BEIJING, July 12 (Reuters) – China is developing
cutting-edge satellites that will allow it to project power far
beyond its shores and deter the United States from using
aircraft carriers in any future conflict over its rival Taiwan,
a report said.

The piece in next month’s Journal of Strategic Studies, a
U.K.-published defence and security journal, runs at odds with
China’s stated opposition to the militarization of space.

BEIJING, July 11 (Reuters) – China’s military sharply
criticised the United States on Monday for holding military
drills in contested waters of the South China Sea, a dispute
Beijing has warned Washington not to meddle in.

Chen Bingde, People’s Liberation Army Chief of the General
Staff, said that if the United States really wanted peace in the
South China Sea, then the timing of its recent military
exercises in the region was poor.

BEIJING (Reuters) – One of Mao Zedong’s anointed successors was ousted and hounded by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. Another died in a mysterious plane crash.

Deng Xiaoping wrested control of China from a third Mao successor, then proceeded to depose of his own chosen protege, Zhao Ziyang, after he expressed sympathy with the students demanding democracy in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

BEIJING, July 7 (Reuters) – It is the most popular subject
on China’s Internet that no one is allowed to talk about.

After overseas media reported the death of former President
Jiang Zemin, web-savvy Internet users in China are finding
creative ways to jump the Great Firewall, the cloak of Internet
security authorities use to disrupt or halt access to things
deemed too sensitive for the Internet.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s French Open champion Li Na attempted on Tuesday to play down her much publicized rift with the country’s rigid state-run sports system.

The world number four squandered two match points in a second-round defeat by German wildcard Sabine Lisicki at Wimbledon two weeks ago, but is still a sporting heroine in China after winning this year’s French Open.

BEIJING, July 5 (Reuters) – China’s French Open champion Li
Na attempted on Tuesday to play down her much publicised rift
with the country’s rigid state-run sports system.

The world number four squandered two match points in a
second-round defeat by German wildcard Sabine Lisicki at
Wimbledon two weeks ago, but is still a sporting heroine in
China after winning this year’s French Open.

BEIJING, July 5 (Reuters) – China has jailed dozens of
ethnic Uighurs in the far western region of Xinjiang for
speaking out about riots in the regional capital two years ago,
Amnesty International said on Tuesday, part of a broader
campaign against voices of dissent nationwide.

In July 2009, the capital city of Urumqi was rocked by
violence between majority Han Chinese and minority Uighurs that
killed nearly 200 people. Many of the Turkic-speaking Muslim
Uighurs, who call Xinjiang home, chafe at Beijing’s rule.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s ruling Communist Party must ensure economic growth and its iron grip on stability do not slacken, President Hu Jintao said on Friday, using the party’s 90th anniversary as a show of unity ahead of a tricky leadership succession.

“Development is of paramount importance and stability is the paramount task,” Hu told hand-picked party members inside Beijing’s cavernous Great Hall of the People, in a speech carried live on state television.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Human rights group Amnesty International called on Thursday for China to stop the harassment, arbitrary detention and torture of human rights lawyers, part of what it said was an “uncompromising” series of steps to rein in activists.

“(Chinese authorities) are not only failing to ensure protection for human rights lawyers and others seeking to provide legal services, but are actively undermining their work through legislative, administrative and practical measures,” the group said in a report.

BEIJING, June 29 (Reuters) – Chinese President Hu Jintao
said on Wednesday that relations with Sudan would remain good no
matter what changes may occur as the African nation prepares for
its south to secede.

Hu told Sudan’s war crimes-indicted President Omar Hassan
al-Bashir that China hoped north and south Sudan could resolve
their problems through dialogue and become friendly neighbours.