Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Saturday 18th October

Damage caused by Chinese police intimidating villagers whose land was forcibly seized. (The Epoch Times)

In this Bulletin…

- Thousands march in Baghdad Anti-American Protests;
- Taiwan bans baking ingredient from China after melamine found; and
- UN Security Council rotates 5 nations, Iran, Iceland miss out.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China

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Chinese authorities have continued attempts to drive out the family members of the leader of the family church in mainland China, Priest Zhang Mingxuan, from Beijing , despite him having received permission from authorities to live in Beijing immediately after the Olympic Games.

On Thursday, dozens of people from the authorities demanded two sons of Priest Zhang to leave Beijing and then severely beat them, leaving one with serious injuries requiring hospitalization with his head and eyes bleeding.

Prior and during the Beijing Olympics Games, family churches in the mainland were subject to serious suppression and in most instances, public security forces charged members with “using a cult organization to undermine law enforcement,” “illegal management” and other crimes.

Under a large-scale ban many family Churches were forced to stop gathering.

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Thousands of armed police have suppressed the rights defending activities of villagers at a construction site in Guangning town, Zhaoqing city, Guangdong province, the Epoch Times reported.

In July 2007, Zhaoqing authorities began resuming farmland and mountainous areas without proper documentation for the construction of a renewable plastic industrial site. Since then villagers have been protesting over concerns of environmental effects as well as inadequate compensation.

There are still a large number of police stationed in the construction site in Wuhe town to protect the start of the project. Authorities put up a notice in the village stating that those who protest for their rights will be arrested, and have also used a variety of ways to intimidate the villagers.

At present, public security forces patrol day and night in the village, and many villagers are afraid to speak. Parts of the villages’ external telephone communications have also been disrupted.

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The Chinese regime has announced that foreign media freedoms brought in for the Beijing Olympic Games will become permanent. Premier Wen Jiabao signed a decree late on Friday to extend the press freedoms, just shortly before they expired at midnight of the same day.

Several international press companies have welcomed the move but have also pointed out that the regime still blocks access in Tibet, Sichuan and arbitrarily as it sees fit on topics such as the current melamine milk scandal.

The press freedoms will not apply to domestic reporters, who are still hindered by strict journalism policies. Foreign media companies and governments have again called on the Chinese regime to end official censorship.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Taiwan has banned all imports of ammonium powder from China effective on Friday after its health authorities detected elevated levels of melamine in several test samples,. The Taiwanese Department of Health has advised local food companies to stop using Chinese ammonium powder.

The Department of Health has said that some Chinese ammonium powder samples contained up to 300 parts per million of melamine, which is 100 times the safe level published by the US Food and Drug Administration.

Ammonium bicarbonate, commonly known as ammonium powder, is a leavening or raising agent normally used in biscuit making.

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On Friday, UN Security Council elections have taken place with 5 nations rotating into non-permanent positions. Japan, Mexico, Uganda, Turkey and Austria have been elected with Iran and Iceland missing out. The new representatives begin in their 2-year roles from January 1, 2009.

Japan was challenged by Iran for one of the temporary Asian region seats on the Security Council. Israel has criticized the UN for allowing Iran to contest the position and stated that the UN has spared itself embarrassment for not electing Iran.

Austria and Turkey were elected by a large margin over Iceland for a European region seat. Iceland received less support in the election over fears for the nation’s stability amidst the current global financial crisis.

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The streets of Baghdad have been filled by supporters of Muslim cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, on Saturday, to protest against the signing of an agreement between the Iraqi government and the US that will allow US troops to remain in Iraq for three more years. The protestors see the U.S. as occupiers and chanted no to the occupation.

The Iraqi government authorized the protests and additional security was provided for the thousands of peaceful demonstrators. Authorities commented that it is a part of democracy for people to protest.

Details of the agreement have been released by the Iraqi government, requiring the US to end patrols in 2009 and complete a full troop withdrawal by 2011. It also sets out conditions for US troops to be tried in Iraq for crimes committed while off duty.

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

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