Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Sunday 12th April

In this Bulletin…

- Zimbabwe approaches breaking point;
- Taiwan’s VP to meet with Hu Jintao; and
- Former Communist Party chief jailed.

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Zimbabwe’s political opposition Movement for Democratic Change called a general strike on Friday after officials said President Robert Mugabe would snub a regional summit called to discuss increasing violence over delayed election results.

Human rights organisations and the MDC say Mugabe has unleashed a campaign of systematic violence in response to his ruling ZANU-PF party’s first electoral defeat, when it lost control of parliament in the March 29 election.

The MDC says its leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, won a parallel presidential vote, whose results have not been announced, and have called on Mugabe to end his 28-year rule.

State radio said Zimbabwe would be represented by three ministers at the Saturday summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which was expected to pressure Mugabe to release the results.

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Taiwan’s vice president-elect, Vincent Siew, is due to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao on Saturday in the highest-level contact ever between officials from the longtime rivals.

The historic talks carry the potential of opening a new era in relations between the two countries, indicating the direction Taiwan-China relations will move toward under a new Taiwanese administration set to take office in May.

Heading a delegation of Taiwanese business leaders, Siew arrived Friday afternoon in the island province of Hainan where the forum is held each year.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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According to state media, Shanghai’s former Communist Party chief has been sentenced to 18 years in jail on charges of corruption.

A court in the northern city of Tianjin found that Chen Liangyu, 61, was guilty of taking bribes and abusing his position, Xinhua news agency said.

He was ousted from office two years ago, after being accused of misusing a multi-million dollar pension fund.

He is the most senior Chinese official to be convicted of corruption in more than a decade.

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Ban-Ki Moon, the United Nations secretary general has joined a growing list of high-profile leaders who have indicated that they will not attend the Olympic Games’ opening ceremony in Beijing.

Secretary Moon said he had told Chinese authorities that he “may not” be in a position to attend due to scheduling issues.

Moon’s announcement came a day after British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he would not attend. Canadian PM Stephen Harper and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not be there either, while French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering staying away.

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And now for our original SOH news direct from China
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Norway Voice of Tibet reported on 10th of April that the suppression carried out by the Communist Regime at various places had killed nearly 160 Tibetans with thousands wounded.

A Tibetan in Ganzi, Sichuan Province disclosed that the government is still strengthening repressive forces there with police continued to launch raids throughout Tibet.

18 lawyers in Mainland declared to offer free legal aids to Tibetans who are arrested in last month’s protest, but a number of the lawyers participated in the aid have been warned by the authorities with three lawyers at least withdrawn helplessly from the action due to intimidations.

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After their numerous attempts to appeal were rejected by local courts and regional government, eleven AIDS sufferers infected through blood transfusions tried to petition to Wen Jiabao in person on the 6th of April when Wen arrived for local inspections.

When they appealed in front of Hesha District Government complex in Hebei, the police used rod and electric batons to beat them and sprayed some unknown substance onto their face, which lead to their loss of consciousness.

These petitioners were detained after they arrived at hospital. An insider stated that three female petitioners out of the eleven were released but on the condition that they will not sue the Government and do not talk about what happened. The remaining eight people are still detained as they are not agreeing to these conditions.

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And now for our daily update on the NTDTV Divine Performing Arts “New Year Spectacular” show.
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Today the Divine Performing Arts Spectacular will give its last shows in Canberra before re-opening in Adelaide on Monday.

Local member Mr Bill Stefaniak (MLA) attended the Chinese Spectacular with his daughter in Canberra.

Mr Stefaniak had seen previous New Year shows from New Tang Dynasty Television and believes this year “is a little better than last year”. One of the scenes that captured his attention was the ‘Loyalty of Yue Fei’.

Mr Stefaniak said the show is a great opportunity to see traditional Chinese culture even though it was almost destroyed during the cultural revolution.

For more information about the Divine Performing Arts world tour, please visit: www.divineperformingarts.org

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