AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 31th December

In this bulletin …

- True scale of China’s poorly constructed schools revealed;
- Chinese lawyers making a stand for human rights; and
- Pakistan’s military leader calls for “peace and security”.

But first here’s our SOH focus on China
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In the aftermath of the devastating Sichuan Earthquake it emerged that there were serious issues with the construction of many Chinese schools.

Now a senior Chinese official has admitted just how widespread the building of sub-standard schools has been. Across China there is an estimated 33.6 million square meters of potentially unsafe primary and secondary school buildings.

Nearly 14,000 schools across 159 counties suffered serious damage in last May’s disaster, according to statistics from Sichuan Province.

The United Nations Children’s Fund has issued a statement calling global action to be taken to build safer schools. UNICEF said that poor quality construction resulted in thousands of children being killed by natural disasters in countries such as China and Haiti.

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More and more lawyers in China are defying the Communist regime and making a stand for human rights by defending Falun Gong practitioners in court.

Since July 1999, when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) initiated a brutal crackdown on Falun Gong, the regime set strict orders for lawyers in the country to not defend Falun Gong practitioners.

But, in 2005, Guo Guoting, a Shanghai lawyer, defended several practitioners of the traditional meditative practice. Then in 2007 a group of six lawyers maintained the innocence of another practitioner.

As civil unrest and the so called ‘rights movement’ have grown in recent times in China, more and more lawyers have challenged the regime over the illegal persecution.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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A consortium of Indian and South Korean companies have agreed on a deal with Myanmar’s military junta to pipe natural gas into China, state media reports.

The pipeline will take gas from fields off Myanmar’s north-western coast into neighbouring China.

Campaigners complain that the deals will threaten local people’s human rights and enrich Burma’s ruling junta.

The impact of US and European economic sanctions against Myanmar over its human rights record and long detention of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have been diluted by energy investments from nearby countries, including China, India and Thailand, all hungry for its reserves of oil and gas. This latest deal can only weaken such sanctions further.

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Pakistan’s military chief has said that “peace and security in the region” should be the focus in the aftermath of the Mumbai attacks.

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani also said there was a “need to de-escalate and avoid conflict”.

At the weekend Indian and Pakistani military officials held a “hotline” conversation on recent troop movements.

Last month’s attacks on Mumbai left more than 170 people dead.

Although the comments made no direct reference to India, analysts said they were aimed at easing the atmosphere between Pakistan and India.

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Two MPs from the Czech Republic have called for French satellite operator Eutelsat to resume transmission of New Tang Dynasty (NTD) TV’s programmes into China.

NTD is an independent broadcaster popular with many Chinese people for its truthful and reliable reporting, unlike Chinese state controlled media.

It is now six months since Eutelsat stopped NTD’s broadcasts and one of the MPs, Katerina Jacques, believes that pressure from the Chinese regime is behind Eutelsat’s decision.

“I believe that if the Chinese regime has a clear conscience then it should not be afraid of any free flow of information. And if they are afraid and if they pressure and step up censorship, it means that something is not in order,” she told NTD in an interview.

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And Now For Our Divine Performing Arts Quote Of The Day
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On December 28, first time audience Ivan Dolgonos watched the final show of the DPA New York Company at the San Diego Civic Opera House.

“Yes it is my first time, and I’m definitely gonna go again.”

The DPA New York Company will be having its final performance of the year in Detroit, before moving on to Ottawa, Canada for four performances at the National Arts Centre there.

Experience true Chinese culture like never before as Divine Performing Arts presents classical Chinese dance and music in gloriously colorful and exhilarating shows.

The Divine Performing Arts world tour is coming to a city near you soon. Don’t miss out, visit www.divineperformingarts.org today.

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“Asia Cast …. Keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the world.”