AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Tuesday 6th January

In this Bulletin…

- Thai authorities block thousands of websites critical of royals;
- Sri Lankan TV Station Attacked for “unbiased” reporting; and
- UN Secretary General calls for Gaza ceasefire.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A new water management policy came into effect in China on January 1 this year, but critics say that the policy is only another method of stripping wealth from already struggling farmers, reports Epoch Times.

Despite calls to remove existing irrigation fees to ease the burden on farmers, the new Water Resource Resumption, Use and Management policy has instead given local governments new powers to set water usage fees which they will rely on for budgetary measures.

China currently has 300 million people without access to running water and 1.2 billion are drinking unsafe water.

Water resource management expert Wang Wei-lou, says the root cause of the severe water shortage in China is actually due to the mismanagement of the Chinese Communist Party.

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According to Beijing sources, the newly released China Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) of Hong Kong based investment broker, CLSA shows that China’s manufacturing industry has slowed for five consecutive months, and the economic decline of China is significant.

Radio Free Asia reports that the China PMI for December is 41.2 points. Numbers below 50 indicate economic slowdown. For five consecutive months the index has been below 50 points, and the economic downturn is obvious.

In 2008, China’s industry and manufacturing sectors dropped, resulting in 300,000 small and medium enterprises stopping production or limiting it to a few days a week. The number of workers laid off also increased by more than 20 million.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Several news outlets have reported that new rockets, that are being used by Hamas in the Gaza conflict, were made in China.

The origin of the rockets has been confirmed by Israeli defense officials, who say the rockets were smuggled into Gaza when a border wall was penetrated by Hamas.

It is speculated that rockets were initially sold by China to Iran or Hezbollah from Syria before being smuggled into Gaza.

The new Grad-model Katyusha rockets have a 25 percent longer range than the older Iranian made ones.

In the most recent attacks on Beersheba the rockets were filled with metal balls that could inflict additional damage by scattering for up to 100 meters from the impact site.

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Yesterday, Thai authorities announced that they had blocked over 2,300 websites containing material that criticized or defamed the nation’s royal family.

Thailand has special legislation that protects the royal family from vilification. Persons convicted under the law face a maximum of 15 years in jail.

Information and Communication minister, Ranongruk Suwanchawee, said that new stronger legislation would be introduced to increase the power of the country’s internet censors and an additional 400 websites could be blocked.

Rights groups have countered that the new government is misusing the legislation to block websites that are critical of it.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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Last night, the facilities of Sri Lankan television network Maharaja Organization were attacked by armed men who destroyed important broadcasting equipment with gunfire and grenades.

Sri Lankan human rights activists have claimed the attacks are due to Maharaja’s lack of coverage of the government’s victorious battles against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

A station manager of one of Maharaja’s channels said the attacks were for their “unbiased” reporting.

Politicians have been critical of Maharaja’s coverage of the government push against the insurgency.

The government has denied it is behind the attacks.

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Today, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, has slammed the actions of both sides involved in the Gaza conflict and called for a ceasefire.

During meetings between leaders of the Arab League, he called the actions of Israel “excessive” and those of Hamas “counter-productive” and “completely unacceptable”.

The Arab leaders are meeting to put pressure on the UN Security Council to take action against the Israeli attacks.

Secretary-General of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, said that the Security Council has been talking about a balanced solution, but has only been targeting the actions of Hamas.

He said that his group of nations would only accept a truly balanced resolution to the conflict where the actions of Israel were also called to account.

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And now for our Divine Performing Arts quote of the day
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At the Ottawa Divine Performing Arts Show on the 2nd of January, we met Micheline Lajoie, who was also a fan of the Chinese instrument, the Erhu…

“I like this last one the Chinese violin (Erhu), yes, I love this one very much and the opening, the opening was very impressive with the Buddha and all that, that was very impressive.”

The Divine Performing Arts Show is now in Kitchener and Waterloo and San Francisco from the 7th to the 11th and in Toronto from the 8th of January.

Experience true Chinese culture like never before as the 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.”