No word on responsibly amidst praises of earthquake rescue efforts
With the conclusion of rescue efforts more than two months after the Sichuan earthquake disaster, the closely watched issue of seeking those responsible behind shoddy school constructions seems to have been swept under a carpet of political pressure and money, according to Free Asia Radio reports. With legal issues over school collapses not yet addressed, the television program on State run media singing praise to rescue efforts has caused an uproar among Chinese web users. (more…)
Mass demonstrations calling for the release of Tibetan political prisoners
Four non-government Tibetan organisations have staged a global demonstration to urge the international community to call on the Chinese communist regime to uphold the Olympic spirit and release all Tibetan political prisoners before the Beijing Olympics. (more…)
The Dalai Lama refused talks with CCP over aspirations
Recently, the Dalai Lama has turned down proposals by the Chinese Communist regime, to give up any aspirations of Tibet’s independence, in exchange for talks on Dalai Lama’s future status. (more…)
Experts fear water scarcity attributed to socio-economic collapse in Dongguan
Dongguan City of Guangdong Province is a place occupied by many Taiwan-funded enterprises alongside the Pearl River Delta, but in addition to the current power shortages in the area, a water crisis also looms. Experts have even said that the water crisis could lead to social and economic collapse in Dongguan. “Nanfang Urban Press” reported on twenty first of July that experts in the Mainland Ministry of Water Resources openly warned that if the water usage is not restricted in Dongguan, the local economy might fall. (more…)
Explosion at Hunan’s Yongzhou Bureau of Public Security
There was an explosion on July twenty first at the Yongzhou city Bureau of Public Security building in Hunan province. It was caused by high temperatures in the chemical lab of the Criminal Division, which caused a sample of soil-explosive to detonate, the Bureau said. (more…)
Human Rights advocate Huang Qi formally arrested by the authorities
Recently, the Chengdu Public Security Bureau issued a formal arrest warrant to the family of Huang Qi, who is the chief of the ‘June fourth Justice’ website. The officials on site denied the request of Huang’s family to meet the lawyer. Several rights advocates who had voiced their support for Huang have also been suppressed. Chengdu police seized the computer of rights activist Huang Xiaomin of Chengdu City without sound reason, and has not returned it so far. (more…)
Public execution in Xinjiang ahead of the Olympic Games
The Chinese communist regime has shot dead three young men in Yengishahar in Xinjiang in a public execution, which it claims to be for ensuring the security of the Olympics, according to the Washington Post. (more…)
Aisa Cast for Wednesday 23rd July
External Podcast: Visit Asia-Cast.com to listen
In this Bulletin…
- more deaths as Beijing ‘cleans up’ ahead of Olympics;
- North Korea to enter into six-nation talks on its disarmament; and
- Hopes as India joins important trade talks.
But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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In a further example of the pre-Olympic pressure Chinese people are currently living under, at least two petitioners are thought to have died as Beijing authorities intensify their campaign to “clean up” the capital for the Olympics.
Petitioners contacted by telephone told the Epoch Times that on the evening of July 13, five bus loads of people were seized and taken away, with another bus load taken the following evening.
“Every evening they are seizing people,” Mr Zhao Jianping, told the Epoch Times by phone. “The people living under bridges are becoming fewer and fewer.” Mr Zhao has been appealing in Beijing for more than four years.
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Recent events in Yunnan Province such as the bombing of three buses in Kunming City Centre, which killed at least three people and injured 14 others, and the clash of over 1000 farmers with public security forces in Menglian County over forced land requisitions and below market compulsory sales orders, are only likely to increase paranoia over social stability and result in ever more heavy handed responses.
It is unknown what the regime’s response will be to any events that unfold under the gaze of the global media or how any foreign protesters traveling to Beijing next month will be treated.
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A merger of Shanghai Airlines with China Eastern Airlines is being discussed between China’s central authorities and the Shanghai city authorities, major Chinese business magazine Caijing reported on its website.
High global oil prices and slowing growth in China’s air passenger traffic have increased speculation that the industry may be restructured.
Senior officials at both Shanghai-based airlines, contacted by Reuters, said they had not heard of such a plan and had not held talks. China Eastern will issue a statement soon to clarify the situation, said a senior executive at the airline, who declined to be identified.
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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is set to meet ministers involved in six-nation talks aimed at disarming North Korea, including a rare encounter with her North Korean counterpart.
China described the meeting as “very significant”, but the US said it would be an informal exchange of views.
It comes weeks after Pyongyang handed over data on its nuclear activities.
Discussions are expected to focus on how the US and other nations will verify that information.
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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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The UN Security Council is expected to address the continuing military stand-off between Cambodia and Thailand, revealed Thailand’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Don Pramudwinai said the Security Council meeting on Thursday is set to discuss the week-long issue involving troops from both countries facing off near an ancient temple on their border.
“I have been informed that the UN has included Preah Vihear (temple) on the emergency agenda to be discussed at the Security Council meeting tomorrow (Thursday),” he told reporters.
The comments follow a call from the Cambodian government on Tuesday for the world body to help broker a solution to the stand-off.
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Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath will be the focus of much attention as he makes his delayed arrival today at crucial World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks which have so far seen little agreement between rich and poor countries.
Nath has already seen his political skin saved once this week after the Indian government narrowly won a confidence vote Tuesday and will now enter another tense situation at the World Trade Organisation headquarters in Geneva.
Two days of talks have seen little sign of a breakthrough as developing countries gave a frosty reception to proposals by the United States and European Union to cut agricultural subsidies and tariffs respectively.
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“Asia Cast… keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the World.”
Asia Cast for Tuesday July 22nd
External Podcast: Visit Asia-Cast.com to listen
In this Bulletin…
- Falun Gong denies CCP’s eradication attempts;
- Myserious bus bombing; and
- Serbian war criminal captured.
But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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It has been nine years since the Chinese regime started the persecution of Falun Gong.
They have withstood illegal detentions, rape, financial ruin, torture, illegal organ harvesting and murder. The regime has even tried to persecute those who spread the practice overseas.
The Olympic games have been used as an excuse to attack Falun Gong in China. However the Falun Gong do not oppose the Olympics at all.
Many Falun Gong practitioners see the communist regime as an ‘ anti-human force’, and something that is fundamentally evil. To substantiate their claims they need only to point out the daily brutality dished out by the regime to its people.
The Falun Gong movement shows no sign of faltering in the face of such pressure, whose adherents have denied the persecution with purely non-violent means.
More lawyers representing Falun Gong
Since the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in nineteen ninety nine, lawyers in mainland China have been banned from representing Falun Gong by the communist regime. However, with increased understanding of Falun Gong cases, more and more Chinese lawyers are deciding to step forward from the pressure and provide legal assistance to Falun Gong practitioners. (more…)
An emergency forces four hundred thousand people from Fujian and Zhejiang
The typhoon “Seagull” that inflicted heavy loss on the central and southern parts of Taiwan (Taiwan called it Ka Meiji), has been downgraded to a tropical storm and on the nineteenth, at four am, entered the territory of Taishun Zhejiang Province. There was an emergency transfer of more than four hundred thousand people from Fujian and Zhejiang Provinces. (more…)
The Olympics drives away human rights says Shanghai petitioner
Shanghai petitioners are being monitored by officials since July eighteenth, in an attempt by the Chinese communist regime to prevent them from petitioning in Beijing during the Olympic Games. (more…)
