The 18-year-old monk, identified as Nangdrol, set himself alight Sunday in Sichuan province's Rangtang county, where one Tibetan was reportedly shot dead by security forces last month, the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) said.

Citing exiled Tibetan sources with contacts in the area, ICT said Nangdrol had died and his body was taken back to a local monastery. The information was confirmed by the London-based Free Tibet.

Monks did not comply with police orders to hand over the body and more than 1,000 people gathered to hold a vigil on Sunday evening, ICT said.

The group said the young Buddhist monk shouted "May HH (His Holiness) Dalai Lama live 10,000 years" and "Freedom for Tibet" when he set himself on fire.

An official surnamed Huang, who works for the finance department of the Rangtang government, denied the self-immolation and gathering had taken place.

"Everything is fine. The order is normal," he told AFP, adding there was a strong security presence.

"We have police and armed police on duty 24 hours a day. All government offices have staff on duty 24 hours a day," he said.

At least 22 people have set themselves on fire in Tibetan-inhabited areas of China over the past year -- mostly in Sichuan -- in what is seen as a desperate act by Tibetans protesting against perceived repressive Chinese rule.

Tensions have increased markedly this year, and western parts of Sichuan -- which borders the Tibet autonomous region and has a large population of ethnic Tibetans -- were hit by deadly bouts of unrest last month.

As a result, authorities have imposed virtual martial law in parts of the vast Tibetan-inhabited regions, increasing their surveillance of monasteries and cutting some phone and Internet communications.

China blames the Dalai Lama -- Tibet's exiled spiritual leader who is still widely revered in parts of the country -- of inciting the self-immolations in a bid to split Tibet from the rest of the nation.

Many Tibetans who travelled to India in January with valid passports to attend the Dalai Lama's teachings have been detained on their return to China and made to undergo political re-education, rights groups say.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 19, 2012 - Police in southwest China have detained a Tibetan writer amid scores of detentions in the region hit by anti-Chinese protests, a US-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia said Sunday.

A team of 20 policemen took Gangkye Drubpa Kyab, 33, from his home in Seda county, Sichuan province on Wednesday last week, the broadcaster said, citing acquaintances of the popular author.

Writers, singers, and artists promoting Tibetan national identity and culture have frequently been detained by Chinese authorities, especially following protests against Chinese rule in 2008, it said.

Drubpa Kyab's disappearance comes amid a huge clampdown in Tibetan-inhabited areas following several bouts of deadly unrest, and ahead of the March anniversary of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's flight into exile.

A government official in Seda told AFP that he was unaware of the arrest of Drubpa Kyab. Police in the county did not answer phones on Sunday.

According to Human Rights Watch, authorities have also detained large numbers of Tibetans for political re-education after they returned from a visit to India to listen to religious teachings.

The New York-based group quoted multiple sources as saying that since February 6, many recently-returned Tibetans had been detained in ad hoc centres in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and other areas.

The group said the exact number of detainees was not known, but may run into the hundreds.

China has imposed virtual martial law in numerous Tibetan-inhabited regions as tensions have escalated, leading to the deaths last month of at least two people in clashes between police and locals in Sichuan, which borders Tibet.

Over the past year at least 20 Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks, have set themselves on fire in protest at what they say is religious and cultural repression.

China accuses overseas groups seeking to split Tibet from the rest of China of fomenting the recent unrest, but rights groups say it stems from growing unhappiness among Tibetans over religious and cultural repression.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 17, 2012 - Despite investing billions of dollars in "soft power" projects to improve its image abroad, China complains it is still getting a lot of bad press and is pointing the finger at foreign journalists.

Authorities routinely accuse China's 900 foreign reporters -- a record number, accredited to more than 400 media organisations -- of covering China in a negative way. The journalists, meanwhile, complain of regular hindrance to their work.

The issue came to the fore at a forum this week in Beijing, where media representatives from China -- which operates a vast censorship system over the press -- and France gathered to try and iron out their differing views.

"It is not that China is against critical reporting," said Wang Chen, minister in charge of the press office at the State Council, China's cabinet.

"What we don't accept are double standards based on a Cold War mentality," he told French ambassador Sylvie Bermann, who had just highlighted the importance of journalists being allowed to report stories on the ground.

Foreign reporters in China are sometimes blocked from going to breaking news spots, despite official regulations that allow them to travel freely and to interview anyone who gives their consent.

Earlier this month, for instance, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC) -- an illegal organisation in the eyes of Chinese authorities -- complained about working conditions for reporters in Tibetan-inhabited areas.

Journalists trying to get to areas hit by deadly unrest in Sichuan province were repeatedly turned back by police, and authorities in those regions cut web and phone communications, making reporting on the issue near impossible.

On Thursday, the FCCC also issued a warning to journalists wanting to cover a revolt against local officials by villagers in east China after a Dutch reporter was beaten up by thugs who appeared to be plainclothes police.

Chinese authorities often complain to Western media of their "negative" coverage, pointing to too many stories on dissidents, protests, social unrest, pollution and not enough on China's economic and cultural achievements.

These concerns surfaced at the forum, organised by the China Institute -- a non-profit French organisation created in 2009 that says it aims to foster better understanding of China -- and by official Chinese partners.

"For the French media, China has become an autocratic country with strong economic growth," lamented Cui Hongjian of the China Institute of International Studies.

"We must provide more positive information to the public," added Wang Fang, deputy head of the international section of the People's Daily newspaper, the Communist Party mouthpiece.

Erik Izraelewicz, director of French newspaper Le Monde, retorted that a journalist "should not have to judge whether news is negative or positive, just whether there is any news".

"Our mission is to inform," he added.

The Chinese government is making efforts to push the nation's various ministries, administrations and local authorities to be more open and better respond to the needs of the foreign press.

"We have a project to train officials to talk to the media," said Cui.

Authorities in some sensitive areas of China such as the northwestern Xinjiang region, which is regularly hit by ethnic unrest, have let foreign journalists in under strict surveillance -- in stark contrast to Tibetan-inhabited areas.

These improvements come as China tries to better its image abroad -- particularly since 2008, when riots in Tibet and a crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the Olympic Games badly dented what could have been a public relations victory.

Beijing is spending billions of dollars to extend the reach of its state media -- such as the Xinhua news agency, CCTV television or the People's Daily -- and of its Confucius institutes, designed to promote Chinese language and culture.

And while China's 9,884 newspapers, 1,600 television channels and 2,000 radios operate under strict surveillance, some of the more liberal press and the hugely popular social media platforms push the limits of censorship day by day.

Large numbers of smart, young people graduate from journalism school in China every year, and many speak fluent English.

"There are 900 journalism schools in China that train between 50,000 and 60,000 young journalists every year," said Zhou Qing'an of Tsinghua University.

But foreign media organisations are not allowed to recruit them to work as reporters -- a regulation that forum participants said should change, as they could help promote better understanding of their nation.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 17, 2012 - China has detained large numbers of Tibetans for political re-education after they returned from a visit to India to listen to religious teachings, a leading rights group said.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) quoted multiple sources as saying that since February 6, many recently-returned Tibetans had been detained in ad hoc centres in Lhasa, capital of Tibet, and other areas.

Beijing has launched a huge clampdown on Tibetan-inhabited areas of China following several bouts of deadly unrest, and ahead of the March anniversary of the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama's flight into exile.

The group said the exact number of detainees was not known, but may run into the hundreds. It is also unclear how long they will be held, but sources with knowledge of the detentions said they could last from 20 days to three months.

"This is the first known instance since the late 1970s in which the Chinese authorities have detained laypeople in Tibet in large numbers to force them to undergo re-education," HRW said in a statement received Friday.

The government and police of Tibet were not immediately available for comment when contacted by AFP.

Tibetans caught returning to China from Nepal or India without legal travel documents usually face stiff penalties, but the detention of travellers with valid passports is rare, the group said.

In the recent cases though, the detained returnees travelled in and out of China on valid passports and had entry visas for Nepal, it added.

A number of them also travelled directly to India using visas issued by India, indicating that Chinese authorities had not placed restrictions on travel to India in Tibetans' passports, as has been the case in the past.

China has imposed virtual martial law in parts of its vast Tibetan-inhabited regions as tensions have escalated, leading to the deaths last month of at least two people in clashes between police and locals in the southwest province of Sichuan.

Over the past year at least 20 Tibetans, many of them Buddhist monks, have set themselves on fire in protest at what they say is religious and cultural repression.

China accuses overseas groups seeking to split Tibet from the rest of China of fomenting the recent unrest, but rights groups say it stems from growing unhappiness among Tibetans over religious and cultural repression.

Foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said he was not aware of the detentions but blamed "overseas personnel and organisations" for inciting the self-immolations and "other extreme activities and violence."

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 15, 2012 - Beijing has appointed a career law enforcement official to head an ethnically Tibetan area of southwest China where a number of monks and nuns have self-immolated in recent months.

An official Communist Party website for Sichuan province's Aba prefecture -- scene of some of the worst protests against Chinese rule over the past year -- said Liu Zuoming was appointed on February 11.

At least 20 Tibetans have set fire to themselves in the past year to protest against what they call religious and cultural repression by Beijing, leading the government to impose virtual martial law in Tibetan-inhabited regions.

Many have been monks from Aba's Kirti monastery, which has been under virtual lockdown since a young monk named Phuntsog set light to himself and died in March 2011, sparking mass protests there.

Liu, 54, who previously worked as the government prosecutor in Sichuan, said he would make maintaining stability in Aba his priority, according to the government website.

"We must strictly prevent and severely strike at the activities of domestic and foreign hostile forces seeking to split, infiltrate and sabotage," he said.

"We must thoroughly smash any plot seeking to sabotage the stability of Aba and endanger the unity of the motherland."

China has routinely accused overseas groups and Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama of advocating Tibetan independence, fomenting unrest and spurring monks toward self-immolation.

The Buddhist spiritual leader has denied such accusations, while calling for real autonomy for his Tibetan homeland.

Tibetans have long chafed under China's rule over the vast Tibetan plateau, accusing Beijing of curbing religious freedoms and eroding their culture and language, and these tensions have intensified over the past year.

But Beijing insists that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and have benefited from improved living standards brought by China's economic expansion.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Washington (AFP) Feb 14, 2012 - Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said Tuesday that Beijing will take concrete steps to improve human rights as he admitted "there is always room for improvement."

Xi said that in his talks in Washington with President Barack Obama, he "stressed China has made tremendous and well-recognized achievements in the field of human rights over the past 30-plus years since reform and opening up.

"Of course there is always room for improvement when it comes to human rights," Xi added during a lunch at the State Department with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Vice President Joe Biden.

"Given China's huge population, considerable regional diversity and uneven development, we are still faced with many challenges improving people's livelihood and advancing human rights," Xi said.

"The Chinese government will always put peoples' interests first and take seriously people's aspirations and demands," said the man who is likely to become China's next president.

"We will, in light of China's national conditions, continue to take concrete and effective policies and measures to promote social fairness, justice and harmony and push forward China's course of human rights," he said.

He said China is "ready to conduct candid and constructive dialogue and exchanges on human rights with the United States and other countries on the basis of equality and mutual respect."

Chinese President Hu Jintao made similar remarks in Washington last year, but both leaders stressed the need to take "national" conditions into account, and Hu acknowledged China does not share Western ideas about human rights.

During his talks with Xi, Obama brought up concerns about human rights, saying Washington would "continue to emphasize what we believe is the importance of realizing the aspirations and rights of all people."

Human rights groups say that China has also stepped up curbs on dissent, with dozens of government critics detained since last year. Democracy activist Zhu Yufu was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison, his wife said.

Residents say that China has imposed virtual martial law in Tibetan areas, amid a wave of self-immolations to protest Beijing's rule, and has kept tight control of the Uighur minority concentrated in northwestern Xinjiang.

Standing next to Xi during the lunch, Biden said: "We see our advocacy for human rights as a fundamental aspect of our foreign policy, and we believe a key to the prosperity and stability of all societies."

Biden added: "We have been clear about our concern over the areas in which, from our perspective, conditions in China have deteriorated and about the plight of several very prominent individuals. We appreciate your response."

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 13, 2012 - Two "criminal suspects" killed a police officer before being shot dead in a Tibetan-inhabited area hit by a spate of protests against Beijing's rule, Chinese state media said on Monday.

The story in the official Ganzi Daily newspaper did not name the pair, but it appeared to confirm earlier reports that two ethnic Tibetans had been shot dead in southwest China's Sichuan province last week.

The Ganzi Daily said the three "suspects" had fired on police in Sichuan's Luhuo county after they were ordered to surrender, without giving further details.

According to Radio Free Asia (RFA) -- a US-funded group that broadcasts news in several languages including Tibetan -- police in Luhuo shot dead Yeshe Rigsal, a monk, and his brother on Thursday.

Officials in Ganzi prefecture refused to provide any more details when contacted by AFP.

Sichuan has been hit by a series of self-immolations by Tibetan Buddhists who allege they are suffering from religious and cultural repression at the hands of Chinese authorities in the region.

China has stepped up security across its vast Tibetan-inhabited region after at least two people were killed last month in clashes between police and locals in Luhuo.

The protests are the biggest to hit the region since March 2008, when riots broke out in the Tibetan capital Lhasa before spreading to other areas.

On Saturday, an 18-year-old Buddhist nun set herself on fire in Aba county, near Luhuo, later dying of her injuries, exile groups and Chinese state media have said.

This brings to at least 19 the number of people who have set themselves on fire in the past year in Tibetan-inhabited areas in protest over Chinese rule.

RFA reported that another three Tibetans self-immolated earlier this month in a remote village of Sichuan. However, local authorities quoted in the official Global Times newspaper have denied that account.

China has blamed much of the unrest on the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader and said the self-immolations were a form of terrorism.

Tibetans have long chafed under China's rule over the vast Tibetan plateau, accusing Beijing of curbing religious freedoms and eroding their culture and language, and these tensions have intensified over the past year.

But Beijing insists that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and have benefited from improved living standards brought by China's economic expansion.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Shanghai (AFP) Feb 12, 2012 - A Chinese village which staged an extraordinary rebellion against authorities last year has taken a key step in a process to freely elect its own governing committee, residents said Sunday.

Thousands of residents of Wukan in the southern province of Guangdong voted Saturday for more than 100 representatives who will put forward candidates for a seven-member village committee to be elected in March, they said.

The move followed protests by the village last December when they faced off with authorities for more than a week in an uproar over land grabs.

The demonstrations prompted a drawn-out stand-off with police and officials, but the Guangdong provincial government eventually capitulated and sought to pacify the villagers as their case made headlines.

The rare concessions included pledges to support free village polls.

Wukan residents said their former leaders had never before allowed these polls to go ahead in an open fashion, and instead selected members of the village committee behind closed doors.

Saturday's election of village representatives was reported by the official Xinhua news agency, showing the exercise in democracy is taking place with the blessing of authorities.

"The village representatives will suggest a list of candidates and all villagers have the right to vote for the village committee," Yang Yinqiao, who is helping oversee the process, told AFP.

China -- a one-party state where top leaders are not elected by the people -- does allow rural residents across the country to vote for committees to represent them in what are known as "village elections".

Hong Ruiqing, one of the 107 newly elected village representatives, said the job included communicating with people.

"We work with the people to get tasks done," she told AFP.

Observers say the representatives also function as ombudsmen, fielding complaints from residents.

Village committees, which aim to give people a say in government, are still ultimately beholden to the ruling communist party.

But one of the revolt leaders, Lin Zuluan, was named village party chief in January, replacing the businessman who had been Wukan's leader for 42 years and who was accused of stealing village land and selling it to developers.

The villagers' anger boiled over following years of complaints after detained community leader Xue Jinbo died in police custody in December due to an alleged beating.

The daughter of the late Xue Jinbo was among those elected as village representatives.

"I did this only so that I will have a chance to finish the thing that my father did not finish," Xue Jianwan said on her microblog.

A top official last year said that the Wukan protests, which attracted worldwide media attention, resulted from a failure by local leaders to address the complaints of villagers.

Zhu Mingguo, deputy Communist Party secretary for Guangdong, also warned of further unrest in China if such problems were not handled correctly.

China lays great emphasis on the need for stability and social harmony, and analysts say its paramount concern is to be seen to be able to manage unrest.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Beijing (AFP) Feb 11, 2012 - A former Chinese police chief whose visit to a US consulate sparked rumours he was trying to defect flew to Beijing with a top state security officer after meeting American officials in southwest China.

Wang Lijun, who has close links to a high-profile contender to join China's top decision-making body, flew first class from Chengdu to Beijing on February 8, according to a travel website authorised to show passenger flight details.

Qiu Jin, who is the deputy head of China's State Security Ministry, also had a first class seat on the same flight. The website Travelsky, which is backed by China's aviation regulator, shows the tickets were used.

It is not clear if the two men were travelling together, but the fact they were on the same flight will fuel speculation about Wang whose exact whereabouts are unknown.

Wang, vice mayor and former police chief of Chongqing, is famed as one of China's top graft-busters after leading a crackdown that led to scores of senior officials being jailed in the southwestern city of 30 million people.

The operation brought Wang into the spotlight and boosted the political prospects of his controversial boss, Chongqing Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai, who rewarded Wang by making him his deputy.

Wang, 52, an ethnic Mongolian and martial arts expert, was dismissed as police chief last week, and on Wednesday Chinese websites buzzed with rumours he had sought asylum at the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu.

Chongqing authorities said Wang was on leave, receiving "vacation-style treatment" for stress and over-work.

Sick leave has frequently been used in the past as a euphemism for political purges under China's one-party system.

The US embassy in Beijing confirmed Wang's visit to the consulate this week but declined to comment on the rumours he had sought asylum, saying only that he had gone there for a meeting and left "of his own volition".

China's official Xinhua news agency said authorities were "investigating the incident".

Analysts said the confirmation of the visit would stoke rumours surrounding Wang and Bo, and said it could hamper Bo's chances of promotion to the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body.

"It looks like this investigation of Wang Lijun is part of an offensive against Bo -- that is the usual pattern in China," Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a China scholar at Hong Kong Baptist University, told AFP.

Bo is the son of a Chinese revolutionary and is widely expected to be promoted to a top party post in a 10-yearly leadership transition that begins this year.

Known as a "princeling" due to his father's revolutionary legacy, Bo has encountered opposition from those who are against nepotism and hereditary rights in China's political system.

Bo's crackdown on corruption and organised crime in Chongqing was widely popular, although responses to his campaign to instil "red" or communist-style patriotism in the municipality were mixed.

"Bo is seen as a Machiavellian figure who is willing to risk anything to achieve his goals," Willy Lam, a leading China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP this week.

"His high-profile campaign to sing red songs and crack down on triads are regarded as cynical ploys to boost his own political standing."

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Shanghai (AFP) Feb 12, 2012 - An 18-year-old nun set herself on fire in China's restive southwest and later died, rights groups said Sunday, the latest in a spate of such incidents among ethnic Tibetans protesting Beijing's rule.

The woman -- a member of a Buddhist nunnery in Aba prefecture in China's Sichuan province, which borders Tibet -- set herself alight on Saturday evening, Free Tibet and the International Campaign for Tibet said.

This brings to at least 19 the number of people who have set themselves on fire in the past year in Tibetan-inhabited areas in protest over Chinese rule.

Rights groups say another three Tibetans self-immolated earlier this month in a remote village of Sichuan. However, local authorities quoted in the official Global Times newspaper have denied that account.

The nun from the Mamae nunnery shouted out slogans of protest against the Chinese government before setting herself alight, the rights groups said in statements.

She is believed to have died, London-based Free Tibet said. Her name was given by the groups as Tenzin Choedron, or Choedon.

Soldiers and police quickly took her away, still alive, and later sealed off the nunnery, the groups said.

Free Tibet also said she was the second nun from Mamae to set herself on fire, following another who died in October last year.

A police officer in Aba declined to comment. "I am not clear (about this)," the official, who declined to be named, told AFP. Calls to the local Aba government went unanswered.

China has stepped up security in Tibet and areas inhabited by ethnic Tibetans following a series of protests against Chinese rule, some of which have turned violent.

Security has also been tightened before March, the anniversary of anti-Chinese protests in 2008 which started in the Tibetan capital Lhasa before spreading to other areas.

At least two people were killed last month in clashes between police and locals in Sichuan, which has large populations of ethnic Tibetans, many of whom complain of oppression.

Security forces on Thursday shot dead two Tibetan brothers who were on the run after protesting against Chinese rule, according to US-based broadcaster Radio Free Asia.

Beijing has accused overseas organisations of seeking independence for Tibet and blamed the Dalai Lama -- Tibet's exiled spiritual leader -- for the unrest.

Tibetans have long chafed under China's rule over the vast Tibetan plateau, accusing Beijing of curbing religious freedoms and eroding their culture and language, and these tensions have intensified over the past year.

But Beijing insists that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and have benefited from improved living standards brought by China's economic expansion.

Following the violent incidents Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Friday pledged religious freedom and cultural protection in Tibet.

"We will place more importance on improving the lives of our Tibetan compatriots... and in preserving the freedom of religious belief of Tibetans," he said.

Free Tibet called on the international community to do more.

"A handful of carefully crafted statements is no longer enough -- now is the time for concerted international action," the group said in the statement.

The United States said Friday it would raise concerns about human rights among other issues during a closely watched visit in the coming week by Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, likely the country's next leader.

"It is an area of grave concern for us to witness the increase of tensions in Tibet and Xinjiang," said Danny Russel, US President Barack Obama's top adviser on Asia.

The northwest region of Xinjiang is home to another ethnic group, Muslim Uighurs, who have also staged violent protests against Chinese rule.

]]> Tue, 21 FEB 2012 08:54:59 AEST Subscribe to our daily selection of space, military, environment and energy newsletters responseText http://visitor.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0016gbbKsaiGSpQFojVO8ZoHw%3D%3D