From an email I received from Save Darfur:

In Darfur, men are often killed or captured when they leave refugee camps to collect firewood. So the women venture out instead—and regularly fall prey to a targeted campaign of rape encouraged by the Sudanese government.

China blindly backs the Sudanese government and allows this brutality to continue. While the Chinese government basks in the glow of the Olympic Games, it is still selling Sudan weapons that enable these atrocities.

This week, our partner organization, Dream for Darfur, is highlighting China’s role in this deteriorating situation as part of their alternative “Darfur Olympics.” Will you join them?

Click here to help Dream for Darfur raise awareness about China’s role in violence against Darfuri women. And urge Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to take immediate action.

While China hosts the Olympic Games under the banner of peace and brotherhood, Dream for Darfur’s daily webcasts are revealing the devastation enabled by China’s weapons. Each day this week, Dream for Darfur is focusing on a different crisis facing the people of Darfur. Today, they’re turning the world’s eye to widespread sexual violence.

Sexual violence in Darfur is not just a series of random acts. It is a weapon of genocide. Peacekeepers have tried to protect women, but they have failed because they are short of resources and stretched too thin to do the job.

Show your support for Dream for Darfur’s efforts. Click here to support the Darfur Olympics and urge Secretary Rice to help protect Darfuri women.

The world cannot sit by while sexual violence rages in Darfur. Today, Dream for Darfur is speaking out against this weapon of genocide. Add your voice, and demand protection for the women of Darfur.

Well we shouldn’t bite the hand that feeds us. We’re indebted to China, thanks to the Bush administration.

Besides, why would president Torture care about China’s human rights record anyway?

Bush defends decision to attend Olympics opening

TOYAKO, Japan (AP) — President Bush spoke out Sunday on the Beijing Olympics and North Korea’s abduction of Japanese citizens, two sensitive issues in Asia, before turning attention to global talks on the Earth’s rising temperature and oil prices.

He defended his decision to attend the opening ceremonies next month despite boycott plans by other leaders over China’s human rights record. “The Chinese people are watching very carefully about the decisions by world leaders, and I happen to believe that not going to the opening ceremony for the games would be an affront to the Chinese people, which may make it more difficult to be able to speak frankly with the Chinese leadership,” the president said.

They have every right to point and laugh. Bush got voted in - twice. And with the race between McCain and Obama being tight, they’ll probably be laughing for a good long time.

Booming, China Faults U.S. Policy on the Economy

A steel factory in Kunming. China’s economy has generally maintained strong growth while the American economy has stagnated.

BEIJING — Not long ago, Chinese officials sat across conference tables from American officials and got an earful.

The Americans scolded the Chinese on mismanaging their economy, from state subsidies to foreign investment regulations to the valuation of their currency. Your economic system, the Americans strongly implied, should look a lot more like ours.

But in recent weeks, the fingers have been wagging in the other direction. Senior Chinese officials are publicly and loudly rebuking the Americans on their handling of the economy and defending their own more assertive style of regulation.

Chinese officials seem to be galled by the apparent hypocrisy of Americans telling them what to do while the American economy is at best stagnant. China, on the other hand, has maintained its feverish growth.

China is on the march folks. From an article at Asia Times:

Then there’s the Sino-Iranian deal:

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BEIJING - China’s last-minute cancellation of a U.S. Navy visit to Hong Kong was not the result of a misunderstanding, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday, adding that ties had been “disturbed and harmed” by Congress’ honoring of the Dalai Lama and U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

Spokesman Liu Jianchao denounced an earlier report from Washington that said Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told President Bush the incident was a misunderstanding.

But Liu offered no concrete explanation as to why China barred the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (amex: KHK - news - people ) and its escort vessels from entering Hong Kong harbor for a planned Thanksgiving visit.

“The report is not in line with the facts,” Liu said at a regular news briefing.

He refused to elaborate, but his negative characterization of U.S.-China relations appeared to indicate that Beijing had canceled the visit deliberately in order to register its displeasure over U.S. actions, as it has occasionally with previous Hong Kong port calls.

More at Forbes

“Dalai Lama is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority”. Then WHY is he meeting with Bush? I’m sure if they get within fifty-feet of each other, Bush is bound to melt, dissolve, explode, or something.

I hope the Chinese aren’t so pissed off that they decide to call in all those loans.

Dalai Lama’s Visit Angers Chinese

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush and Congress will stir Chinese anger this week when they honor the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet’s Buddhists.

While the Dalai Lama is lauded in much of the world as a figure of moral authority, Beijing reviles the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and claims he seeks to destroy China’s sovereignty by pushing for independence for Tibet, where the Dalai Lama is considered a god-king.

China warns that a planned White House meeting Tuesday between Bush and the Dalai Lama and a public ceremony Wednesday to award the spiritual leader the prestigious Congressional Gold Medal are bad for U.S.-Chinese ties.

FOSTER KLUG, Associated Press

Source: AP

Iraq has ordered $100 million worth of light military equipment from China for its police force, contending that the United States was unable to provide the materiel and is too slow to deliver arms shipments, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said yesterday.

The China deal, not previously made public, has alarmed military analysts who note that Iraq’s security forces already are unable to account for more than 190,000 weapons supplied by the United States, many of which are believed to be in the hands of Shiite and Sunni militias, insurgents and other forces seeking to destabilize Iraq and target U.S. troops.

“The problem is that the Iraqi government doesn’t have — as yet — a clear plan for making sure that weapons are distributed, that they are properly monitored and repeatedly checked,” said Rachel Stohl of the Center for Defense Information, an independent think tank. “The end-use monitoring will be left in the hands of a government and military in Iraq that is not yet ready for it. And there’s not a way for the U.S. to mandate them to do it if they’re not U.S. weapons.”

More at the Washington Post

My Mom has been saying for 20 years that China will be the one to take us out. And she may be right……

Chinese military hackers have prepared a detailed plan to disable America’s aircraft battle carrier fleet with a devastating cyber attack, according to a Pentagon report obtained by The Times.

The blueprint for such an assault, drawn up by two hackers working for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), is part of an aggressive push by Beijing to achieve “electronic dominance” over each of its global rivals by 2050, particularly the US, Britain, Russia and South Korea.

China’s ambitions extend to crippling an enemy’s financial, military and communications capabilities early in a conflict, according to military documents and generals- speeches that are being analysed by US intelligence officials. Describing what is in effect a new arms race, a Pentagon assessment states that China’s military regards offensive computer operations as “critical to seize the initiative” in the first stage of a war.

The plan to cripple the US aircraft carrier battle groups was authored by two PLA air force officials, Sun Yiming and Yang Liping. It also emerged this week that the Chinese military hacked into the US Defence Secretary’s computer system in June; have regularly penetrated computers in at least 10 Whitehall departments, including military files, and infiltrated German government systems this year.

More at the Times Online

By JOHN MARKOFF
The New York Times

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 24 - A Chinese technology company has expressed interest in buying a maker of computer disk drives in the United States, raising concerns among American government officials about the risks to national security in transferring high technology to China.

William D. Watkins of Seagate Technology

The overture, which was disclosed by the chief executive of one of the two remaining drive makers in the United States, William D. Watkins of Seagate Technology, has resurrected the issues of economic competitiveness and national security raised three years ago when Lenovo, a Chinese computer maker, bought I.B.M.’s personal computer business.

Tensions have been increasing lately between the countries over China’s ambitions in developing its military abilities and advanced technologies for industrial and consumer uses.

Although disk drives do not fall under a list of export-controlled technologies, the attempted purchase of an American disk drive company would require a security review by the federal government, according to several government officials.

In recent years, modern disk drives, used to store vast quantities of digital information securely, have become complex computing systems, complete with hundreds of thousands of lines of software that are used to ensure the integrity of data and to offer data encryption.

That could raise the prospect of secret tampering with hardware or software to make it possible to pilfer information via computer networks, intelligence officials have warned.

read more HERE

Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing factory sold up to 100,000 pairs of disposable chopsticks a day without any form of disinfection, a newspaper said on Wednesday, the latest in a string of food and product safety scares.

Counterfeit, shoddy and dangerous products are widespread in China, whose exports have been rocked in recent months by a spate of safety scandals, ranging from pet food to medicine, tires, toothpaste and toys.

Officials raided the factory and seized about half a million pairs of disposable bamboo chopsticks and a packaging machine, the Beijing News said in a story headlined “Dirty Chopsticks.”

The owner, identified only by his surname Wu, said he had sold the chopsticks for 0.04 yuan a pair and made an average of about 1,000 yuan ($130) a day.

Wu, who had no license to sell the goods, said he had sold 100,000 pairs a day when business was good.

China lacks the manpower to enforce food and drug safety regulations at home or for export. Imports are generally carefully scrutinized.

read more HERE

Oh boy…….

The Chinese government has begun a concerted campaign of economic threats against the United States, hinting that it may liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation.

Two officials at leading Communist Party bodies have given interviews in recent days warning - for the first time - that Beijing may use its $1.33 trillion (£658bn) of foreign reserves as a political weapon to counter pressure from the US Congress.

Shifts in Chinese policy are often announced through key think tanks and academies.

Described as China’s “nuclear option” in the state media, such action could trigger a dollar crash at a time when the US currency is already breaking down through historic support levels.

It would also cause a spike in US bond yields, hammering the US housing market and perhaps tipping the economy into recession. It is estimated that China holds over $900bn in a mix of US bonds.

More at the Telegraph

What Americans want…..not so important. What China wants……very important.

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer

One of China’s top government officials reached out to the leading U.S. presidential contenders last week, holding an unpublicized meeting with several of their top foreign policy advisers during a visit to Washington for high-level talks with Bush administration officials.

Among those present for the dinner with Vice Foreign Minister Dai Bingguo on June 19, according to people familiar with the encounter, were top advisers to Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), former senator John Edwards (D-N.C.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R).

The meeting underscored the intense interest in the U.S. presidential campaign among foreign leaders, particularly in China, which has historically been uneasy about transitions in the White House. China is especially nervous about rising complaints from U.S. politicians over the handling of its economy, as well as criticism of its role in protecting the Sudanese government from international sanctions for its role in the atrocities in Darfur.

“The Chinese are trying to figure out how to affect domestic U.S. politics,” said Michael J. Green, a former adviser on Asia to President Bush. “They know that changes in U.S. government lead to different China policies that are uncomfortable for them.”

More at the Washington Post

I remember when the steel plants of South Chicago and Gary, Indiana shut down one by one…..leaving so many unemployed.

From Resource Investor:

SHANGHAI (Interfax-China) — China’s steel product exports surged 116.7% year-on-year in the first five months of this year, according to a Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) official.

China exported 27.44 million tonnes of steel products in the first five months, up 116.7% from last year, while May exports stood at 6.17 million tonnes, dipping 13.83% from April, Yang Hongbin, a MOFCOM official from the Shanghai office, announced at the 3rd Steel Industry Development Strategy Conference, held in Shanghai last weekend, according to state-run newspaper the Shanghai Securities Journals.

Steel product imports in the first five months fell 6% year-on-year to 7.28 million tonnes. China’s steel product net exports amounted to 20.16 million tonnes in the first five months, creating a $9.44 billion trade surplus, according to Yang.

Yang commented that the explosive growth was partly due to market expectations of a policy to increase the export tax on steel products, which resulted in vigorous sales by exporters over the five-month period.

Following the government’s May 23 announcement that a 5% to 10% tax on 83 types of semi-finished steel product would be implemented on June 1, domestic steel product prices have since declined drastically.

BEIJING (Reuters) - Rain storms and floods have killed at least 23 people across southern China in recent days and made thousands homeless, Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

“Millions of people are suffering,” it said.

Storms killed seven people and left four missing in the southern province of Guizhou on Friday and Saturday. Nearly 20,000 hectares (77 sq miles) of cropland were flooded and 3,000 houses destroyed, Xinhua said.

In Guangdong province, bordering Hong Kong, heavy rain triggered landslides killing three people and destroying 788 houses and about 1,120 hectares of cropland, Xinhua said.

Storms cut off a railway link between Meizhou and Shantou in Guangdong leaving about 1,100 passengers stranded on Friday.

In neighboring Guangxi, two people were killed in torrential rain that destroyed 610 homes, Xinhua said, citing flood control authorities.

In Guangxi, high school students sitting all-important university entrance exams on Thursday and Friday had to be evacuated as heavy rain submerged their classrooms, Xinhua said.

Storms also broke 29 reservoirs, 362 embankments, 165 roads and forced 59 factories to suspend production, Xinhua quoted Chen Rundong, deputy head of the regional flood control office, as saying.

SHIJIAZHUANG, China - If you pop a vitamin C tablet in your mouth, it’s a good bet it came from China. Indeed, many of the world’s vitamins are now made in China.

In less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S. market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business.

Chinese pharmaceutical companies also have taken over much of the world market in the production of antibiotics, analgesics, enzymes and primary amino acids. According to an industry group, China makes 70 percent of the world’s penicillin, 50 percent of its aspirin and 35 percent of its acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name Tylenol), as well as the bulk of vitamins A, B12, C and E.

In the wake of a pet food scandal, in which adulterated wheat gluten from China led to the deaths of thousands of pets in North America, and other instances of food and toothpaste tampering, China’s vitamin producers are reaching out to reassure U.S. consumers that their vitamins are safe.

Read more at McClatchy