Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Wednesday 6th January

In this Bulletin…

- Corruption top challenge for China says survey;
- Chinese propagandist quits communist party; and
- Solomon Islands’ earthquakes, landslides and tsunami.

But first we have our SOH focus on China

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In a recent survey on the challenges facing China in the coming years, over 82 per cent thought that corruption in China had already surpassed what they could psychologically endure.

In its final edition for 2009, the state-run People’s Tribune Magazine ran a survey called ‘The Top 10 Challenges for the Next Decade’.

The survey asked more than 8,000 participants to select what they thought would be the most severe challenge for China over the next 10 years.

Besides corruption, other top-10 challenges selected included the widening wealth gap, and social conflicts such as riots, protests or strikes.

See this story at NTDTV.

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Although more than 1,400 passengers are safe and sound after quite an ordeal, NTDTV says they spent over 20 hours stuck on a train in a snowstorm in China’s Inner Mongolia region.

The train had been travelling from Harbin to Baotou in Inner Mongolia,

It was stopped in Shangdu County by heavy snow on Sunday evening.

With snow reported as deep as ten feet in the region, all 15 carriages were partially buried by snow and doors were frozen.

Another 12 trains were also reportedly stranded in the province, with thousands of passengers trapped and later rescued from the freezing.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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The former liaison branch director of the Propaganda Department in Shenyang, China has renounced his membership to the Chinese Communist Party, reports NTDTV.

To ring in the New Year Mr Zhang held a press conference in Flushing, New York to, as he put it, to “solemnly declare to the world that from today on” he was making “a clean break from the evil Chinese Communist Party.”

The propaganda official said that the regime disregards morals and justice and in his opinion it will never have a future.

Zhang is the latest of many Chinese officials to publicly renounce the communist regime.

For more on this, watch NTDTV.

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Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has said he does not want his finance minister, Hirohisa Fujii, to resign and has been urged to stay.

Analysts say it would be a blow to the prime minister if Mr Fujii, an experienced backer of fiscal discipline, were to leave.

Mr Fujii, who is suffering from high blood pressure, was admitted to a hospital last week for tests and told reporters he was exhausted after weeks of working on finalising Japan’s budget.

He is reportedly one of only a few members of the new government with extensive previous experience of administration.

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

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Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd’s stealth boat Ady Gil has been cut in half by a Japanese security vessel in the Antarctic today, the group’s leader Paul Watson said.

He said the $1.5 million US dollar high-tech vessel’s wreckage was sinking, but its crew of six were rescued and uninjured.

The Ady Gil was idling in waters near Commonwealth Bay when it was suddenly approached and rammed by the Japanese ship Shonan Maru, which had been on duty providing security to the fleet.

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On the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, landslides and a tsunami have been triggered by earthquakes and have left some 1,000 people homeless.

Aftershocks continued on Tuesday after Monday’s quakes – the largest of which was magnitude 7.2.

The quake led to a tsunami with waves 2.5 metres high in some areas.

Officials said there had been no reports of serious injury or deaths.

Aerial photographs taken from helicopters on Tuesday showed debris littering the coast, and scars from landslides inland.

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