Li Lu Recaptures Imaginations on Wall Street

By John Kusumi

On Friday July 30, Dow Jones newswires and the Wall Street Journal reported that Li Lu, a former Tiananmen Square student leader, is likely to be hired as a successor to Warren Buffett, the legendary investor who runs Berkshire Hathaway and manages some $100 billion.

Mere thoughts of a Buffett successor can fire the imaginations of many who watch the tycoon game of Wall Street. Combine that with two loaded words -- Tiananmen Square -- and there is yet another line of thought that fires the imagination.

Those older than 40 will remember the occasion when it happened: College students of China led an uprising in favor of freedom, democracy, and human rights in mainland China. The CCP (Communist Party) sent in the army to remove demonstrators and clear the square, which was student-occupied territory for the seven weeks leading up to June 4, 1989. The oddly-named "People's Liberation Army" opened fire with live ammunition, and now June 4 is remembered as the Tiananmen Square massacre, which killed thousands of unarmed Beijing residents. A crackdown followed, along with many more human rights abuses.

The government of China has still never changed, nor has it ever apologized to this day. In the West, to kill the protestors was seen as an outrage; an eye-popping atrocity; a crime against humanity. In China, to kill the protestors is a part of government policy, tacitly and explicitly. Those who praise Communist China today uphold that policy and that government action, whether or not they care to admit it. And a deeply flawed United States China policy has made every U.S. President from 1989 to the present into an accessory after the fact. One could wonder, what is worse -- the atrocity in China, or the atrocious policy from the U.S. Executive Branch which "extended the service life" of the Communist Party?

I believe that communists, dictators, tyrants and thugs should not abuse with impunity; nor should they rule without accountability. In 1989, I had already studied and admired Thomas Jefferson, one of America's founding fathers who drafted the Declaration of Independence. It was evident to me that some Chinese students, who were running Tiananmen Square, had also studied such people as Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Thomas Paine and Patrick Henry. I knew what they were doing; I was down with it; and therefore I launched the China Support Network, together with other American students to support the effort of the Chinese students.

Tiananmen Square was one of those occasions when world television broadcast the tragedy. Just like the Asian tsunami, or Hurricane Katrina, or the earthquake in Haiti, ordinary people mobilized to pitch in and lend a hand. The China Support Network vaulted ahead of most groups, perhaps due to its use of the early internet and the CompuServe Information Service.

In Tiananmen Square, during the uprising, Li Lu was the vice-commander of Hunger Strike Headquarters. Hunger Strike Headquarters dominated one week out of the seven week demonstration in the square. In fact, by going on hunger strike, students had won the hearts and minds of ordinary Chinese citizens, who were jolted into joining the demonstrations. The hunger strike might have continued, but it was called off when Martial Law was declared by the Beijing government in advance of the army action.

Less than two months after the massacre, my CSN organization was called in to Washington DC to help Chinese students host a visit by five Chinese dissidents. For the entire first week of August 1989, CSN worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Chinese student groups and with the five dissidents -- Li Lu was one of them. He had escaped from China by way of France, and the group was now about to reach Washington DC for the first time.

My week had a list of things to do. Rent hotel rooms. Rent wheels. Rent cell phones. Relay scheduling requests. Arrange the daybook. Answer journalist calls. Write press releases. Upload things. Download things. Visit Congress. Rally on Capitol Hill. March to the Chinese embassy. In the evenings, there was also time to socialize and make Sino - U.S. friendships at the Generation X level. I had to struggle with chopsticks, which are unfamiliar if you are raised by an Irish Catholic mother.

I guess that Hippies had the Summer of '69, and GenXers had the Summer of '89. They had Woodstock, and we had Tiananmen Square. (And we won't ever let you forget about it, either! :)

Yet, the pace of CSN slowed after the Summer of '89. It seemed that everybody was returning to college. The Chinese democracy movement had been an extracurricular activity. Those student leaders who had escaped from China and arrived in America got scholarships. Li Lu went to Columbia University, where I visited him upon his invitation to go swimming there. But I myself returned to Arizona State University, and the Chinese democracy movement split into factions: hardline, moderate, and sold out former dissidents who quit the playing field.

Li Lu may have signalled his future course of activity early in the game. Other student leaders, such as Shen Tong, previously advocated the use of "all available means" including sanctions, to put a stop to the Tiananmen crackdown. But, Li Lu articulated a view that "we want human rights, but we don't want sanctions." This remains the great schism in the middle of the Chinese democracy movement. Hardliners want sanctions, or what we'd now call economic pressure brought to bear to encourage human rights. Moderates want the rights, but not the pressure.

By the first week in August, 1989, we were already seeing the divide of factionalism which came to hobble the democracy movement. Li Lu had already planted his feet in the moderate camp. This may be one reason why the Tiananmen crackdown still continues even now, 21 years after the massacre. Two dissidents -- Zhou Yongjun and Liu Xiaobo -- are now in prison, each for his third interval as a political prisoner, post-Tiananmen.

Of course, dissident factionalism always gets the blame, but it is worth remembering that men such as George Bush Sr., Henry Kissinger, and Brent Scowcroft were running United States China policy. They rightly deserve blame for letting China get away with murder, with barely a slap on the wrist. In fact, many Americans were appalled at how President Bush handled (or failed to handle) the Tiananmen matter.

As I put it, Bush (and later Presidents) "extended the service life" of the Communist Party, at a time when we were just out of the Reagan years. We were accustomed to staunch anti-communism coming from the U.S. Executive Branch. But about the Tiananmen matter, there was nobody home at the U.S. Executive Branch.

U.S.-China policy even bothered Li Lu. I recall that he published an op-ed article, with headline "In China, I'd Be Dead." The subheadline said, "And Bush Wouldn't Care." Bush's China policy was so bad that Chinese dissidents lined up behind the challenger, Bill Clinton, in the next presidential election. Clinton promised a tougher China policy, and Americans voted for it.

Americans voted for it (Bill Clinton won). But, U.S. presidential elections had already become fraudulent occasions of fakery. Americans do not get what they vote for. They vote for change, and what happens is more of the same. Bill Clinton reduced, and did not increase, pressure on China. But, Li Lu had given a speech at the Democratic National Convention where Clinton was nominated. Chinese dissidents were used as political props, then discarded. This was Clintonian duplicity.

Li Lu continued at Columbia University until the late 1990s, when he dropped out of politics and started a Wall Street hedge fund, Himalaya Capital. He's been a Wall Street hedge fund manager ever since, and came to the attention of Warren Buffett, who is now reported to be hiring Li Lu for a superstar role in the investment world.

A lot of Wall Street types will now react with sympathy to Li Lu. Does that mean a righteous aversion to the injustice of Tiananmen? Yes, it does. But, what is a trader to think next? Let's imagine filling in the blank: "Tiananmen was bad. ________ " Tiananmen was bad, and we still trade with that same regime -- the politically un-reformed Communist Party. The one that continues to jail, torture, and kill dissidents even right now, today.

Here at the China Support Network, we believe that everyone should be agitating to "cut off the Communists." Mainland China should be on the receiving end of a tariff for tyranny, a tariff for currency manipulation, a tariff for slave labor, a tariff for recklessness with the environment, a tariff for recklessness with consumer safety, and perhaps also a tariff for their disrespect of U.S. intellectual property. In fact, these tariffs are 21 years overdue. Washington still "owes us" a fitting response to Tiananmen Square.

The recent publishing about Li Lu exposes that there has been no justice for the atrocity at Tiananmen Square. There is no closure for victims or their families. The wound of history is still an open sore. The Communist Party and the U.S. Executive Branch both deserve pushback. CSN wants to congratulate Li Lu and invite everyone else to visit us at www.chinasupport.net.

Obama's best is not good enough

The China Support Network is not impressed by U.S.-China policy, despite revaluation of the RMB currency

By John Kusumi

In America these days, public opinion polling consistently finds Jobs to be the top concern of Americans, and it very much seems that U.S. President Barack Obama has delayed his long-promised move to "pivot and focus on jobs."

The pivot and focus seemed to be delayed first by health care as a big issue, and then by financial regulation as a big issue, and then by the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Perhaps Obama doesn't want to focus squarely on jobs, because then he would see the failure of NAFTA, WTO, PNTR, and the like -- the neo-liberal trade agenda. To regain American industrial jobs, Obama needs to reverse that trade policy, and he is clearly in no hurry to do so.

Or perhaps, in focusing on jobs, Obama would see the failure of his own stimulus. The 2009 stimulus did little to stimulate aggregate demand in America, but Obama succeeded in one thing -- he stimulated the economy of Communist China, where exports have recently surged by nearly 50%.

Due to the neo-liberal trade program, consumption leaks out to Communist China.

Currency adjustment announced

It has long been an objective of U.S. politicians to get the Chinese government to raise the value of its currency, which was artificially pegged to the U.S. dollar -- ensuring that imports would be cheap in the U.S., and that the export sector of China would grow larger than it otherwise would have in the absence of the currency peg.

This past weekend, China announced that it would permit the value of its Yuan / RMB currency to rise. The U.S. side had fostered a consistent drum beat of criticism for China that served to brow beat its leaders about this issue.

This week, Toronto Canada is hosting a summit meeting for leaders of the G-20, a group which represents 42 nations in world economics. China's move permits it to escape criticism at the G-20, which otherwise would have continued the drum beat that was critical of China on this matter.

However, the currency will not be freely floating; it is going to rise slowly with a collar, or trading band, that will serve to slow down the appreciation of the currency.

China Support Network takes exception with both East and West

I too have denounced Chinese currency manipulation, from my perch at the China Support Network, a human rights group which was formed to stand in support of China's pro-democracy dissidents. In this video, I said,

The simple fact is that the manipulation of the currency is economic dirty pool. It tilts the playing field. And I believe that any U.S. President ought to care to have a level playing field for the business concerns here vis-a-vis the business concerns in China.

And so to level the playing field, the currency corrective tariff is important, but so too is that labor tariff which I spoke about, simply because the employment of slave labor is another means of tilting the playing field.

American leaders would do well to review the video I quoted, and in particular to study my line above -- "so too is that labor tariff which I spoke about...the employment of slave labor is another means of tilting the playing field." It is factually true that speaking in economic terms, China's labor practices are similar to currency manipulation in that both are economic dirty pool. Both practices result in unnaturally low prices of Chinese exports that become U.S. imports. Both practices add to the U.S. trade deficit, and delete U.S. jobs. It's flatly true.

It's flatly true, but the recent drum beat about Beijing's currency manipulation revealed that something is wrong with U.S. policy makers and opinion leaders. I would really like to confront President Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Senator Chuck Schumer, and even Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner about this. I'd like to hear how they excuse their lack of concern about the issue of slave labor in China.

I am given to believing that in that case, I would be confronting four sociopaths. Why did they fight currency manipulation? --Because it is economic dirty pool. What is slavery in economic terms? --It is economic dirty pool. Just as much so -- both practices are equally vulnerable to criticism on economic grounds. Why, then, make an issue out of one, and treat the other as a non-issue?

I believe that it is entirely due to the evil natures of Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Tim Geithner, and for that matter all of the talking heads, chattering class, and analysts in U.S. journalism.

American leaders share an ingrained snooty outlook. They respect white collar jobs, and ONLY white collar jobs. Those jobs are outposts within Corporate America, jobs held by people. Conversely, other kinds of jobs are only held by "unpeople." "Unpeople" are never talked about, except at election time when politicians want the votes of those "unpeople."

Currency manipulation is an issue surrounding foreign exchange (forex). Forex is a white collar job, a job held by people. On the other hand, slave labor in China involves the slaves themselves -- performing work that is blue collar, rather than white collar, in nature. The work involved is performed by "unpeople." U.S. politicians don't even need votes from those "unpeople" in other lands, and (e.g.) CNBC anchors would never lower themselves to talk sympathetically about "unpeople."

So, they'll talk the currency issue and ignore the labor issue. To my eyes, they thereby reveal themselves for being the evil sociopaths that they are. Shame on them.

Before concluding this article, let me restate: The China Support Network demands that Beijing immediately abolish the systems of Laogai (labor/slavery camps) and Laojiao (administrative detention). We will continue to brow beat the powerful on this issue, because we know that currency revaluation is only half the battle. Indeed, China also needs to raise its environmental standards, its consumer protection (including product safety!) standards, and its intellectual property standards. In that light, currency revaluation is LESS than half the battle.

With half or more of the battle still ahead of us, it is too early for U.S. leaders to declare victory and go home. It would be good of them if they would step up and escalate the Chinese labor/slavery issue to equal urgency and prominence as the Chinese currency issue.

If they step up and actually do so, then I would revise my assessment of these U.S. establishment figures. Was it premature for me to call them evil? --Time will tell.

I hope that they prove me wrong by way of deeds. I hope they stand with the China Support Network against Beijing's systems of Laogai and Laojiao.

Goddess-gate Update

Authorities in Hong Kong test the patience
of the pro-democracy movement

The Goddess of Democracy, herself, is the main character in this year's activities surrounding the 21st anniversary of China's Tiananmen crackdown. The Goddess of Democracy was originally created by students at Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, and installed during the "June 4" uprising at Tiananmen Square. It stood from May 30, 1989 - June 4, 1989, when the army demolished the statue upon reaching Tiananmen Square after shooting their way through the streets of Beijing, killing at least 3,000 innocent civilians.

What is at hand is a developing story based in Hong Kong. Something new has occurred each day since Saturday, May 29. This update simply repeats the news in chronological sequence, for a timeline or reference of events to date.

Translation note: The China Support Network, in this report, is applying the "gate" suffix to indicate a scandal. It is not standard formal English to do so, but ever after the Watergate scandal brought down the U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1974, it became a conventional practice of American journalists to append "gate" as a suffix onto words, for a shorthand way to indicate that a political scandal exists in connection with a word.


Goddess-gate, Day 1, Saturday May 29, 2010:

First Goddess Captured

Hong Kong police arrest 13 and seize the first (6.4 meter) Goddess of Democracy Statue and another piece of artwork. The 13 activists of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China were at the Times Square shopping mall of Causeway Bay, to diseminate information about the pro-democracy cause and this year's activities for the 21st anniversary of the June 4 crackdown. The activists were freed on bail later on Saturday. Via a Facebook group, Alliance members threatened to surround North Point police station - where the art was kept - if the items were not returned by Thursday evening, in time for annual June 4th commemoration in Victoria Park.

The official justification for the action named the Food and Environmental Hygiene department as the department objecting to the unlicensed display of the Goddess. However, it's not just that department. If one looks ahead in the story to “Goddess-gate Day 5,” one can see the Hong Kong immigration department also participating in this episode of political suppression.

Goddess-gate, Day 2, Sunday May 30, 2010:

Second Goddess Captured

Defiant demonstrators paraded a smaller (2.2 meter) Goddess of Democracy Statue through the streets of Hong Kong. This, too, was seized by police. Several protesters tried to prevent the removal by lying on the road. Two activists, Alliance vice chairman Lee Cheuk-yan and member Leung Kwok-wah, were arrested. A group of at least 20 sympathizers gathered outside the North Point police station calling for their immediate release. Some even tried to force their way into the station. Lee and Leung were released on bail at 10:30pm.

Goddess-gate, Day 3, Monday May 31, 2010:

A defiant demonstrator dressed up as the Goddess of Democracy for another march in the streets of Hong Kong. The police could not confiscate the live demonstrator.

Goddess-gate, Day 4, Tuesday June 1, 2010:

Two Goddesses Released

After a two hour negotiation with Alliance activists at the North Point police station, Hong Kong police “free” the two statues. According to the Hong Kong Standard, “Acting Chief Superintendent Anna Tsang Yim- sheung of the Police Public Relations Branch said the statues were released early as a goodwill gesture. Tsang added: ’We understand the organizers had an urgent need to set up the statues for the vigil on June 4. So we made an appropriate arrangement.’”

The Standard also noted that “Alliance officials refused to sign a document in which they would have acknowledged violating the Places of Public Entertainment Ordinance with their Times Square activities and pledging to make applications in future.”

The Goddesses were moved to Victoria Park for the upcoming June 4 memorial vigil.

Sculptor Chen Weiming flew to Hong Kong from Los Angeles to inspect his statue for damage.

Goddess-gate, Day 5, Wednesday June 2, 2010:

Chen Weiming Deported; Nancy Pelosi Issues Statement

The government of Hong Kong refuses entry to Chen Weiming and deports him. The Associated Press quoted opposition lawmaker James To as saying, “We are very annoyed. Why is Hong Kong denying him entry for political reasons? He is a very humble sculptor.”

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, issued a statement for the 21st anniversary of Tiananmen, and noted the Goddess-gate controversy in Hong Kong.

She said, “This year for the first time [in Hong Kong], police arrested activists and confiscated the Goddess of Democracy replica statue that is the symbol of the Tiananmen movement. This crackdown on freedom of expression will only succeed in shining a spotlight on the courage of Hong Kong’s democratic movement. The United States must stand solidly with the people of Hong Kong in their desire for democracy and freedom of speech and assembly.”

# # #

2010 June 4 Events

Events to commemorate
21 years since Tiananmen Square

- Hong Kong police have seized two Goddess of Democracy
statues in advance of June 4, 2010 -

For the Chinese democracy movement, it's the biggest day of the year. For seven weeks in the spring of 1989, the pro-democracy uprising--led by Beijing college students--was in control of Tiananmen Square. On June 3-4, 1989, Chinese troops of the oddly-named 'People's Liberation Army' shot their way into Beijing and retook Tiananmen Square, killing over 3,000 peaceful unarmed civilians in the process. It is famous as the "June 4" massacre. Here are events happening this week around the world to commemorate the 21st anniversary of that bloody June 4:

SLOGANS FOR 2010:
Remember June 4, Pass On The Flame Vindicate June 4, Persist To The End
Free/Release Wang Bingzhang Free/Release Zhou Yongjun
Free/Release Liu Xiaobo, Support Charter 08 Free/Release Gao Zhisheng
Oppose Political Persecution, Protest Political Suppression

Hong Kong, June 4
Who: Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China
What: Candlelight Vigil
Where: Victoria Park, football fields
Date: Friday, June 4, 2010
Tiime: 8:00pm

This event continues the annual tradition of observances for the June 4 anniversary. In 2009, some 150,000 people attended this event to mark the 20th anniversary of the June 4 massacre.

Note: Police in Hong Kong broke up a demonstration and arrested activists on May 29 as they tried to commemorate the 21st anniversary of Tiananmen Square, outside Times Square shopping mall in Causeway Bay. Because the police also confiscated a statue, the Goddess of Democracy (a replica of the statue which students erected in Tiananmen Square), there is a Facebook group that is threatening to march on the police station, if they do not return the statue by June 3.

From here at CSN, it looks like marching on the police station is not officially on the program of the Alliance. It appears that the Alliance and the Facebook group are two unrelated entities. Because we do not know otherwise, we would suggest that to march on the police station is a separate and distinct matter, "extracurricular" to the Candlelight Vigil. The vigil is the yearly ritual of the Alliance.

Who: Stage64
What: "Edelweiss," a theatrical play in Cantonese (love story centers in Tiananmen Square, '89)
Where: Auditorium of HKICC Lee Shau Kee School of Creativity
Date: Five shows on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, June 5, 6, and 7, 2010
Time: 3:00pm and 8:00pm
Tickets: HK$80 through the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union
More: Discounts for students, seniors, disabled, and social security recipients; the first show on June 5 is a "special show for students" at half price.
URL: http://stage64.hk/eng/

New York, June 4
Who: New York area China Democracy Party, China Support Network, and other groups
What: Street protest
Where: Chinese Consulate on the west side of Manhattan, 42nd St/12th Ave
Date: Friday, June 4, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-9:00pm
More: Speakers may include Wang Juntao, Wang Youcai, and other leading dissidents; event to include musicians playing acoustically

Washington, June 2 and 3
Who: Initiatives for China
What: "A Peek Behind The Wall" open mic forum
Where: "Bus Boys & Poets," 5th and K Street, NW, Washington DC
Date: Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Time: 6:00pm-8:00pm
More: Chinese citizens from the mainland and abroad will speak of what it's like to be a citizen of China today. The open question: "How Has China Changed For Ordinary Citizens Since Tiananmen, 1989?"
Contact: Jim Geheran at 202.290.1423

Who: Initiatives for China, The Independent Federation of Chinese Students and Scholars (IFCSS), and co-sponsoring groups
What: Events at the Victims of Communism Memorial
(A.:) From 3:00-6:00, Initiatives for China continues "A Peek Behind The Wall" open mic forum (see above).
(B.:) From 6:00-9:00, IFCSS conducts the Candlelight Vigil in Washington -- an annual tradition to observe the June 4 anniversary.
Where: New Jersey Avenue/G Street, NW, Washington DC
Date: Thursday, June 3, 2010
Time: (A.:) 3:00-6:00pm; (B.:) 6:00-9:00pm
More: The Victims of Communism Memorial includes a statue of the Goddess of Democracy. It is found two blocks west of Union Station in downtown Washington, DC.

Mainland China

The activist, Yang Jianli, is known for his "Gong Min Walk" of 2008 in which he walked 500 miles from Boston to Washington, DC. He thanked Americans for their support (he had been a political prisoner, 2002-2007) and raised awareness of China's human rights abuses in advance of the anniversary of the June 4 massacre -- and in advance of the Beijing Olympics that year. Gong Min Walks have been replicated around the world by other activists, and now one is occurring inside Mainland China.

Yang Jianli says, "The idea of Gong Min walking as method of non violent protest is becoming recognized as an effective way for ordinary citizens to express dissatisfaction with government actions and policies while minimizing the threat of arrest....We do not expect a one shot success. We will take one step at a time. I believe citizens' rights have to be earned with patience and perseverance. Gradually China will change and advance towards democracy."

Yang Jianli heads the group, Initiatives for China, where the contact person is Jim Geheran at 202.290.1423. Initiatives for China is withholding the names and locations of Gong Min walkers in China to avoid tipping off the Chinese authorities with these details. The group will release more information upon the completion of related actions.

# # #

Hillary Clinton in Beijing; response

Hillary Clinton visits Beijing;
Pro-Chinese democracy groups
run good cop/bad cop response

With open letters to Obama, Clinton, Huntsman, and Posner

By John Kusumi

The China Support Network has been known to email newsletter updates to its list. The updates also get published at its blog and website (www.chinasupport.net), and are public information that may be freely picked up by journalists, bloggers, aggregators, etc.


This time around, the format will vary. Our newsletter has news about U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, and Assistant Secretary of State Michael Posner. I want to combine news writing with an open letter to them.


In the concerns of the China Support Network, Obama/Clinton/Huntsman/Posner ("OCHP") somewhat blur together. The common denominator is that they are the villains responsible for running present-day U.S. China policy, which is akin to its very own crime against humanity.


This used to be the China policy of George Herbert Walker Bush ("GHWB"), and then it was the Bill Clinton China policy, and then it was the George W. Bush China policy, and now it is the OCHP China policy. Bush, Clinton, and Bush set a very bad precedent, and now OCHP are carrying the same tune.


Context


The China Support Network is for push back at Chinese Communism. CSN formed 21 years ago upon witnessing the Tiananmen Square massacre, a man made disaster (made by China's PLA Army) and bloodbath (drawing blood from innocent Chinese civilians, in a pro-democracy uprising led by Beijing college students). CSN has been horrified to observe three more bloody Chinese crackdowns in recent years: against Falun Gong, Tibetans, and Uighurs.


The simple fact that we've observed three more bloody crackdowns should tell one and all that China has not gotten better on human rights. That was the sugar coating that Bill Clinton used to sell in his policy: "Trade will bring freedom," Clinton said. Far from it -- instead, China has gotten worse. The human rights disaster, now unfolding there, should be seen as a problem which calls into question the U.S. non-response -- which may also be called the "business-as-usual China policy."


Every year from April 15 to June 4, it is "Tiananmen season." Now it's the 21st anniversary of the seven-week uprising. 21 years ago right now, Beijing college students, not the government, held effective control at Tiananmen Square. Our big day of the year is always June 4, the anniversary of the massacre which cleared out Tiananmen Square. Many campaigners in our cause will deliver speeches on June 4.


In 2010, it seems like these seven weeks are a special time for the Obama administration to deliver insults and pathetic performances in the eyes of pro-Chinese-democracy supporters. We recently observed the farce of a Sino-U.S. human rights dialogue, conducted by Michael Posner behind closed doors, and kept under wraps at his tight-lipped press conference (and summarily buried by the U.S. news media).


News


There is something like a World's Fair occurring at the Shanghai World Expo. This weekend, Hillary Clinton visited there. It's been reported that the United States pavillion at the Expo is a drab, under-developed embarrassment. At the last minute, they threw together this pavillion with three movie theaters and a gift shop. Visitors will see three corporate sponsored movies and then be invited to "buy here." Products in the gift shop are Made In China. On second thought, maybe the pavillion is accurately reflecting America these days.


The best statesmanship of the 21st century occurred on May 20, 2010, when a TV guest said, "There's ash in the air, oil in the water, and blood in the streets." Mother nature, and the private sector, and the government all seem unable to keep their act clean. At a time like this, where do we find Hillary Clinton, and what do we find her doing? --She was giving teddy bears to children at the Shanghai World Expo!


A report by Reuters did not specify whether those particular teddy bears were Made In China. Reuters said, "After the film, Clinton handed out teddy bears to children in the audience....The U.S. exhibit ends with a gift shop where a great many products -- from teddy bears and stuffed bison to silver lapel pins and pink cowboy hats -- were all marked 'Made in China.'"


To these American leaders, the China Support Network can say, "Heckuva job with U.S. export promotion." In the 2010 Tiananmen season, your administration has displayed failure on human rights, and failure on U.S. export promotion. Also, House Resolution 605 (on 3/16/2010) called for you to escalate the matter of Falun Gong (FG) persecution and for your administration to meet with the FG freedom fighters. You have failed to do so.


Analysis


After the Cold War, it very much feels like somebody kidnapped America itself, and replaced it with America's evil twin. We used to know that liberals and conservatives alike were in favor of human rights (and for that matter, the U.S. Constitution). Now, after a concerted effort with blue smoke and mirrors, liberals and conservatives have seemingly been supplanted by neo-liberals and neo-conservatives. It may be too generous to call Obama, Clinton, Huntsman, and Posner "American leaders." More accurately, they are neo-American neo-leaders.


I, for one, am getting sick and tired of American government that is anti-American and that works against the best interests of this nation. U.S. China policy is a prime example of a policy that principally benefits the communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs of Communist China. In addition there may be about 25 CEOs in America who benefit from an inexpensive supply chain which China enables through its laogai gulag, its exploitation of labor, and its repression of worker rights and benefits -- and also through disasterous environmental policies and the manipulative currency peg to the dollar.


Those 25 CEOs are extracting profit from China trade, but more accurately, one should say "blood soaked profits." It was the choice of Bill Clinton to value and favor those 25 CEOs over and above the 1.3 billion populace of China and the 300 million populace of America. That was a dangerous, craven choice when Bill Clinton announced it in 1999, and it has been a ruinous, craven policy ever since. It has enriched communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs, and it has financed a military buildup which threatens Taiwan and the allies who would rise to Taiwan's defense; even while it has deindustrialized America and expanded U.S. unemployment and labor woes.


In 2009, it was a pratt fall for this administration's human rights policy when Hillary Clinton travelled to Beijing and minimized the human rights issue -- openly revealing contempt for the issue in her remarks to reporters. That attitude is a marker of "neo-American neo-leaders," as I call them. In response, I issued the CSN response -- perhaps the angriest post ever, to scorch her "dismal and disgusting debut." I accused her of having a tin ear, obliviousness, and an easy countenance for evil. The post was titled "Hillary Clinton Visits Her Communist Masters In Beijing," and referred to the Clintons as "the pro-Maoist first couple."


Now, she is back in Beijing for the ostensible "U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue." The human rights issue is not a part of that dialogue, because the off-line meeting with Michael Posner got that "out of the way," to enable Hillary to talk about what really interests her. (I think she has predictable talking points: Please buy our bonds. Please float your currency. Please help us with Iran. Please help us with North Korea. She might work in some export promotion, but no human rights concerns.) Basically, I can restate the headline from my earlier post: Hillary Clinton visits her Communist masters in Beijing.


My analysis really hasn't changed since last February, when I wrote:


"Hillary Clinton played her cards by basically folding. She may have inadvertently signaled to Beijing that they have a green light to invade Taiwan. This trip was a loss of face for the United States, and a blazing display of weakness. The only winners from this trip were communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs – they got the signal that they can continue doing business as usual.


"Bill and Hillary Clinton are forever in a hasty rush to Maoism. Barack Obama ought to fire Hillary Clinton."


Message


Recall that this newsletter doubles as an open letter to Obama, Clinton, Huntsman, and Posner -- and that earlier, I described U.S. China policy as "akin to its very own crime against humanity." It is also a crime against the American worker. The China policy that you are running serves to bless the U.S. trade deficit with China, and to bless the related drain of jobs from America's former industrial base. In the news, we keep hearing (maybe after health care; maybe after FINREG?) that Obama will "pivot and focus on the jobs issue."


If and when it finally comes about that your administration pivots and focuses on the jobs issue (Where have you been?), you will find it necessary to stop the flirtatious love affair with the Chinese Communist Party.


My message to you is, "Stop the flirtatious love affair with the Chinese Communist Party."


A large caucus of members in Congress recently wrote to back up Taiwan's request for F-16s. I urge you to approve and conclude that sale.


A large caucus of members in Congress (it was nearly unanimous in the House) passed H.R.605, calling for the end of Falun Gong persecution in China -- and specifically urging the administration to meet with freedom fighters and Chinese dissidents related to this cause. I urge you to heed that resolution, and therefore to meet with people such as Professor Sen Nieh, Doctors Li Dayong, Wenyi Wang and Charles Lee, etc.


For a side note, I've recently had dinner with the freedom fighters mentioned above, and they may ask to bring me in to such a meeting.


I am ambivalent when I think of meeting with you. It is an edgy call, because you might best represent sheer evil and American brain damage. At least I'm on the record with word that I am absolutely not down with the games that you play. If the name of the game was nationhood, America would respect its economic boundaries and close the trade deficit so that you stimulate the American economy rather than the Chinese economy. Under the "neo-American" China policy, nationhood is not the name of the game. More accurately, the game is private sector looting of public goods that should be protected by the public sector -- and, failing to protect American interests, I repeat that you might best represent sheer evil and American brain damage.


You simply must stop the flirtatious love affair with the Chinese Communist Party. Exactly who is well-served by this pattern of behavior on your part? Not America. Not the Chinese democracy movement. Not human rights, world-wide. Not the workers in America. Not the workers in China. The only people who are well served by this policy are the 25 CEOs who are best positioned to profit by this policy.


As you "pivot and focus on jobs" (we've been hearing that for awhile now...) you ought to be able to rebalance priorities and decide that trade deficits are a bad thing. To close the trade deficit, it is time to consider such things as a tyranny tariff, a currency manipulation/corrective tariff, a labor conditions tariff, an environmental conditions tariff, and a consumer protections tariff -- and, perhaps, a tariff that's based on respect for intellectual property. If you cannot stand up for America, its interests, and its values as above --then you ought to step aside, for leadership that can rebalance priorities and redress these grievances.


For the pro-democracy movement, we can run a good cop / bad cop routine. You have just heard from the China Support Network, in its role as the bad cop. There is also a good cop today -- known as the China Interim Government.


More news


A dissident group called the China Interim Government has been busy. They have been on the receiving end of cyber attacks from Beijing, but they have also replied with some of their own -- successfully hacking into websites of the Communist Party and planting their flag.


They have been very appreciative of the righteous move by Google, to abandon the Chinese market and to stand for internet freedom. They appreciated the speech by Hillary Clinton, escalating the priority of internet freedom as an issue.


The Washington Post recently reported, "State Department officials recently called the group, the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, offering it $1.5 million...A State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the offer."


The Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIFC) is a group of Chinese freedom campaigners, and GIFC develops software to overcome the barriers of blockage and censorship that are presented by the Chinese government with its Golden Shield, or "Great Firewall of China."


Basically, the U.S. State Department is providing $1.5 million to an activist group that works in alignment with pro-Chinese democracy and Falun Gong campaigners.


The China Interim Government, where the President is the prominent Chinese dissident Wu Fan, has written to say "thank you" to the U.S. administration. I received their letter in Chinese, and I worked to improve the English from a machine translation. Here, I will insert the letter, allowing this group to speak for itself:



Dear US Government:


Regarding your recent decision to allocate funds of $1.5 million US dollars to fund the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, in pursuit of its goal to develop software that helps users worldwide to bypass the internet filtering of mainland China, we would like to indicate our support and gratitude, and applaud where it indicates your stepped up contribution for America's global promotion of internet freedom and free world values.


We believe that your promotion of internet freedom and free world values enhances the world's peace and prosperity, while also enhancing U.S. national security.


We believe that the overwhelming majority of the world's people, regardless of which country they live in, hope for themselves and their families to live in security, freedom, and a harmonious environment which encourages their hopes for honest and friendly dealings and cooperation with mutual confidence. --It is a natural instinct for humanity to hope so.


However, we have also seen the harsh realities of many forms of crime, terrorism, war, and conflict. Humanity has been through many centuries of suffering such wars and conflict. With modern technology's introduction of Weapons of Mass Destruction, humanity is faced with an impossibly heavy burden.


How to fundamentally eliminate each kind of crime and terrorism, then eliminate the war and the conflict which this produces, is already of immediate concern, and there is no time to avoid this topic!


China Interim Government takes these concerns seriously -- as seriously as we know that U.S. President Barack Obama takes his Nobel Peace Prize.


China's traditional culture believes that human nature is natively friendly -- that each person is born with instincts and tendencies to be good.


The reason we have all sorts of crimes and the terrorism, is because the will of the people has been polluted and human nature has been distorted. Regardless of whether one speaks of communism, fascism, or terrorism, the gravest injury to the world has been the pollution to the will of the people and the distortion to human nature. With violent thoughts and willful instigation, careerists of communism, fascism, and terrorism instill hatred and provoke conflict and war.


Therefore, to fundamentally eliminate such crime and terrorism, and resulting wars and conflicts, one cannot rely on hard military power exclusively. Indeed, it should be more important to purify the will of the people and cure the distortions of human nature as mentioned to solve the basic problem.


Communism, fascism, and terrorism have it in common that they control people's thoughts through brainwashing. Just as darkness fears light, their evil thoughts are frightened of real information and correct ideas. No matter whether we look back to Hitler and Stalin, or presently to Beijing, Pyongyang, or Tehran, these regimes spare no effort to block, censor, and hide the truth, real information, and correct ideas, because they base their political power on ignorance and superstition.


To break the information blockage, there is no better method than promoting and providing the impetus for internet freedom and overthrowing the on-line Berlin Wall. To fight crime and terrorism thoroughly, the best method is to enable and promote the good instincts of human nature and free world values.


Because they believe in good, yet were met by brutal persecution in China, some Falun Gong practitioners set up the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, with the goal to develop software that enables the populace of China's police state to surmount the on-line Berlin Wall. An understanding of information from the free world is a sharp weapon in their battle with evil.


Other Falun Gong practitioners set up the Shen Yun performing arts troupe, to reinvigorate traditional Chinese arts. They have toured the world to high acclaim, winning hearts and minds as they restore the human spirit. Because they fear the power of such revivals and spiritual awakenings, the CCP/mainland government arranged to block, cancel, and obstruct their performances in Hong Kong, which were scheduled earlier this year.


From the internet blockade and from the banning of the Shen Yun performing arts shows, we can clearly read from this how very fearful the CCP/mainland government is. Influence from the free world and from Falun Gong can eradicate the violent thoughts, the brainwashing, the distortion of human nature, the pollution of the people's will, and can thereby challenge the crime, the terrorism, the conflict, and the war.


In this sense, we find it significant that the US Government has allocated funds to the Global Internet Freedom Consortium. This gives a boost to Falun Gong practitioners who would rise above the mundane; it sets them up to succeed; and it signals that the US Government is doing fundamental ground work to combat many kinds of crime and terrorism.


We think this is a great beginning. To the US Government, this is only a half step, but in regard to the many layers of crises in human culture; in regard to solving world conflicts and wars; this is a stride in the right direction.


China Interim Government now admires the acuity of the Nobel Peace Prize committee. These matters give us more hope and anticipation that in the near future, by working together with sincere cooperation, that we and the US Government can build a legacy of peace for the universe, and a prosperous and happy world.


# # #

For U.S.-China rights dialogue this week

CSN ‘cautiously pessimistic’ about

U.S.-China rights dialogue

This week, the U.S. and China will meet in Washington

to discuss human rights. CSN issues demands for

the Communists, the Americans, and the media.

A public statement for immediate release, May 10, 2010
By John Kusumi, President, the China Support Network

The China Support Network began in 1989 when Tiananmen Square's bloody massacre – armed government troops slaughtering unarmed citizens and college students – was brazenly committed on world television. The occasion demanded push back against the Communist Party, which continues to be China’s government today. I described the atrocity and crackdown as "huge, epic, monumental, egregious, and not to be forgotten by history."

I was a fresh-faced 22-year-old undergraduate of Arizona State University. At that time, I was not versed in the full history of the CCP -- the Chinese Communist Party. They had seized power by barrels of guns, winning a civil war in 1949, and had then ruled China with an iron fist for 40 years.

At Tiananmen Square, they had called out the army against their own people, led by the college students of Beijing, who had taken over Tiananmen Square for seven weeks. It is good to recall that before it was a massacre, Tiananmen Square was an uprising that demanded freedom, democracy, and human rights for the populace of mainland China.

Chinese dissidents vowed to continue the Chinese democracy movement by other means, and the China Support Network vowed to help the cause. I’ve now had 21 years of running the China Support Network in the service of China's democracy movement. The rule of Communism in that land is now 61 years long, and I have been fighting it for half of my lifetime.

Or perhaps, in 1989 I was not so very fresh-faced. I first appeared in America’s national news as the "18-year-old" candidate for U.S. President in 1984, talking up the politics of practical idealism. Having begun at age 17, I gave new meaning to the term "minor candidate." Seemingly, I began by wagging my finger at America about its politics, and more recently I’ve been scolding China about its politics and human rights abuses, which include killing – lots of killing.

All of that killing in Communist China remains the point of the China Support Network and the wider international human rights community, of which CSN is a part. The CSN is known as a human rights group and NGO, meaning a non-governmental organization within civil society. We are also part of the Coalition for the International Criminal Court.

This week, on May 13-14, America and China have slated meetings in Washington for a human rights dialogue, being resumed for the first time since 2008. Ostensibly, this is about the concerns of the China Support Network.

The meeting this week comes during "Tiananmen season." Every year from April 17-June 4, it is the anniversary of events in Tiananmen Square -- the uprising before the crackdown. 21 years ago right now, the Square was occupied territory, controlled by college students such as Zhou Yongjun, who recently got a third prison term as a political prisoner, sentenced to spend the next 9 years incarcerated.

Likewise, Tiananmen figure Liu Xiaobo recently got a third prison term as a political prisoner, sentenced to 11 years’ incarceration. The two prison sentences are a signal that Beijing fully intends on having a third decade of ongoing persecution in the Tiananmen crackdown. Beijing should cancel the third decade of this evil crackdown, and Washington should place extremely high priority on pressing Beijing for this purpose.

The China Support Network demands the release of Zhou and Liu and also Wang Bingzhang and Gao Zhisheng. Zhou and Wang gained U.S. permanent residency and each fathered children who are U.S. citizens. The China Support Network demands that their families be reunited.

Indeed, we will agitate in Congress for U.S. citizenship bestowed by an act of Congress. This is because the U.S. State Department, in our view, cannot be trusted to handle these cases appropriately in the absence of Congressional pressure.

And we certainly don’t trust the oddly-named “news media” to keep the spotlight on these cases or on other Chinese abuses. Indeed, any and all abuses from Communist China have been swept under the rug in recent years by the news media. Any global citizens who are anti-communist can share in our disgust at the U.S. news media.

Perhaps the complaints of the two preceding paragraphs should be rephrased into demands. The China Support Network demands that the U.S. State Department escalate the cases of Zhou, Liu, Wang, and Gao into top priorities in U.S.-China relations. And, the China Support Network demands that American news outlets -- such as the AP, CNN, and news divisions of ABC, CBS, and NBC – return to prominence the human rights conditions of Communist China.

Those abuses were prominent in the first decade after Tiananmen Square, and U.S. media did a lousy job in the second decade after Tiananmen Square. These media have become a rogues gallery of dubious departments. They have spent a decade avoiding candor about human rights in China, so this seems to be a challenging week for their copy writers. Will they let on that they know about these other abuses? : –

–The China Support Network demands the immediate end of the system of Laogai slave labor camps, and the immediate end of the system of Laojiao that is administrative detention in China.

–The China Support Network demands the immediate end of the crackdown on Falun Gong, and the immediate end of the practice of killing prisoners (including prisoners of conscience) for the sale of their organs in transplant surgery.

–The China Support Network demands the immediate end of the crackdown against Tibetans, and the immediate end of the crackdown against Uighur Muslims.

The ending of these crackdowns must include the release of the prisoners of conscience: innocent people who have been swept up in these dragnets employed by a Communist police state.

Of the news media, the China Support Network demands immediate exposure of our high-profile prisoner cases and abuses in these cases; we demand immediate exposure of Laogai camps and the Laojiao system; we demand immediate coverage of the crackdown against Falun Gong, and the practice of killing prisoners for the sale of their organs. We demand that the media follow up on the crackdowns against Tibetans and Uighurs. And, we demand to see the prisoners of conscience who are the subject of our concern above.

Will this week’s human rights dialogue be a stunning success – because they will stop the killing? Or, will it be an abject failure that highlights Sino-U.S. fecklessness and government inability to change its evil ways? That answer remains to be seen.

This is definitely an opportunity for U.S. policymakers and media to do the right thing. The importance of these talks cannot be overstated. The stakes are life and death.

However, the U.S. policymakers and media have two track records of doing the wrong things on these issues. The U.S. executive branch established its act in 1989. The blood at Tiananmen was barely dry when the U.S. executive pushed to renew Most Favored Nation status. They have never varied their act since then – U.S. China policy has been a tune with one note.

As a result, the China Support Network is “cautiously pessimistic” as it anticipates the outcome of this week’s talks. Communists should stop the killing. U.S. policymakers should stop the MFN. Media should report the killing. The killing only continues because all three groups have done the wrong thing. Shame on them!

Hu Jintao, tear down your evil empire!

Commentary adapted from a rally speech, as delivered at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC, 4/11/2010

By John Kusumi


This week in Washington, President Barack Obama hosted President Hu Jintao on his visit here for the Nuclear Security Summit.

We are the rally of people who say, “Quit the Communist Party!” This is the group that has spent four or five years now informing Chinese people of the real history of the CCP, and making it possible for a growing wave of Chinese individuals to quit their association with the Chinese Communist Party.

Hu Jintao was in town and Barack Obama said to him, “Help us with addressing the issue of Iran.” And Barack Obama also said, “Please allow the value of your currency to float, so that you join the system of floating exchange rates.”

To me, these are good things in and of themselves — but perhaps misplaced priorities.

–Why isn’t Barack Obama telling Hu Jintao to end the system of Laogai slave labor camps?

–Why isn’t Barack Obama telling Hu Jintao to end the system of Laojiao that is administrative detention in China?

–Why isn’t Barack Obama insisting that Hu Jintao must immediately end the crackdown on Falun Gong?

–And Hu Jintao must immediately end the crackdown against Tibetans!

–And Hu Jintao must immediately end the crackdown against Uighur Muslims!

These are priorities that are a matter of life and death. It’s very easy for one man in the White House, who does not have to face the consequences, to ignore and to turn a blind eye to persecution, but in fact we are speaking of DEADLY persecution. These are matters of life and death!

And I believe it shows misplaced priorities on the part of Barack Obama to focus instead on–as he said–”Oh gee, help us to create some international action against Iran.”

In fact, why isn’t Barack Obama asking Hu Jintao to help on the matter of Darfur? We could use some more assistance from the international community in looking at the southern portion of Sudan, and saying to the Sundanese government–”Let’s be done with that genocide, and let’s make sure that we prosecute Omar Bashir.”

So I think that there are priorities that remain ahead of Barack Obama. He spent 2009 being very quiet on the human rights question. But now in 2010 we see a strengthening as he’s become a little bit tougher in his rhetoric with Communist China. He needs to become tougher still.

He needs to say to Hu Jintao the same things that we, in this rally, are saying to China and to Hu Jintao. We’re saying to quit from the Communist Party. In fact, perhaps the best thing that we could say to Hu Jintao is to TEAR DOWN YOUR EVIL EMPIRE!

This is a crowd that is aware of the persecution. We are awake to it. We know what is happening. We’re not fooled when there is news media that is sort of “La di da,” or that indicates, “Don’t worry, be happy.” –We don’t buy into that!

–We know that there’s killing, that there’s torture, there’s persecution, there’s administrative detention, there’s a violation of due process — the rule of law is nowhere to be found in mainland China! We know that they are off the page with their obligations to the international community — in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; and, there’s a covenant on civil and political rights; and China is a signatory; and China breaks that covenant every day. Shame on China!

It is good to have Hu Jintao visiting Washington DC. This is a city where we can speak out, and say those things. We say, “Shame on Hu Jintao, if he does not end the persecution of Falun Gong.”

And in fact, the bottom line point that we really ought to say to Hu Jintao is “TEAR DOWN YOUR EVIL EMPIRE!” We’re not fooled; we’re not buying it; we insist that China must have its reform; its respect for human rights; its future of freedom and democracy and the rule of law.

That is our point that we insist upon. Thank you for taking in my speech, and I hope that you will join us in the coming days.