Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 24th April

In this bulletin…

- Beijing targets poor farmers as new consumers of electronics;
- Chinese cyber spies target NYPD and Pentagon; and
- South Korea’s free trade brawl.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China

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Beijing’s Chamber of Commerce is launching stimulus plans which will divert electronics companies to focus on the rural market instead of the urban or export business according to a Radio Free Asia report published on The Epoch Times.

Household electronics which have represented 50 per cent of all Chinese exports are decreasing due to lower export demand and Commerce officials are betting on the domestic market, mainly the rural areas in hopes of revitalizing sales.

But experts are not optimistic it will work. Beijing University professor, Xia Yeliang, for instance, said that marketing efforts alone cannot change the situation. He believes the stagnation in rural markets will change once farmers’ income and infrastructure of the areas improves.

The average income and spending of rural populations last year was lower than one third of urban residents and rural residents amount to 30 per cent of the market, while being 70 per cent of the total population in China.

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A Chinese regime law enforcement manual was purchased by a local official who posted excerpts online and the excerpts posted have created upset and outrage with Chinese internet users.

The manual is used in training local law enforcement known as “cheng guan” that are hired to deal with low-level crime such as checking permits and removing unlicensed street vendors.

In the training manual they are instructed to, quote, “Take care to avoid leaving blood on the subject’s face or visible wounds on the body.”

The cheng guans are often accused of using excessive violence though, and just last year, four were involved in the beating of a man to death because he was using a mobile phone to film a confrontation between villagers and officials.

The death sparked protests and a civilian demand to restrict the cheng guans role.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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New York police commissioner Raymond Kelly told the press that a network of hackers have been making about 70,000 attempts a day to break into the New York Police Department’s computer network and the hackers are mostly based in China, reported NTDTV.

Chinese and Russian cyber spies were caught earlier this month trying to infiltrate the U.S. power grid.

It was also revealed this week that the Chinese cyber spies targeting the Pentagon, had taken data related to a $US 300 billion Joint Strike Fighter project.

According to former U.S. officials the attacks appeared to come from China.

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Marking the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, students from various Hong Kong universities have organized a series of activities to further bring to light what happened on June 4th, 1989, reported NTDTV.

Hong Kong Legislative Council members spoke to students at a forum urging youth to educate themselves about what truly happened at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Lee Cheukyan, a Hong Kong Councilman said, “The truth should not be distorted. The June Fourth incident was indeed a massacre. I hope that everyone will not whitewash the actions of the Chinese Communist Party. The Chinese Communist Party does not even dare to talk about it because they have a guilty conscience about what happened.”

Lee condemned the claim that students were at fault for the repression and considers it a Chinese Communist Party fallacy.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network

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For the second time in six months, South Korea politicians got into a brawl over their opposition to a free trade deal with the United States, stated NTDTV.

While they were discussing a free trade deal with the U.S. things got very heated when opposition lawmakers tried to stop the proceedings.

At the foreign affairs committee meeting the chairman was forced to use his bare hand to approve the deal while his gavel lay on the floor out of arms reach.

While the free trade agreement has been approved by the South Korean parliamentary committee, it now goes to Korea’s entire legislature for a vote.

South Korean Trade Minister Kim Jong-Hoon has in the past been dissatisfied with the delay in the agreement and was awaiting a renegotiation with the U.S.

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New funding from the Asian Development Bank has set aside $US 500 million dollars to help clean one of the world’s most polluted rivers located in Indonesia.

The Citarum River, the biggest river basin Java which runs for 200 miles before it reaches to sea, provides fresh water, electricity and some marine life as food for 30 million people living in the river basin area.

Sections of the river have become choked with garbage, stagnant with industrial chemicals, swamped with sewage and other waste since the 1980’s and locals and fisherman are finding it hard to produce an income and use the river due to its high levels of pollution.

While implementation is needed, the funding to clean up what is known as the world’s most polluted river is expected to support community sanitation solutions, and construct a solid waste facility and wastewater treatment plant.

A full report can be found on the NTDTV website.

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And now for our Shen Yun Performing Arts quote of the day

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The Parade Theatre in Kensington Sydney has been home to many great actors and performances, and so it was a fitting venue to welcome New York-based Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour to Sydney last Sunday.

Ms. Landau, piano teacher and opera singer, thought the show was “absolutely fantastic.” This is what she had to say:

I thought the singing, the ballet, the choreography, everything was absolutely outstanding; just outstanding. I’ve never seen a better show in my life. I lived in London for years; I lived in New York for years. I saw West Side Story, I saw all those shows many years ago and Jesus Christ Superstar; all the wonderful shows. But I think this is the best show I have ever seen.

The matinee session, the first of eight Sydney performances, was packed with appreciative audience members.

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

SOH is a proud sponsor of the Shen Yun Performing Arts 2009 World Tour. For more information please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org.

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