Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Thursday 21st May

Toxic milk caused economic disaster for China

In this bulletin…

- The real toll of China’s bad products ;
- Japan’s GDP figures grave; and
- New Zealand to push for armed police.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A “Real Name” system for visitors to Web sites, blog sites, and podcasts, as well as for mobile phone users has been implemented in Hubei Province. The purpose, they announced, is to enhance control over the use of vulgar language in public.

According to the Hubei Province Internet Regulation Progress Report and Briefing, Hubei Province will expand the scope of this measure to include 3G networks, mobile communities, multimedia member sites, BBS, and instant messaging.

The Real Name system requires the user to register with his or her real name—even though it may appear anonymous—for the sake of maintaining the virtual world image of the network.

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Zhang Gang, chief engineer of China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said that last year’s tainted milk incident has cost China at least 100 billion yuan, approximately a US$14.6 billion, and seriously damaged the reputation of China’s products.

Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao reported Zhang’s speech on “Preserving the Quality and Safety of Foods and Promoting the Healthy Development of Industries”. The damage was cited in 3 ways, one was the devastating damage done to well beyond 20 million babies. Two was the massive loss in the industry economically and three was yet another blow to the reputation of China made products

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Japan is showing one of the largest economic losses globally among countries during the tidal wave of recession. The government said on Wednesday that Japan’s GDP fell 4 percent last quarter, the fastest pace on record,. The January-March quarter for Japan was 15.4 percent lower than the same time period last year, according to figures released by the Cabinet Office.

Exports fell 26 percent on quarter, while imports were down 15 percent. The GDP slide in the world’s second-largest economy is the greatest drop among the world’s leading economies. By comparison, GDP in the United States fell 6.1 percent on an annual basis.

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Narcotics trafficking and insurgents have made the area of Marjah in Helmand Province southern Afghanistan, a bee hive of fighting between troops and militants, NATO said in a statement Wednesday. The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said the fighting is in Marjah, a region in Helmand province 20 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah.

Recent successful operations against the insurgents in the area have prompted a buildup of militant forces and a spike in militant activity, said ISAF, which noted that Afghan security forces backed by international troops “recently seized a significant quantity of narcotics in the Marjah region.”

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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The shooting of three police officers, one fatally, and the wounding of a member of the public earlier this month, has raised questions over how much longer the New Zealand police will carry out their duties unarmed. Over 100 residents fled their homes in Napier’s suburb Ahuriri in the county’s North Island on May 7.

Others remained locked inside their homes as crazed gunman, Jan Molenaar, kept police at bay for more than two days with high-powered rifles. Since the Ahuriri tragedy, calls to arm the police force have become more strident.

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Britain’s Gordon Brown dismissed political rivals’ calls on Wednesday for an early election in response to public fury over lawmakers’ expenses, saying reform will do more good than the “chaos” of a vote during a recession.

The prime minister, trailing badly in opinion polls before a parliamentary election due by June 2010, said his government’s priority must be to fix an economy battered by a recession, the worst since World War Two. Pressed later in parliament by Conservative leader David Cameron to explain what he meant by “chaos”, Brown said: “What would cause chaos is if a Conservative government were elected.”

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