Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Thursday 13th November

In this Bulletin…

- Chinese products continue to be taken off shelves;
- UN Committee on Torture confronts China; and
- North Korea closes its doors even further.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Chinese state-controlled media has reported on the removal of another medicine from pharmacy shelves over safety fears.

The haemorrhoid treatment could cause liver problems.

The State Food and Drug Administration has issued a nationwide recall of the “Zhixue” capsules made by Vital Pharmaceutical Holdings Ltd in southwest China.

Twenty-one people across the country suffered “liver problems” after taking the medicine in past months, and another 14 reported other problems, state media said.

Chinese-made products, including medicines, have been beset by flaws and toxins that have alarmed consumers at home and abroad. The country’s milk supply was at the heart of the latest scandal, over the unlawful use of the industrial chemical melamine, blamed for the deaths of four children.

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Six months on from the Sichuan earthquake only 12 children orphaned by the quake have been formally adopted.

More than 600 children lost both parents in the magnitude 8.0 earthquake that left about 88,000 people dead or missing.

But only a handful of these have completed official adoption procedures.
Finding permanent homes for the earthquake orphans is just one of many unresolved problems. Rebuilding work is set to take years.

The disproportionate number of schools that collapsed in the quake led to allegations of profits being put ahead of safety. The Epoch Times reported on numerous instances where mourning parents have not only been denied any answers to these questions, but have been suppressed by authorities for speaking out on the matter.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Yet more Chinese villagers have been forced from their homes in the name of progress by regional authorities, according to the Epoch Times.

Regime officials in Zhejiang Province tried to take land from 300 residents of Caozhuang Villige, Jianggan District to make way for a new airport road.

After encountering strong objections and resistance from the villagers the authorities hired thugs to try and force the villagers out and left many of them injured.

It is common practice for corrupt officials to take land for development projects while embezzling any compensation the displaced landowners may have been entitled to under Chinese law.

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The Chinese regime has evaded direct questions from the U.N.’s Committee on Torture about its severe human rights violations, said human rights lawyer David Matas.

Mr. Matas contributed to a submission analysing the regime’s response to a 2006 report documenting the harvesting of organs from Falun Gong prisoners of conscience he co-authored.

“China basically hadn’t given any meaningful answers so I suggested to the committee that they pursue this, and they did, and again China didn’t give any answer,” Mr. Matas told The Epoch Times. 

“They are obligated not to torture people and they do torture people, so they’ve violated the convention. That’s the problem,” he said.

The U.N. Committee on Torture is expected to publish its recommendations in late November.

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North Korea is closing its doors to the outside world even further.

Land crossings at its border with South Korea will be banned from next month because of what it calls the South’s confrontational stance. Such a move that could doom a joint Korean industrial complex in the North.

Pyongyang also said it will not allow inspectors to take samples from its main nuclear complex in order for them to verify its account of past nuclear activities.
This contradicts a statement by US officials last month.

Washington removed North Korea from its list of countries sponsoring terrorism saying the North had agreed to provide full access to its nuclear facilities.

The different interpretations may prove a new snag in disarmament negotiations.

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The Indian navy has rescued two ships from being hijacked by pirates in east African waters of the Indian Ocean.

The warship, which was carrying commandos with helicopter support, saved the two vessels in separate incidents 20 minutes apart.

The rescues mark a significant step for the South Asian giant, which is determined to translate its growing economic strength into global military and political clout, as the vessel was on patrol some 2,900 kilometres from its home port.

In part, India’s efforts are in response to moves by China. The two countries are increasingly competing for influence over vital Indian Ocean shipping lanes, and India fears China’s large and increasingly sophisticated submarine fleet.

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