AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Friday 24th October

In this Bulletin…

- Study shows five-fold increase in AIDS among Chinese women within last decade;
- European Parliament awards Chinese activist, Hu Jia, prestigious human rights award; and
- Philippine mining project accused of bribing and misinforming locals to get go-ahead.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Over one thousand victims of a pyramid scheme gathered in front of the National Appealing Office in Beijing earlier this week, reports the Epoch Times.

The appellants, who were victims of the Yilin Forrest scandal, were dispersed by 500 police officers.

One appellant told the Epoch Times that about 10,000 people who had been ripped off in the scheme had travelled to Beijing from all over the country.

The scheme was started in 2006 and managed to collect monies amounting to 1.6 billion yuan (US$ 234 million) from over 20,000 people.

In September, 28 people faced trial over the illegal scheme. The case is said to be complex and involved over 50 lawyers for the defence. A court decision has yet to be reached.

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A recent investigation on AIDS in China has found that the number of women contracting the disease has increased five fold within 10 years. Among them, 90 percent are women of child-bearing age.

The findings were the result of joint research between Qinghua University AIDS research centre, and Yunan Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, said Radio Free Asia.

The investigation looked at data from 3.2 million AIDS patients. It found that the relative proportion of patients who contracted AIDS from drug related activities had decreased, while the proportion of infection through sexual activity had increased significantly.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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The European Parliament has awarded, one of China’s most prominent human rights activists, Hu Jia, the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Mr Hu, a democracy, environment and AIDS activist, is serving a jail term for inciting subversion of state power.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said Mr Hu was “one of the real defenders of human rights” in China, and that the award would support Chinese activists.

Beijing has criticised the award as an interference in its internal affairs.

Mr Poettering said that by awarding the prize to Mr Hu, the parliament “firmly and resolutely acknowledges the daily struggle for freedom of all Chinese human rights defenders”.

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The failure of two Chinese officials to return from trips to France has prompted speculation that they were seeking to evade possible allegations of corruption.

Xin Weiming, a Shanghai district chief, left a note for colleagues saying he was visiting friends in Paris.

Zhejiang province official Yang Xianghong said he was staying in France to receive medical treatment.

Hundreds of Chinese officials are said to have fled abroad in recent years to avoid having to answer to corruption charges, which can result in the death penalty.

In 2007 the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said that over 800 people had fled abroad in recent years to escape accusations of embezzling a total of 70 billion yuan (US$9.7 billion).

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According to the president of the EU Commission, “unprecedented” co-operation with Asia is required for the global economic crisis to be resolved.

Jose Manuel Barroso’s comments came as the leaders of 45 countries prepared to meet in Beijing at the weekend for the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM).

Mr Barroso also said the situation was “a great opportunity for China to show a sense of responsibility”.

Human rights are also expected to feature heavily in talks.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said China would co-operate more closely with other countries on economics, but gave no specific details.

Progress at the summit could be limited as the regime was angered by the European Parliament awarding prominent dissident Hu Jia a human rights prize.

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A development agency has claimed that “bribery and poor information” was used to impose a nickel mining project on Philippine villagers .

The Catholic non-government agency Cafod is making the accusation against Amcor, the local partner of the world’s biggest mining company, BHP Billiton.

Cafod is taking its concerns to shareholders at the BHP Billiton annual general meeting in London on Thursday.

The agency wants a new, independently monitored process of securing consent.
Consent is required under Philippine law, as the mining project affects an area where a sizeable minority of residents are indigenous.

The report does not accuse BHP Billiton itself of bribery, but does level the charge at its Philippine joint-venture partner Amcor, as well as local government officials.

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