Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 17th July

In this Bulletin…

- Engineer guilty of giving shuttle secrets to China;
- U.N. & U.S. thwarting North Korea’s illicit weapons trade; and
- Turkmenistan’s ambitious desert sea project.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Chinese-born Boeing engineer, Dongfan Chung has been found guilty of giving space shuttle technology secrets to China. He will be sentenced in November and faces up to 90 years in prison.

Mr Chung who worked for Rockwell International, and then for Boeing until an FBI investigation began in 2006 has been found guilty of economic espionage, acting as a foreign agent and making false statements to the FBI.

Chung’s defense team admitted that he took Boeing papers home, but said he had wanted the information so he could write a book.

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China’s foreign reserves—the worlds largest—have exceeded $2 trillion US dollars, making it twice the size of Japan’s currency stockpile, the second-biggest holder, according to the People’s Bank of China.

Currency reserves rose 17.8 per cent from June 2008, as foreign investment flowed back into China.

Analysts say this isn’t because of a surplus of China’s exports over its imports, but is the result of overseas investors identifying China as the strongest of the world’s major economies, and pouring money into property and shares.

But some economists fear that the budding recovery could trigger new bubbles in bank lending and real estate.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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China has boycotted the opening ceremony of the World Games in Taiwan without explanation, an official with the games has said.

Taiwan World Games spokesman, Hermann Kewitz said that Chinese athletes would still be competing in the events.

China’s decision came after organizers of the World Games chose Taiwan’s President Ma Ying-Jeou to open the games.

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province and does not recognize Mr. Ma as its president.

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The U.N. Security Council is nearing an agreement to blacklist North Korean firms and individuals for involvement in Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs, diplomats said.

Partnering with the U.N Council, U.S. officials said they have succeeded in increasing international awareness of methods North Korea uses to disguise trade in illicit weapons as legal transactions, by traveling to key world capitals to warn governments and banks.

Arms sales are a vital source of foreign currency for destitute North Korea, with a yearly GDP of about $17 billion and a broken economy that produces few other items it can export.

Analysts said the new U.N. measures will make it more costly for the North to trade arms but they will not likely deter customers, including Iran, who have shown little interest in joining international plans to punish Pyongyang.

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Thousands of quarry workers and owners clashed with police in Egypt on Thursday in the central province of al-Minya, with several reported injuries.

Protesters marching against a decision by authorities to impose new duties on quarried rock blocked a bridge that spans the Nile River and connects the east and west of the city, said witnesses.
Police used teargas to disperse the crowd, but the protesters stoned police.

Protesters said they had resorted to the demonstration because petitions to various officials had been ignored and some quarries had been shut for more than two weeks.

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Turkmenistan has launched the latest stage in a “Golden Age Lake” plan that could well be the world’s largest and most ambitious ever with costs of up to $20 billion US dollars.

The plan is to channel water across thousands of miles of desert to a natural depression, creating a huge lake filled with drainage water from the country’s cotton fields.

However, critics say the water will be full of fertilizer and insecticides and would evaporate quickly leaving concentrated amounts of salt, predicting the Golden Age Lake will simply become a new “Dead Sea.”

The Turkmen government hopes to preserve nature and improve the environment as well as bring water to the desert which covers over 80 percent of Turkmenistan.

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