AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 17th December

In this Bulletin…

- Olympic promises come to nothing as Chinese regime blocks foreign media websites once again;
- Outbreak of deadly H5N1 bird flu confirmed in India; and
- Australian environmentalists lament government’s back-down on climate change.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Overseas media websites made available in China shortly before the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are once again being blocked by the regime’s Internet firewall.

Websites such as Radio Free Asia, Voice of America’s Chinese content, the BBC’s Chinese language site and Hong Kong’s Mingpao Daily News, Asia Weekly and Apple Daily News can no longer be accessed in China.

Huang Liangtian, a Chinese editor, said the communist regime is throttling freedom of the press because they are not ready to open up to the outside world.

He said this control is used for the maintenance of so-called stability, and that superficial stability overrides everything in China; even the law and freedom.

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The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda department has prohibited all media in China from investigating and reporting the arrest of one of China Central Television’s female reporters, Li Min.

It appears that Li Min had investigated abused of power by the procurator of Xinghualing District in Shanxi Province. Following her report on the incident she was warned by the Attorney-General He Shusheng that she faced punishment if she persisted in reporting this news and her press card could be suspended.

According to a spokesman for China Central Television, Li Min’s arrest warrant was issued by the very procurator she was investigating, although they had no such power to do so.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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The founder and chairman of the China Democracy Party, Guo Quan, was arrested in November. His mother, an accomplished author, has spoken out about her son’s arrest in an interview with The Epoch Times.

Before his arrest for supposedly ‘subverting state power’, Guo posted many articles in the Democratic Herald condemning the communist dictatorship in China.

Although this is not the first time Guo Quan has been arrested, it is the longest he has ever been detained. This fact is leaving his mother feeling exasperated.

Gu Xiao said that the communist authorities have not allowed her to see her son, or even verify his well being since his arrest. He has also not been allowed to see his lawyer.

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The deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu has been found in thousands of dead chickens in the East Indian state of West Bengal, authorities there say.

Tests on poultry from two villages around Englishbazar town in the Maldah district have returned positive results, a health official said.

A “few thousand” birds in the area will be slaughtered, he said.

The H5N1 strain of bird flu is regarded as highly pathogenic and can also cause disease and death in humans.

Bird flu has returned to West Bengal after an outbreak in 14 districts of the state in January this year.

The World Health Organisation says that since the virus resurfaced in Asia in 2003 it has killed more than 200 people in a dozen of countries.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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A rights coalition is asking Americans to balance their made-in-China Christmas purchases with donations to help North Korean refugees who are suffering under China’s policy of forceful repatriation, reports The Epoch Times.

The North Korea Freedom Coalition, a group representing over 60 organizations, says Chinese authorities force North Korean refugees to return to their country knowing that their punishment for fleeing includes imprisonment, torture, and death.

“It is nearly impossible to avoid buying products made in China, especially during the Holidays, but we ask Americans to offset these purchases by donating for the rescue of North Korean refugees, most of whom are women and children.” said NKFC Chairman Suzanne Scholte, the 2008 Seoul Peace Prize laureate, in a Christian Post news report.

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In Australia, environmental activists have staged protests in several cities against a plan to combat climate change announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

Some campaigners held up white flags to signify Australia’s “surrender” to climate change, while others reportedly threw shoes at a puppet of Mr Rudd.

Under the plan, greenhouse gas emissions will be cut by at least 5 per cent by 2020 and a carbon trading scheme will be set up.

But activists say the changes will not go far enough to prevent catastrophic climate change. Many have called for emissions to be cut by at least 25 per cent by 2020, as recommended by the UN’s specialist Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

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