BEIJING/WASHINGTON: China urged the United States yesterday to scrap plans for President Barack Obama to meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama later in the day, warning it would “seriously damage” ties between the two countries.
The White House National Security Council said Obama would meet the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, at the White House yesterday in a show of concern about China’s human rights practices.
China calls the Dalai Lama a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” who seeks to use violent methods to establish an independent Tibet. The Dalai Lama, who fled to India after a failed uprising in 1959, maintains he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet and denies advocating violence.
Big manta ray haven opens
JAKARTA: Indonesia yesterday instituted the world’s biggest manta ray sanctuary covering millions of square kilometres as it seeks to protect the huge winged fish and draw more tourists to the sprawling archipelago.
New legislation gives full protection to the creatures across all the waters surrounding Southeast Asia’s biggest country, which for years has been the world’s largest ray and shark fishery.
Protection group Conservation International hailed the “bold” move and said it was influenced by a recent government-backed review that showed a single manta ray was worth one million dollars in tourism revenue over its lifetime.
This compares to between $40 and $500 if caught and killed, the group said.
Many foreign tourists come to Indonesia every year to dive in some of the world’s most biodiverse waters and manta rays are a favourite sight.
Taiwan ‘spy recruiter’ jailed
TAIPEI: A Taiwanese court yesterday sentenced two former officers to ten months in prison for helping to recruit spies for China.
Ex-navy lieutenant Chien Ching-kuo was convicted of violating the national security law along with Lu Chun-chun.
Lu recruited Chien to join the Chinese Communist Party with a paid overseas trip and cash gifts in 2009, said the Kaohsiung district court in southern Taiwan.
The court said the pair had arranged for several officers to go on overseas tours paid by Chinese officials in a bid to recruit them to spy for Beijing.
Chien was discharged by the navy in 2009, while Lu retired from the military’s missile command centre in 2005.
Lu’s sentence was suspended for three years on the ground that he has no prior criminal record, the court said.
Agencies
