The film is a documentary about the exiled Uyghur leader, Rebiya Kadeer. It deals with the personal challenges faced by Ms Kadeer as an activist and the ways in which her campaigning has impacted her family. Three of her children have been jailed.

Richard Mooore, the director of the Melbourne festival, didn't appreciate Ms Chen's approach when she contacted him by phone. She told the director that he had to justify his decision to include The 10 Conditions of Love in the program.

Moore: "No-one reacts well to strident approaches, or to the appearance of being bullied. I don't think it's a positive way of behaving."

He informed Ms Chen that he didn't need to justify his decision to include the film.

What is unusual is Ms Chen's apparent belief that a director of an independent arts organization in Australia owes her or any anybody else an explanation for screening a documentary about a figure whose personal story has attracted international interest.

The Chinese Consulate in Melbourne has had no comment on the incident.

China has accused Ms Kadeer and the World Uyghur Congress of helping to orchestrate the recent violence in the Xinjiang region between Muslim Uyghurs and members of the Chinese Han community.

This is an accusation Ms Kadeer denies.

The 10 Conditions of Love is an important film. Recent events in China have increased awareness of the Uyghurs and the ethnic tensions in the Xinjiang region. The personal journey of Rebiya Kadeer deserves to be more widely known and not only for its political content, but as a human interest story.

Aside from being a highly successful entrepreneur - ranked at one time among the top five richest people in China - Ms Kadeer has dedicated her time and resources to working on behalf of her community.

The Gulja Incident in 1997 sparked by the execution of 30 Uyghur independence advocates, prompted Ms Kadeer to openly criticize the Chinese government. Following this she was abruptly removed from the National Peoples Congress and had her passport revoked.

She was jailed in 1999 on charges that she had "passed intelligence" to foreigners. Following her release in 2005, she moved to the US.

Rebiya Kadeer led Tuesday's march to the Chinese Embassy in Washington to protest the recent violence in China.

The earthquake centered near China's Sichuan Province has taken the lives of 70,000 people. Karma is about cause and effect. Neither the actions nor the personal opinions of the majority of those who died so cruelly at the hands of nature contributed directly to official Chinese policy toward Tibet.

Thousands were killed when the earthquake struck, others were entombed in the debris. Small children were trapped in the rubble, condemned to a slow, lingering death. In the face of such a monumental human tragedy even if the word "karma" flickers across the screen of your consciousness, out of respect for the death of thousands of innocents, you keep it to yourself.

Like Ms Stone, I have been supportive of the Free Tibet movement. However along with many other bloggers, my argument has been with official Chinese policies and the aggression directed against the people of Tibet by the Chinese military. Taking any satisfaction from a natural disaster impacting Chinese civilians shames our common humanity.

The karmic speculations of Sharon Stone come across as naive, ill-timed and insulting. Chinese anger is completely understandable. To infer on the basis of a shady karma thesis that the innocent are paying for the sins of Chinese officialdom is superstitious nonsense.

There is a long history of earthquakes in the Himalayan region. The afflicted areas in the past have in some instances been in Tibet, not China.

If you follow the logic of the karmic cause-and-effect thesis, then you have to wonder what bad karma caused the great Himalayan earthquake in the 1600's that destroyed monasteries in southern Tibet and the Mustang region of Nepal. Monasteries don't spring to mind as logical targets for karmic negativity.

The Assam-Tibet earthquake, August 15, 1950, is one of the largest on record. There were 1,520 deaths all told, with at least 780 fatalities in the Nyingchi-Qamdo-Zhamo area of eastern Tibet where buildings collapsed. These numbers are only estimates - it is thought by experts that the death toll may have been much higher. Was this karma also? If so what did the Tibetans do to deserve such a fate?

It looks as though Ms Stone herself is about to become the recipient of bad karma for her unfortunate remarks. China is one of Hollywood's most important export markets. One of China's biggest cinema chains has stated publicly that it will no longer show her films. According to the Beijing Times, ads bearing her image have been removed from displays in department stores.

The Tibetan Foundation sent Ms Stone a letter recommending that she go and help the quake victims. A golden opportunity to work off bad karma ... assuming of course she would be welcome.

The group the police claim is responsible for the recent death threats is Lashkar-e-Toiba. Lashkar-e-Toiba is suspected of having contacts with Chinese intelligence. China is by far the Dalai Lama's most outspoken adversary. Recently the Chinese leadership in Tibet increased the volume of its denunciations of the Dalai Lama and the Dharamsala government-in-exile. These attacks have been of an acutely personal nature. The PRC secretary of Tibet, Zhang Qingli, epitomizes this aggressive approach. He has described the Dalai Lama as "a false religious leader" and curiously enough likened China's struggle with him as "a fight to the death".

The Western China Development policy, is another aspect of Beijing's reach. The policy will be used to justify the creation of infrastructure in an effort to extend PRC control over Tibet, rather than make any concessions to the 'Middle Way' solution being proposed by Dharamsala-based Tibetan government-in-exile.

China's claims to Tibet are frankly outrageous and without justification. Many Western countries have a history that includes external political influence, military invasion, even temporary occupations - yet in almost every case in the post-WW2 era these nations have maintained their independence and territorial integrity. When hostilities have been pressed with evidence of atrocity - for example Serbian aggression in Kosovo - the international community has refused to endorse such illegal nationalistic adventures. So how come the illegal occupation of Tibet and the cultural genocide that preceded it has only received muted criticism?

Quebec was recently given recognition as "a nation within Canada" by the Canadian government, based upon markers related to ethnicity, language and heritage. On such criteria alone Tibetan society is clearly distinct.

Back in the mid-20th century Tibet's language, culture and most importantly its highly evolved spiritual tradition, made it as different from Mao's China as night is from day. The Chinese invasion of 1949 was a flagrant land grab and violation of international law.

The arguments offered by China to claim ownership of Tibet are flimsy at best. They try to establish a historical basis for their claim by referring back to the Manchu dynasty and by citing relationships between Chinese rulers and Tibetan lamas. This is a bit like saying that as a result of historical Anglo-Irish connections (that included ownership of Irish land), British diplomatic influence and military victories in Ireland - the UK should have the right to annex the Republic of Ireland. A proposition that is so outlandish under international law it would rightly be laughed out of court.

I'm not overlooking the fact that at various times in its history, the territory that more or less makes up the plateau of greater Tibet did in fact fall fall under Chinese influence of one form or another - but this argument can't be used to justify the wholesale occupation of Tibet.

Although the Middle Way Approach proposed by the Tibetan government-in-exile stops short of demanding independence for Tibet and only seeks regional autonomy, the reaction of PRC authorities has been hostile in the extreme. The PRC secretary of Tibet, Zhang Qingli, epitomizes this aggressive approach. He recently described the Dalai Lama as "a false religious leader" and even went so far as to liken China's struggle with him as "a fight to the death".

As a consequence of the leadership shown by the Dalai Lama, a new sense of Tibetan unity has been forged among the large number of Tibetans living overseas. These are not only Tibetans from the central province of U-Tsang that was placed under Beijing control in 1951, but also Tibetans from the provinces of Kham and Amdo.

It is little wonder this unity is being forged in the Tibetan emigre community when you consider how the Chinese accomplished their ambitions within Tibet. The invasion was marked by atrocities that some international observers have likened to genocide.

Following the Tibetan uprising of 1959, roughly 80,000 Tibetans were killed in Central Tibet alone. All told, it is estimated that 1.5 million Tibetans died as a result of Chinese repression that included summary executions without trial and torture.

The damage to Tibetan society was staggering, and included the desecration of the rich Buddhist heritage that was one of the greatest gifts of that society to the human family. The Chinese military destroyed religious art and statuary. They turned sacred sites into war zones, employing heavy guns to destroy thousands of monasteries. Priceless literature and art was plundered and either destroyed or sold.

The Chinese government, far from offering a comprehensive apology, reparations and political concessions - seeks to further consolidate its power in Tibet at the expense of a people and a culture it has all but destroyed.

Jixiang Ruyi Tobacco and Alcohol Company put up 10,000 yuan ($1,280) in cash and prizes to entice 284 people to get naked and dash through Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province.The company's ad stressed that volunteers should be under 30 and with pleasing attributes ... "auspicious" men and women with "regular features" ( that rules out Jiang Zemin).

The nude romp was meant to promote the virtues of the slimmed down look as a way of discouraging excess packaging in the industry. A favorite New Year gift in China is a spirit named "Baijou", and the packaging can be extremely elaborate.

The response to the company's offer has been overwhelming. China Central Television reports that they have received an astounding 1,700 applications - mostly from men. A company official said tests had already been run on most of these hopefuls and that only 30 had passed muster. He explained that they not only had to look hot, but also had to be "mentally stable."

However the local spoilsports, the Zhengzhou police department, would have none of it and refused to okay the company's application. A police spokesperson explained that all commercial events must meet "moral standards".