Asia-Cast

Asia Cast Thursday 11th October

Chinese regime attempts to arrest vocal competition contestants
Taiwan marks its national day with a military parade
Demands for the safety of human rights lawyer Li He Ping

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The Burmese military junta hopes to sign an agreement with India soon to develop the port of Sittwe, officials in Delhi have said.

They hope the port will allow easy and cheap transport of goods to India’s remote, restive northeastern states.

India will put $103m into the project, despite international calls for sanctions against the military rulers.

Analysts say Delhi has been reluctant to criticise the generals because of its strategic interests in the area.

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The UN in an initiative to fight human trafficking has launched a global campaign.

Millions of people around the world are victims of sexual exploitation and forced labour, many of them children.

The UN estimates the annual trade is worth $32bn. South Asia is second only to South East Asia as the region with the highest prevalence of trafficking.

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In a show of strength aimed at China, Taiwan has marked its national day with a military parade for the first time in 16 years.

Fighter planes flew above the capital, Taipei, and 2,000 troops showed off military hardware through the city.

President Chen Shui-bian used a speech to hit out at China’s “relentless military build-up”, labelling it as a threat to world peace.

China regards Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reunified.
Beijing has threatened to use force if Taiwan declares formal independence.

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Police in Fushun City in China attempted on Monday night to arrest three individuals who had applied to take part in a singing competition to be held in the United States.

None of the three happened to be home at the time, and thus escaped arrest.

The timing of the arrest seems to have been chosen in order to prevent the three from returning to the U.S. Consulate in Shenyang City to pick up visas they had applied for.

The three singers had planned to compete in the International Chinese Vocal Competition, which is sponsored by New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV).

The competition is scheduled to begin on Oct. 15 in New York City.

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More than a hundred people including lawyers, scholars and human right advocates signed an open letter on October 9th to the central Chinese government regarding human rights lawyer Li He Ping who was abducted and beaten.

The letter urges the central government to pay serious attention to this incident and to prohibit government agencies from abducting and beating lawyers and human rights advocates.

Li He Ping was beaten for four to five hours straight and was tortured by high voltage electric batons.

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More than a thousand residents blocked the Nan Sha Bridge again, demanding the local Chinese Communist Government give an explanation as to why they had been secretly selling their land.

The local government planned to explain the deal on October 8th, but the head of the government cancelled the meeting.

More than a thousand people blocked the Nan Sha Bridge from 10:00 o’clock in the morning until 7:00 o’clock at night.

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Officials in Tokyo have reported that an armed group in southeastern Iran has kidnapped a Japanese student.

The 23-year-old man was seized on Monday as he travelled alone around the area, foreign ministry officials said.

The student called the Japanese embassy in Tehran to say he had been captured.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura says he has asked his Iranian counterpart for help to resolve the matter.

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