BEIJING (AFP) - A Chinese court awarded damages to the mother of a rape victim after she was sent to a labour camp for demanding her daughter's attackers be punished, a spokesman said on Monday.
Tang Hui, who became a figurehead for critics of the "re-education through labour" system after she was condemned to 18 months in a camp, won a total of 2,641 yuan ($430) following an appeal, a court spokesman surnamed Zhang told AFP.
The court in Changsha, the capital of the central province of Hunan, awarded compensation on the grounds that local authorities had violated Tang's personal freedom and caused her "psychological damage", Zhang said.
But it rejected Tang's demand that the police who sentenced her write a formal apology, because the "relevant people had apologised in court", he added.
The police chief of Yongzhou, who headed the committee that sentenced Tang, said during the hearing that he had "not acted with enough humanity or care", Tang told AFP earlier this month.
She was released last August after just over a week in a labour camp following a public outcry over her case, which was given unusual prominence in state-run media and prompted speculation that the system would be abolished.
The compensation award comes as a surprise after Tang lost her initial case. She herself had estimated the chance of success in her appeal as a "remote possibility".
Tang's daughter, 11 at the time, was kidnapped, raped and forced into prostitution in 2006, prompting Tang to seek to bring to justice the abductors and the police she says protected them.
Seven men were finally convicted in June last year, with two condemned to death, four given life sentences and one jailed for 15 years, but Tang continued to agitate for the policemen to face trial, and soon afterwards she was sentenced for "seriously disturbing social order and exerting a negative impact on society".
China's re-education through labour system gives police the right to hand out sentences of up to four years without a judicial trial.
Premier Li Keqiang said in March that the system would be "reformed", without giving further details.
US-based advocacy group the Dui Hua Foundation said on its website last month that some re-education through labour facilities had been "quietly taking formal steps to transition into compulsory drug treatment centres", citing local media reports.

Sixteen Russian and five Chinese naval ships sailed through an international strait north of Hokkaido from midday Saturday to the Sea of Okhotsk, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.
Russia and China conducted a joint naval drill off the coast of Vladivostok from July 5 to 12, but the purpose of their passage through the Soya Strait is not known, a ministry official said.
The Russian fleet, including missile cruisers, missile destroyers, a supply ship and a hospital ship, traveled through the strait Saturday afternoon, while the Chinese fleet, comprising two missile destroyers, two frigates and a supply ship, passed through the strait early Sunday, the ministry said.

It started as a craze for T-shirts printed with cartoon images of Hitler’s face. This dubious trend among teenagers in Thailand soon moved on to include SS style bike helmets, temporary swastika tattoos, and pictures of cute teddy bears doing the Nazi salute.

Soon, kids were seen on the streets of Bangkok posing for photos, grinning next to cartoon effigies of the man responsible for the deaths of 12 million people during the Holocaust. Then it emerged other incidents had taken place including a Nazi themed school fashion show and a sports day parade in the northern city of Chang Mai in which a group of students dressed up as SS soldiers as a surprise for their teachers.

“Hitler Chic,” as it was dubbed in the media last year, has quickly snowballed in Thailand, revealing a lack of historical education and awareness in a country that was left largely untouched by World War II.

Unsurprisingly, the new craze has prompted confusion among foreign tourists and outrage among several international organisations, including Itzhak Shoham, the Israeli ambassador to Thailand, who said the trend “hurts the feelings of every Jew and every civilized person.”

The complaints elicited bemused responses from Thailand’s cultural elite, who brushed it off as misplaced humor, stemming from kids who aren’t taught about the history of the Holocaust in school. One blogger said they thought the world had lost its sense of humor. “Why is this different from the West’s obsession with Che Guevara?” he wrote.

Interest in the trend seemed to be dropping off until last week when pictures on Twitter started circulating of a fried chicken joint in Bangkok allegedly named Hitler. Modeled after Kentucky Fried Chicken, the restaurant's logo features the face of the Fuhrer plastered onto the body of bow-tie wearing Colonel Sanders, the founder of KFC. The images prompted a renewed outburst of anger, followed by a heavily worded statement from Kentucky Fried Chicken saying they were considering suing the restaurant.

"We find it extremely distasteful and are considering legal action since it is an infringement of our brand trademark and has nothing to do with us," a spokesperson for Yum!, KFC’s parent company said.

It was later pointed out that the pictures of the restaurant may be old and that the chicken joint in question has since changed its name.

True or not, the revival of the debate around Hitler Chic has prompted some to call for history to be re-instated as one of the key subjects in the Thai syllabus to avoid further misunderstanding and embarrassment.

Varakorn Samakoses is the president of Dhurakij Pundit University in Bangkok and former deputy minister for education. He says a lack of emphasis on history teaching in Thailand means students are graduating without a proper grasp of events that shaped the world around them.

“Kids are much more interested in the present and the future, they are not taught to appreciate or take seriously what happened in the past,” he said, adding that because Thailand avoided much of the hardships suffered by other countries during World War II and under colonial rule, people find it harder to relate to stories of genocide and chaos.

“Even teachers are ignorant of these issues,” he said. “This is something that should change. History should be one of the most important parts of the syllabus. [Children] should know what goes on because history always repeats itself.”

Lack of education and empathy may be a big problem here, but its not restricted to Thailand. Other countries have also picked up on the Hitler Chic craze, including the sale of Hitler key rings in 7/11 stores in Taiwan, Nazi T-shirts in Japan and Korea and a clothing store in Hong Kong caught decorating the counter with Nazi flags.

But the message that foreigners don't approve of Hitler Chic seems to be catching on.

Last Saturday, a young Chinese man was perusing a set of Hitler T-shirts at Chatuchak weekend market in Bangkok. The man and his friend joked as they held up different T-shirts, including one of the German dictator dressed as Ronald McDonald.

“I want this. I will wear it at home in China,” he said. “I work at McDonalds so I like it very much.”

When asked if he knew who Hitler was, the man – who declined to give his name – smiled sheepishly. He nodded to indicate he did and then seemed to get embarrassed. As this reporter walked away, his friend muttered something under his breath and the pair left abruptly. Later this reporter saw the T-shirt he was going to buy, still hanging up.

The approval rate of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet in July fell 3.8 percentage points from a month earlier to 53.6 percent, down for the third straight month, a Jiji Press survey showed Friday.

Although the Cabinet’s approval rate remained relatively high, the figure was the lowest since its launch in late December, below the 54.0 percent level in the January survey.

The disapproval rate rose 3.3 points to 23.3 percent.

Source: The Japan Times

Chengdu's New Century Global Centre has its own beach resort, cinemas, shops – and a replica Mediterranean village

Beneath smoggy clouds in the Chinese mega-city of Chengdu, waves lap against sandy shores and a salty breeze blows across the beach. 6,000 holidaymakers look out on a glowing sunset, dining on platters of "the rarest oceanic fish species", while a stage rises from the water, ready for the evening's multimedia music spectacular. China's fourth largest city may be 620 miles from the coast, but that hasn't stopped it having its own seaside – newly opened inside the biggest building in the world.
A 100m tall cliff-face of blue mirrored glass, stretching 500m along a triumphal plaza, the New Century Global Centre houses an entire seaside resort, along with a 14-screen Imax cinema, Olympic-sized ice rink, two five-star hotels and its own Mediterranean shopping village – all wrapped with a vast ribbon of offices. Sprawling for 1.7m square metres, it could fit 20 Sydney Opera Houses beneath its glass roof. It is declared by its creators to be "a landmark which commands the world and is looked upon by the world with respect," a pleasure dome that Kubla Khan could only dream of.
Positioned at the heart of the city's Tianfu district, a new hub for finance, IT and biochemical industries, the building squats like an overfed prize fowl, teetering out in all directions and looming above a neighbouring art centre by Zaha Hadid – a dwarf in comparison, at 140,000 square metres. Its design, say the developers, is "themed with a comprehensive and profound oceanic culture and inspired by the design concept of sailing seagulls and undulating waves".

On entering the echoing 18-storey atrium, lined with a stratified cream cake of hotel balconies and zig-zagging escalators, visitors are blasted with artificial sea breeze, designed to "make one intoxicated, as if he were enjoying himself in the fabulous heaven". Moving past aquarium walls and through a strange hybrid townscape of Polynesian huts crossed with a middle eastern kasbah, tourists arrive at the 400m-long coastline, where the largest artificial waves in the world break in front of the longest LED screen in the world – on which "the alternating morning cloud and twilight afterglow extend the horizon limitlessly in the temporal and spatial directions".

For one of the most polluted cities in China, the sun shines through the glass barrel-vaulted roof in a remarkably blue sky. "We have borrowed a Japanese technique," guide Liu Xun told the Sydney Morning Herald. "There is an artificial sun that shines 24 hours a day and allows for a comfortable temperature."

 With offices that are both "comfortable and pompous", entertainment facilities that offer "the most exquisite and extravagant audiovisual pleasures", 1,000 deluxe hotel suites that all enjoy a sea view, and one of the largest shopping malls in China, citizens of the New Century Global Centre are given no reason to leave. But nor might they be able to escape their work: "It is a world class modern city of idyllic beauty," trumpets the promotional video, "where recreation has become the core value of modern business concepts and business will become a way of life."

Beijing signals displeasure with North during four-day summit with Pyongyang's southern neighbour

The leaders of China and South Korea called for North Korea to resume negotiations on its nuclear disarmament after a meeting in which they discussed ways to draw their isolated and erratic neighbourback into dialogue with the outside world.

The summit in Beijing marked the beginning of a four-day visit by South Korea's new president, Park Geun-hye. It also came at a time when China, Pyongyang's biggest ally and longtime benefactor, has signalled unusual displeasure with the North after it recently carried out a missile launch and nuclear test and issued a barrage of provocative rhetoric despite Beijing's protests.

"We shared an understanding that North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons cannot be tolerated under any circumstances," Park said at a joint news conference with China'sPresident Xi Jinping. Xi said that he and Park had agreed to work together on matters related to the North, but put his emphasis on the need for Pyongyang to restart six-nation talks on nuclear disarmament.

In the days before the meeting, Park made clear that North Korea was her overriding concern, telling South Korean media that she would try to boost cooperation with China "so as to make North Korea come forward for sincere talks". Underlining her hope of stronger economic ties, Park was accompanied by executives from South Korea's biggest companies, including Samsung, LG and Hyundai Motors. The unusually large 71-member business contingent highlights the huge volume of trade between the two countries – $215bn last year – and South Korea's status as one of the few nations to post a trade surplus with China.

Many analysts say China is using the meetings with Park to signal its displeasure with North Korea and increase pressure on the government there. Many note that Park is meeting Xi before North Korea's young new leader, Kim Jong-un, has had an opportunity to do so.

A visit by Kim to Beijing has not been possible given the recent chill in relations between China and the North, said Zhang Liangui, a North Korea expert at the Central Party School in Beijing.

"If the leaders of the two countries cannot agree on important issues, there cannot be a successful or a fruitful visit," Zhang said.

Chinese officials are unlikely to abandon North Korea any time soon, fearful of the instability, swarms of refugees and US-friendly Korean government that might ensue on its doorstep.

Still, after North Korea's nuclear test this spring, China agreed to increased sanctions on its ally and cut off access for some North Korean banks.

"In the past, Chinese residents had some sympathy towards North Korea, more or less, but right now Chinese are very disappointed and feel North Korea is almost laughable," said Jin Canrong, an international relations professor at Renmin University in Beijing. In the past, Jin added, China was reluctant to publicly discuss North Korean issues with the South or the United States, out of consideration for its ally's feelings. "But now, China doesn't care what North Korea thinks at all and discusses these agendas openly in public," he said.

This article was published in the Guardian Weekly, which incorporates material from the Washington Post

Julian Assange and others from the whistleblower organisation will contest Senate seats in the coming election
The political arm of the global whistleblower organisation WikiLeaks has been formally registered by the Australian Electoral Commission in time for the federal election where the party plans to contest Senate seats in three Australian states.
The WikiLeaks party received formal registration on Tuesday and was registered under the name of Gail Malone, a member of the party's national council and described as a "peace activist" on their website. The registration lists an address in Fitzroy, Melbourne as the party's correspondence address.
Greg Barnes, the WikiLeaks party campaign manager, said news of the registration meant the party would now focus on setting out key policy positions in the coming weeks. He said the party would be focused initially on the areas of climate change, refugee policy and taxation. He said these would be key policy issues should there be a balance of power following the Senate elections.
He added that the party was drawing closer to announcing who, along with Julian Assange, would contest seats for the party. He said there had been a "very high level" of interest from a number of people with a good record of "contribution to public life" asking to stand for the party.
Barnes said the party planned to put forward two candidates in Western Australia and two or three candidates in both Victoria and New South Wales.
At present, Julian Assange is the only confirmed WikiLeaks party candidate. It is understood he will stand for election in Victoria. Assange remains at the Ecuadorean embassy in London where he is seeking refuge to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning over sexual assault allegations. Assange denies the allegations.

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters) - The Philippines hit out at China on Sunday over the "increasing militarization" of the South China Sea as tensions between the neighbors flared amid slow-moving regional efforts to forge a compromise over one of Asia's naval flashpoints.

The rebuke by Philippine Foreign Minister Albert del Rosario at a regional summit in Brunei came a day after China's state media warned of an inevitable "counterstrike" against the Philippines if it continued to provoke Beijing.

Friction between China and the Philippines over disputed territories in the oil and gas rich sea has surged since last year due to several naval stand-offs and fraying diplomatic efforts to forge a regional agreement on maritime conduct.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) hopes to persuade Beijing to join talks on a proposed Code of Conduct (CoC) this year, but China's naval action has alarmed some nations, particularly the Philippines and Vietnam.

Most recently, the Philippines accused China of encroaching on its territory after three Chinese ships converged just 5 nautical miles from a small reef where the Philippines maintains a small military force.

This month the Philippines moved more troops and supplies to the reef, which is within its 200-nautical mile economic exclusion zone. China, which does not recognize the zone, condemned it as an "illegal occupation".

Del Rosario said the "massive" presence of Chinese military and paramilitary ships at the Second Thomas shoal and at another reef called the Scarborough Shoal - the site of a tense standoff last year - was a threat to regional peace.

"The statement on counterstrike is an irresponsible one. We condemn any threats of use of force," Del Rosario told reporters in Brunei following a meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers.

He said the ministers had discussed China's ongoing "illegal" occupation of the Scarborough Shoal, which is just 124 nautical miles of the Philippine coast.

EXPANSIVE CLAIMS

China and the Philippines have accused each other of flouting a confidence-building 2002 "declaration of conduct" agreed by ASEAN and Beijing. China has appeared in little hurry to begin negotiations on a more comprehensive deal.

"A declaration of conduct is the foundation we need to lay before we can start working on a CoC," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Brunei.

"Both sides have to create that basis before we can move forward. It is a process, a step-by-step process."

The worsening dispute comes as Philippine-ally the United States, which says it has a national interest in freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, shifts its military attention back to Asia. Secretary of State John Kerry is due to arrive in Brunei on Monday to join the regional summit.

Critics say China is intent on cementing its vast claims over the sea through its superior and growing naval might, and has little interest in rushing to agree a code of conduct with ASEAN nations, four of which have competing claims.

Divisions among ASEAN over the maritime dispute burst into the open a year ago when a summit chaired by Chinese ally Cambodia failed to issue a closing communique for the first time in the group's 45-year history.

A project to create costumes from the popular manga series “Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne” is under way in the textile hub of Ichinomiya, Aichi Prefecture, which recently came up with the “Costume Town” concept to promote itself.

The Ichinomiya Chamber of Commerce and Industry has gathered the best technology in the area to manufacture exact replicas of the outfits in hopes of raising the image — and value — of the “made in Ichinomiya” brand. The clothes chosen are worn by Maron Kusakabe, the protagonist in “Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne.”

The popular manga by Arina Tanemura, an Ichinomiya native, depicts the adventures of Maron Kusakabe, a high school girl with the ability to transform into a supernatural phantom thief, Kaito Jeanne, to battle demons. It was published by Shueisha Inc.’s Ribon manga magazine from 1998 to 2000 and was targeted at teenage readers.

It was also turned into an anime television series aired between 1999 and 2000 by TV Asahi, further driving its popularity and fame at home and overseas.

The chamber of commerce started promoting Ichinomiya as a Costume Town as a means of revitalizing local industry, organizing parades by “cosplay” enthusiasts and inviting them to take part in the city’s annual “setsubun” festival to dispel evil spirits.

But this time the project involves working with local industries to replicate the costumes. Tanemura has given the organization licence to use her manga characters for free.

More than 10 textile manufacturers from Ichinomiya will contribute to the project, with fabrics manufactured in the city to be used to make the outfits. Professional designers will pitch in to help as well.

Tanemura’s drawings are known for their attention to detail. Kaito Jeanne’s outfit has long belts and sleeves, and Tanemura has asked that the costumes create a sense of movement.

The project team aims to work hard to meet the request, with one member saying that “the bar has been set really high.”

Production will begin in July and the costumes will be unveiled to the public at an event in October.

In the second phase of the project, the team will create the costumes Maron Kusakabe wears as a high schooler, before she transforms into Kaito Jeanne. They are scheduled to be completed in December.

Three pairs will be manufactured for each set. One will be presented to Tanemura and the other two will be used for future exhibitions.

“I want the costumes to be of the highest quality so that people will recognize and see that they are real,” said Daihachiro Nagao, 72, the deputy head of the chamber of commerce who is leading the project.

“I also want people to identify Ichinomiya as the city of textiles to boost the development of this area.”

Tenemura says “Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne” brings back a lot of memories, as she drew the series while she was still living in Ichinomiya.

“I’m very interested in seeing how my manga character will come out live in a 3-D version,” she said.

“I have always been proud of my hometown as a city of textiles and I’m delighted if my work can contribute to Ichinomiya’s development.”

Source: The Japan Times

The United Nation’s highest court begins hearings on Japanese whaling in the Antarctic. Australia has taken the matter to the International Court of Justice in a last ditch attempt to save the mammals from extinction.

Australia is arguing that Japan is exploiting a loophole in the International ban on commercial whaling adopted in 1986 by the International Whaling Commission.
Japan continues to hunt whales in what they say is scientific research conducted to "better understand the sustainability of whale stocks."
Several countries and wildlife protection NGOs, however, say this is a cover and the whale meat is intended for human consumption.
In its application to the UN's highest judicial body, which was set up in 1945 to settle disputes between states, Australia accuses Japan of breaching its obligation to "observe in good faith the zero catch limit in relation to the killing of whales."

 "More than 10,000 whales have been killed as a result of Japan's so-called scientific whaling program since the moratorium commenced in the mid-1980s," said Mark Dreyfus, Australia's attorney general.

Canberra took Tokyo to court in 2010 claiming the Asian nation was in breach of international conventions and its obligation to preserve marine mammals and their environment.
Japan, however, says it's JARPA and JARPA II research programs are sustainable.
It argues it has a right to monitor the whales' impact on its fishing industry.
Japanese diplomat Noriyuki Shikata said the Japanese Whale Research Program yielded essential information about the age distribution and proportion of males to females in the Antarctic whale population, which helped decide if stocks were recovering.
"There are about 515,000 minke whales in the Antarctic, and Japan's research is taking only about 815 a year," Shikata said. "This is below the reproductive rate.”
Japan killed around 6,500 Antarctic minke whales between 1987 and 2005, after the moratorium came into effect, compared to 840 whales for research purposes in the 31 years prior to the moratorium, ICJ court papers said. 
A further 2,500 minke whales were killed between 2005 and 2009 under the JARPA II program.
Minke whales are not endangered, but JARPA II also allows for the killing of endangered mammals including humpback and fin whales.
Tokyo defends the practice of eating whale meat as a culinary tradition and it can be still found at stores and special restaurants in Japan but is not as popular as it used to be due to the high price and the controversy.      

Activist pressure
The number of killed whales has been declining: The haul from Japan's most recent whaling mission in the Southern Ocean was a "record low," the government said earlier this year, blaming "unforgivable sabotage" by activists.
Whalers came back with just 103 Antarctic minke whales, less than half its tally last year, and no fin whales, after repeatedly clashing with militant environmentalist group Sea Shepherd.
Sea Shepherd will have observers at the ICJ and Geert Vons, the group's director in the Netherlands said it was a make-or-break case for the sea mammals, claiming that all necessary research on these whales could be done by non-lethal means.
"If nothing happens now, nothing else is going to happen," he said.
The hearings are expected to last for 11 days, with New Zealand supporting Australia. A judgment will take months.
The court's decisions are final and both countries have agreed to be bound by the court ruling.
Australia is hoping that the court will issue a ruling banning Japanese whaling by the year's end, soon enough to halt the next whaling season, which generally begins in December and takes Japan's whaling fleet to the Antarctic Ocean, where Australia declared a whale sanctuary in 1999.
Norway and Iceland still have whaling programs in spite of the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling and have no intention of stopping them.
rg/hc (AFP, Reuters, AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — For President Barack Obama, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden's globe-trotting evasion of U.S. authorities has dealt a startling setback to efforts to strengthen ties with China and raised the prospect of worsening tensions with Russia.

Indeed, Russia's foreign minister on Tuesday called U.S. demands for Snowden's extradition "ungrounded and unacceptable."

Relations with both China and Russia have been at the forefront of Obama's foreign policy agenda this month, underscoring the intertwined interests among these uneasy partners. Obama met just last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Northern Ireland and held an unusual two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in California earlier this month.

Obama has made no known phone calls to Xi since Snowden surfaced in Hong Kong earlier this month, nor has he talked to Putin since Snowden arrived in Russia.

Former Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., said it wasn't clear that Obama's "charm offensive" with Xi and Putin would matter much on this issue. The U.S. has "very little leverage," she said, given the broad array of issues on which the Obama administration needs Chinese and Russian cooperation.

"This isn't happening in a vacuum, and obviously China and Russia know that," said Harman, who now runs the Woodrow Wilson International Center.

Both the U.S. and China had hailed the Obama-Xi summit as a fresh start to a complex relationship, with the leaders building personal bonds during an hour-long walk through the grounds of the Sunnylands estate. But any easing of tensions appeared to vanish Monday following China's apparent flouting of U.S. demands that Snowden be returned from semi-autonomous Hong Kong to face espionage charges.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, in unusually harsh language, said China had "unquestionably" damaged its relationship with Washington.

"The Chinese have emphasized the importance of building mutual trust," Carney said. "We think that they have dealt that effort a serious setback. If we cannot count on them to honor their legal extradition obligations, then there is a problem."

A similar problem may be looming with Russia, where Snowden arrived Sunday. He had been expected to leave Moscow for a third country, but the White House said Monday it believed the former government contractor was still in Russia.

While the U.S. does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, the White House publicly prodded the Kremlin to send Snowden back to the U.S., while officials privately negotiated with their Russian counterparts.

"We are expecting the Russians to examine the options available to them to expel Mr. Snowden for his return to the United States," Carney said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday bluntly rejected the U.S. request, saying Snowden hasn't crossed the Russian border. He angrily lashed out at the U.S. for warnings of negative consequences if Moscow fails to comply.

"We consider the attempts to accuse Russia of violation of U.S. laws and even some sort of conspiracy, which on top of all that are accompanied by threats, as absolutely ungrounded and unacceptable," Lavrov said.

During a stop in Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State John Kerry responded by saying the United States is not looking for a confrontation with Russia.

Speaking at a news conference in Jiddah, Kerry said that while it's true the United States does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, Moscow should comply with common law practices between countries concerning fugitives. "I would simply appeal for calm and reasonableness," Kerry said. "We would hope that Russia would not side with someone who is 'a fugitive' from justice.' "

The U.S. has deep economic ties with China and needs the Asian power's help in persuading North Korea to end its nuclear provocations. The Obama administration also needs Russia's cooperation in ending the bloodshed in Syria and reducing nuclear stockpiles held by the former Cold War foes.

Members of Congress so far have focused their anger on China and Russia, not on Obama's inability to get either country to abide by U.S. demands. However, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said in an interview with CNN on Monday that he was starting to wonder why the president hasn't been "more forceful in dealing with foreign leaders."

Sen. John McCain, who lost to Obama in the 2008 presidential election, echoed that concern on Tuesday, telling CNN that "we've got to start dealing with Vladimir Putin for what he is."

The Arizona Republican called Putin "an old KGB colonel apparatchik" who disdains democracy and said that Putin "continues to stick his thumb in our eye."

"When you show the world you're leading from behind, these are the consequences," McCain said.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton echoed the White House's frustration with China. "That kind of action is not only detrimental to the U.S.-China relationship but it sets a bad precedent that could unravel the intricate international agreements about how countries respect the laws — and particularly the extradition treaties," the possible 2016 presidential contender told an audience in Los Angeles.

Snowden fled to Hong Kong after seizing highly classified documents disclosing U.S. surveillance programs that collect vast amounts of U.S. phone and Internet records. He shared the information with The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers. He also told the South China Morning Post that "the NSA does all kinds of things like hack Chinese cellphone companies to steal all of your SMS data." SMS, or short messaging service, generally means text messaging.

Snowden still has perhaps more than 200 sensitive documents, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said over the weekend.

Hong Kong, a former British colony with a degree of autonomy from mainland China, has an extradition treaty with the U.S. Officials in Hong Kong said a formal U.S. extradition request did not fully comply with its laws, a claim the Justice Department disputes.

The White House made clear it believes the final decision to let Snowden leave for Russia was made by Chinese officials in Beijing.

Russia's ultimate response to U.S. pressure remains unclear. Putin could still agree to return Snowden to the U.S. But he may also let him stay in Russia or head elsewhere, perhaps to Ecuador or Venezuela — both options certain to earn the ire of the White House.

Fiona Hill, a Russia expert at the Washington-based Brookings Institution, said she expected Putin to take advantage of a "golden opportunity" to publicly defy the White House.

"This is one of those opportunities to score points against the United States that I would be surprised if Russia passed up," Hill said.

___

Follow Julie Pace on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

By Thomas Grove and Steve Gutterman

MOSCOW (Reuters) - China and Russia rejected U.S. accusations they helped a former U.S. spy agency contractor escape prosecution in the United States, deepening a rift between powers whose cooperation may be essential in settling global conflicts including the Syrian war.

Despite public outrage, however, there was a sense Moscow andWashington sought to limit damage over Edward Snowden, whose flight from justice has embarrassed President Barack Obama. After tough U.S. statements a day earlier, Secretary of State John Kerryurged "calm and reasonableness" on Tuesday.

Snowden, charged with disclosing secret U.S. surveillance programs, left Hong Kong for Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport on Sunday. The U.S. State Department said diplomats and Justice Department officials were talking to Russia, suggesting they sought a deal to secure his return to face espionage charges.

An airport source said the 30-year-old American, who has asked for asylum in Ecuador, had flown in on Sunday and had been booked on a flight to Cuba on Monday but had not got on board.

Journalists camped out at the airport have not spotted him inside, or leaving, the transit area, and say a heavy security presence has been relaxed for the past 24 hours. He has not registered at a hotel in the transit zone, hotel sources say.

A receptionist at the Capsule Hotel "Air Express", a complex of 47 basic rooms furnished predominantly with grey carpets and grey walls, said Snowden had turned up on Sunday, looked at the price list and then left.

U.S. officials admonished Beijing and Moscow on Monday for allowing Snowden to escape their clutches but the United States' partners on the U.N. Security Council, already at odds with Washington over the conflict in Syria, hit back indignantly.

"The United States' criticism of China's central government is baseless. China absolutely cannot accept it," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in Beijing, also dismissing U.S. criticism of Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, for letting Snowden leave.

FSB INTEREST?

In the first comment on the affair by a senior Russian officials since Snowden arrived, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied suggestions Moscow had helped Snowden in any way, including by allowing him to fly into Sheremetyevo.

"He chose his itinerary on his own. We learnt about it ... from the media. He has not crossed the Russian border," he said. "We consider the attempts to accuse the Russian side of violating U.S. laws, and practically of involvement in a plot, to be absolutely groundless and unacceptable."

There is growing speculation in the Russian media that Snowden may be talking to the FSB security service, a successor of the Soviet-era KGB, and could be involved in a prisoner swap.

"Lavrov always chooses his words carefully," said a Russian security source. "From his statement you can deduce the following: that he (Snowden) is either outside Russia or still in the transit zone. He is a tasty morsel for any, any secret service, also for ours."

Deputy parliamentary speaker Vladimir Zhirinovsky has proposed Snowden be exchanged for Viktor Bout, a Russian jailed in the United States for drug trafficking, requests for whose extradition have been ignored.

Fallout from a protracted wrangle over Snowden could be far-reaching, as Russia, the United States and China hold veto powers at the U.N. Security Council and their broad agreement could be vital to any settlement in Syria.

International mediator Lakhdar Brahimi said on Tuesday he was pessimistic an international conference on Syria could take place in July as hoped and urged Russia and the United States to help contain a conflict which has killed almost 100,000 people.

Kerry said there was no cause to raise tensions over "something that is frankly basic and normal as this."

"It is accurate there is not an extradition treaty between Russia and the United states, but there are standards of behavior between sovereign nations," he said, in Jeddah.

Lavrov's insistence Snowden had not entered Russia implies he has not left the airport transit area, used by passengers flying from one non-Russian airport to another without going through passport control or requiring an entry visa.

The transit area is Russian sovereign territory, but it could be argued that in staying there Snowden had not formally entered the country - a move that could implicate President Vladimir Putin in helping a fugitive. Russia appears, at least for the moment, reluctant to take such a step.

REFUGEE DOCUMENT

Interfax news agency quoted a source "in the Russian capital" as saying Snowden could be detained to check the validity of his passport if he crossed the Russian border.

Snowden is travelling on a refugee document of passage provided by Ecuador, the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks said.

Snowden, whose exposure of the surveillance raised questions about civil liberties in the United States, flew to Moscow after being allowed to leave Hong Kong even though Washington had asked the Chinese territory to detain him.

Snowden, until recently a contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency, had been expected to fly to Havana from Moscow on Monday and eventually go on to Ecuador, according to sources at the Russian airline Aeroflot.

There is no direct flight from Moscow to Quito, which has said it was considering Snowden's asylum request. The Quito government has been sheltering WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its London embassy for the past year.

U.S. officials said intelligence agencies were concerned they did not know how much sensitive material Snowden had and that he may have taken more documents than initially estimated which could get into the hands of foreign intelligence.

(Additional reporting Gabriela Baczynska and Lidia Kelly in Moscow, Alexandra Valencia in Quito, Mark Felsenthal, Paul Eckert and Mark Hosenball in Washington and Katya Golubkova in Havana, Writing by Elizabeth Piper and Timothy Heritage, editing by Ralph Boulton)