Week of October 05, 2001The U.S. and China This Week
DOMESTIC: China Celebrates National Day and Mid-Autumn FestivalTo mark the 52nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chinese leaders attended a grand reception in Beijing hosted by the State Council. During the event, Premier Zhu Rongji delivered a speech reiterating China’s determination to make China an even better country to live in. He also stressed China’s opposition against terrorism and hegemonism. Zhu said China stands for building a just and rational new international political and economic order. Elsewhere in Beijing, 200,000 people gathered in Tiananmen Square to witness the national-flag hoisting ceremony, while a reported 1.18 million tourists from across the country have come to the city to see its many historical attractions. In Hong Kong chief executive Tung Chee-hwa, along with 500 officials and guests, recognized China’s national day during it’s own flag-raising ceremony amid tight security and protests. Slogan-chanting protesters called for the end of communist party rule on the mainland and the release of all political prisoners. Members of the Falungong have claimed some 289 practitioners have died in police custody in China since the government outlawed the religious group in July 1999. In celebration of the mid-autumn festival, Hong
Kong held several lantern carnivals, while others enjoyed the traditional
holiday by eating mooncakes and moon watching
INTERNATIONAL: Jiang’s Diplomacy Reflects Concern Over China’s StatureIn a call to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf September 30, Jiang said the United States needed to produce evidence that Osama Bin Laden was behind the attacks that killed several thousand people before retaliating against him and his al-Qaeda group. Jiang also argued the United States should abide by international law in its response, according to the official Xinhua news agency. And Jiang stressed America should only hit “concrete targets.?China has issued statements maintaining that America should avoid attacks that would harm innocent civilians. Darryl Jarvis, University of Sydney expert on Asian international relations, said Jiang’s stance on terror is “a veto against the United States conducting bombing raids into Afghanistan.?Jarvis maintained, “China is more comfortable with a Delta Force-style slash-and-burn, quickly-in, quickly-out strategy.? In addition to Musharraf, Jiang spoke on the telephone with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, U.S. President George W. Bush, and the leaders of France, Britain and Russia. China fears that a U.S. military campaign against Afghanistan may embroil the United States in the region for a long time. In a National Day speech, Premier Zhu Rongji attacked both terrorism and what he called “hegemonism,?Chinese lingo for what it considers is an overly powerful United States in the post-Cold War world. Jiang told Musharraf that China would send Pakistan 1.21 million dollars
of emergency aid; Pakistan fears large numbers of Afghan refugees may try
to enter its terrain. China is worried that refugees may try to enter
Xinjiang province, where they could connect with Muslim separatists. The
Chinese Foreign Ministry maintained China could close its border with Afghanistan
immediately if it wanted to.
CROSSS-STRAIT RELATIONS: Taiwanese Speculate on Terror in Wake of Attacks on U.S.In 1999, two People’s Liberation Army colonels
published a book, Unrestricted Warfare, calling for China to use “dirty
war?tactics such as terrorism and computer viruses against Taiwan. “The
battlefield will be everywhere,?the colonels wrote. “There is nothing
in the world today that cannot become a weapon.?In an interview last year
with the organ of the Communist Party’s youth league, Qiao Liang, one of
the writers, said there are no rules in unrestricted warfare. He commented
that “nothing is forbidden.?#060;/font>
The first vice-chairman of the Mainland Affairs
Council, Lin Chong-pin, said in addition to nuclear and non-nuclear warfare,
China has been developing what he deemed a “third leg ?acupunctural or
pressure point warfare. It’ll be a war of paralysis rather than a war of
annihilation.?#060;/font>
Several Taiwanese political analysts, however,
said China will probably not resort to terrorism against Taiwan. “China
could use economic rather than terrorist tactics against Taiwan,?said
Ho Szu-yin, director of Taiwan’s Institute of International Relations,
a prestigious government-funded think-tank. According to Ho, “The mainland
may be a gangster, but it is not a terrorist. It intimidates, but does
not necessarily inflict harm.?#060;/font>
Lin Bih-jaw, who was an aide to former president
Lee Teng-hui, also said he did not agree that China would use terrorism
against Taiwan. However, Lin, now a professor of diplomacy and vice-president
of National Chengchi University, did maintain that Taiwan will have to
beef up security if the island develops direct air links with the mainland
and opens up to mainland tourists. In the early 1990s, there were various
Chinese planes hijacked and brought to Taiwan by disgruntled mainlanders
seeking a new life on the island; none resulted in tragedy.
U.S.-CHINA RELATIONS: China Releases U.S. ScholarBorn in China, Wu taught at a Communist Party school and was a journalist for a state newspaper in southern China from 1986 to 1988, according to a Hong Kong based rights group. In 1989 he moved to the United States and became a citizen in 1996. His wife and child currently live in New York. Wu wrote a book about the Tiananmen democracy protests and its bloody crackdown and, as a journalist in Hong Kong, has written articles on Chinese politics for several journals and magazines. He was arrested after crossing over into Shenzhen in May, 2001. Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of State Security as saying, “Wu was employed by the intelligence agency of Taiwan, and conducted espionage activities on the Chinese mainland many times, seriously jeopardizing the national security of China.?amp;nbsp; Chinese officials stated they released Wu due to his admittance of guilt and the disclosure of his accomplices?criminal activities. He was immediately put on a plane and deported to the United States. Wu is the forth Chinese American released over a short time period after
they were arrested and held in China on espionage charges. There
has been no word on other cases involving detained U.S. permanent residents,
including Liu Yaping and Teng Chunyan.
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Last updated: October 05, 2001 |
