Asia Cast

Asia Cast Monday 29th June

In this Bulletin …

- Shanghai apartment topples over; one dead;
- China’s economic division may intensify social conflicts; and
- Khmer rouge survivor testifies.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A nearly completed 13-story apartment building on the outskirts of Shanghai toppled onto its side at around 6 am on June 27, killing one worker.

However, the building has remained nearly intact, as reported by The Epoch Times.

The building, the first of three to be built on the property, where planned to be occupied in May 2010. Some of the units had already been sold.

The construction of other buildings on the property has been terminated.

The developer, Shanghai Meidu Real Estate, could not be reached for comment. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.

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Nearly 10 months after the melamine-contaminated milk powder incident broke out in China, the families who’ve fallen victim to the poisoning are still struggling to get justice and fair compensation.

Four representatives of the victim rights protection group, “Stone Babies,” went to court in north China’s Shijiazhuang city to hand in their open letters.

One of the representatives, Mr. Zhao Lianhai, said in the high court they waited for two hours before a meeting was arranged. The bailiff was extremely rude and warned them not to record the conversation.

To this day, excluding the two already filed lawsuits, no court in China is willing to accept lawsuits from other victims. The total number of victims is 29,400, according to the official figure, while the real number could be much higher.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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In the last decade, wealth has rapidly grown in China. However, recent data shows that the country’s wealth is flowing into the pockets of a very small number of people.

Scholars believe that the middle class is actually diminishing in China, and the wealth division will increase social tension.

According to the Hong Kong-based newspaper Wenweipo, at the Eleventh Chinese National Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee meeting in June, Political Consultative Commission member Cai Jiming said that a report conducted by Chinese authorities stated that a mere 0.4 percent of the people in China controlled 70 percent of the country’s wealth.

Cai also said that such concentration would result in a distorted consumer pattern in the market place.

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You are listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network

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Van Nath, one of the few survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime’s notorious detention centre, has testified at a UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia.

He was appearing at the trial of the man who ran the prison, Comrade Duch.

About 15,000 people were detained there in the late 1970s, but only seven are thought to have survived.

Van Nath owed his survival to his skills as a painter. He was forced to produce portraits of Khmer Rouge leaders – on pain of death.

He has since become one of Cambodia’s most famous artists, and his work often depicts scenes from the
regime’s detention centre.

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The trafficking of sex slaves from Asia to Australia will be targeted by police officials, who have come in from all parts of Asia.

The conference has heard that the trade in young women is far more organised than first thought.

The authorities believe most of the victims smuggled to Australia are women from South East Asia.

Victims of trafficking are often duped or coerced by threats of violence into travelling to Australia, and
once in Australia, they are forced to work in the sex industry.

Many are effectively held hostage because of huge debts they owe to criminals.

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Taliban militants have ambushed a Pakistani military convoy and killed 12 soldiers, the army says.

The attack started when militants fired rocket-propelled grenades at several vehicles situated near the Afghan border, in North Waziristan.

The attack came as authorities in North West Frontier Province offered a reward for information leading to the capture of the country’s Taliban commander.

Meanwhile, sporadic violence continued to erupt across Pakistan’s north-west.

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