News Sources: China Cracks Down on Tibet

China sought on Wednesday to contain ongoing protests in its ethnic Tibetan regions, as it stepped up detentions in Tibet's capital Lhasa and vowed tighter control over monasteries. The Tibet unrest -- and China's response to it -- has also become a lightning rod for criticism of its Communist authorities ahead of the Beijing Olympics, marring the country's desire to use the Games as a "coming out" party. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges and universities, including the following: (click on names for contact information):

Charlene Makley - Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Reed College - Makley received a Fulbright Scholar Award to study the processes through which Tibetans in eastern Qinghai province are responding to China's "Develop the West" campaign.

Daniel G. Cozort - Associate Professor of Religion and Chairperson, Dickinson College - Cozort has written four books on Tibetan Buddhism, and has lived and worked in Tibetan monasteries during visits to India.

Marc Blecher - Professor of Politics, Oberlin College - Blecher has written four books on China, most recently China Against the Tides: Restructuring Through Revolution, Radicalism, and Reform. His research on workers' politics in China is based on interviews and surveys conducted there.

News Sources: Shooting Down a Satellite

The military will try to shoot down a crippled spy satellite in the next two weeks, senior officials said Thursday. The officials laid out a high-tech plan to intercept the satellite over the Pacific just before it tumbles uncontrollably to Earth carrying toxic fuel. The ramifications of the operation are diplomatic, as well as military and scientific, in part because the United States criticized China last year when Beijing tested an antisatellite system with an old weather satellite as a target and in part because of renewed Russian concerns about "star wars" technology. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges and universities, including the following (click on names for contact information):

George E. Hudson - Professor of Political Science, Wittenberg University - Hudson is an authority on the former Soviet Union and modern Russia and use of military as an instrument of foreign policy. He was an adviser to Department of Defense and consultant to National Security Council. Was member of U.S. team which negotiated with Soviets for convential arms reductions in 1979.

Douglas Stuart - Professor of Political Science, Dickinson College - Stuart is an adjunct professor at the U.S. Army War College. His areas of research specialization include U.S. European security relations, and Asian security and arms control.

Bin Yu - Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wittenberg University - Bin is president of Chinese Scholars of Political Science and International Studies and a MacArthur fellow at the Center of International Security and Arms Control and research fellow at Center of International Studies, Beijing.

News Sources: Chinese Product Safety

The "made-in-China" scare has sparked toy recalls and U.S. Senate investigations. Tackling product safety problems will require a combination of tougher regulation of China's manufacturers, importer vigilance and more inspections. But are America's bargain-minded masses willing to spend more for safety? Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find then online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

Barry Schwartz - Dorwin P. Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action, Swarthmore College - Schwartz is the author of The Costs of Living: How Market Freedom Erodes the Best Things in Life. He is an expert on the social and psychological effects of the free market on moral, social and civic concerns and in the rising hostility in American public life.

Margaret Maurer-Fazio - Associate Professor of Economics, Bates College - Maurer-Fazio's current research focuses on labor-market issues in China. With a wide network of Chinese contacts, she travels extensively in China with students, teaching environmental protection and economic development issues.

John A. Conkling - Adjunct Professor of Chemistry, Washington College - Conkling is internationally recognized for his work in pyrotechnics, the high energy solid state chemistry responsible for fireworks displays, road flares and other sound and light generating systems. Executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, he wrote federal safety regulations governing fireworks and is technical consultant to Chinese fireworks manufacturers.

News Sources: Chill in Japan-China Relations

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has called for a "broader Asia" partnership of democracies that would include India, the United States and Australia but leave out the region's superpower, China. Meanwhile, Tokyo has sought to build closer security ties with the United States, Australia and India, and its navy is due to take part for the first time in joint U.S.-India exercises to be held in the Bay of Bengal next month. Reporters looking for experts to interview on this topic can find them online at the collegenews.org database of news sources and subject matter experts from America's leading liberal arts colleges, including (click on names for contact information):

David Arase - Associate Professor of Politics, Pomona College - Arase is an expert on the economics, politics and security of Japan and the economic cooperation and regional security relations between China, Japan, Russia, and North Korea. He is the author of Buying Power: The Political Economy of Japanese Foreign Aid.

Frank Gibney - Professor of Politics, Pomona College - One of America's foremost experts on East Asia and Asian/Pacific Affairs, Gibney is founder and president of the Pacific Basin Institute at Pomona College and was the producer of the acclaimed PBS series, "The Pacific Century." The author of several books, he is fluent in Japanese and continues to travel throughout Asia.

Bin Yu - Assistant Professor of Political Science, Wittenberg University - An expert on China's foreign policy, Yu is a fellow at the East-West Center, president of Chinese Scholars of Political Science and International Studies and a faculty associate of the Mershon Center. Yu is also a MacArthur fellow at the Center of International Security and Arms Control and a research fellow at Center of International Studies, Beijing

Chinese-Style Capitalism Feeds Product Recalls

China's complex system of "guanxi," or relationships, involves using personal networks and granting and returning favors to do business. Colgate University sociologist Carolyn Hsu says guanxi has fueled China's extraordinary economic growth, but it has also taken the place of binding contracts and government quality controls and has led to a series of China-based product recalls that have rocked international markets in recent weeks.