AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Friday 31st October

In this Bulletin…

- Chinese provincial authorities covered up melamine contaminated eggs for weeks;
- More than 60 killed by bomb blasts in India; and
- New York plays host to NTDTV’s Chinese International Piano Competition this weekend.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Over one thousand workers from China’s largest manufacturer of sewing yarn in Jiangsu Province held a large scale demonstration over unpaid wages earlier this week.

The boss of Chunyu Textile Company Limited is said to have fled owing the workers three months’ pay.

Protesters blocked roads for half-a-day until local officials promised to resolve the dispute.

Originally founded in 1986, the company has 1400 staff and produced up to 12,000 tons of polyester sewing yarn annually.

Analysts have said that in the current financial climate it is not uncommon for even large factories such as this to be in arrears with workers’ wages.

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At least 12 workers were killed on a construction site in Xiapu County, Fujian Province, when the lift they were in plunged to the ground, state media reported.

Workplace accidents are common in China, where safety standards have failed to keep pace with economic growth.

Thousands of people die every year in mines and factories, and on construction sites. China’s coal mines are the most dangerous in the world. In 2007 mining accidents killed almost 3,800 people

Earlier this week, 11 workers were killed and another 12 injured in Chongqing, Sichuan Province, when a crane container carrying them at a construction site plummeted to the ground.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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According to state media, provincial authorities in China’s northeast ordered a media ban and suppressed news of melamine-tainted eggs for weeks before Hong Kong authorities finally revealed the problem.

Melamine, largely used for plastics and fertiliser, falsely increases the appearance of protein in milk and animal feed.

Contaminated eggs have been traced several producers, including Liaoning’s Hanwei Group, one of China’s largest.

The milk scandal, which emerged last month after it was similarly covered up for months, has crippled China’s dairy industry and left confidence in the nation’s food safety system in tatters.

Sales of eggs at the Xinfadi, one of Beijing’s biggest wholesale markets, have already dropped ten per cent because of the contamination scare, reports The Epoch Times.

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The Prime Minister of Japan, Taro Aso, has unveiled a package intended to stimulate the nation’s economy.

The 5 trillion yen (US $51 billion) package comes on top of that unveiled in August by Mr Aso’s predecessor, Yasuo Fukuda.

This latest package includes cutting highway tolls and increasing loan guarantees that have been offered to small companies. There will also be tax cuts and other measures to help Japan’s struggling households.

“In this kind of situation, we need to relieve people’s insecurities,” Mr Aso said. He added that if economic conditions allowed, he would like to be able to raise consumption taxes in three years.

Mr Aso said he would wait to call elections until his economic measures had taken effect.

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A series of bomb explosions in India’s northeastern state of Assam has killed at least 64 people, police have said.

More than 300 others were injured in at least 18 blasts, the majority of them in the state capital, Guwahati.

The separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa) denied any role in the blasts and blamed Indian “occupation forces” for engineering them.

Security forces have been fighting separatist rebels in Assam for decades.

There have been a number of major bomb attacks in India in the past few months, many of them blamed on local Islamist groups.

But local separatists have been held responsible for recent explosions in northeastern cities.

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The first New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV) Chinese International Piano Competition is being held in New York this weekend.

Around 70 pianists talented Chinese pianists from all over the world are expected to compete for the US$10,000 top prize.

The three day event, which starts on Friday, offers young Chinese musicians a platform to showcase their talents. Saturday’s semifinals and the final round on Sunday will be open to the public at the Town Hall in New York’s Midtown.
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The competition is part of a series intended to revive traditional Chinese arts and foster exchange between Chinese and Western classical artists.