China Daily 每日新闻摘要——May 11th

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Beijing police issue statement after man dies in custody


Beijing police issued a statement on Wednesday responding to the death of a 29-year-old man, who died around an hour after he was detained on suspicion of soliciting prostitution.

According to the statement, police officers in plain clothes apprehended Lei Yang as he was exiting a foot massage parlor they were about to raid at 9:14 pm on Saturday. Lei refused to cooperate with the investigation, resisted arrest, bit the police officers and knocked off their video cameras.

He was put in a police car, but on the way to the police station he attempted to exit the vehicle, moved from the back seat to the passenger seat and kicked the driver, according to the statement.

Lei was later handcuffed by the police officers.

Police said Lei looked unwell during the journey, so they took him to hospital at 10:05 pm. He was pronounced dead at 10:55 pm after efforts were made to resuscitate him.

An additional five people were also detained at the foot massage parlor and evidence showed that Lei had paid 200 yuan ($31) to hire a prostitute from the business, the police said.

Wu Tingting, Lei's wife, questioned the officers' actions as she claimed to have found bruises and wounds on her husband's body.

She also questioned the three hour delay between Lei's death and her being informed of it.

Wu claims Lei left home in northern Beijing at around 9 pm to meet relatives at Beijing Capital International Airport who were scheduled to arrive at 11:30 pm.

She said she made more than 40 phone calls to Lei after 11:30 pm because he failed to meet the relatives at the airport. She believes the police had no reason to delay informing the family about Lei's death. She was informed at 1 am.

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Beijing condemns US warship patrol

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Beijing expressed "resolute opposition" on Tuesday to a patrol by a United States warship in the South China Sea near Yongshu Reef in the Nansha Islands.

The Ministry of National Defense said the patrol only further justified China's construction of defense facilities in the area.

The USS William P. Lawrence entered Chinese waters near the islands illegally on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, adding that the warship was monitored, tracked and warned.

Yongshu Reef belongs to China but is also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines.

Reuters quoted Bill Urban, spokesman for the US Department of Defense, as saying that the freedom of navigation operation was a challenge to "the excessive maritime claims of some claimants in the South China Sea".

Lu said, "The action by the US threatens China's sovereignty and security, endangers the safety of people and facilities on the reef, and harms regional peace and stability.

"China strongly opposes such action by the US and will continue to take measures to safeguard our sovereignty and security." Lu said the flexing of US military muscle in the name of freedom of navigation poses the biggest threat to peace and stability in the area.

The Defense Ministry said China has dispatched vessels and aircraft, including two fighter jets and three warships, to identify the US vessel and warned it to leave.

The ministry said the provocation exposed an intention "to disrupt the regional situation and reap gains from it, and further proved that China's construction of defense facilities on ... islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands is totally justified and very necessary".

China will enhance maritime and air patrols as well as the construction of "various defense capacities" in the area according to its needs, it added.

Li Guoqiang, deputy head of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Chinese Borderland Studies, said the unauthorized entry into Chinese territorial waters by the US military vessel "is against the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and violates the rights littoral states enjoy under the convention".

The US has frequently demonstrated its military power in the South China Sea recently. Examples include US B-52 bombers flying near Huayang Reef in December and the destroyer USS Lassen entering within 22 kilometers of Zhubi Reef in October.

Xinhua contributed to this report.

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Obama to visit Japan's Hiroshima later May: White House

WASHINGTON - The White House said Tuesday that US President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima later this month, the first by a sitting American president.

Calling the visit to Hiroshima "historic," the White House said in a statement that Obama's trip will highlight his "continued commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons."

According to another statement released by Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, the visit to Hiroshima is slated for May 27.

"He (Obama) will not revisit the decision to use the atomic bomb at the end of World War II. Instead, he will offer a forward-looking vision focused on our shared future," said Rhodes.

The White House had previously ruled out the possibility that Obama would apologize for the US bombing of Hiroshima that killed tens of thousands of Japanese civilians in August 1945.

In a recent daily briefing, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said unequivocally that Obama does not believe that Japan deserves a formal government apology.

During his tenth trip to Asia from May 21 to May 28, Obama will also visit Vietnam and participate in his final G7 Summit in Ise-Shima, Japan, said the White House.