US treasury secretary Henry Paulson was yesterday in China, where he heard pleas from foreign minister Jiechi Yang to assist the beleaguered nation currently suffering at the hands of power Tibetan forces. After all, Yang would later opine, "the measures taken by the Chinese government according to law had not only gained support from the Chinese people, but also won understanding and support from majority of the countries in the world."

And while official Chinese figures show that only 19 were killed in recent police action taken in the city of Lhasa, the fanatical followers of the propagandist Dalai Lama instead claim Chinese security forces instead felled some 140 protesters.

However, help from Uncle Sam is on the way: Good news for a nation with military forces of just 2.25 million (considering that the population of the autonomous region of Tibet is just under 1 million strong, surely it can be seen that assistance is necessary). Foreign ministry spokesman Jiang Yu announced on Tuesday that the USS Kitty Hawk would be making a port call to Hong Kong and that the USS Nimitz would be based in Hong Kong waters sometime this month. Battleships make for an excellent deterrent against bullying Buddhists, after all.

Meanwhile, the nation of India is also taking a brave stand against mighty Nepal; that country's foreign minister recently called upon the Dalai Lama to "refrain from political activities on its soil," a move that "reportedly has earned Chinese gratitude." Surely the superpowered Tibetans will be looked to exact revenge on the Subcontinent next...