I remember reading a book when I was a teenager that was titled, "You Can Trust the Communists...To Be Communists." I don’t remember the author, and I don’t remember a whole lot about the content of the book. I do remember that, even as a boy, it helped me to clearly understand the most basic truth about Communists. They are liars. The Communist philosophy is as much a religion as it is a political and social plan for life. It is a religion because it is based on the premise that God does not exist, therefore man is totally in charge of all aspects of life. The Bible says that the devil is a liar, and that he is the father of liars. He’s also the father of atheism, the biggest lie of all time. The atheistic foundation of Communism means that the Communists have no moral precepts to guide them. Lying comes naturally to people who lack a moral foundation.

The Red Chinese lied when they said that they had changed, that human rights were a priority of the "New Communism." There is no "New Communism". The same "Butchers of Beijing" are in charge that have run the country ever since Communism became the state religion. Tienamin Square proved that. They lied when they told us they wanted to form partnerships, to cooperate with us in trade. Sure, they want to sell us their cheap goods made with slave labor. But the only thing they want to buy from us is military technology that will help them kill us. As to the "friendship" between our nations, their internal military newspapers continually refer to the U.S. as the "Number One Enemy."

For the last eight years the Chinese Communists have had a willing accomplice in their lying. Bill Clinton lied about the millions the ChiComms (as the press likes to refer to them) paid him in bribes (excuse me, "campaign donations"). He tried to cover up the fact that they have nuclear missiles targeted at 17 major U.S. cities. When Clinton took office, the ChiComms were 35 years behind us in nuclear missile technology; now they are close to catching up to us. Clinton lied to the nation about this, too, saying that the technology that he sold them could only be used for peaceful purposes. When the Chinese stole what Bill wouldn’t give them, his Attorney General tried to cover it up.

Now we find that Clinton knew for over a year that Chinese fighter planes were "buzzing" U.S. ships and aircraft in international waters close to China. ("Buzzing" is the aerial equivalent of harassing. The Communist Chinese fighter pilots fly dangerously close to ships or aircraft, often directly in front of them.) Both the Air Force and the Navy had complained to the White House about the danger to U.S. servicemen and women. Clinton withheld this information from the Congress. Why? He didn’t want Congress to interfere with his "vision" for the Chinas. This included rewarding Communist China with undeserved preferential trade policies in return for the millions of dollars they had given him. It also included betraying the democratic government of Taiwan by continuing the misguided U.S. policy of diplomatic recognition of the Communist regime, coupled with the withholding of recognition from Taiwan. This puts Taiwan in continuing danger of being enslaved by the Red Chinese.

Currently, the Red Chinese Government is holding 24 American service personnel (21 men and 3 women) hostage. On Sunday, April 1st, a U.S. Navy EP-3E surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet in international airspace 60 miles off the coast of China. The pilot of the badly damaged U.S. aircraft sent out distress call on the international frequency and headed for the closest airport, which was on a Chinese island in the South China Sea. The Chinese plane crashed, and its pilot has not been found. Following the emergency landing, Communist soldiers took the American crew into custody and has since subjected them to repeated illegal interrogations. The London Times reports that China is hinting that it may charge our servicemen and women with manslaughter, for which they could receive sentences of ten to twenty years at forced labor.

Despite requests by President Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell, the Chinese government has refused to release our citizens. Instead, the ChiComms are demanding that the U.S. apologize for the incident! Let’s examine the facts to see who owes an apology.

International treaties include a "safe harbor" rule for planes or ships in distress that requires any country to provide assistance to such vessels, and arrange for the prompt return of such vessels to their owners. In direct violation of this convention, the Communist Chinese boarded our plane, and, after removing the crew, immediately began dismantling the aircraft in order to obtain national security secrets of the United States. (I wonder why this is necessary, since their spies have already stolen most of our technology.)

The same treaties require that personnel on distressed vessels be given medical assistance if necessary, and that they be promptly turned over to representatives of their country. By imprisoning and interrogating our servicemen and women, the Chinese are violating international conventions that all civilized nations observe.

The Chinese claim that we violated their air space without permission is asinine. By issuing the "Mayday!" call, the pilot did all that was required to notify the Chinese government that his plane was in severe trouble and needed to land immediately. He and his crew were involved in a desperate attempt to save their lives. They didn’t have time for extended conversations with the control tower.

Who is to blame for this accident? The Chinese are making the ridiculous assertion that our plane deliberately rammed theirs. I won’t waste time answering that, except to say that our people were fortunate to come out of this accident alive. They would never have deliberately put themselves into that situation. Unless the Chinese pilot was actually a leftover Japanese kamikaze pilot from WWII, I doubt he deliberately hit our plane either. Blame? Without doubt the fighter pilot was flying too close to our plane for safety. His small, single person jet was far more maneuverable than the huge, propeller driven EP-3E with a crew of 24. The fighter’s top speed was 1500 mph; our plane flew at 340 mph. Only the Chinese aircraft could have avoided the accident, first by not buzzing our plane, second by taking evasive action that the larger plane was incapable of taking. But if he were alive, he would say he was not to blame. He was "just following orders."

The Chinese military leaders, who for the past year have ordered their pilots to harass our service personnel in an attempt to intimidate us, are clearly to blame. For over thirty years surveillance flights, as well as submarine surveillance, have been conducted by the U.S., the British, the Chinese, and the Russians off the shores of every almost every continent. All parties have understood that the best way to ensure peace was to know what your potential adversaries were capable of. This change of Red Chinese policy that has so worried the Pentagon for the last year is without question the reason for this accident. The Chinese pilots did not make the decision to endanger the lives of our personnel as well as their own lives; their masters did.

Why are the Communist dictators doing this? It would take several issues to cover all the reasons in detail. Let me just make a few quick observations. First, the nation is suffering from an inferiority complex. The world’s largest nation in terms of population wants to be seen as a superpower, but the rest of the world doesn’t see China that way. Their economy is typical of a Communist nation- terrible. Central planning has never worked, and it will never work. Their military is second class. They don’t have the kind of nuclear capability they long for. And about the only sport in which they excel is ping-pong! (OK, they have some pretty good gymnasts, too.)

Second, their leaders suffer from a bunker mentality. They are one of only a handful of Communist nations left, and China is the only one of substance. They feel that everyone is out to get them. They trust no one. And they believe that the only way for them to progress is by conquest. Taiwan and Hong Kong are just appetizers for the leaders of Red China. Like the Russians before them, like all true Communists, they really believe that there can only be peace when the whole world is under Communist domination. Their first goal in this quest is complete domination over Asia. They invaded Korea and Vietnam, provoking years of conflict. They claim that Taiwan is a Chinese province and threaten that island nation militarily. They intimidated the international community (with Jimmy Carter assenting) into agreeing to their takeover of another freedom-loving island, Hong Kong. After Asia, the world. The Communist Chinese are unquestionably a threat to world peace.

Finally, they see this accident as a great opportunity. I know that sounds strange, because civilized people the world over can see it only as a tragedy. But the the leaders of Red China are not civilized people. These are the people who sent tanks to crush the bodies and spirits of their best and brightest students in Tienamin Square. They are savages. What opportunity do they see? They see the precious lives of these 24 Americans as nothing more than LEVERAGE. Leverage to keep the U.S. from selling arms to Taiwan that would protect them from Communist aggression. Leverage to force more trade concessions from us, when our balance of trade with them is already terribly lopsided. Leverage to get some kind of international status by forcing the world’s only superpower to apologize to them.

What can we do? The United States will not go to war over this. Twenty-four lives are at stake, but millions could die if we went to war. So are we helpless? Certainly not. China’s biggest problems today are economic ones. Their people are starting to see that they have been lied to for decades. They work harder than Americans, but receive a fraction of the pay we receive. Their masters have told them that their nation is superior to all others. They are finding out that they are really close to the bottom of the economic ladder.

With their human rights record, the Chinese should never have been granted Most Favored Nation trading status. This is a perfect opportunity for President Bush and the Congress to have the courage to say, "We will no longer give preferential trading status to Communist dictators who butcher their own people, and who terrorize our citizens." The United States should revoke Red China’s Most Favored Nation status immediately. But what can WE as individual patriots do?

Let’s boycott products made in China until our servicemen and women come home. By the time you receive this, they may have already been released. But there is a very real possibility that they may be held for months, because the hard-line military holds considerable power in China. They may even be put on trial. I for one will not buy any product made in China until our people have been released. If they put our men and women in front of one of their kangaroo courts, I will boycott Chinese products for the rest of my days.

Over 20,000 people read Conservative Truth every week. If all of you boycott Chinese products, and encourage your friends and family to do the same, it won’t be long before the effect is felt. Don’t feel that the retailer will be the only one to feel the pinch. He or she will find other merchandise to sell if we refuse to buy products made in China. In short order the Communist Chinese leaders will definitely take notice. And don’t feel guilty about hurting some small businessman in China. Most of the cheap, inferior products that we import from China are made by slave labor (prisoners and political dissidents) in factories owned by the State and run by the military.

Here’s an email from one of our readers that really hits home: "Please consider backing a boycott of Chinese goods. We Americans are our own worst enemies. Our greed has funded the Chinese military. Now they are becoming aggressive, even in international waters. We Americans have to be accountable for our own behavior. Our greed holds us hostage to the inexpensive goods China produces. We must overcome our greed and hold China responsible for keeping our men. There is no better way than economically. We can have an impact. We must try. Nori Pepper."

We won’t be alone. Bruce Eberle (MillionsOfAmericans.com) sent this email: "We’re not going to allow the Chinese government to use American hostages as political bargaining chips. Instead, we need to apply pressure on the Chinese to set the Americans free. I’m calling on your help to inform the Chinese that the American people can make things difficult for them if they refuse to let our people go. We’re consumers who can stop buying Chinese products. We’re business owners that can refuse to conduct business with Chinese interests. And we’re voters who can elect members of Congress who will provide more military aid to their Taiwanese rivals.

"So please take a minute or two to pick up the phone and call or write an e-mail to the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC urging them to free the 24 Americans. We, the American people, need to show the Chinese government that we’re very concerned about the way they’re handling this situation and that we DEMAND the immediate release of our fellow Americans."

E-mail address: chinaembassy_us@fmprc.gov.cn
Phone: (202) 328-2500 Fax: (202) 588-0032
www.china-embassy.org/eng/index.html

You might also try the Embassy’s Political Affairs Office:
Minister Counselor Chen Yonglong
Phone: (202) 328-2507 Fax: (202) 745-7473

This morning I listened to a mindless TV reporter say, "All we have to do is apologize. Then they’ll let our people go." Really? Should we trust the lives of our people to anything these proven liars say? The Chinese Communists are perfectly capable of extracting an apology to embarrass us, and then still putting our people on trial! They have referred to them as "criminals" repeatedly. By doing that, they are sending a pretty clear message to us. If we apologize, it would send a message that we are weak, and that they can push us even further. That is not the message we need to send to a terrorist nation that would blow our nation off the map with nuclear weapons if they could. (And don’t forget to thank Bill Clinton if the Chinese ever launch missiles at us. He sold them the Super Computers that have allowed them to develop their missile guidance systems, in violation of American law.)

Our President has said we will not apologize. He is right. We have nothing to apologize for. Our stance should be dignified but strong. We shouldn’t make threats we don’t intend to keep. We should send a clear message to the Butchers of Beijing that we are not afraid of them, and that we will never abandon our people.

THANK YOU, CHINA! You should definitely read this article by Tom Ambrose in which he thanks the leaders of China for accomplishing what American conservatives have been trying to accomplish for decades. Go to: www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=22335

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