Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 30th October

In this Bulletin…

- Former Beijing bank employees protest buyouts;
- Mongolia nominates new prime minister; and
- Indonesia could expel refugees.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
**********************

Over 500 former bank employees who lost their jobs after forced bank buyouts, protested in front of the Beijing International Conference Centre in Beijing’s Financial Street District, reported The Epoch Times.

The protesters were former employees from the ‘big four’ flagship banks in China: the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, People’s Construction Bank of China, and Bank of China, according to an eyewitness, who identified himself as Yang.

Yang said, about a dozen police cars were dispatched to the scene to disperse and arrest the protesters.

Read more on this at The Epoch Times. 

**********************

A virtual memorial marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall has become an unexpected platform for another cause, said NTDTV.

The Berlin Twitter Wall invites people to post their thoughts on the historic fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. But it’s instead been dominated by messages from Chinese netizens pushing for the collapse of another wall-the Great Firewall.

Spooked by the rapid development of cyber-communication, the Chinese regime established The Golden Shield Project, commonly referred to as the Great Firewall. It prevents people inside China from accessing online information deemed inappropriate by the communist regime-including things like dissident opinions.

See more on this at NTDTV.

**********************

And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

**********************

Mongolia’s ruling party has nominated Foreign Minister Batbold Sukhbaatar to be the country’s new prime minister. If confirmed as prime minister he will replace Bayar Sanjaa, who asked to resign due to ill health.

Mr Batbold is reputedly one of the country’s wealthiest men and is expected to continue the country’s pursuit of investment in mining.

Mongolia, landlocked between Russia and China, is poor despite rich deposits of copper, gold, uranium, silver and oil.

The ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) will submit Mr Batbold’s nomination to President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, who is expected to give his approval in the next few days.

**********************

A South Korean university lecturer identified only by his surname Lee, has been charged with espionage after allegedly passing military information to the North.

The 37-year-old man is said to have been recruited by the North while studying in India and also alleged to have made unauthorised visits to the communist North.

The authorities and National Intelligence Service in Seoul said Mr Lee began spying for the North in 1992, after being approached while studying at the University of Delhi.

They say he had vast amounts of confidential military information on computers and storage devices.

**********************

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

**********************

Indonesia says 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard an Australian customs ship have been moored in the boat off Sumatra for 11 days and must cooperate with authorities over identity checks or risk expulsion.

The Sri Lankans were intercepted in Indonesian waters eleven days ago while trying to reach Australia.

Australia and Indonesia agreed to a deal last week which in principle would see the asylum seekers moved to an Indonesian detention centre.

But the Sri Lankans, ethnic Tamils, are refusing to leave the ship.

**********************

Pakistani troops fighting the Taliban in South Waziristan have surrounded a key stronghold of Uzbek fighters, and they are capturing territory all over South Waziristan, military officials say.

They say that the town of Kaniguram – one of the largest towns in the area – is also the operational centre of the Pakistani Taliban and their offensive against the militants is making good progress.

Tens of thousands of civilians have fled the conflict zone since hostilities broke out.

The army says that two medical camps have been set up for displaced families and existing basic health units are being upgraded.

**********************

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