Asia-Cast

Asia Cast for Monday 21st June

In this Bulletin…

- Death toll in Chinese floods close to 150 people;
- Chinese security guards overstep mark in New Zealand; and
- Australian mining magnate’s plane missing.

But first we have our SOH focus on China.

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The World Uyghur Congress has said Beijing’s political policies in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region were causing enormous resentment among the local Uyghur people.

Last month Beijing introduced a number of policies under the title of protecting social stability and unity between the ethnic groups. What these policies entailed included burning the Uyghur’s’ traditional women’s clothing, burning Muslim religious books and closing places for studying the Koran.

Chinese state media described the actions as a large-scale elimination of propaganda items that cause ethnic separation and related illegal religious publications.

The World Uyghur Congress told The Epoch Times it was worried such political campaigns could actually lead to a large-scale uprising.

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Beijing said Sunday almost 150 people were known to have died as a result of the torrential rain that has hammered southern China for the past week

The Ministry of Civil Affairs website said floods and landslides triggered by the summer deluge have left a further 93 people missing.

More than a million people have been evacuated so far.

The National Meteorological Centre warned Sunday more rainstorms were on the way. On Friday the centre issued an orange storm alert which is one level lower than the nation’s most serious red alert.

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Please listen out at the end of this bulletin for news on upcoming changes to Asia Cast. Now back to the rest of today’s bulletin.

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Chinese security guards manhandled a senior New Zealand politician outside parliament in Wellington Friday. The incident occurred during a visit to New Zealand by the Chinese Vice President.

Green Party co-leader Russell Norman was displaying a Tibetan flag in protest of China’s human rights violations in Tibet. But he said Chinese security guards pushed and shoved him to prevent him from showing the flag on the arrival of the Chinese vice-president.

Norman said the National government had allowed the Chinese security guards to control parliament. Meaning it could no longer be considered a safe place for democracy.

There’s an in-depth analysis of this event on the Epoch Times website.

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An Australian mining magnate is among those reported missing in Central Africa after the chartered plane he was on failed to land.

Ken Talbot is director of mining company Sundance Resources. He was on a flight from Cameroon to a gold mine in northwest Congo-Brazzaville with five other members of the Sundance board.

Australia’s Foreign Minister said the government was seriously concerned for their safety and wellbeing.

The plane they were on had been chartered by Sundance’s Cameroon subsidiary. The plane when went missing soon after take-off with a total of 11 people were on board.

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

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Police in India said they have arrested the man who planned the derailment of a passenger train that killed some 150 people in May.

Bapi Mahato is a top leader of an Indian militia with links to Maoist rebels. He has been named by Indian federal investigators as the mastermind behind the sabotage that led to the derailment. Police said he would appear in court Monday.

The Moaist insurgency affects parts of several states in central and eastern India. The Maoist rebels they sabotaged the track. They say they are fighting for the rights of indigenous tribes people and the rural poor.

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The Taiwanese Ministry of Economic Affairs said Sunday it waned to foster collaboration between US and Taiwan car manufacturers in developing electric vehicles.

Taiwan’s Vice Minister of Economic Affairs told Taiwan’s Central News Agency it was eyeing long-term development goals in its search for partnerships with major US companies like Ford and GM.

To help achieve this goal the Ministry is hosting a forum in the US to showcase Taiwanese R&D achievements related to electric vehicles. The event is being held this week in Detroit; the city considered to be the automotive centre of the world.

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Next, news about some of the changes being made to Asia Cast. As part of our commitment to become a recognised radio content provider we’re going to be altering the format of Asia Cast. This is to allow the bulletin to be used as a segment in an exciting new show we’ll be releasing soon. More on this through the week

And we now bring you the Shen Yun quote of the day

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