Olympic flame lit at Everest peak...

China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.

The United States Air Force had considered a plan to drop nuclear bombs on China during a confrontation over Taiwan in 1958 but it was overruled, declassified documents showed Wednesday.

While the U.S. suffers the convulsions of an impending recession and massive wealth destruction, here the malls are stuffed full and the streets bumper-to-bumper with BMWs. The good times keep rolling, and not just in Hong Kong, but across much of emerging Asia, from Shanghai to Mumbai. Sure, the U.S. turmoil has had some impact -- jittery investors have knocked back stock markets from last year's lofty heights -- but in general, the story of America's economic woes has been confined to the morning newspapers.

Recession? What recession?

A wide-ranging group of U.S. Jewish leaders plans to release a statement Wednesday urging Jews worldwide to boycott the Summer Olympics in Beijing, citing China's troubling record on human rights and Tibet.

Among the many reasons given for the recent surge in gas prices is China's soaring demand for petroleum. Because the Chinese are running around the world buying up every available barrel of oil, the argument goes, we Americans have to pay that much more to outbid them for the leftover pools of crude. And the fact that the Chinese yuan has been growing stronger while the American dollar is shrinking in value has only exacerbated the problem.

Three U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups are patrolling waters off southeast Taiwan. The task forces with the Kitty Hawk, Nimitz and Lincoln in the lead are believed to continue the patrol until May 20. Of course, it's rather unusual. But what for?

Three U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups are patrolling waters off southeast Taiwan. The task forces with the Kitty Hawk, Nimitz and Lincoln in the lead are believed to continue the patrol until May 20. Of course, it's rather unusual. But what for?

Israelis have no moral right to fight the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

China paves road to Everest...

China lodged a formal complaint against U.S. television network CNN and said it should make a sincere apology for what it called a vicious attack by one of its commentators who labeled Chinese as "goons" and its products "junk."

John McCain 'would confront Russia and China'...

China has uncovered two terrorist gangs aiming to kidnap athletes at this summer's Olympics and attack tourist hotels, the Ministry of Public Security said today - prompting calls for officials to reveal more of their evidence.

But human rights groups have warned that the authorities have a history of exaggerating the threat of violence to strengthen their control over the region and justify repressive measures.

"The problem is that because China has made such extravagant claims with respect to terrorism in Xinjiang - and because their definition of terrorism includes peaceful dissent and protest - it has become impossible to ascertain with any degree of certainty these types of claim," said Nicholas Bequelin of Human Rights Watch.

Have you heard a lot about Chinese stocks lately? Neither have I.

That's probably because the Chinese stock markets are experiencing a nosedive not unlike the Nasdaq plunge of 2000. Since their October highs, the Shanghai Composite (SSE) is down 44%, and the Hang Seng is down 24%. I guess our financial media is too concerned about the S&P's 13% decline to care.

Torch headed out of San Francisco after surprise route designed to thwart protesters...

"Hey! Take your hands off me! Not you! You!!!"--the voice of a young woman in the darkened cinema, an old joke.

"Hey! Take your hands off Tibet!" the international chorus is crying out, "But not from Chechnya! Not from the Basque homeland! And certainly not from Palestine!" And that is not a joke.

French demonstrations shorten Paris leg of Olympic torch relay...

Three activists protesting Chinese human rights violations in Tibet climbed a suspension cable of the Golden Gate Bridge today, two days before the Olympic torch relay is scheduled to arrive here. .

Chinese paramilitary police have killed eight people after opening fire on several hundred Tibetan monks and villagers in bloody violence that will fuel human rights protests as London prepares to host its leg of the Olympic torch relay this weekend.

Singapore-listed shipyard Cosco Corp has begun quoting new sales contracts in Chinese yuan to reduce the impact of any further decline in the U.S. dollar, the company's president said Monday.

Chinese security forces seal off Tibet capital...

"They are moving to euros, pounds, Australian dollars or even quoting prices in renminbi," David Wei, chief executive, told the Financial Times. Moreover, he added, prices quoted in dollars were now often valid for just seven days compared with the 30-60 days common previously.

Britain's GCHQ, the government communications agency that electronically monitors half the world from space, has confirmed the claim by the Dalai Lama that agents of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the PLA, posing as monks, triggered the riots that have left hundreds of Tibetans dead or injured.

Rising numbers of Chinese exporters are shunning the US dollar or devising ways to offset the impact of the falling currency as they confront rising labour and raw material costs at home.

Britain's GCHQ spy agency has confirmed the fact that Chinese People's Liberation Army agents posing as monks staged violent riots in Tibet in order to justify a brutal crackdown, but that the demonstrations have now escalated beyond Beijing's control.

US cops beat the shit out of tibetans in front of the UN building, shot by a white free-tibet wOrrior.

more info about what is NOW going on in Tibet, please read the blog by a Canadian tourist in Lhasa: http://kadfly.blogspot.com/

France, Italy and Denmark recalled batches of the blood thinner heparin, the latest countries to pull the medicine because of concerns about contamination with Chinese-made ingredients, Europe's drug regulator said today.

China's continuing crackdown on Tibetan pro-independence protesters is a big, big issue here in San Francisco. Why, just the other day, I was coming out my front door, and there was one of my neighbors - a very nice woman in her fifties, albeit an archetypal limousine liberal, typical of the breed. So typical that she might almost be mistaken for a living, breathing, walking, talking cliché. She hates George W. Bush and the neocons because she's against the (Iraq) war, but she's eager to "liberate" Darfur - and, lately, Tibet. That morning, as she earnestly informed me, she was on her way to a meeting of the Board of Supervisors (our town council) to exhort them to vote for a resolution condemning the Chinese government's actions and calling for "freedom" for Tibet. What she doesn't realize, and doesn't want to know, is that she and the neocons - the very ones who brought us the Iraq war - are united on the Tibet issue. I tried, in vain, to point this out to her, but she just shook her head, cut the conversation short, and was on her way...

Tibetan exiles say 135 killed, 500 hurt in protests...

Paramilitary police opened fire on hundreds of monks, nuns and Tibetans who tried to march on a local government office in western China yesterday to demand the return of the Dalai Lama.

Sen. Clinton has made much of a September 1995 speech she delivered in Beijing, in an effort to show she is willing to get tough on China. She said in her book "Living History" that she was briefed by the State Department and the Secret Service in advance of that speech, and was even fed "intelligence information" during those discussions. The schedules don't reflect such briefings, however...

At least a dozen earthquakes hit China's remote northwestern region of Xinjiang on Friday, flattening or damaging more than 2,000 houses, but no casualties had been reported so far, Xinhua news agency said.

Almost half a century after he fled to India, the Dalai Lama has raised the extraordinary prospect of travelling to Beijing and holding face-to-talks with the Chinese regime in an effort to resolve Tibet's most serious crisis for two decades.

Thousands of soldiers were seen in Lhasa on Thursday amid reports of a huge military build-up, as the Dalai Lama expressed fears China's crackdown on Tibetan protesters had caused many casualties.

CHINA has mobilised thousands of troops throughout Tibetan enclaves in attempts to avert a bloodbath as students joined monks and local Tibetans in spontaneous protests before Beijing's midnight deadline for those involved in protests against Chinese rule in Lhasa to surrender.

the United States pressed China on Friday not to use force against protests in the Tibetan capital Lhasa.

The US ambassador to Beijing, Clark Randt, delivered the US message directly to senior Chinese officials during a meeting on a separate topic, US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

In an annual response to Washington's criticism of China's human rights record, the Chinese government labelled the United States arrogant, and highlighted what it said were widespread US failures at home and abroad.

Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said the protests were a result of public resentment of the "brute force" employed by China to maintain control of the region for more than 50 years.

The Pot Stops Calling The Kettle Black!...

China on Tuesday condemned the annual Pentagon report to the U.S. Congress on Chinese military power, saying it was a distortion of the facts, interfered in the country's internal affairs and showed "Cold War thinking". Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Qin Gang added that Beijing had made "solemn representations" to Washington about the report and also denied Beijing was engaged in cyberwarfare.

Security analysts have suggested that Beijing could use the planned U.S. interception to justify the Chinese military's unannounced destruction of a defunct weather satellite in January 2007.

That interception drew criticism from senior U.S. military officials, who complained that it had left a cloud of debris that was dangerous to other space traffic. Chinese experts in turn have questioned the Pentagon's explanation that it wanted to down the spy satellite to avoid contamination from hazardous fuel on board.

US lawmakers are setting the stage for legislation slapping China with punitive sanctions over currency and other trade issues after another year of record trade deficit with the Asian giant.

The United States said Monday it was "troubling" that China's weapons systems capability exceeded the level Beijing defined as necessary for self-defense.

U.S. warships will cross the Taiwan Strait whenever they choose to, the head of the U.S. Pacific Command said Tuesday, after China's complaint about a U.S. aircraft carrier doing so on its way back to its home port in Japan late last year.

Adm. Timothy Keating said the USS Kitty Hawk, which sailed through the area after China's initial denial of permission to make a port call in Hong Kong, did so because of bad weather, adding that whether the two countries can discuss such developments as they arise is a measure of transparency.

China’s politically sensitive trade surplus for 2007 soared to a record $262.2 billion (£133.4 billion), a figure that is likely to fuel European and US pressure on Beijing to allow its currency to strengthen.

Critics of China's communist government hoped to use the elaborate float and its worldwide stage at the Rose Parade on Tuesday as a rallying point for protests about the nation's human rights record.

Hong Kong's chief executive has said Beijing will allow the special region's people to directly elect their leader by 2017 and their legislators by 2020.

The United States has cautiously avoided traveling through the Taiwan Strait since 1996, when Taiwan's first presidential vote created turmoil. However, sources say that following China's rejection on November 21, six aircraft carriers, including the USS Kitty Hawk, moved in the South China Sea, crossing the Taiwan Strait.

CHINA is running out of fuel. Police are guarding petrol stations in several inland provinces to prevent fights, as shortages of petrol and diesel are causing huge queues of trucks, buses and cars.

The system is suffering from pressure of demand to sustain its economic growth at the current 11.5per cent - with China now the second-biggest consumer of oil after the US.

The Chinese officials overseeing the Three Gorges Dam defended the huge project's environmental record Tuesday, asserting that pressure from rising waters in the dam's reservoir were not to blame for any major geological incidents or disasters in the region.

Type 039 Song Class Diesel-Electric Submarine...

China now controls 44% of America's foreign debt. (Over the last couple of years Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and our other allies around the world stopped buying our debt bond issues. China stepped up to the plate and bought when everyone else was selling. Almost single-handedly China has kept the dollar solvent in order to protect their balance of trade.) Beijing's threat to dump debt bonds was as much a threat to the tough talk from Sen. Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party as it was to the Bush Administration to keep the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury in check.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao made the remarks when asked to comment on U.S. Department of Defense's recent announcement of planning to sell 3 sets of Patriot II anti-missile equipment upgrade systems and affiliated equipments worth of 939 million U.S. dollars to Taiwan.

China firmly opposes to arms sales by the U.S. government to Taiwan, and had already raised strong objection and solemn representations to the United States, said Liu, noting that this has been a consistent and clear stance of China.

American military chiefs have been left dumbstruck by an undetected Chinese submarine popping up at the heart of a recent Pacific exercise and close to the vast U.S.S. Kitty Hawk - a 1,000ft supercarrier with 4,500 personnel on board.

By the time it surfaced the 160ft Song Class diesel-electric attack submarine is understood to have sailed within viable range for launching torpedoes or missiles at the carrier.

The incident, which took place in the ocean between southern Japan and Taiwan, is a major embarrassment for the Pentagon.

PetroChina Co. almost tripled on its first day of trading in Shanghai, becoming the world's first company to be valued at $1 trillion, more than Exxon Mobil Corp. and General Electric Co. combined.

PetroChina shares rose to 43.96 yuan from the sale price of 16.7 yuan, giving the state-owned oil producer a greater market value than the entire Russian stock market.

China's problem is self-inflicted. After three decades of economic reforms, Beijing still sets one-third of prices, including the price of electric power, gasoline and cooking oil. But that clashes with the free-market reality of China's oil refiners, which must pay record-high prices for crude on the world market.

It wasn't clear whether Gates would make any specific proposals on Iran.

China has raised fuel prices by almost 10% in an effort to ease the country's worsening supply crisis.

Officials hope the extra revenue will make refiners increase production, easing the long queues and rationing at filling stations.< P>Correspondents warn that the move could add to rising inflation, which is already at record highs.

More than a half-million Chinese-made products were recalled Thursday, including "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Baby Einstein toys, because they contain dangerous levels of lead.

The American economy may be teetering on the brink of a recession, but there's an industry our hedge fund gurus believe has an almost limitless future: the Chinese police state.

In a stunning report in the New York Times last week, correspondent Keith Bradsher documented the rise of China's electronic surveillance industry, whose leading companies have incorporated themselves in the United States and obtained the lion's share of their capital from U.S. hedge funds. Though ostensibly private, these companies are a for-profit adjunct of the Chinese government.

The Fed's decision to cut interest rates again is likely to send the dollar tumbling to historic new lows, leading one financial analyst to predict that China's fury at the devaluation of its huge dollar reserves will provoke them into giving the U.S. government a terse ultimatum - let us invade Taiwan unopposed or we'll dump the dollar and bring about economic chaos.

More than 1.6 million people have been evacuated from China's financial hub, Shanghai, and neighbouring areas as powerful Typhoon Wipha looms closer.

Demobilized soldiers rioted at a retraining center in northeastern China overnight, the latest in a series of apparently coordinated protests against living conditions, a teacher and a human rights monitoring group said Friday.

About 1,000 ex-soldiers began smashing up classrooms and dormitories at the Qiqihar Railway Institute late Thursday night using beer bottles, the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said.

The violence comes just over one week after about 2,000 demobilized Chinese soldiers rioted at training centers in at least three cities.

Many security analysts see the Taiwan Strait, the 180-km (110-mile) stretch of water between China and its tiny neighbour, as one of the most dangerous flashpoints in Asia.

A sharp drop in foreign holdings of US Treasury bonds over the last five weeks has raised concerns that China is quietly withdrawing its funds from the United States, leaving the dollar increasingly vulnerable.

"We won't know if China is behind this until the Treasury releases its TIC data in November, but what it does show is that world central banks are in a hurry to get out of the US. They don't seem to be switching into other currencies, so it is possible they are moving into gold instead. Gold is now gaining momentum across all currencies and has broken through resistance at 500 euros," he said.

Southern China is bracing for the arrival of two powerful tropical storms, with more than 250,000 people evacuated as a precaution, the Government says.

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.

The flood-battered banks of the Huaihe River are at risk of washing away, posing a grave threat to the homes of millions of people, Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday.

Torrential rains have wrought havoc across large parts of China this summer, most recently in the southwest and the east, killing more than 500 people and causing billions of dollars in damage.

More rain has been forecast.

China's economy grew so rapidly in the first half of 2007 that it is likely to overtake Germany as the world's third-largest by the end of this year, analysts say.

The United States may be about to do something really stupid, which is to launch a trade war with China.

Such a misguided step would do much damage to the world economy and reinforce the view, not only in China but in other emerging market countries, that the United States does not really want them to succeed. Moreover, China would be bound to retaliate.

What's driving the "blame China" crusade in the U.S. Congress is its growing trade deficit with China.

Early this year, when China blasted one of its satellites into thousands of little pieces, it was condemned by Washington as a provocative act. But some arms-control experts believe Beijing was baring its teeth to send the White House a different message. They say that China, which has consistently opposed the weaponization of space, is hoping to negotiate an arms treaty that would rein in both nations' growing arsenal of so-called "space weapons".

n a historically unprecedented visit, influential Chinese scholar and labor-law expert Liu Cheng arrived in Washington, DC, to garner support from US legislators and labor leaders for a law that is pending not before the US Congress but before the National People's Congress (NPC) in China. Liu Cheng has been a key adviser to the drafters on a labor-law reform bill currently working its way through the Chinese legislative process.

His visit is part of a behind-the-scenes battle that is raging worldwide over reforms in China's labor law. On the one side are Wal-Mart, Google, General Electric (GE) and other global corporations that have been aggressively lobbying to limit new rights for Chinese workers. On the other side are pro-worker-rights forces in China, backed by labor, human rights, and political forces in the US and around the world.

Martial Law Imposed In China's Yongzhou, Hunan Province...

Thousands of Chinese farmers and laid-off workers rioted in central China, attacking police and smashing squad cars, a local official said on Monday, the latest in a string of violent demonstrations.

Nine police cars were burnt during the riot on Friday in the central province of Hunan in which 20,000 people clashed with about 1,000 police armed with guns and electric cattle prods, a local official told Reuters.

The government has said the number of "mass incidents" in the countrya term that includes protests, petitions and demonstrations–was about 23,000 last year.

China warned visiting US Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte that plans to sell American missiles to Taiwan threatened to harm Sino-US ties, a Chinese spokesman said Saturday.

China demanded Friday the United States scrap a planned sale of hundreds of missiles to Taiwan, warning the deal would harm regional stability and bilateral ties.

A bill introduced Tuesday with Republican and Democratic support would revoke China's Permanent Normal Trade Relations status with the United States, The Christian Science Monitor said.

Another bipartisan bill, the Fair Currency Act of 2007, classified China as a currency manipulator in violation of U.S. trade law and threatened to add retaliatory tariffs on Chinese products.

Suddenly China is no longer America's "potential enemy" and "a threat to be contained". Now, China is to be embraced. What has changed? Not much, except that the US, enmired as it is in the Middle East, needs help there and is thus forced to make a show of multilateralism. China's brilliant strategists are only too happy to play along - unlike the Russians. Oh, for the simple joys of the Cold War.

The United States, Australia and Canada have criticised China over a weapons test it is said to have carried out in space last week.

Senate leaders said Tuesday evening they were preparing a change to US law to make it easier to take action over the growing US-China trade deficit.

The move towards new legislation came after a Treasury report to Congress failed to find evidence of exchange rate manipulation by Beijing, despite US concern that China’s cheap currency is fueling a record trade deficit of more than $200bn.

The bill is likely to be endorsed by the Bush administration, which is under pressure to harden its stance towards Beijing after Democrats made Sino-American relations a key issue in mid-term elections

China's trade surplus widens to a record $18.8 billion...

Taiwan plans to test-fire a missile capable of hitting China, alarming the island's main ally, the United States, a cable news network said on Thursday.

BRITAIN discussed a nuclear strike on China in 1961 to defend Hong Kong, secret Government documents have revealed.

The biggest factor determining global stability over the next 20 years, simply put, is China. For good or bad, it will shape the world. If everything goes well, China will be integrated in the developed world and will become one of its engines, if not the main engine. If things go bad, there could be a confrontation that makes the Cold War pale in comparison.

The Shanghai Co-operation Organisation - whose meeting has forced the shutdown of much of the city this week - is celebrating its fifth anniversary, and is preparing to expand its membership well beyond the present China, Russia and four strategic central Asian states: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Li Hui refused at a briefing yesterday to disclose the countries that wished to become observers or full members, beyond saying: "A lot of countries in Asia and other continents have applied, demonstrating the SCO is broadening its influence."

United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Saturday warned China for its perceived lack of transparency in defence spending, while showering praise on Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf for "courage" and "leadership" in the global war against terrorism.

Managing China’s arrival as the world’s second superpower will demand consummate diplomatic skills. The United States must devise ways of living with China’s economic competition, surging demand for resources, and inevitable growing geopolitical influence in Asia and the western Pacific while avoiding confrontation. Two highly nationalistic, muscular, and assertive great powers must somehow learn to co-exist.

China has overtaken Japan to become the world's largest foreign exchange holder as its forex reserves reached a record $818.9 billion by the end of 2005.

The surplus under current accounts totalled $160.8 billion, jumping 134 per cent year on year and accounting for 72 per cent of China's total surplus in its balance of payments, the BOP statement released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) said here.