Congressmen Resolve To Support Chinese Uighurs

By Sam Wechsler - Talk Radio News Service

On Friday, Rep. William Delahunt (D-Mass.) and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) announced a resolution to condemn China's violent repression of the recent Uighur protests. The resolution asks Congress to go on record in support of the Uighur people and criticizes the U.S. government for not speaking out against the Chinese oppression of the Uighur people.

State-run media in China claims that as a result of clashes with Chinese law enforcement officers in recent weeks, the Uighur death toll is 156. The Uighurs estimate the actual count is approximately 500, with thousands more imprisoned.

The Chinese place blame of their violence against the Uighurs on Rebiya Kadeer, President of the World Uighur Congress, who was present at the news conference. She has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize on three separate occasions.

In a letter written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Delahunt and Rep. Rohrabacher stated, “[Kadeer] has never encouraged nor supported violence in the past and instead has sought a peaceful resolution to her people’s troubles in China...[We] find it appalling that the Chinese government is attempting to ascribe its own brutal acts as the responsibility of this courageous woman who fully embraces democracy and non-violence.”

During Friday's news conference, Rep. Delahunt was particularly enraged by the fact that the U.S. Department of Defense would not allow members of the House Human Rights and Oversight Subcommittee to interview the Uighur detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Rather, the U.S. allowed Chinese officials to interrogate the Uighur detainees.

According to Susan Baker Manning, a defense attorney for the Uighur detainees, the Uighurs stated that the Chinese interrogation was their “lowest point” at Guantanamo Ba

Congressmen: China Must Reevaluate Climate Change Policy

By Sam Wechsler - Talk Radio News Service

Just after returning from a trip to China, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) disagree strongly with the Chinese government's current environmental standards and political policies.

The pair made their comments on Monday at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Larsen said that the trip was focused primarily on the economy and to understand the Chinese government’s response to the recent global recession. He believes that at the United Nations’ Copenhagen Climate Change Conference in December, China will try to mandate the compulsory licensing of all intellectual property pertaining to climate change and energy consumption. That would mean that U.S. energy companies must license new alternative energy technologies to all countries.

“If the treaty licenses the theft of U.S. intellectual property across an area that may encompass 15 to 20 percent of the U.S. economy, the effect of the legislation will be to increase energy prices in the United States,” said Kirk. He fears that compulsory licensing of green energy intellectual property will cause further unemployment within the United States due to job loss in that sector.

“It became very clear that the top three priorities domestically [in China] are the same that I have and that Mark (Kirk) has - jobs, jobs, and jobs,” said Larsen.

Kirk said that the Chinese government was most concerned about employing their massive number of unemployed new college graduates, adding that China is investing an enormous amount in commodities: China bought a petroleum reserve and $80 billion in gold. He believes that the only reason they would do so is speculation on U.S. dollar inflation.

Pelosi Cautious On Climate Meeting With China

By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service

U.S Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was reserved in her choice of words today at the Brookings Institution as she reflected on her recent bipartisan trip to China to discuss the communist country’s climate efforts.

“This trip was very important for us because the U.S and China are the biggest emitters of gases and we have to come to terms in order for us to come to a multilateral agreement in Copehagen.” said Pelosi

The U.S delegation made the May trip after an invitation from the Chinese government. The meeting may have also given the U.S an ally against the growing threat that North Korea poses since its alleged nuclear and missile tests.

Bruce Klingner, an analyst for the Heritage Foundation, said that the Obama administration is “trying to press China to be less obstructionist, to allow for a greater punitive measure against North Korean government agencies.”

Why this (the climate crisis) “is important is we see it as a national security issue to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. We see it as an economic issue to create clean energy jobs and to be competitive in our investments and our innovation and technology so that we can be the world leader,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi spoke about how the American delegation prepared for this trip, saying “We arrived in China, we knew what we were going there to do but of course with our message reinforced from what we had just seen (in Alaska) also equipped with a bill that had passed Congress on Thursday which was a historic, momentous legislation on how we would go forward.”

The House Speaker confirmed that China has already demonstrated efforts to take energy consumption and climate into consideration, as she said “The Chinese have done remarkable things... in terms of closing down coal plants that were inefficient, the investments in research and actual construction of buildings in different ways so they'd use less energy in their construction and on the ongoing.”

But Pelosi reported that, despite efforts towards for climate improvement on a certain level, the delegation was met with a certain resistance from their Chinese counterparts with regards to further resolutions.

“What they wanted to be clear to us is that as they were doing this and they were investing in the technologies and the rest... they were going to be developing still, sustainable development with more of an emphasis on the development side,” said Pelosi.

Every year, “600,000 die of pollution in China,” according to Pelosi.

Tiananmen Students Continue Fight

By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service

A remembrance was held on the West Lawn of Capitol Hill to honor the students that lost their lives during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre 20 years ago. U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ.) spoke with former Chinese student leaders about the importance of remembering the fallen students and the need to continue to fight for Democracy in China.

“The ugly spirit of the Tiananmen Square Massacre continues today unabated in China with brutality and efficiency that only a Nazi could love,” Smith said, adding the Obama administration should not seek to improve the world economy while ignoring the country’s human rights violations.

Dr. Yang Jianli, a Tiananmen survivor and former political prisoner, said that “it is truth that tyrannies fear most; it is truth that build stable societies.” He called for the release of political prisoners and ending the blacklisting of China citizens.

The Tiananmen Square massacre resulted from political protests by college students who demanded government reform. The student’s protest was planned for 40 days, but ended after the 20th day. The government used force to stop the protest when the students erected a statue of the Goddess of Liberty. The statue was destroyed and an estimated 2,000 students were killed by the Chinese military.

Hope For Liberty In China?

By Joseph Russell- Talk Radio News Service

The Heritage Foundation presented a discussion with special guest Dr. Wang Dan, a former student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. The discussion hosted by Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Heritage Foundation Fellow Lee Edwards, focused on the future of liberty in China.

Brownback asserted that with the current global economic downturn “this may be one of the most important times for the Democracy movement,” both in China and around the world.

Dan believes there are still many in China who do not know about the massacre of students during the fight for democracy in Tiananmen Square nearly 20 years ago. The government has largely covered-up the incident and Dan believes it is not surprising that many Chinese youth today have little interest in Democracy. He said that Chinese youth “care more about money than democracy.” However, he said there is hope for liberty in China in the future and America definitely has a role to play.

The 1989 massacre in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square was the result of political protests by college students for democracy. Students protested the Chinese government’s violation of human rights before the government used force to stop the protest. The number of deaths is unknown because the government has censored such information, but it is thought be be around 2,000 students.