Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 25th June

In this Bulletin…

- Oxfam says biofuels are dragging 30 million people into poverty;
- Tibet reopened to foreigners; and
- China’s housing market bubble set to burst .

But first, here’s our original SOH news direct from China

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The latest statistics from China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs show that the number of people reported missing or killed after last month’s Sichuan earthquake continues to rise. The figure of missing persons increased by 1,125 yesterday in Wenchuan County of Sichuan Province, bringing the total to 18,522. The total number of deceased currently stands at 87,703.

It is understood that the increasing in reports of missing persons is mainly due to people who work outside of the region returning to their hometowns in the disaster area and only now reporting their relatives as missing.

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The World Uyghur Congress has said that the Chinese communist regime have forced all mosques in East Turkistan, an autonomous region the regime refers to as Xinjiang Province, to promote the Beijing Olympics. The move is an attempt by the Chinese Communist Party to make Uyghurs support the upcoming games.

It is reported that a boycott of the directive led communist authorities to arrest and torture at least ten people in the Aksu region, and to dismantle the mosque in Aksu village.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Experts warn China’s housing market is in a dangerous position. Ms. Yan Lingru, a former real estate agent in China, said that, “a bubble has basically been formed in China’s housing market”, during an interview with Sound of Hope.

China’s stock market has slumped sharply, and its housing market is even more treacherous.

“China’s housing market is an industry with huge profits. It is because investment funds, including domestic and foreign hot money, kept flowing into China’s housing market and pushed the prices too high, which eventually led to a hidden bubble,” said Chinese political and economic commentator, Mr. Chen Pokong.

Mr. Chen later emphasized that a sharp drop in prices is expected when this bubble bursts.

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Tibet has been reopened to tourists three months after the Chinese regime banned foreigners from the region as part of their crack-down on protests against the regime.

Tibetan Tourism Bureau spokesman Liao Lisheng said, “Tibet is open now to all travelers from home and abroad”.

After their heavy handed response to the March protests Chinese authorities threw a curtain around Tibet and areas in nearby provinces with sizeable Tibetan populations.

Buddhist monasteries were surrounded by security forces and closed off to the outside as searches were conducted and monks forced to undergo intensified political indoctrination against the Dalai Lama

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After standing up for a Falun Gong practitioner in Flushing, Mao Yang told reporters that he was offered $90 by local thugs to do bad things against Falun Gong.

According to Sho Hua, an Epoch Times staff member and a Falun Gong practitioner, she was distributing newspapers on the corner of 41st and Main Street in Flushing, when a Chinese man approached her and began to shout and curse at her. Once the man started cursing at her, Mao Yang approached the man, saying, “If you want a paper then get one, if not, then don’t shout at this woman.”

In an interview with the Epoch Times Yang mentioned that just prior to the incident a man had stuffed $90 into his hand, saying, “You do something.” Yang said that he it back, telling the man that he didn’t want the money.

The incident relates back to mob attacks initiated by pro-communist groups in Flushing around May 17. The attacks began shortly after CCP-controlled media broadcast false reports into China and Chinese communities, misleading people with unfounded reports that Falun Gong practitioners had been stopping funds from reaching the victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

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By replacing traditional fuels with biofuels more than 30 million people worldwide have been dragged into poverty, according to a report from Oxfam.

The aid agency says so-called green policies in developed countries are contributing to the world’s soaring food prices, which hit the poor hardest, and that biofuels will do nothing to combat climate change.

The report’s author, Rob Bailey, criticised rich countries for using subsidies and tax breaks to encourage the use of food crops for alternative sources of energy like ethanol.

“Rich countries… are making climate change worse, not better, they are stealing crops and land away from food production, and they are destroying millions of livelihoods in the process,” he said.

Biofuels are a divisive issue with strong arguments on both sides.

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“Asia Cast… keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the World.”