Latest Chinese coal mine accident kills 14

blueswilder

BEIJING (Reuters) - A blast at a coal mine in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan has killed 14 miners and injured four, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

The accident occurred on Friday evening in Zhaotong city, the report said.

"Rescuers found all the 14 bodies at the spot. The four injured were in stable condition," Xinhua said, adding the cause of the accident was under investigation.

China, the world's largest producer and consumer of coal, has been battling to improve safety standards in its mines, but accidents are common as owners push production beyond safety limits to meet robust demand to fuel the country's economic boom.

The number of deaths from accidents at Chinese coal mines dropped one-fifth in 2007 from the previous year, although 3,786 people still lost their lives. That was a big improvement over 2005, when the death toll was nearer to 6,000.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/s ... mp;sec=Worldupdates

blueswilder

The authorities in Tibet have given anti-Chinese demonstrators until Monday to surrender, following violence that officials say left 10 people dead.

"The plot of the separatists will fail," the head of Tibet's government warned as security forces patrolled the main city, Lhasa.

State media said the 10 killed in Friday's clashes had included business people who were "burnt to death".

But exiled Tibetan leaders put the death toll higher and blamed China.

"There have been 30 confirmed deaths until today, and over 100 unconfirmed deaths," the Tibetan government in exile, which is based in northern India, said.

International concern

James Miles, a British journalist in Lhasa, said there were some clashes on Saturday morning, but they were not on the same scale as Friday.

Police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators defying a curfew in the old quarter of the city, he said.

Police later cordoned off the centre.

"Lhasa is completely closed and there is Chinese military all over," Danish tourist Bente Walle told Reuters news agency.

In a statement quoted by the state-run news agency Xinhua, the Tibetan government urged "the lawbreakers to give themselves in by Monday midnight" and promised that "leniency would be given to those who surrender".

Tibetan government Chairman Qiangba Puncog denounced the "plot of the separatists".

"We will challenge them firmly, according to law," AFP news agency quoted him as saying.

He said no shots had been fired by police since the start of the unrest.

Officials told Xinhua that those killed on Friday were "all innocent civilians" - among them hotel employees and shop owners.

Western countries have expressed concern at the clashes, and US officials called on the Chinese to act with restraint.

The violence - the worst in Tibet since 1989 - erupted on the fifth day of largely peaceful protests that began on Monday's anniversary of a 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

Fires broke out near the Jokhang temple, one of the most sacred sites for Tibetan Buddhists, and Xinhua reported that shops, banks and hotels were destroyed.

'Long-simmering resentment'

News agency pictures aired on Saturday showed young men setting fire to a Chinese flag and throwing rocks, while state media said police had fired tear gas to disperse protesters.

The demonstrations - like those last September in Burma - were initially led by Buddhist monks and then attracted crowds of ordinary people.

Chinese officials said the riots had been "organised, premeditated and masterminded" by Tibet's exiled political leader, the Dalai Lama.

He denied the allegations, and urged China to "address the long-simmering resentment of the Tibetan people through dialogue".

Events in Tibet sparked fresh protests in the neighbouring Chinese province of Gansu - which has a large ethnic Tibetan population.

Police fired tear gas near the Labrang monastery on Saturday, a BBC reporter at the scene said.

Tibetan exiles held demonstrations in several countries, including Australia and India.

In Nepal, police arrested about 10 people during a protest in Kathmandu.

BBC China editor Shirong Chen in Beijing says the Chinese government does not want bloodshed five months before staging the Olympic Games.

On the other hand, it cannot allow the monks and other Tibetans to vent their anger as this could be seen as a sign of weakness, he says.

Many Tibetans claim their culture has been diluted or even destroyed by Beijing and they resent the local presence of Han Chinese, China's biggest ethnic group.

China says Tibet has always been part of its territory, although Tibet enjoyed long periods of autonomy before the 20th Century.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7297911.stm

blueswilder

Eyewitness accounts: Tibet clashes
There have been violent clashes between protesters and security forces in Tibet's main city of Lhasa as rallies against Chinese rule, said to be the largest in 20 years, continue.

Witnesses have been describing the protests and the Chinese security forces' response.

JAMES MILES, CORRESPONDENT WITH THE ECONOMIST

Well it's early evening here, and the old Tibetan quarter of Lhasa still is very much in the control of the ethnic Tibetans who have been rioting for the last several hours since midday.

Some of them are still attacking Chinese properties, shops, restaurants, owned by ethnic Chinese. Some of them are looting those shops, taking out the contents and throwing them on huge fires which they've lit in the street.

Now I think the big question on everybody's mind is what's next? The troops for the time being are still standing there and we don't know what's holding them back.

It could be a political question, indecision in Beijing over how to handle this, because if they do move in there could be bloodshed and that could have implications for the holding of the Olympics.

WITNESS WHO WANTS TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS

The street is pretty much in flames. I saw a huge amount of military in the town.

It went crazy all of a sudden. All the Chinese shops were put on fire by Tibetans.

Tanks in the street. Tear gas. I saw people being carried away on stretchers and ordinary Tibetans going crazy.

WITNESS WHO SAW VIOLENCE ON WEDNESDAY

We saw policemen, uniformed policemen, which were unusual - we hadn't seen them in any of the temples in the days before but there were two of them at least there visible crackling into their radios.

As the monks ran down suddenly people, policemen just appeared almost as if out of nowhere and started beating, pulling and kicking them as they streamed down towards the main entrance of the temple.

JOHN, TOURIST

I just returned from Lhasa yesterday. I was in Lhasa for about 6 days, and I had just arrived at the famed Sera Monastery to see the debating monks, when they suddenly stormed out of their 'debating courtyard' and rushed for the entrance of the temple.

The Buddha Halls were immediately shut in our faces by security officials. Members of our group saw monks being beaten and kicked by the security forces that swarmed all over the temple precincts.

The monks were forced to sit in rows, surrounded by a double-phalanx of riot cops, brandishing clubs.

Our group was ushered out of the temple, and as we headed back in the direction of central Lhasa, we passed incoming troop-carriers ferrying camouflaged army regulars, with other army units marching in on foot from close locations.

All roads leading in were closed off.

CANADIAN VISITOR WHO WANTS TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS

I was in Tibet in the last week, and was also witness to the monks fleeing from Sera Monastery and being beaten by police.

Our group was denied access to the monastery, and we were told that all the tourist access has been cut off.

We were told not to take any photos by our Chinese guide, and there were police staring at us as we waited in our bus watching the monks trying to get out of the monastery.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7297248.stm

blueswilder

Tibet poses dilemma for Beijing
By Shirong Chen
BBC China Editor, Beijing

The wave of violent protests in Tibet could not have come at a worse time for the Chinese government.

President Hu Jintao

With the Beijing Olympics just months away, China's top leaders do not want the monks' protests to become the country's defining image.

Many members of the Tibet Autonomous Region government are currently in Beijing for the annual National People's Congress.

Only a few days ago, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with the Tibetan delegation and asked them to continue to improve living standards and work towards peace and stability in the region.

But Tibetan protesters seem determined to make their points while the eyes of the world are turned on China in this Olympic year.

They want to voice their protest against what they see as China's violation of human rights in the region and they want more freedom, both religious and political.

Another Burma?

Tibetans in other countries have supported their actions by organising protests and marches.

On Friday, just as Chinese security forces were trying to put a lid on fires in Lhasa, a group of Tibetans protested in front of the Chinese Embassy in London.

And exiled Tibetans in India started a protest march back to Tibet on Monday, only to be blocked by the Indian police.

The Chinese government is faced with a dilemma.

They certainly do not want any bloodshed just five months before the start of the Olympic Games, and will be keen to avoid any situation reminiscent of what happened in Burma in 2007.

On the other hand, they will not want to give the monks and other protesters room to let off steam for fear that this may be interpreted as weakness and trigger further unrest.

Tibet, together with the disputed territories of Xinjiang and Taiwan, present the biggest headaches for China's leaders.

Their approach hitherto has been to use both a carrot and stick.

The central government has poured money into the region in an attempt to improve Tibetans' standard of living.

A new railway to the main city, Lhasa, has been hailed by the authorities as proof that they want to work for the benefit of the people of Tibet.

History of protests

But Tibetans complain that the investment has only benefited the ethnically Chinese Han people working in the region and that the effect has been to dilute - or even destroy - Tibetan culture.

There have been attempts by the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama to engage in talks on further autonomy, but so far little progress has been made.

Protests and rebellions have been a feature of Tibetan life ever since the Chinese army marched into the region in 1950.

This week's wave of protests coincides with the 49th anniversary of an unsuccessful 1959 uprising, when the Dalai Lama fled into exile.

The last time serious protests took place was in early 1989, just before the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.

At that time, President Hu Jintao was the Party Secretary in Tibet and the way he dealt with the protests won him approval from his bosses in Beijing.

Nearly twenty years on, he will be anxious to bring the protests to an equally swift end.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7297249.stm