Saturday, Apr 15, 2006,Page 3

Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) will probably fail to get US President George W. Bush to issue a public rebuke of President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) over the National Unification Council (NUC) issue when the two leaders meet in Washington next week, a former senior US official said on Thursday.      more ...

China's Hu rallies the troops
Sunday, March 12, 2006; Posted: 2:18 a.m. EST (07:18 GMT)

BEIJING, China (AP) -- President Hu Jintao has urged China's 2.5 million-member military to ensure national unity by beefing up its combat skills, amid harsh warnings to Taiwan's leaders against moving towards formal independence.

"We must strive to improve the capability of the armed forces to deal with crises, maintain peace, contain conflicts and win wars," Hu was quoted as saying in Sunday's official People's Liberation Army Daily and other newspapers.     more ...

"Cheney's Got A Gun Video" <== Click here and laugh


Chinese Censorship Imperils Internet, Congressman Leach Says
The Chinese government's censorship activities have implications for
the integrity of the Internet as a worldwide forum allowing free and
instantaneous exchange of information, according to the chairman of
the House International Relations Committee Subcommittee on Asia and the
Pacific.

Congressman James Leach (Republican of Iowa) delivered a statement
February 15 at the opening of a joint hearing on the Internet in China. The
hearing was held in tandem with the International Relations Subcommittee on
Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations.

"We live in an era in which the advancement of human understanding
and the growth of the global economy cannot operate effectively without the
broadest possible dissemination of knowledge," Leach said.      more ...

Bush Threatens to Veto Any Bill to Stop Port Takeover
By DAVID E. SANGER
and ERIC LIPTON
Published: February 21, 2006 New York Times
WASHINGTON, Feb. 21 — President Bush said this afternoon that he would veto any legislation seeking to block the administration's decision to allow a state-owned company from Dubai to assume control of port terminals in New York and other cities.

Mr. Bush's rare veto threat came as Republican leaders and many of their Democratic counterparts called up today for the port takeover to be put on hold. They demanded that the Bush administration conduct a further investigation of the Dubai company's acquisition of the British operator of the six American ports.   more ...

Bush Defends U.S. Port Deal
By Daniela Deane and Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, February 21, 2006; 6:06 PM

President Bush today strongly defended plans to allow a company controlled by the United Arab Emirates to assume management of key U.S. ports, a stance that distanced him from a growing number of Republicans, including the congressional leadership that has threatened to pass legislation to stop the move.    more ...

BEIJING -- When Zhao Jing moved his blog to Microsoft's popular MSN Spaces site last summer, some users worried the Chinese government would block the entire service. The censors had blacklisted the last site where the young journalist had posted his spirited political essays, and he seemed unwilling to tone down his writing at the new address.        more ...

China uses US, Japan to rein in Taiwan
SOFTLY, SOFTLY: Beijing has learned from past mistakes and is no longer trying to coerce Taiwan with threats and intimidation, according to a former MAC official
By Shih Hsiu-chuan
STAFF REPORTER
Tuesday, Feb 21, 2006,Page 3

China has learned to deal with Taiwan by manipulating the US and Japan, a tactic it is using to avoid stirring resentment among Taiwanese while trying to hold the Taiwanese government in check, a former official said yesterday.       more ...

BEIJING, Feb. 9 -- China announced an ambitious plan Thursday to raise the level of science and technology in its industry and military, vowing to double research investment during the next 15 years to increase "overall national strength."

The strategy, outlined by the State Council, or cabinet, urged defense companies to join in development of new technologies for the civilian economy and civilian firms to participate in military research and supply the People's Liberation Army with high-tech equipment. A new mechanism will be established to foster such civilian-military cooperation and "integrate research and development forces," it said.       more ...

Chinese man 'jailed due to Yahoo'
Western internet firms are rushing to invest in China
The internet giant Yahoo has been accused of providing China with information that led to the jailing of a second internet writer.         more ...

US charges two over 'China plot'

A US jury has accused two foreign nationals of trying to buy military aircraft engines and weapons to export to China.
A Miami jury also charged one the suspects, Taiwanese Ko-Suen Moo, with being a covert Chinese agent and offering a bribe to escape custody.

Mr Moo was arrested in Miami in November 2005.  A French national, Maurice Serge Voros, was also charged in the indictment. He remains at large.       more ...

Feb 8, 2006 — By Jim Wolf

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China may be preparing to deal with its dispute over Taiwan through other than political means as it increases its offensive military power, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday.

BEIJING, China (AP) -- China has formally complained to Washington over a Pentagon report that calls China a potential military threat, and the foreign ministry accused the United States of trying to mislead public opinion.      more ...

Speed Read: China's Military
Should the World Be Worried?

BY Austin Ramzy
Monday, Jul. 25, 2005
The Pentagon released its annual assessment of the Chinese military last week, and it went further than ever before. The "pace and scope" of China's armed forces modernization could now "put regional military balances at risk," it asserted, "potentially posing a credible threat to modern militaries operating in the region." Beijing reacted angrily, dismissing Washington's "improper comments" as unwarranted interference. But what is the current state of China's armed forces, and do they pose a threat to Asia or beyond?  more ...

Microsoft changes blog policies

Wednesday, February 1, 2006; Posted: 4:30 p.m. EST (21:30 GMT)

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. is tightening its policies regarding shutting down Web journals after its much-publicized shutdown of a well-known Chinese blogger at that government's request.   more ...

Google agrees to China censorship
Wednesday, January 25, 2006 Posted: 0348 GMT (1148 HKT)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Online search engine leader Google Inc. has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country's free-speech restrictions in return for better access in the Internet's fastest growing market.       more ...