July 27,
2008: China has allowed thousands of
foreign journalists into the country for the August Olympics, but is having the
police keep a close watch on those who speak Chinese, or show an interest in
non-Olympic matters (like Chinese politics, military bases or anything
considered embarrassing.)
The unrest
in Tibet has not gone away. China is still limiting tourist visas to Tibet and
troops still surround several large monasteries, in effect keeping about a
thousand of the most troublesome monks under house arrest. The only things that
get in are food and some medicine. No one can leave. China wants to insure that
there is no more unrest until the end of August, when the Olympics in Beijing
are over.
China
believes Islamic terrorists are making a major effort to carry out attacks at
the Beijing Olympic games. So far this year, over 80 Chinese Moslems (Turkic Uighurs
from the far west) have been arrested and charged with plotting to make such
attacks. Recently, two were convicted of such charges, condemned to death and
promptly executed. Fifteen more were sentenced to prison.
China now
has more Internet users (253 million, about 19 percent of the population) than
the United States (220 million, about 70 percent), and that scares the hell out
of the Chinese government. The number of Chinese Internet users increased fifty
percent in the last year, and continues to grow at a rapid clip. The government
has a large bureaucracy manning the "Golden Wall" (AKA "The Great Firewall of
China") operation that monitors Internet use. Those who say things the
government doesn't like are punished (prison, loss of job, police harassment,
or whatever works). But the Golden Wall is leaky, and the truth tends to get
out, and about.
The U.S. has
refused to sell Taiwan 66 F-16 fighters, but says that it has not stopped
selling weapons to Taiwan. It's just that each proposed sale must be evaluated
individually, and the F-16 sale was not considered essential to the defense of
Taiwan. It's believed that the U.S. did this to repay China for help in getting
North Korea to destroy its nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, the U.S. has
reassured Taiwan that American military support will continue to be available
to stop any Chinese military move on Taiwan.
July 21,
2008: In southern China, bombs went off
in two busses, killing two people and wounding many others. Islamic terrorists
took credit, but police suggested this
was all about criminals trying to extort money from the bus companies. There
has been a lot more unrest in southern China this year, mostly large (over
10,000 people) demonstrations against corruption or police misconduct. Thousands
of people have been killed, wounded or arrested. The media is discouraged from
covering these events, but the widespread availability of cell phones and Internet
users makes news of these events impossible to contain.
July 11,
2008: China vetoed a UN attempt to
sanction the murderous government of Zimbabwe. China has also blocked UN
attempts to get Sudan to stop attacking and killing the civilian population of
western Sudan (Darfur). China also tried to stop the International Criminal
Court from issuing an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan (now charged
with crimes against humanity). Russia has sided with China on all this. Both
Russia and China oppose UN interference in domestic affairs, even if it
involves democide (a government murdering its own people on a large scale). Russia
and China, given their bloody histories, apparently fear they could be
subjected to such UN interference down the road. Thus the right of a government
to freely slaughter its own citizens must be protected. Many nations in the UN
support these freedoms, fearing that the UN will turn into a world government
run by people local politicians don't agree with.