Asia Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 20th November

In this Bulletin…

- Foreign investors detained in Beijing;
- Hong Kong announces plan for expanded democratic vote; and
- Philippine President quits.

But first, here’s our SOH focus on China
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Nine foreign businessmen, including citizens of the United States, Canada and Australia, visited Beijing with a message for US President Barack Obama. They were followed by state security and detained by authorities, reported NTDTV.

They went to Tiananmen Square and the US Embassy to inform President Obama of the pitfalls of investing in China, they were not let in.

Beijing officials held the nine businessmen in a hotel. The men were granted a meeting with the head of the State Bureau for Letters and Visits to discuss their grievances, but on condition that they would not appeal their cases in public.

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Beijing authorities are admitting a problem with illegal clinics in the Chinese capital, and have closed down more than 3,300 of these dangerous clinics last year alone.

The medical centres known as black clinics are set up to serve the capital’s poorest people, many of them migrant workers in Beijing to find work.

Often dirty and staffed by unqualified personnel, most black clinics are on the outskirts of the city, frequently near large construction sites that employ multitudes of poor workers.

As a cheaper alternative to the city’s clinics and hospitals they remain tempting as long as workers remain in poverty.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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As Hong Kong proposes changes to the way the territory chooses its leader and legislature, pro-democracy activists are asking for the universal vote promised when Britain handed Hong Kong over to Chinese control in 1997.

Under the proposal, the election committee that chooses the region’s leader, or chief executive, would be expanded by 50 per cent before the next election in 2012.

Hong Kong is the only part of China that allows people a say in who controls its legislature.

The plans also call for the number of seats in the legislative council, or Legco, to rise by 10 to 70.

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Rare earth experts gathering in Hong Kong are predicting a shortage of metals by 2015, reports NTDTV.

Rare earths include a collection of 17 rare elements in the periodic table. Although they add to less than 2 billion US dollars in yearly sales, without them, industries worth trillions of dollars would grind to a halt.

In China, rare earths production has increased to about 97 per cent of global supplies in 2008.

But, soaring domestic demand and the non-renewable nature of the rare metals has led the Chinese regime to put strict controls on its mining, production and export, affecting global supply and demand.

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

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Cambodia has taken over the running of the country’s Thai-owned air traffic control firm, in a deepening row between the two neighbouring countries.

Cambodia also barred all Thai employees from turning up for work and put a Cambodian national in temporary charge.

The move comes a day after a Thai engineer working for the firm in Phnom Penh was formally charged with spying.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya urged Cambodia to respect bilateral ties.

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At a rally of the Lakas-Kampi party, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo announced she has stepped down as leader of the largest party ahead of elections next May and handing over control to Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro.

Teodoro has already been named as the governing coalition’s candidate for the presidential election in May and his main challenger is Benigno Aquino, son of former-president Corazon Aquino.

There had been speculation Arroyo might try to change the constitution and stay in power beyond her six-year term to maintain immunity from possible corruption charges the opposition has threatened against her.

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