Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 24th July

In this Bulletin…

- Beijing continues crackdown on human rights lawyers;
- Opposition says Kyrgyzstan elections fraudulent and pulls out; and
- U.S. Vice President says Afghan war worth the sacrifice.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Authorities in China have banned and heavily fined a volunteer lawyer organisation that helps victims of human rights abuses, says The Epoch Times.

The Beijing Civil Affairs Bureau alleges that the Open Constitution Initiative provides human rights-related legal advice for tax evasion purposes.

One lawyer, Xu Zhiyong, condemned the action as utterly devoid of conscience, saying he would rather be locked in prison for seven years than hand the government donations collected penny by penny into their hands.

The Open Constitution Initiative was established in 2003. Its website states the organisation is committed to building a modernized China and promoting human rights, democracy, and the rule of law in China.

Recently, Beijing revoked the licenses of 53 lawyers, many of whom are renowned human rights activists.

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Heavy rains in southwest China are continuing to cause havoc. In the latest disaster, four construction workers are dead and more than 50 missing after a landslide destroyed a dam project in Sichuan province.

Flooding along the steep mountains that witnessed last year’s earthquake has brought more misery to survivors.

The May 12, 2008 earthquake killed about 80,000 people, left 5 million homeless, and severely weakened the steep slopes that front the fertile Sichuan plain.

On Thursday state-media reported that the heavy rains triggered a landslide at the Changheba hydropower plant in Kangding, temporarily blocking a river.

The rapid rivers of Sichuan are packed with hydropower dams. In neighbouring Aba prefecture new regulations prevent dams from being built in areas where flooding presents a danger.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast
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Amid claims of widespread fraud in Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election, the main opposition candidate, Almazbek Atambayev, has pulled out on polling day.

Mr Atambayev said the vote, in which President Kurmanbek Bakiyev is running for a second term, was illegitimate and a new election should be held.

The US and Russia both have military bases in the strategically important Central Asian nation.
With Mr Atambayev out of the running, there are now five candidates, including Mr Bakiyev.

His opponents have accused him of stifling dissent and tightening his grip on power. There has been a series of attacks on independent journalists.

Mr Bakiyev warned potential demonstrators the authorities would suppress, within the limits of the law, any attempts to organise disorder.

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In a sign Japan’s stimulus spending around the world may be propping up demand, the slide in Japanese exports slowed in June.

But they were still nearly 36 per cent lower than the same month a year earlier. Although that was an improvement from May, when exports were down by more than 40 per cent.

Japan, dependent on exports for growth, has been suffering its steepest recession since World War II.

It is a sign of just how badly Japan’s economy has been battered that a drop in exports of more than one-third is hailed as perhaps a positive sign.

The Bank of Japan recently said conditions had stopped getting worse.

But any improvement is mostly being felt by bigger manufacturers and unemployment is expected to continue to rise.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network
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A cache of arms and ammunition was seized from a Maoist hideout in the Indian state of Jharkhand in a joint operation between police and paramilitary personnel this week.

According to police, the Maoist rebels fled the hideout after opening fire on security forces.

Nine detonators, nine firearms and around 150 cartridges, as well as mobile phones and walkie-talkies were recovered from the hideout.

The Maoists have increasingly spread out from their rural eastern strongholds and are active in nearly a third of the country’s 630 districts.

Earlier this month, the rebels ambushed and killed at least 29 police officers on patrol in the jungle.
Counterinsurgency experts say police officers trying to tackle the Maoists lack the proper training and equipment needed.

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U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has warned there will be more casualties from Afghanistan in the future, but said the war is worth the sacrifice.

During an interview with the BBC, Mr. Biden said the national interests of Britain, the United States and Europe are worth the effort international troops are making.

The U.S. vice president pointed out that all terrorist attacks in Europe have originated from Afghanistan and Pakistan. And he said if the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is not dealt with, the instability and violence will continue to wreak havoc on Europe and the United States.

Mr. Biden also said the Obama administration is convinced that the military is not the sole answer for stabilizing Afghanistan.

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This is (narrators name) for the SOH Radio Network.