China To USS Reuben James:GET LOST! No Hong Kong New Years Eve Liberty For You!

The USS Reuben James becomes the fourth incident of a U.S. ship refused port entry to Hong Kong by the Chinese government. Two Minesweepers seeking shelter from a storm were denied entry. The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk was refused port entry over the Thanksgiving Holiday and today the once a quarter flight by a C-17 in support of the US Consulate was refused as well. The Reuben James' 200 plus crew had visions of New Year's Eve Liberty in Hong Kong but the Chinese leadership is determined to demonstrate their agnst against Dubya for giving the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the, 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, undeserved legitimacy and for sales of Patriot missile-systems equipment to the "renegade province" of Taiwan. The Chinese government is a bit touchie about Tibet considering that the take over of Tibet in 1950 has never been anything to brag about:Heritage Foundation

If the matter of Tibet's sovereignty is murky, the question about the PRC's treatment of Tibetans is all too clear. After invading Tibet in 1950, the Chinese communists killed over one million Tibetans, destroyed over 6,000 monasteries, and turned Tibet's northeastern province, Amdo, into a gulag housing, by one estimate, up to ten million people. A quarter of a million Chinese troops remain stationed in Tibet. In addition, some 7.5 million Chinese have responded to Beijing's incentives to relocate to Tibet; they now outnumber the 6 million Tibetans. Through what has been termed Chinese apartheid, ethnic Tibetans now have a lower life expectancy, literacy rate, and per capita income than Chinese inhabitants of Tibet.^[71]

China Flips the Bird to USS Kittyhawk on Thanksgiving Day

Sailors on board the aircraft carrier Kittyhawk looking forward to off shore liberty in Hong Kong were crushed to learn that the Chinese government decided use their request to show Sino disapproval of our Yankee government actions by telling the U.S. sailors to take a hike. Needless to say, the Chinese club-footed response did not sit well with anyone this side of the Pacific Ocean. Apparently, surprised by the outrage the Chinese government officials reversed their decision based on face-saving "humanitarian" reasons and invited the Kittyhawk back. Too late, the Kittyhawk and the strike group had committed to return to Japan.

Today, the Financial Times reports:

Japan has refused a Chinese request to tour an advanced combat ship as the US-China spat over Beijing’s refusal to allow a US aircraft carrier to dock in Hong Kong last week spilled over into Sino-Japanese military relations.

The Pentagon is now furiously back pedaling any thoughts of tits for tats-- Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman, said: ”this was an unfortunate incident...we’re going to move past it”.

After all, its not like we aren't Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone, bosom buddies and life long friends with nothing but thoughts of the greater good for each other.

Simon Says:"join me in some verbal “weaponizing."

Roger Simon reminds all bloggers that the Beijing Olympics without Freedom of Speech is a propaganda con job. Simon says: blog about Chinese repression, censorship, suppression of bloggers and journalists. Do not blog about the Olympics.

Roger L. Simon

"So I would like to invite my fellow bloggers to join me in some verbal “weaponizing.”

From this moment on, I will not write about the Beijing Olympics unless the subject at hand is censorship and repression in China. And – unless the Chinese government changes its policies – when the Olympics do come, I will not blog about them at all. I will take the opportunity to write as often as I can about the lack of Freedom of Speech on the Chinese Internet and on the suppression of bloggers and journalists in that country.

I hope we could all do this together, especially since this is not an issue of right or left. It is about Freedom of Speech, something upon which the vast majority of the blogosphere can agree. We can reach across the aisle on this one, if others are willing. So…

… about those Beijing Olympics – they’re a propaganda sham until the people of China have Freedom of the Press.