BEIJING (Reuters) – China appointed a new governor for remote and restive Tibet on Tuesday, naming a hardline ethnic Tibetan in a signal that the government has no plans to ease up on its tight control on the Himalayan region.

Losang Gyaltsen, 55, was elected at the end of the annual meeting of Tibet’s largely rubber stamp regional assembly, and replaces previous governor Padma Choling, according to an announcement by the official Xinhua news agency.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s government is giving no details on the trial of shamed senior leader Bo Xilai, the final chapter in its worst political scandal in decades, as speculation mounted the case could be heard as early as Monday.

A Beijing-backed Hong Kong newspaper, the Ta Kung Pao, reported on Friday that Bo’s trial would begin on Monday in the southern Chinese city of Guiyang.

BEIJING (Reuters) – The mayor of the scandal-plagued southwestern Chinese metropolis of Chongqing said on Saturday that local authorities had banished the malign influence of the city’s former top official Bo Xilai, and vowed never to never allow a repeat of his crimes.

Once a contender for China’s top leadership, Bo was ousted in the biggest political scandal in two decades last year following his wife’s murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A prominent group of Chinese academics has warned in a bold open letter that the country risks “violent revolution” if the government does not respond to public pressure and allow long-stalled political reforms.

The 73 scholars, including well-known current and retired legal experts at top universities and lawyers, said political reform had not matched the quick pace of economic expansion.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A group of 134 Nobel laureates including the Dalai Lama and author Toni Morrison have written to Chinese Communist Party chief and president-in-waiting Xi Jinping urging that he release detained Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and his wife.

Liu, a veteran dissident involved in 1989 pro-democracy protests crushed by the Chinese army, won the prize in 2010. He was jailed the year earlier and is serving an 11-year sentence. His wife Liu Xia is under house arrest.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A court in eastern China sentenced the nephew of blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng to three years and three months in jail on Friday for intentional infliction of injury, in a case likely to refocus attention on China’s human rights and legal system.

Chen Kegui had been held incommunicado by police for over six months and was denied access to his choice of lawyers. Both his family and human rights advocates have called the case illegitimate.

BEIJING/MANILA, Nov 29 (Reuters) – Police in the southern
Chinese island province of Hainan will board and search ships
which illegally enter what China considers its territory in the
disputed South China Sea, state media said on Thursday, a move
likely to add to tensions.

The South China Sea is Asia’s biggest potential military
trouble spot with several Asian countries claiming sovereignty
over waters believed to be rich in oil and gas.

BEIJING (Reuters) – China appointed on Wednesday a loyal ally of President Hu Jintao to become propaganda minister and promoted one of its most senior female leaders to Communist Party chief of the northern port city of Tianjin.

The new propaganda minister, Liu Qibao, formerly the party boss of southwestern Sichuan province, replaces Liu Yunshan, who was last week raised to the Standing Committee following a once-every-five-year party congress that unveiled a generational leadership change.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A regional summit opening in Cambodia this weekend should not be overshadowed by a dispute over the South China Sea as the situation is under control and countries involved can resolve differences themselves, a top Chinese diplomat said on Saturday.

China’s assertion of sovereignty over the stretch of water off its south coast and to the east of mainland Southeast Asia has set it directly against Vietnam and the Philippines, while Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia also lay claim to parts, making it Asia’s biggest potential military trouble spot.

BEIJING (Reuters) – Where other top Chinese leaders can only stand around and look awkward in the presence of English-speaking dignitaries, premier-in-waiting Li Keqiang stands out for his casual and disarming command of the language.

Li’s English skills say more about the man who will run the world’s second-largest economy than just an ability to schmooze U.S. CEOs and European prime ministers – they were learned as a part of a surprisingly liberal university education.