Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 19th September

In this Bulletin…

- China’s contaminated milk scandal spreads;
- Grass roots movement to quit the Chinese Communist Party grows; and
- Oil and financial markets bounce back after shaky week.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Tests confirming that regular milk, as well as baby formula, has been adulterated with industrial chemicals have led to dairy products being removed from shop shelves in China and elsewhere in Asia.

Inspectors found that 10% of liquid milk from three of China’s dairies was tainted with melamine.

Singapore banned the import and sale of all Chinese milk products after some were removed from stores in Hong Kong.

The scandal first came to light in Sanlu milk powder that killed four infants and sickened more than 6,000 others.

Suppliers are suspected of diluting milk to cut costs, then adding melamine to make it appear higher in protein.

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The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) response to toxic milk powder has been likened to its handling of the Sichuan earthquake by a prominent political commentator.

Mr Hu Ping, who currently resides in New York, said it would be nearly impossible for the regime not to have known anything about it before hand, indicating industry and bureaucrats colluded to cover-up evidence after the scandal was made public.

He compared this incident to the handling of the Sichuan earthquake in May which caused over 70,000 deaths, saying officials stalled in addressing the problems, especially during the Olympics, when they called on the victims to put the interests of the nation first, while simultaneously oppressing petitioners.

Mr Hu said the issues surrounding the contaminated milk are representative of systemic problems within the regime.

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A grass roots anti-communist movement to “Quit the Party” continues in China, with banners appearing during the Mid-Autumn Festival hearkening others to take part, says the Epoch Times.

Photos of messages painted or hung during the night of Sept. 13 on power poles, trees and public seats in an unnamed city in northeastern China have been posted on the Minghui.net website. The website often withholds details such as location, to preserve the banners as long as possible.

Some of the messages include: “Heaven will eliminate the Communist Party,” “Justice will prevail,” “40 million people have already quit the party,” and “Belief is not a crime, Stop the persecution.”

Forty-three million withdrawals have been registered to date, with tens of thousands arriving each day.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Haibo Wang, a renowned Chinese cartoon artist, fled from China to New Jersey, America, prior to the Beijing Olympics for fear he would be arrested by communist police for his artistic expressions, reports the Epoch Times.

In 2005, the 27-year-old artist became the colouring assistant for Jingxiong Guo, founder of Flag Cartoon Coalition and together they won numerous awards.

Life became difficult and Wang encountered many threats after he published illustrations for the award-winning ‘Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party’ with Guo.

As the Beijing Olympics neared, the Chinese regime increased arrests of those it labelled as “enemies” and “threats to society”, forcing Wang, who had previously been imprisoned for practising Falun Gong, to flee the oppression.

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Oil prices posted their biggest three-day rally in a decade on Friday, rising more than $6.50 on expectations a sweeping U.S. government bailout plan would boost liquidity across the battered financial markets.

U.S. crude oil prices jumped $6.67 to settle at $104.55 a barrel, bringing gains since Wednesday to 14.7 percent.

Global stocks also bounced back strongly on the back of the plan’s announcement and as banks worldwide pumped billions into money markets to end a punishing week of financial panic.

UK and U.S. moves to ban controversial short-selling practices – the practice of offloading securities the seller does not own in the hope of repurchasing them later at a lower price – helped boost markets.

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Two activists from U.S.-based Human Rights Watch were brusquely expelled from Venezuela Friday after criticising President Hugo Chavez for political intolerance and for eroding democracy during nearly 10 years in power.

State television played a video of officials reading an expulsion order to activists Jose Miguel Vivanco and Daniel Wilkinson, who were filmed packing their bags and being escorted on to a plane that took off just after midnight.

The move highlighted the leftist leader’s intolerance of international criticism and will further strain ties with the United States, Venezuela’s main oil customer, a week after Chavez also ejected the U.S. ambassador.
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“Asia Cast… keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the World.”