Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 14th October

In this Bulletin…

- New database tracks psychiatric abuses in China;
- China and Russia sign tension-filled trade agreement; and
- Australia’s most damaging oil spill in 25 years.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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China-based human rights group Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch (CRLW) has started a database to track victims of psychiatric abuse in their country, reports The Epoch Times.

Psychiatric persecution is universal, brutal and severe in China, according to CRLW, and the group has made exposing such abuses its focus. On last year’s mental health day, CRLW released a compilation of cases and advocated mental health laws.

CRLW director Liu Feiyue told Voice of America radio that their latest action is to establish daily record keeping of victims of China’s psychiatric victims to expose them to the rest of the world.

Read more on this story at The Epoch Times.

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China is strongly criticising a visit by India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the disputed Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, with the Chinese foreign ministry accusing him of ignoring Beijing’s concerns.

Under dispute are large areas of Arunachal Pradesh which lies on the Himalayan border it shares with India.

Analysts say China is angry over a trip planned by exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama to the state in November.

Beijing claims 90,000 square kilometres of land that comprises Arunachal Pradesh which it sees as southern Tibet, based on areas Tibet controlled before it was taken over by the Chinese regime.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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China and Russia have signed around 40 trade contracts worth US$3.5 billion; one deal alone, supplying 70 billion cubic metres a year of gas to China.

Analysts say the so-called strategic partnership is fraught with tension and in reality is a lot more complex than it appears.

Russia needs billions to build new pipelines to send oil and gas to China but Russia will only borrow money from China and not allow them to build and own the pipelines.

Nevertheless, trade between Russia and communist China has grown by 500 percent in the last six years.

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Eighteen countries in the Indian Ocean are taking part in an exercise on Wednesday, to evaluate the response of the region’s new tsunami early warning systems.

The test will simulate the earthquake that struck off the northwest coast of Sumatra in 2004 which killed a quarter of a million people, over half of them in Indonesia.

The international tsunami drill is being held on World Disaster Reduction Day.

Eighteen countries in the Indian Ocean including Indonesia are taking part in the exercise to evaluate the response of not just emergency teams but also of people to an impending disaster.

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

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Scientists warn that North Korea and Iran could produce a nuclear bomb capable of knocking out Western electricity grids for months or years.

They say that a nuclear weapon exploded above the earth’s atmosphere could cause a catastrophe and that high-altitude electromagnetic pulses could result in an economic shutdown.

On Monday, the British Parliamentary Defence Select Committee heard how a nuclear warhead launched from a medium range missile and exploded 20 miles above the earth could cripple an entire country’s power grid.

The tactic called HEMP for High Altitude Electro Magnetic Pulse could cause a country’s power, water and phones to fail.

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A second attempt to stop oil pouring into Australian waters after a rig accident in the Timor Sea has failed in what conservationists call Australia’s most damaging oil spill in 25 years.

It is nearly two months since oil began flowing from the West Atlas drilling platform that lies about 200 kilometres off the West Australian coast.

Environmental groups have warned the slick is threatening wildlife, including endangered turtles

It is estimated that each day, hundreds of barrels of oil have been flowing into the Timor Sea from a 25 centimetre hole beneath the seabed, 2.5 kilometres below sea level.

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