zTruth

Google to end self-censorship in China!

Google has taken a rather bold stand against the Chinese government:

Google Inc. defied the Chinese government by saying it will end self-censorship of its search engine and may quit the world’s largest Internet market after attacks on e-mail accounts of human-rights activists.

A series of “highly sophisticated” attacks on Google and at least 20 other companies last month, as well as limits on free speech, led to the decision, Google said in a statement on its Web log. Images of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown were among previously censored results visible on Google.cn today...

Meanwhile, China has expressed strong opposition against  recent U.S. arms sales to Taiwan - a territory formerly under China's control:

...Communist-ruled China split with Taiwan amid civil war in 1949 and continues to regard the self-governing democracy as part of its territory.

...In recent weeks, the United States awarded a $969 million contract to Lockheed Martin for the provision of 263 PAC-3 air defense missiles to Taiwan and a $1.1 billion contract to Raytheon Co. for production of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System for Taiwan.

...China responded to the last U.S. arms offer by rejecting Hong Kong port calls by the USS Kitty Hawk and other American ships in November 2007.

Monday,  the Chinese's tested their missile-defense system and shot down one missile with another to show they mean business and show their growing military strength.

China has 1,100 missiles aimed at Taiwan.

China expands reach into Argentina with monetary swap

China feels strong enough these days to offer up the idea of a world currency thanks to the billions we buy from them in cheap goods and the billions they loan us. 

Now they have entered into a monetary deal in a Latin America country for the first time:

"Argentine officials are hopeful that a new currency swap deal with China will bolster confidence in the peso while giving the monetary authority greater power to defend the currency.

"This should boost confidence," said an Argentine Central Bank official who asked for anonymity. "Even if none of this money is ever used, its mere existence should serve to boost confidence in the currency."

Wal Street Journal Asia

The two nations agreed to a three-year currency swap totaling 70 billion yuan, ($10 billion).

China's state news agency, Xinhua, reported earlier Monday that Argentina could use the deal to pay for Chinese imports in yuan. But the Central Bank official said the deal's main goal is to restore confidence in the Argentine government's ability to manage the value of the peso..."

Man who took video with cell phone beaten to death in China

Oh, the freedoms we take for grant in America! 

In China, a man just taking a video with his cell phone of a disturbance was beaten to death by government personnel.

The violence happened in the central province of Hubei.

Local people attempted to stop a rubbish truck from dumping refuse at a site that they argued was too close to their village, state media reported.

Members of the Chinese municipal inspectors, known as the Chengguan, intervened.

A para-police force equipped with steel helmets and stab-proof vests, Chengguan personnel are often used by local officials as trouble-shooters.

The victim, Wei Wenhua, the manager of a construction company, was driving by and stopped to film the confrontation on his mobile phone.

When Mr Wei refused the Chengguan's demands to delete the footage, he was beaten to death on the spot, according to witnesses cited by Xinhua news agency.

In an online poll conducted by popular Chinese portal Sohu.com after the incident, 93 per cent of the nearly 97,000 respondents said the agency should be abolished.

China's Rejects USS Kitty Hawk

The U.S. aircraft carrier, USS Kitty Hawk and its 8,000 airmen and sailors won't be stopping in Hong Kong afterall:

"China blocked a long-planned Thanksgiving visit to Hong Kong by a U.S. aircraft carrier group, then abruptly changed its mind on Thursday.

But it was too late to save the holiday visit. A U.S. official said the trip has since been scrapped and the ships continued steaming to their Japanese base.

The USS Kitty Hawk group and its 8,000 airmen and sailors were expected in Hong Kong on Wednesday, but the U.S. State Department said the visit had been refused by China.

Hundreds of relatives of U.S. crew members had flown to Hong Kong to celebrate Thanksgiving on Thursday. Later in the day, China appeared to have relented, announcing the carrier would be allowed to stop by the former British colony after all.

...The holiday misadventure has left families dismayed and could become a diplomatic tiff.

"I miss my daddy," said Mark Curry, 14, whose father is aboard one of the vessels. "We thought he was going to be there, but we don't know what actually happened. I was just depressed."

MEETING WITH DALAI LAMA TO BLAME?

The Chinese move came as a surprise just weeks after a visit to China by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, which he hoped would lead to a long-term dialogue.

Spokesman Liu did not say why the ships had been blocked in the first place, but there are issues that might have prompted Beijing's action.

Last year, a Chinese submarine surfaced unusually close to the Kitty Hawk near the Japanese island of Okinawa, an incident that highlighted the potential for friction between the two powers."

Uncovering Chinese espionage in the U.S.

"We would like to talk to individuals who have information about any foreign intelligence service that would intend to harm our country. We especially welcome anyone who has information about the Chinese (government) or State Security," says an ad from the FBI that is running in three Chinese papers in the San Francisco area.  It goes on to say, in order to protect our freedom and democracy we need your help.  To read more about this go here.

Previously, it has been reported by CNN that the FBI believes there are an estimated 3,000 Chinese front companies in the U.S. spying on us.  With the Chinese military uprecendented buildup and the world's largest army, the People's Liberation Army, we should all pay more attention to this issue.

"The economic viability of the United States we now look at as a counterintelligence problem," FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence David Szady said in the interview.

It seems this issue is not just a problem in the U.S.  Chen Yonglin, the first secretary to the Chinese consulate office in Sidney, Australia until he defected in 2005 said Canada is full of Chinese spies!  He said in an interview on June 21st that the National Congress of Chinese Canadians is at the top of a pyramid of networks designed to influence the Canadian government.  Thanks to this brave man, hopefully this will begin a cascade of revelations about the large network of activities by the communist country designed to spy or influence governments.