Charles R. Smith
Monday, April 18, 2005

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  If the Chinese protests are spontaneous and not organized by the Beijing government, then scallops fly out of my pants on a regular basis. The Communist Party rules China with an iron fist, and real unauthorized protests are instantly met with tanks and troops. One only has to ask the survivors of the Tiananmen Square massacre how Beijing responds to unauthorized protests.

In December 2004, over 3,000 workers gathered to protest massive layoffs from a state-owned chemical firm. In less than an hour, more than 1,000 police were called in to break up the protests. Several protesters were arrested and beaten.

Why did you not read about this in the New York Times or see it on CBS?

Silent Press

The reason for the silence from China is easy to explain. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has issued an official gag order. In November 2004, the Communist Party's Propaganda bureau issued a directive against the further "frank reporting" of violent protests. The result has been mass arrests of journalists trying to cover the news.

One major difference between the semi-official-sanctioned protests against Japan is that the communists are allowing some press coverage. Beijing normally does not allow any press coverage of any sort of protest.

The Chinese Public Security Bureau estimated that there were 58,000 violent "incidents" in 2003 that could be classed as protests. Most involved low pay, local corruption and the forced eviction of peasants from their lands. Both the Western press and the Chinese people rarely hear about these legitimate protests.

According to Journalists Sans Borders, China is the third-most oppressive regime in the world when it comes to jailing reporters. The PRC's title to most heavily "censored" is exceeded only by North Korea and Myanmar.

One such example of extreme censorship is the case of Li Mingying and Yu Huafeng. Li was the editor of the Southern Metropolitan Daily and Yu his deputy editor. Both were arrested in March 2004 after Yu wrote a series of articles on local corruption. Both and Li and Yu were sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Then there is the case of Ma Yalian. Ma posted a series of articles on harassment of legal petitioners on the chineselawyer.com.cn Web site. Ma also wrote articles on the same subject for the Epoch Times Web site. Ma is currently serving an 18-month sentence for unspecific crimes against the state.

However, veteran journalist Huang Jinqui is currently serving a 12-year sentence for trying to "subvert state power" because he announced his intention to form a political party. Huang is currently serving his time in the Changzhou Detention Center.

Still, this does not match the case of Shi Tao and Li Boguang. Shi and Li published articles advocating "peasant" rights. In November 2004 Public Security Bureau officers arrested Shi and Li. For their crime Shi and Li are currently waiting to be charged. They could wait for up to five years.

These little tastes of Chinese legal food come with a wholesome helping of oppression and violence.

Red Un-blackmail

The real reason for the sudden protests inside China is that Beijing opposes Japan's bid to join the U.N. Security Council. China feels that it is above its Asian neighbor and that to serve the world government with Tokyo is an insult.

Still, Beijing is not without sin. China may sit on the U.N. Security Council, but it is not above using its U.N. seat for blackmail.

For example, documents found inside the office of John Huang showed that the official good guys in Beijing pressed Kuwait to buy Chinese-made weapons.

According to the documents discovered at the U.S. Commerce Department, convicted Chinagate figure John Huang obtained detailed information about Chinese and American artillery sales to the Middle East.

In 1995, Kuwait allocated $1.3 billion to upgrade its field artillery. Included in this new program was an intense competition between U.S.-based United Defense and China North Industries, or "Norinco," to win the contract.

The documents in Huang's files note that there was "heavy pressure from the Chinese Government" on Kuwait "to select Norinco."

"China also remains the only member of the UN Security Council that has not been awarded a large military contract from Kuwait. It is understood that the Chinese are pressing this issue with the Kuwait Government," notes the Commerce document from Huang's files.

Interestingly, Huang cited his Fifth Amendment rights over 2,000 times when asked under oath if he was an agent of the Chinese government. Huang clearly would not have such rights in China.

If Beijing wants to join the civilized world, it should recognize some basic human rights, starting with freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Of course, scallops could also start flying out of my pants.

Charles Smith will be on:

The Jerry Hughes Show on Friday, 4/22/05, at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Show information at http://www.cilamerica.com.

The George Putnam Show on Friday, 4/22/05, at 1 p.m. Pacific time (4:00 p.m. Eastern time) on KCAA 1050 AM, Southern California; WPYT 560 AM, Pittsburgh; WLTH 1370 AM, Gary, Indiana / Chicago; and CRN Radio Network, WWW.CRNI.NET

Editor's note: