Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Thursday 18th March

In this Bulletin…

- Hong Kong rally supports 70 million quitting the CCP;
- Australia and New Zealand begin Fijian aid effort; and
- US House of Representatives passes resolution calling for China to end persecution of Falun Gong.

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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The widening gulf between China’s politics and it’s people was revealed by two very different events in the last week.

In Beijing, the annual session of the National People’s Congress has come to a close. And as usual it unanimously endorsed the Communist Party, rubber-stamping the regime’s decisions.

Since ordinary Chinese have no involvement in the voting process, they have to let their feelings about the country’s leadership be known in other ways.

One of these ways is by publicly quitting the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated organisations. A rally supporting the 70 million Chinese who have done just this was held in Hong Kong on the weekend.

A member of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council said the 70 million who had quit showed the people’s lack of confidence regarding China’s future under the Communist Party’s totalitarian rule.

You can find out more about the Hong Kong rally on the Epoch Times website.

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An Australian executive is due to go on trial in China next week on what are essentially industrial espionage charges.

Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu and three Chinese employees of the Anglo-Australian mining giant will go on trial in Shanghai on Monday.

A spokeswoman for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said they will face charges of ‘receiving bribes and infringing commercial secrets’.

The four Rio Tinto employees were arrested during heated iron ore contract talks which later collapsed. Just weeks before the talks, Rio Tinto snubbed a near $20 billion US dollar cash investment from a state-run Chinese company.

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And now for the rest of today’s Asia Cast

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The Taiwanese body responsible for diplomatic exchanges with China has said it’s ready to conduct negotiations on the release of Taiwanese intelligence agents imprisoned in China.

The Straits Exchange Foundation said it was responding to a request by the chief of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau.

The bureau chief suggested that with the easing of relations across the Taiwan Strait the two sides could negotiate through the Straits Exchange Foundation and China’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits.

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Australia and New Zealand have started airlifting much needed aid to Fiji in the wake of Cyclone Tomas.

Fiji declared a state of emergency after Cyclone Tomas struck on Monday and Tuesday. The category four storm battered the north and east of the Pacific island nation.

The country’s military leader described the damage as overwhelming. So far only one death has been confirmed.

Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office said those that had been through other cyclones thought Tomas was the longest, strongest and most destructive they had experienced.

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

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The Epoch Times reports the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favour of a resolution calling for an end to the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in China.

The resolution was passed Tuesday with 412 for and only one against. It calls upon the Chinese regime to immediately cease and desist from its campaign to persecute, intimidate, imprison, and torture Falun Gong practitioners.

The Falun Dafa Information Centre said as the resolution’s text is translated into Chinese and circulated among grassroots networks throughout China, it would bring hope to millions and encourage further non-violent efforts to end abuses.

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New technology allowing battery powered vehicles to be recharged as they drive along is being used in public for the first time in South Korea.

The technology was developed by South Korea’s top technology university. Special strips embedded under the surface of the road transfer electricity to the battery without the need for wires. Instead, magnets underneath the vehicle allow it to suck up energy as it passes over the strips in the road.

The system has been installed at an amusement park near Seoul. And you can see it in action on the NTDTV website.

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