Tibetan groups are calling for urgent intervention in Tibet by U.N. human rights bodies. They appealed to the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.
Representatives of several Tibetan groups in exile say tensions remain high in Tibet. The groups say China has responded to the 50th anniversary of the occupation of the country with a military crackdown that has increased the climate of fear and intimidation faced by the Tibetan people.

The United States has lodged a protest with China over an incident Sunday in which the Pentagon says five Chinese vessels harassed an unarmed U.S. Navy research ship in international waters in the South China Sea, and engaged in potentially dangerous maneuvering. Pentagon officials say this is the latest in a series of such incidents in recent days.
A U.S. Navy photo shows that one of the Chinese ships is fairly large and has “China Marine Surveillance” written on its side. The other ships are smaller and also do not …

China’s state-run media has said a Tibetan monk made up allegations that police shot another monk who set himself on fire to protest against Chinese rule in his homeland.
Activist groups reported police shot the monk when he protested in the flashpoint area of Aba in southwest China’s Sichuan province last week, and residents there contacted by AFP confirmed that they had heard guns fired.
But the Xinhua news agency issued a report on Thursday saying another monk had confessed to making up allegations about the police shooting, and cited residents saying …

China has increased the number of short-range missiles aimed at Taiwan to about 1,500, officials and experts said yesterday, a sign of continued distrust between the two sides despite a recent warming of ties.
China expanded its arsenal last year even as tensions eased after the election of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan (賴幸媛) said.
“In this period of warmth, a war won’t break out, but don’t forget China still has 1,500 missiles aimed at Taiwan — more than 1,500 — and that’s not right,” Lai …

China has reacted with indignation over an incident in which a shoe was thrown at its premier, Wen Jiabao.
Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said the man who disrupted a speech by the premier had exhibited “despicable behaviour”.
China’s reaction was far harsher than when two shoes were thrown at former US President George W Bush.
A 27-year-old man has been charged with committing a public order offence following the incident in the UK.

HONG KONG — In China’s first modern deployment of battle-ready warships beyond the Pacific, a naval task force set out Friday to begin escorts and patrols in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, state news media reported.
A supply ship and two destroyers departed from Sanya, on the island province of Hainan, carrying a total of about 800 crew members, according to Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency.

China confirmed today that it will send naval ships to waters off Somalia to protect against pirates that have attacked 20 percent of its vessel traffic this year, the Foreign Ministry said.
In the first 11 months, 1,265 Chinese commercial ships passed through Somali waters, or about three to four a day, a fifth of which were assaulted by pirates, according to Liu Jianchao, a spokesman for the ministry.

China has executed a scientist accused of spying for Taiwan.
Wo Weihan’s family had appealed for clemency, saying that the scientist was tortured into admitting that he was a spy. He was sentenced last year.
The 59-year-old man, who ran his own medical research company in Beijing, was arrested in early 2005.
Among other things, he was convicted of passing Chinese military secrets to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

China has developed such a sophisticated and active cyber warfare programme that the US “may be unable to counteract or even detect” an attack, a US congressional panel has warned.
In its annual report presented to the US congress on Thursday, the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said China was already stealing “vast amounts of sensitive information from US computer networks”.
It said networks owned by the US government, defence contractors and US businesses were the focus of Chinese cyber attacks.

China today denied that it was stealing American space technology after a scientist admitted selling the information to the communist state.
Physicist Quan-Sheng Shu, 68, a naturalised American citizen born in Shanghai, pleaded guilty in a district court in Norfolk, Virginia, yesterday to selling rocket technology to China and bribing Chinese officials to secure a lucrative contract for his high-tech company. The US has an arms embargo on China.