Callous China destroy homes in pursuit of Space Domination

China's callous disregard for human life has brought further tragedy to its beleaguered population.

Debris from the rocket carrying China's first moon rover plummeted to earth in a village more than a thousand kilometres from the launch site, crashing into two homes, a report said Tuesday.

The incident about nine minutes after the launch of the Chang'e-3 mission early Monday happened in Suining county in the central province of Hunan, which has been hit by space wreckage nearly 20 times, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post said.

"Three of the roof beams have crashed down on our house, and a big hole has been punched into our barn," one local resident told the paper.

"The huge sound scared the living daylights out of me," said another.

A picture showed a somewhat baffled-looking villager peering at the curved shape of what appeared to be a rocket nose-cone, below a gaping hole in his roof.

Authorities gave the residents 10,800 yuan ($1,800) and 5,200 yuan in compensation, the paper said. No one was injured.

A Long March-3B carrier rocket, China's most powerful such vehicle, blasted off at around 1:30 am Monday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwestern China.

The lunar rover mission is part of China's ambitious space programme, which has the goal of establishing a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually sending a human to the moon.

But debris from China's numerous space launches has frequently found its way to Suining county, which has been hit by rocket parts nearly 20 times since the early 1990s, the Xiaoxiang Morning Post reported.

Last May wreckage from a rocket sent up by the Xichang Launch Centre crashed into homes and hit a high-voltage wire in the area, according to the Shanghai Daily News.

In October 2011 a steel frame weighing more than 250 kilograms (550 pounds) landed in a field after another satellite launch, and other wreckage pierced a house roof.

CHINA's Openly Aggressive Strategy to Dominate Space

China is making increasingly aggressive plans to launch 20 spacecrafts this year,2013.

This will include the country's third lunar probe Chang'e-3 and manned spacecraft Shenzhou-10, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced.

The country is scheduled to conduct a manned space docking test between orbiting target module Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-10, the corporation said during an internal work conference.

The Chang'e-3 moon probe is expected to land and stay there during the second stage of the country's lunar probe program, it said.

According to CASC, by 2020, China will have more than 200 spacecrafts operating in orbit, accounting for about 20 percent of the world's total.

How many of the countries who are already under threat from China's expansionist plans will suffer as a consequence of their imposed domination of the space above the Earth's atmosphere?

What safeguards can be put in place to prevent their militarisation of Space and to make the Earth's atmospheric zone a de-militarised zone (DMZ)?

NASA Banned From Working With Treacherous China

Image: The launch of China's first manned space flight at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern province of Gansu in 2003. 

The Long March CZ-2F rocket carrying China's first astronaut Yang Liwei lifted off from the Gobi Desert (China Photo/Reuters/Corbis)

To push mankind deeper and deeper into space, more expensive and ambitious missions are needed.

Therefore, international collaboration is sought after to share the load. For NASA, however, China won't be a part of any joint scientific endeavor for the next fiscal year, at least.

As noted by Forbes blogger William Pentland last week, and reported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science's (AAAS) Science Insider blog in April, a clause included in the U.S. spending bill approved by Congress to avert a government shutdown a few weeks ago has prohibited NASA from coordinating any joint scientific activity with China.

The clause also extends to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

The short two sentence clause was included by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) to prevent NASA and OSTP from using federal funds "to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company."

This clause would also prevent NASA facilities from hosting "official Chinese visitors."

Wolf, a long-time critic of the Chinese government, chairs a House spending committee that oversees several science agencies.

This clause comes at a time of heightened tensions surrounding accusations of cyber-attacks and espionage from the People's Republic of China on U.S. Government agencies and U.S. companies. Wolf's office computers were hacked in 2006 and the FBI confirmed the hacking source was located in China, so he has personal experience of this vulnerability.

In an interview with Science Insider, Wolf robustly stated his position on the matter:

"We don't want to give them the opportunity to take advantage of our technology, and we have nothing to gain from dealing with them. And frankly, it boils down to a moral issue. ... Would you have a bilateral program with Stalin? [...] China is spying against us, and every U.S. government agency has been hit by cyber-attacks. They are stealing technology from every major U.S. company. They have taken technology from NASA, and they have hit the NSF computers ... You name the company, and the Chinese are trying to get its secrets."

These are obviously strong words, and the clause is bound to put a dent in Sino-American relations.
China has already shown the world its space aspirations, although its direction hasn't always been clear.

In 2008, the communist nation carried out its first ever spacewalk, despite a botched script and allegations of conspiracy, joining the U.S. and Russia as the only 3 nations having performed the feat.

Most recently, the Chinese space agency announced plans for a Chinese space station, and striking fear into the hearts of small countries already oppressed by China.

Later this year China will attempt an in-orbit unmanned rendezvous, a first step towards their dubious space station goal.

Even Although there's unlikely to be a "Space Race" (reminiscent of the 1960's) between the U.S. and China in the immediate future, both nations refuse to cooperate closely on space missions.

The US will wisely continue to block the exchange of science with China even if it risks increasing distrust and tensions in space?

China and the importance of safeguarding peaceful use of outer space

To the great surprise of other nations, China on Monday spoke of the importance of safeguarding the peaceful use of outer space and preventing the weaponisation of and an arms race in outer space, saying that "the outer space is the common wealth of mankind as the global public space."

The statement came as Wang Qun, the Chinese ambassador for disarmament affairs, was taking the floor at the thematic debate on outer space at the First Committee of the UN General Assembly.

The First Committee is in charge of disarmament and international security.

"The outer space is the common wealth of mankind as the global public space," Wang said. "The permanent peace of outer space is correlated to all nations' security, development and prosperity."

"Meanwhile, with the growing reliance of mankind on outer space, the risk of the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space are on rise, and the uncertainties concerning outer space security are accumulating as well," he said.

"Safeguarding the peaceful use of outer space and preventing the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space are common interest and obligations of all countries."

In responding to the growing challenge for security in outer space, the international community also witnessed common grounds on opposing to the weaponization of outer space and advertising the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space, he said.

The General Assembly, for consecutive years, adopted " Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space" resolution by overwhelming majority of votes, calling for negotiations on an international legally-binding instrument on the prevention of an arms race in outer space at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

"The mankind has marched into the 6th decade of outer space exploitation, and the manned space flight has made a history of 50 years," Wang said.

"Recently, China has successfully launched the Tiangong-1 ( Heavenly Palace 1) as a target spacecraft for rendezvous and docking experiment, which opens a new era of China's manned space flight, and also reflects that China is committed itself to the honorable objective of promoting the peaceful exploration and utilization of the outer space, maintaining peace and bringing benefit to mankind."

The world will watch and wait to see if this message is taken on board by all of China's leaders and politicians. Time will tell.

T2-pledge | Greenpeace International

T2-pledge Greenpeace International

Tibetan cause faces 'setback' when Dalai Lama dies

Rome (AFP) Nov 18, 2009 - The Dalai Lama said Wednesday his death would be a "setback" for Tibetans' struggle, but that he was confident the next generation would carry on his torch. The 74-year-old Nobel peace laureate said his death would be a "setback, there's no doubt" but that the struggle was not that of "just one generation."

A "very, very healthy younger generation (is) now coming up with the potential to lead," the Buddhist leader told a news conference in Rome. The Dalai Lama was in Rome to attend the fifth edition of the World Parliamentarians Convention on Tibet, also attended by US actor Richard Gere, a longtime Buddhist and arch supporter of the Tibetan cause.

Speaking on the day after US President Barack Obama urged an early resumption of talks between Beijing and envoys of the Dalai Lama, the Buddhist leader said the US government had "consistently" supported the Tibetan people.

The White House has been "very sympathetic, very supportive," he said. "All administrations, whether Republican or Democrat, are concerned about human rights violations." "Understandably, there's limitations," he added with a laugh, in an apparent reference to the complex but key bilateral relationship between Beijing and Washington.

The Dalai Lama spoke out against Chinese "communist hard-liners (who) believe power comes from the barrel of a gun." He said Tibetans were "committed to non-violence, we are not seeking separation" -- Beijing's persistent charge. The Dalai Lama has been living in India since he fled Tibet following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after Chinese troops invaded the region.

The Buddhist leader said his faith in the Chinese people had "never been shaken." He said that because of Chinese government "propaganda and censorship" many Chinese people "really developed anger towards us," adding that they "have the right to know the reality."

China: Obama Disappoints Human Rights Groups

Human rights advocates are voicing relief after US President Barack Obama publicly raised the issue with China but conceded that Beijing's rising clout made it tougher to have an impact.
Obama, who was closing his maiden visit to China on Wednesday, told a joint press appearance with President Hu Jintao that the United States believed in fundamental rights for all people, including ethnic and religious minorities.

In a forum with young people in Shanghai, Obama pointed to his own country's struggles to improve human rights, citing his election as the first African American president.

Human rights groups had awaited his remarks nervously as some Obama aides were uneasy about public comments. The advisers feared setting back cooperation with the Asian power, the largest holder of the soaring US debt.

"President Obama said some of the right things, but we should not expect China's leaders to listen, because they continue to view the advance of human rights as a threat to their leadership," said Leonard Leo, chair of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, a non-partisan advisory board.

T. Kumar, the director for international advocacy at Amnesty International USA, said he was "pleased that he publicly raised human rights concerns both in Shanghai and Beijing."

"We are confident that his private meetings with President Hu will produce some results," Kumar said.

But he voiced concern that Hu and Obama did not take questions from journalists. And few Chinese saw Obama's Shanghai appearance, which was not broadcast nationally.

China also did not free any dissidents, a common goodwill gesture on previous visits by US leaders.

"It is of course difficult to be as robust in one's criticism if the one you're criticizing is lending you billions and billions of dollars," said William F. Schulz, a former executive director of Amnesty International USA and now a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress think-tank.

But Schulz said he was willing to give Obama time to see if his overall foreign policy approach -- of a humbler United States speaking to friend and foe alike -- would bear fruit in improving human rights.

"Public criticism is certainly appropriate in some contexts but it needs to be said and done strategically," Schulz said.

"A constant barrage of criticism, absent other forms of enticement, generally is ultimately self-defeating," he said.

Under former president Bill Clinton, the United States delinked China's human rights record from trading privileges, ending annual debates in Congress that threw a spotlight on Beijing's rights record.

"We should have no illusion -- Obama's access to the Chinese people was less than (presidents George W.) Bush and Clinton when they went there," Winston Lord, a longtime US policymaker on China, told PBS public television.

China's rights record "is going backwards and in some areas it's worse than when I was ambassador 20 years ago," he said.

Obama came under fire at home last month for declining to see the Dalai Lama, marking the first time in 18 years that Tibet's exiled spiritual leader has visited Washington without seeing the president. The White House said Obama would see him after returning from China.

The International Campaign for Tibet rejoiced that Obama publicly voiced support for dialogue with the Dalai Lama, despite Beijing's intense appeals -- which even drew parallels to the US Civil War -- to sideline the Nobel Peace laureate.

The Chinese "neglected to take into account that Tibet was long ago institutionalized as a principled US foreign policy interest," said Mary Beth Markey, the group's vice president for international advocacy.

An exiled leader of China's Uighur minority, while wishing Obama had addressed their plight directly, voiced appreciation for his remarks on minorities.

"This gives hope to millions of Uighurs who live under the shadow of China's state brutality since the July 5 unrest," said Alim Seytoff, vice president of the Uighur American Association.

The July violence involved fighting between Uighurs and China's Han majority that left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured. China executed nine people over the unrest days before Obama's visit.

China hands out death penalty for Uighurs protest

BEIJING — A Chinese court sentenced six men to death and a seventh man to life in prison for their roles in the deadly ethnic rioting that convulsed the western regional capital of Urumqi in July, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.

All seven men appeared to be Uighurs, the largest ethnic group in the vast region of Xinjiang. All were convicted of murder, and some were also found guilty of arson and robbery, Xinhua reported.

The sentences were the first to be handed down by a court in response to the rioting of July 5, in which enraged Uighurs went on a rampage against Han, the dominant ethnic group in China, in the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang. At least 197 people were killed, most of them Han civilians, and 1,600 injured, the government announced. The ethnic rioting was the worst in decades in China and prompted cycles of retaliation as well as protests against the regional government.

Uighurs in Urumqi said the Chinese government gave severe underestimates of the number of Uighurs killed, while some Han residents say the government is covering up the extent of the atrocities committed by the Uighurs. Last month, as rumors of further violence by Uighurs swirled in Urumqi, large crowds of Han took to the streets to call for the resignation of Wang Lequan, the top official in Xinjiang for 15 years.

Uighurs in Xinjiang have long complained of deeply entrenched discrimination against them by the Han and of mass migrations to Xinjiang by the Han that have changed society in parts of the region they once clearly dominated.

All the men sentenced on Monday have Uighur names. The six sentenced to death by the Intermediate People’s Court in Urumqi were Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu’er and Alim Metyusup. A seventh man, Tayirejan Abulimit, was given a life sentence because he had admitted to committing murder and robbery and assisted authorities in the arrest of Alim Metyusup, Xinhua reported.

Full Story from NY Times.com

China: Protesters remind the World about the struggle and plight of Tibet

Nepalese police and protestors symbollic struggle over a Tibetan flag. The Tibetans cling desperately to the flag whilst the authorities try to wrestle it away using force!

A Tibetan exile shouts slogans from a police bus after being detained during a protest in front of Chinese embassy in New Delhi, India.

The protesters, with T-shirts and banners that said "Free Tibet," demonstrated near the Chinese Embassy's visa section and other places in the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu

Tibetan exiles, living in Kathmandu, wearing Free Tibet T-shirts and carrying Tibetan flags, protest passionately against China in front of their consular office.