Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Thursday 22nd October

In this Bulletin…

- Blind human rights lawyer continues to suffer in Chinese jail;
- Taiwan’s media awaits official announcement on satellite jamming; and
- Low and zero-emission cars feature at Tokyo Motor Show.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Researchers in China are looking at ways of using algae to make burning coal a carbon dioxide free source of energy

According to NTDTV, in what could be one of the greenest solutions yet to China’s huge greenhouse gas emissions, Chinese company ENN is using microalgae to capture carbon dioxide and create biofuel.

ENN are developing a system which they hope will see the coal gasified underground with the help of solar and wind power. Carbon dioxide released from burning the gas would be passed through the algae and absorbed. The last stage is turning the algae into biodiesel, which could later be used to fuel vehicles.

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Concerns remain for the health of imprisoned blind Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangchen. Chen’s wife, Yuan Weijing, told Sound of Hope that Chen has lost a lot of weight from severe diarrhoea, but that prison officials have denied requests for a medical release.

Chen provided assistance to farmers and disabled people. and in 2005 exposed the violent forced abortions conducted by authorities. Chinese authorities detained Chen’s lawyers and then jailed him for over four years.

Last week, ahead of the International Day of the Blind on October 15, Yuan wrote a letter to the World Blind Union, asking if they can help Chen.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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Details of Taiwan’s 2009 national defense whitepaper, which was released earlier this week, are beginning to emerge. According to Taiwan’s Defense Ministry measures for building military confidence against China have been included for the first time.

Beijing’s continued aggressive stance toward the island despite the rapid improvement of overall relations between Taiwan and China over the past 18 months was highlighted in the report.

Taiwan News said that Beijing had been packaging its political objectives in more friendly terms while simultaneously maintaining an aggressive military presence against the island.

The whitepaper is due to be published in English next week.

Read The Epoch Times for more on this.

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Taiwanese media groups are still waiting to see how the government will respond to the recent blocking of independent television broadcaster New Tang Dynasty’s satellite signal.

From September 17 to October 2, NTDTV’s ST-1 satellite over Taiwan and southern China experienced severe signal blockage. Initially the signal was blocked for several hours a day, but on October 1, China’s highly politicized anniversary of its communist revolution, the signal was blocked for the whole day.

NTDTV Board Member Gail Rachlin said the Chinese regime has long wanted to stop their broadcast because of its uncensored reporting.

Many suspect the Chinese regime are behind the interference and have concerns for Taiwan’s media freedom as well as national security as a whole. An investigation continues.

Watch NTDTV for more.

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

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India and China have agreed to work together on addressing climate change.

The two countries are among the world’s biggest polluters. Under the agreement they will co-operate on technology development and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

They have also pledged to work together in international climate change negotiations ahead of the Copenhagen climate change talks in December.

Both argue that capping their emissions would limit their economic growth.

The two countries say that developed countries must play a bigger role in reductions.

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The Tokyo Motor Show opened in Japan on Wednesday. Futuristic concept cars, plug-in hybrids, zero-emission electric vehicles and even a hydrogen-powered scooter all vied for attention as Japanese makers showed off their visions of the future.

While hybrids are still a big feature, technological breakthroughs in rechargeable batteries brought the prospect of zero emission electric cars being mass produced a step closer.

Fuel-cell cars, which run on hydrogen and emit only water, also made an appearance at the Tokyo show.

Proponents of hydrogen-powered vehicles argue they are the only true zero emission technology because fossil fuels are often burned to generate electricity, particularly in emerging nations like China and India.

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