AsiaCast

Asia Cast for Monday 6th July

Police opened fire on ethnic workers in the Xinjiang region of China on Sunday. (Courtesy of The Epoch Times)

In this Bulletin…

- Chinese police shoot at Uighur protesters in Xinjiang;
- Northwest airlines refuses boarding of Chinese rights activist; and
- India outlines growth challenge.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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A witness in the Xinjiang region of China has reported that Chinese soldiers shot at Uighur protesters Sunday, causing many deaths and injuries, as reported by The Epoch Times.

It was said that dead bodies were seen being put into military vehicles.

The Uighurs were protesting in the northwestern Chinese city of Urumqi after an incident in a toy factory in Shaoguan City, Guangdong Province a week ago. Allegedly, a fight broke out in the factory between several hundreds of Uighur and Han Chinese workers after a rape.

There were 118 wounded and two female Uighur workers killed. All Uighur workers were fired following the incident-causing protests to build in Urumqi.

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A Henan Province family church pastor and his wife were charged with “illegal religious gathering” and sentenced to one year in a labour camp. It is believed that the approach of China’s 60th National Day is the cause of the increasing suppression and persecution of family churches all over China.

Pastor Dou Shaowen and his wife Feng Lu of Pan Se Church in Zhengzhou City were arrested on June 14 during a church gathering. The authorities sealed off the church and disallowed any further gatherings.

Feng Lu told Voice of America that the police sentenced both she and her husband to a year of labour re-education. She was allowed to go home and serve her sentence outside of the labour camp because of her 12 year-old daughter. She is required to report to the police frequently.

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Chinese human rights activist Feng Zhenghu was denied boarding a U.S. Northwest Airlines’ Tokyo-Shanghai flight on July 2, 2009 due to instructions from Chinese authorities. This was Feng’s fourth attempt since June to return home after a two-month visit to Japan.

Arriving at the Northwest check-in desk two hours before departure, Feng was told that Shanghai authorities had instructed the airline not to accept him unless he had a return ticket to Japan.

Feng questioned the authenticity of the request and because of the dispute he missed his flight. The airline promised to allow Feng