Word: crackdowns
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...arrest highlights China's rough crackdown on religion. While previous Bible couriers have been deported for their secret work, Lai could face the death penalty for smuggling "cult publications" and will be up for trial as early as this week. In a worrisome precedent set last month, leaders of a Protestant denomination similar to Lai's were sentenced to death for holding underground meetings. Last fall, more than a dozen secret churches in eastern China were razed, leaving piles of rubble and crucifixes scattered throughout Fujian and Jiangsu provinces...
...That sentiment is precisely what worries Beijing. As China gears up for an expected succession struggle in the Politburo later this year, the Communist Party wants to ensure that no group nibbles away at its hold on power. Thus Beijing's severe crackdown on Falun Gong, the Buddhist-exercise movement that spooked China's leaders by getting 10,000 followers to protest in front of Beijing's leadership compound three years ago. The demonstration prompted the hasty passage of a law dictating harsh punishment to anyone involved in a cult?while conveniently failing to define what exactly constitutes one. "Anytime...
...Chechnya's third-largest city, Argun, for five days, shelling houses where rebels sought refuge. Still, a group of rebels slipped out of the tightly sealed city, and Russian troops continued operations in other Chechen villages and towns. Moscow claims to have killed 92 rebels in a month-long crackdown by security forces southeast of the capital Grozny...
...Cold War objectives now came increasingly into conflict with the West. September 11 finally forced a decisive choice on General Musharraf. Indeed, even after the Taliban's defeat, Washington's own interests in pursuing al Qaeda elements fleeing Afghanistan have prompted it to support India's demands for a crackdown on their Pakistani supporters. Pakistan's other key Cold War patron, China, likewise has its own interests in curbing the influence of radical Islam in the region, and the high-profile visit of Chinese premier Zhu Rongji to New Delhi on Monday despite India's tense military standoff with Beijing...
...arms against India. By shutting down terrorism, in fact, Musharraf potentially strengthens Pakistan's diplomatic position in calling for an internationally mediated political solution that would allow Kashmir's own people to determine its fate - a prospect not relished in New Delhi. But the logic of Musharraf's crackdown, and India's patient response, suggests the potential for the emergence of a consensus between India and Pakistan that the fate of Kashmir should not be allowed to continue to disfigure their relationship, and their long-term national interests...