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BEIJING, Jan 20: China fears containment abroad and separatist groups at home, a defence policy paper said, justifying a drive to increase military spending and push the People's Liberation Army into the high-tech era. China's security has been improving as its economy grows and the PLA embraces modernisation, the defence "white paper" said, but pro-independence forces in Taiwan, Tibet and the energy-rich western region of Xinjiang still "pose threats to China's unity and security". "On this issue, there can be no compromise and no concessions," Defence Minstry chief spokesman Hu Changming said at a news conference to launch the document. China has pointed to its recent deployment of navy ships to police pirate-troubled seas off Africa as a sign of benign military intentions. Analysts say the mission shows a rising but cautious power's desire to project its growing global influence without alarming neighbors. But China's increased spe...

Pirates in Somalia are at it again. Over the weekend they claimed their biggest prize to date: a Saudi oil tanker the size of three football fields, laden with $100 million in crude oil. Before you summon romantic images of rum-soaked swashbucklers gallivanting "Pirates of the Caribbean"-style, consider this: The sophistication of the most recent attack has the attention of U.S. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. On Monday Mullen said he's "stunned" at the pirates' ability to hijack a vessel in the open ocean so far from the coast (though most attacks occur closer to the Gulf of Aden, this one took place 450 miles off the coast of Kenya). "[The pirates are] very well armed. Tactically, they are very good," Mullen said. Indeed, the seizure of the Saudi tanker is the latest in a series of high-stakes incidents in recent months. Piracy has long plagued the waters off the Horn of Africa, but attacks this year have spiked 75 p...