[Hat tip to KEIKO KETSUGO]
CHINA ASKS U.S. TO PUBLICLY SUPPORT THE MILITARY CRACKDOWN IN TIBET
BLOOMBERG NEWS: The U.S. should understand the real motives of protesters in Tibet and support China’s moves to control unrest, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said. Yang made the comment after meeting with U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in Beijing, China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported late yesterday. China blames separatists backed by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, for last month’s unrest in Tibet and neighboring provinces, the most serious protests in 20 years.
“China hopes the U.S. side will see clearly the true nature of the Dalai clique, respect truth and distinguish between 
right and wrong, and understand and support the just position of the Chinese government and people,” Yang said.
The U.S. is leading international calls for China to hold talks on the future of Tibet with the Dalai Lama, who fled to northern India after a failed uprising in the region in 1959. The U.S. and European Union have said they won’t boycott the Beijing Olympic Games in August because of China’s crackdown on protesters. Chinese authorities said supporters of the Dalai Lama killed about 20 people and torched hundreds of businesses and homes last month in rioting that began in Tibet’s capital, Lhasa, and spread to Tibetan-populated areas of Western China. Tibet’s government-in-exile accused Chinese security forces of killing 140 protesters. MORE
LOS ANGELES TIMES: BEIJING — A Chinese court sentenced a prominent human rights activist today to 3 1/2 years in prison for criticizing the Communist Party, a verdict that illustrates China’s determination to crack down on dissent ahead of the Summer Olympics. Hu Jia, 34, [pictured, left] has been a fierce critic of China’s controversial policies on AIDS, the environment and Tibet. He was put under house arrest in Beijing for 200 days before police took him away late last year while his wife was bathing their newborn child. The Beijing Intermediate People’s Court this morning found Hu guilty of “inciting subversion of state power.” The charges were based on articles he wrote on the Internet critical of the government, as well as interviews he gave to foreign media. MORE
ASSOCIATED PRESS: China has intensified its jamming of a Tibetan exile radio network’s news broadcasts into Tibet during a crackdown on anti-government protests there, the network charged Wednesday. The Chinese use radio stations inside Tibet to block the shortwave frequency used by the Voice of Tibet, said Oystein Alme, a
Norwegian who runs the nonprofit foundation’s business office in Oslo. The jamming signals contain music, drumming and noise. Most of the Voice of Tibet’s 13 staff members work at its main editorial office in Dharamsala, India, with Alme handling administration and funding in Oslo. The network started broadcasting in 1996, and has daily evening newscasts about Tibet in Tibetan and Mandarin Chinese. The station says its mission is “to provide a channel for unbiased information and news to the Tibetans living under Chinese oppression in Tibet.” MORE