Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 26th August

In this Bulletin…

-China admits using death row prisoner’s organs;
-Former top judge expelled from the Chinese Communist Party; and
-Toyota ready to slash production by half a million vehicles.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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With a thriving black market in trafficked organs, China is trying to move away from the use of prisoners as the major source of organs for transplants and is launching a voluntary donation scheme.

But analysts say cultural bias against removing organs after death will make a voluntary scheme hard to implement.

Surprisingly, a state-run newspaper China Daily reported that executed prisoners currently provide two-thirds of all transplant organs.

According to the BBC, in practice, illegal transplants in China–many harvested from living donors–are still frequently reported by the media and the Ministry of Health.

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China’s former Vice President of the Supreme People’s Court has been expelled from the Chinese Communist Party after corruption investigations, says NTDTV.

According to a statement issued by China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, 51-year-old Huang Songyou was also dismissed from all official positions.

Investigations found that Huang had misused his power to seek profits for others in return for large amounts of bribes. He was also found to have illegally accepted monetary gifts and had lived what the committee referred to as a corrupt life.

Huang is the highest-ranking official in China’s judiciary to have been disciplined for corruption.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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A new round of negotiations between Red Cross officials from North and South Korea have begun, aimed at allowing families divided by the border to begin meeting again.

The reunions had been suspended for almost two years because of worsening conflicts between the two nations, but reunions could now resume as early as October.

About 100,000 families were separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. The North and South are still technically at war, as a peace treaty was never concluded at the end of the inter-Korean conflict.

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Nearly 10,000 people have fled Burma’s north-eastern Shan state this month into China amid violence between ethnic groups and the military junta, according to Chinese reports.

The ruling junta is said to be putting pressure on the ethnic rebel groups to put their fighters under military control ahead of polls due next year.

In a statement, the rebels in Kokang said tensions in the region were extremely high and in anticipation of resurgence of war, tens of thousands of ethnic people have fled.

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You’re listening to Asia Cast on the SOH Radio Network

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Japan’s largest carmaker, Toyota may potentially slash production by as much as 580,000 vehicles-nearly 6 percent global capacity-in an effort to stem losses amid the sharp decrease in car sales.

Toyota is forecasting its second consecutive net loss this year and will be shutting down a production line in western Japan from next spring through to the second half of 2011, reducing output by 220,000 vehicles.

Toyota has also said it is looking to pull out of Nummi, its manufacturing joint venture with General Motors, in California.

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Pakistan urged the global community on Tuesday to speed the release of billions of dollars of promised aid for development projects as it gave argument that economic prosperity was the best way to counter extremism.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi urged international donors to release aid totaling more than US$5 billion pledged at a conference in Tokyo in April, underlining the need for resources to rehabilitate areas in northwest Pakistan.

Some 2.3 million people were dislocated as a result of the military push in the districts of Swat, Buner and Lower Dir after militants advanced towards the capital.

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