Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Friday 5th March

In this Bulletin …

- Security tightens ahead of annual sessions in Beijing;
- Many die in India temple stampede; and
- Extinct frog re-discovered in Australia.

But first we have our Shen Yun quote of the day.

[audio]

For more information please visit www.shenyunperformingarts.org.

Our SOH focus on China is next

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More than 70,000 security guards have been dispatched around Beijing ahead of the Chinese regime’s most important political meetings of the year.

Part of the massive security plan includes driving out petitioners who have come to Beijing as a final resort to seek a resolution for their legal wrongdoings.

On Wednesday, the National People’s Congress gathered for its annual session. And on Friday, the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference will hold its annual session.

5,000 officials are in town to set down the policies of the ruling Communist Party.

For more on this story watch NTDTV.

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This year China will only spend 7.5 per cent of its budget on the military.

It is the first time in 20 years that the communist state has dipped below 10 per cent.

Li Zhaoxing a spokesman of the country’s annual parliamentary session announced that they will spend almost $78 billion US dollars over the year.

Li said that, as a proportion of gross domestic product, China still spends less than other countries, such as the US.

Washington has repeatedly urged China to be more open about its rapidly rising military spending.

Li claimed the extra money being spent on the military would help it meet various security threats, without specifying what those threats were.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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China says the US has vowed to improve relations with Beijing. The move comes after Washington created tension by approving an arms package to Taiwan and hosting a meeting with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

During a three-day visit this week US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg held an in-depth and honest exchange of views with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and other officials.

China’s foreign ministry said they wanted the US to take China’s position seriously. He said the US must honour China’s core interests and major concerns, and take solid actions to push China-US relations back toward sound and steady development.

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A stampede at a Hindu temple in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has killed at least 60 people and injured dozens more.

The stampede began after the gate at the temple collapsed causing panic, at the temple in Pratapgarh district, 650 kilometres south-east of Delhi. The temple gate was still being built.

Many of the dead are said to be women and children.

In recent years hundreds of people have been killed in stampedes at crowded Indian temples. Stampedes at two different Hindu temples killed nearly 300 people in 2008.

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

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Aftershocks shook southern Taiwan after a magnitude-6.4 earthquake trembled the island.  However the island was left relatively unharmed.

The earthquake on Thursday morning was followed by more than 15 aftershocks. The strongest of which registered magnitude-4.8.

12 minor injuries were reported by Taiwan’s interior ministry.

Earthquakes are common in Taiwan. The largest on record was an 8.0-magnitude quake in 1920. But the worst earthquake disaster was a 7.1-magnitude quake in 1935 that killed over 3,200 people. Three months later a slightly smaller quake killed more than 2,700.

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A species of frog thought to have become extinct over 30 years ago has turned up alive and well in Australia.

The continued existence of the yellow spotted bell frog was first noted in 2008. Now experts have been able to confirm the sighting.

The frogs have established a thriving community in the Southern Tablelands of Australia’s New South Wales state. The New South Wales environment minister said that to protect the frogs their exact location would remain a secret.

The International Union for Conversation of Nature says one-third of the world’s 6,000 amphibian species are under threat of extinction.

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“Asia Cast … Keeping you across the top headlines from Asia and the world.”