AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Friday 28th November

In this Bulletin…

- Large scale protests continue in China as thousands more workers lose jobs;
- Unknown group claim responsibility for Mumbai terror attack; and
- Hong Kong event marks 4th anniversary of movement to quit the Chinese Communist Party.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A member of the European Parliament has been prevented from meeting a Chinese activist living under house arrest in Beijing, reports NTDTV.

Imprisoned Chinese rights activist Hu Jia was recently awarded a prestigious European Parliament human rights award. But now an EU politician has been stopped from visiting his wife, fellow activist Zeng Jinyan. Ms Zeng is under de facto house arrest.

Ms Trupel was visiting China as a member of an official EU delegation. She met Zeng Jinyan two years ago in Beijing and wanted to take the opportunity to talk to her again.

But police prevented her from even entering the residential compound where Hu Jia, a vocal activist for AIDS sufferers, lived until his arrest nearly one year ago.

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China’s richest man, Wong Kwong Yu, is in police custody and being investigated for “economic crimes”, officials said.

Mr Huang went missing last week and shares in his company Gome have been suspended from trading.

Officials gave no further details, but Chinese media point to alleged irregularities in the share price of a company controlled by his brother.

The billionaire electrical appliance tycoon is worth over US$6 billion.

The announcement was the first official confirmation of widespread reports that the founder and chairman of Gome Electrical Appliances Holding Ltd., which sells one in six of the electronic products bought in China, is being questioned for alleged share trading violations or other crimes.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Yet more groups of laid-off workers protested against low compensation in many Chinese provinces this week, according to NTDTV.

An angry crowd of 500 workers smashed and overturned police cars in front of a major toy company laying off staff in Dongguan.

On the same day, a crowd of around 500 people blocked a road outside China’s biggest compressor manufacturer in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi Province, after the company laid off 300 workers.

Earlier, hundreds of workers who were fired from a toy factory clashed violently with police and damaged buildings. The riot was at the Kaida Toy Factory in Zhongtang Township, Guangdong Province. The trouble broke out after about 2000 workers gathered to demand severance pay.

Rising factory closures have increased concern by Chinese Communist Party leadership over escalating unrest.

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Over 24 hours after a series of devastating attacks brought terror to Mumbai, commandos are fighting to clear the last gunmen from two luxury hotels.

The Taj Mahal hotel was nearly clear of gunmen, officials said, while fighting continued at the Oberoi-Trident hotel.

Seven hostages were freed from a third location, a security official said.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh vowed to track down the attackers, who have killed at least 110 people and injured 300.

Gunmen targeted at least seven sites simultaneously in Mumbai.

Mr Singh said the attacks, “intended to create a sense of panic by choosing high profile targets and indiscriminately killing foreigners”.

A previously unknown group, the Deccan Mujahideen, is claiming responsibility, but this has yet to be confirmed.

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After anti-government protesters brought Bangkok’s two main airports to a standstill, Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat says measures will be taken to end the protests.

Emergency rule has been declared around the two airports. In a TV address, Mr Somchai said the police would be assisted by some military units.

Thousands of passengers have been left stranded by the protest action, just the latest stand-off in a long-running political struggle gripping Thailand.

Protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy occupied a government complex in the capital for months.

At the start of this week said they were embarking on the “final battle” of their campaign to unseat the government, and they have vowed to resist attempts to disable their airport protests.

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A parade and rally were recently held in Hong Kong to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the publication of The Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, reports The Epoch Times.

Tribute was also paid to the 4.5 million people who have quit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as a result of the commentaries.

The chairman of the Global Service Center for Quitting Chinese Communist Party, Gao Dawei, noted that more and more Chinese people are realizing that the CCP is the ultimate cause of all disasters in China.

Another speaker called the mass withdrawal of support for the regime, “a trend that is contributing to the collapse of the CCP”.

After the rally, around six hundred people carried banners as they followed Taiwan’s Tianguo Band through the city streets.

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