Monday 24th November

The Australian

APEC superpowers lock horns on crisis

THE world's two most powerful leaders have clashed on the global financial crisis, with China's Hu Jintao calling for tougher regulation of the world financial system and George W. Bush pressing the case for free markets.

The Age

China junks damning UN torture report
Beijing

THE Chinese Foreign Ministry yesterday rejected a UN panel's report alleging that police in China used torture, calling the accusations "untrue and slanderous" and saying some panel members were prejudiced against Beijing. The UN Committee against Torture said it was "deeply concerned about the continued allegations, corroborated by numerous Chinese legal sources, of the routine and widespread use of torture and ill-treatment of suspects in police custody, especially to extract confessions or information to be used in criminal proceedings", in a 15-page report released on Friday in Geneva.

Chinese engineers steal Silicon Valley secrets

Two engineers from China were sentenced to a year in prison Friday for stealing computer chip designs from their Silicon Valley employers and trying to smuggle the secrets to their homeland to launch a government-backed startup there. Fei Ye, a US citizen, and Ming Zhong, a permanent resident of the US, had pleaded guilty in 2006, becoming the first people convicted of the most serious crime under the Economic Espionage Act of 1996. They were accused of trying to benefit China with their stolen chip designs, though prosecutors did not allege that the Chinese government knew of their illegal activities.

International Herald Tibune
Dalai Lama warns exile leaders to be 'prudent'

The Dalai Lama warned Tibetan exile leaders on Sunday to be prudent in their plans or risk failure, after they said at a conference that they might push for independence for their homeland if China refuses to grant it autonomy soon.The delegates ended their weeklong conference Saturday saying that they had decided against seeking independence for now and that they would maintain the Dalai Lama's "middle way" - his push for autonomy through measured compromise that falls short of calling for independence. But they also said they would push for independence if China fails to respond positively to their initiatives.

What the Chinese stimulus package means

Governments of Chinese provinces have proposed more than $1.4 trillion in spending on roads and other projects after the central government announced a huge national stimulus package this month to shield China from a global slowdown, state television reported Sunday. The central government's announcement electrified investors and briefly bolstered global markets. But as details were released, it became clear that the program, whose value was put at 4 trillion yuan, or $586 billion, included less new spending than initially thought. Similar concerns are already being raised about the provincial governments' proposals