Tibetan protester sets himself on fire ahead of China President's visit to Delhi

New Delhi:  A Tibetan exile lit himself on fire and ran shouting through a protest in the Indian capital on Monday, just ahead of a visit by China's president and following self-immolations in the Himalayan region against Beijing's rule.

The protester apparently had doused himself with something highly flammable and was engulfed in flames when he ran past the podium where speakers were criticizing China and the visit by President Hu Jintao.

Fellow activists beat out the flames with Tibetan flags and poured water onto him. He was on fire perhaps less than two minutes, but some of his clothing disintegrated and his skin was mottled with black, burned patches by the time he was driven to a hospital.

The man, identified as Jampa Yeshi, sustained burns on 85 percent of his body and his condition was critical, a senior police officer said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Protesters initially prevented police from taking him to the hospital, but officers eventually forcibly took him away.

Yeshi, 27, escaped from Tibet in 2006 and had been living in New Delhi for the past two years, activists said.

Hu is expected to arrive in India on Tuesday for a five-nation economic summit.

While activists had been whispering on Monday morning that something dramatic was expected at the protest, organizers insisted they were not behind the self-immolation.

"We have no idea how this happened, but we appreciate the courage," said Tenzing Norsang, an official with the Tibetan Youth Congress. He called on the international community to talk about Tibet at the summit.

"If you care about peace you should raise the issue of Tibet," he said. "Hu Jintao is responsible for what is happening there."

The New Delhi protest comes amid a series of self-immolations inside Tibet. About 30 people - many of them monks or nuns, and often in their teens or early 20s - have lit themselves on fire over the past year, calling for the return to Tibet of the Dalai Lama and to protest Chinese rule over their homeland. The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule, has blamed China's "ruthless policy" for the self-immolations. China accuses the Dalai Lama of stirring up trouble.

At the site of the protest, a large poster of Hu - with a bloody palm print over his face - said: "Hu Jin Tao is unwelcome" at the summit.

More than 600 demonstrators marched across New Delhi to a central plaza near the Indian Parliament to protest Hu's visit. Some carried posters saying "Tibet is burning" or "Tibet is not part of China."

China says Tibet has always been part of its territory. Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries.

Monday's was the second self-immolation in India in recent months. Last year, a young Tibetan exile set himself on fire outside the Chinese Embassy. That man suffered minor burns.

"This is what China faces unless they give freedom to Tibet," said Tenzin Dorjee, a young onlooker.

Hu will be attending a summit this week of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, who form a grouping known as BRICS.

Police in New Delhi are bracing for protests by the tens of thousands of Tibetan exiles who live in India. Security around the summit location has been tightened, and roads leading to the hotel will be closed to the public a day ahead of the meeting.

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China test its J-10 fighters near borders with India

Beijing:  China has conducted a massive military exercise in the high altitude Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, close to the disputed borders with India, during which it has for the first time tested the multi-role J-10 fighter jets.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force have conducted ground attack training over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the "first operation of its kind", official media here reported.

According to a report and photos released by PLA Daily yesterday, the ground crew of J-10 regiment fuelled the fighters and loaded ammunition on the 3,500-meter-high plateau at temperatures below -20 C.

The fighters scrambled and attacked the targets with conventional as well as laser-guided bombs. Sorties were made both during the day and at night, the report said.

It was the second time that the official media released photos of the home made J-10 fighter using laser-guided bombs.

The exercises were highlighted today by another official daily - The Global Times.

The rare display of the news about exercises was seen as a message to the Indian side, which is also beefing up its border regions along the Line of Actual Control, (LAC) by deploying its top end fighter aircraft.

The J-10, which was also being sold to Pakistan, took part in exercises in October last year conducted by PLA incorporating air forces and air defence units as well as armour and artillery units in Tibet Autonomous Region.

"The J-10 fighter was initially designed as an air superiority fighter, focusing on air combat and interception capability.

"But with modern sensors, avionics and land attack munitions, it can also perform well in ground attack roles,"

Bai Wei, former deputy chief editor of Aviation World Monthly told the state run Global Times.
The J-10's activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau have been relatively frequent in the past months, the newspaper said.

"Operations on the plateau are a routine for the air force. The main obstacles for plateau operation are thin air, complicated weather conditions faced by ground crews and low oxygen density, which makes igniting the engines much harder," Bai noted.

The J-10 fighters made their first flight during the Chinese Lunar New Year on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in January this year with a typical air combat patrol payload, namely two mid-range air-to-air missiles, two short-range air-to-air missiles, and three external fuel tanks.

The J-10's primary air combat weapon, the active radar homing mid-range missile dubbed as the PL-12, is a fourth generation radar-homing air-to-air missile, the daily said.

It is generally comparable to the US AIM-120 missile, which has a good service record in past air combat missions, Daniel Tong, a Chinese military observer and founder of the website Chinese Military Aviation said.

The Chengdu J-10 fighter made its official debut in 2006.

The aircraft has been delivered to the air force in large quantities along with the Shengyang J-11 two-engine heavy fighter, Tong said.

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India, China to hold maritime talks for the first time ever

New Delhi:  In what comes as a huge confidence-building measure, India and China today decided to begin a dialogue on maritime issues. The proposal for talks, a first for both neighbours, was mooted by the visiting Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, during his meeting with his Indian counterpart, SM Krishna.

Mr Jiechi, who arrived in Delhi yesterday, is on a two-day state visit to India.

The dialogue, the mechanism for which is yet to be worked out, is crucial given the fact that it comes in the wake of the Chinese navy increasingly trying to assert itself in the Strait of Malacca and the Indian Ocean region. Beijing has decided to increase its naval capabilities following years of expansion in its armed forces while India has also re-prioritised its strategy by ordering more ships.

More significantly, Sino-Indian ties have been strained recently with China expressing its objections to India's oil and natural gas exploration in the South China Sea. India, on its part, has refused to suspend the exploration activities.

The latest initiative to include maritime issues as part of bilateral talks would thus, serve to reduce the tension ahead of a crucial visit to India by Chinese premier Hu Jintao, scheduled later this month.

Both ministers also discussed several key issues including Arunachal Pradesh, Tibet and the recent ill-treatment meted out to Indian traders by Chinese authorities.

"Every possible issue that is raised whenever India-China dialogue takes place were raised and we have understood each other's position and we have understood the perspective and we will continue to exchange these," Mr Krishna told reporters after the meeting.

Although ties between India and China have improved in recent years, tensions still remain over Arunachal Pradesh. Recently, China had objected to Defence Minister AK Antony's visit to the state.

Meanwhile, a group of Tibetans held protests this morning in the national capital. They were protesting the Chinese crackdown in Tibet.

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China denies dam drying up river in India

Beijing:  China denied on Friday that a dam it was building on a major river in Tibet was impacting the lower reaches of the waterway in India, despite complaints that water-levels there were plunging.

The Brahmaputra has its source in China's southwestern Tibet region where it is known as the Yarlung Tsangpo, and it enters India in the mountainous, remote northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh, where it is called the Siang.

The 1,800-mile (2,900 kilometre) river then descends into the plains of adjoining Assam state and ends in Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal, along the way supplying water to hundreds of millions of farmers and residents.

Local Indian state lawmaker Tako Dabi told AFP on Thursday he suspected China was diverting river water resulting in an estimated 40 percent drop in the flow at the Indian town of Pasighat.

"Our projects have not affected the lower stream regions, including those in India," China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters when asked of his nation's water usage on the river.

"Overall, the utilisation of the river by the Chinese side is very low."

China pays attention to the impact on the lower stream regions when developing its water resources, Hong said, adding that Chinese officials have briefed India on its development of the Yarlung Tsangpo.

"To satisfy the needs the Tibet Autonomous Region, China has begun to build the hydroelectric power station of Zangmu in the middle part of Yarlung Tsangpo river," Hong said.

"It does not have a big capacity and does not retain an excessive amount of water. It will not affect the downstream water regulation and environment."

Beijing has regularly faced similar complaints over its water usage from Southeast Asian nations for damming the Mekong and Salween rivers, both of which originate in China.

Dabi said the drying up of the river in Arunachal Pradesh was shocking with patches of sand showing up along the river bed.

"We suspect the sudden drying up of the Siang could be a result of China either diverting the river water on their side or due to some artificial blockades somewhere in the upper reaches,"

Dabi, an advisor to the state's chief minister and a former home minister, said.

Video footage from the river showed the Siang -- normally a gushing torrent several kilometres (miles) wide at Pasighat, according to Dabi -- reduced to flowing in narrow channels in a large sandy riverbed.

The problem was highlighted on the day the Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi held talks in New Delhi with his Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna.

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