Up to 50 million farmers have had their lands taken under China's land reform policy. Most are not satisfied with the compensation they're given, according to a recent Chinese think tank study. (The Epoch Times)

In this bulletin:

- Beijing mounts new Xinjiang crackdown,
- Report highlights land reform burden,
- An unlikely education in Taiwan, and
- Smartphone patent battle.

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

NTD-The Chinese regime has started August 11, another hard-line security crackdown on ethnic violence in the western region of Xinjiang.

On Tuesday August 16 local authorities said the ‘strike-hard’ operation would run until October 15. Chinese authorities blame Uighur Muslim separatists for recent violence, alleging the Uighur attackers are terrorists who had training in Pakistan.

The World Uyghur Congress informed NTD the Chinese regime is trying to make the global community believe that Uighur Muslims are terrorists to justify their crack down. Adding recent unrest came about because the Uighur Muslims have become desperate, living under the Chinese regime

Indonesia's Supreme Court is considering whether to jail the manager of independent broadcaster Radio Era Baru in a case brought about due to pressure from the Chinese regime. Should Gatot Machali be jailed, it would set a worrisome precedent for Chinese influence on free expression in Southeast Asia.

- Questions over China high-speed rail crash,
- Ai Weiwei breaks silence,
- Court deliberating Indonesian radio manager case, and
- Worst-in-a-century floods hit South Korea.

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

ET/NTD-In the aftermath of the deadly high-speed train collision in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, complaints from family members of the victims have intensified. The regime

[caption id=”attachment_3492″ align=”alignleft” width=”250″ caption=”Tuesday, May 3, was World Press freedom Day. In Taiwan, NTD Asia Pacific Television

Fossilised remains of an ichthyosaur and ammonites. Ichthyosaurs were dolphin-like reptiles with sharp teeth that preyed on fish and squid-like creatures. A skeleton has been unearthed in Australia with teeth marks on the lower jaw, an unusual find. (Descouens/Wikimedia Commons)

In this bulletin:

- Protests stall world’s busiest port,
- Chinese millionaires moving funds overseas,
- Hong Kong media’s self censorship growing, and
- Battle-scarred fossil jaw found in Australia

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

Shanghai, the world’s busiest port, was recently brought to a near standstill after a strike by truck drivers.

In protest over fuel surcharges and other related charges thousands of container-truck drivers began striking April 19. The authorities brought in over seven thousand police to suppress the strike. One person was allegedly beaten to death by the police and many others were arrested April 20.

Angered by this the drivers on strike started to block the gates. As other container and cargo related business joined the strike Shanghai’s port was virtually paralysed.

Authorities have suppressed news of the strikes from getting out.

Reported by Yu Liang and correspondent Chen Yilian for Sound of Hope Radio.

**********************

As the Chinese regime’s crackdown on dissidents continues petitioners have told SOH the State Appeals Bureau has hired thugs to beat petitioners and prevent them going there to appeal.

Petitioners told our Chinese reporter a female petitioner suffered severe head injuries when she was beaten outside Beijing’s State Appeals Bureau April 27. The victim’s situation is currently unknown.

One petitioner said many of them were also arrested after singing songs and shouting ‘down with corruption’ outside the appeals office. They added the police just turned a blind eye when petitioners were attacked.

Reported by Fu Ming and Tang Li for Sound of Hope Radio.

**********************

ET-According to a recent study over half of China

A pair of Bengal tigers in India where a recent survey found tiger numbers had increased slightly. (By treeday77/Flickr)

In this bulletin:

- Beijing jails veteran activist once more,
- Tibet rues 52 years under Chinese rule,
- Fukushima evacuees fear they’ll never return home, and
- India’s tiger population grows.

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

NTD-The Chinese regime was heavily criticised after sentencing veteran democracy advocate Liu Xianbin to a lengthy jail term Friday March 25 for so called inciting subversion.

A court in central Sichuan province sentenced Liu to ten years in prison for writing articles calling for human rights and democracy. His wife who was at the trial told our Chinese reporters the court prevented Liu and his attorney from defending against the charges.

Democracy activists in Sichuan said the authorities tightened security ahead of the trial to prevent supporters of Xianbin Liu attending the trial. Many activists in the province were placed under house arrest, while others who tried to attend the trial were sent back to their local cities as soon as they arrived.

Interviewed and reported by Fuming and Aixin for Sound of Hope Radio.

**********************

World TB Day falls on March 24 each year. This year’s campaign recognised individuals around the world who have found new ways to stop tuberculosis.

Unfortunately in China the disease is not being effectively controlled or treated. The ministry of health has released figures showing over 500 million people in China, 45 per cent of the population, are carrying the TB bacterium. Of those, some five million have the active disease.

One problem is China’s low detection rate, epidemics are also not being tracked. Family members of TB patients told SOH the free treatments some local governments supposedly offer is a lie. According to the ministry of health almost 20 per cent of TB patients cannot afford medical treatment.

Reported for by Sound of Hope Radio by Ning Yan, interviews and extra reporting by special correspondent Bin Xiong.

**********************

NTD-Chinese authorities executed three Filipinos on drug trafficking charges Wednesday March 30. It came despite a flurry of public appeals for clemency in the Philippines, and just days after Amnesty International slammed Beijing’s sweeping use of the death penalty.

The three were convicted of smuggling several kilos of heroin each into China in 2008.

The Philippine Vice President had sent an appeal to Beijing Tuesday March 29, asking to keep the Filipinos alive while The Philippines investigated new evidence aimed at proving the innocence of at least one or two of them.

**********************

NTD-Chinese state media recently reported Monday March 28 as Serfs’ Emancipation Day for Tibet. The date marked the 52nd anniversary of what the Chinese Communist Party calls its liberation of Tibet in 1959.

Many Tibetans, however, use the term communist takeover, saying 1959 marked the beginning of the Party’s suppression of their way of life.

The Senator of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile said the regime claims it’s done a lot of good things, but it’s all lies. Adding, under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, Tibet became a giant prison in which over one million Tibetans have died from mistreatment.

**********************

SOH takes a look across the wider Asia-Pacific region.

**********************

NTD-Weeks after a huge earthquake and tsunami triggered the world’s worst nuclear crisis since 1986, prospects for a speedy resolution at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant look more distant by the day.

Many evacuees are worried they will never be able to return home. More than 70-thousand people have been evacuated from a 20-kilometre exclusion zone around the plant. Another 130-thousand, who live in a 10-kilometre band beyond the exclusion zone, have been advised to either leave or stay indoors.

UN nuclear monitors advised Japan to consider widening the exclusion zone after unsafe levels of radiation were recorded in a village 40-kilometres north-west of the nuclear plant. The US and UK earlier advised their citizens in Japan to keep at least 80-kilometres from the plant.

**********************

And with the continuing nuclear crisis in Japan, Taiwan and China have shown signs they may cooperate on promoting atomic energy safety.

Taiwanese media said the issue would be one of the major topics on the agenda of this year’s forum between the ruling parties on both sides.

Local media reported Wednesday March 30 Taiwan had not ruled out the possibility of commissioning China to help with nuclear waste disposal. While on the same day Beijing said professional nuclear energy agencies on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have maintained contact on technological issues.

**********************

Coming up on Asia Cast:

- Asia-Pacific tackles people smuggling and refugee issue,
- Taiwan concerned over children’s mass media consumption, and
- The sweet taste of cricket.

**********************

Albert Ho, Hong Kong law maker and Chair of the China Human Rights Lawyer Concern Group, which has been actively involved in attempting to rescue renowned Chinese lawyer Gao Zhisheng, has added his support to a newly established Taiwan-based Alliance of victims of human rights abuse in China. (Courtesy of NTD)

In this bulletin:

- Chinese regime tightens dissident crackdown,
- Beijing launches state-run search engine ,
- Hong Kong support for China human rights alliance, and
- Asia-Pacific nations evacuate thousands from Libya.

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

NTD-The Chinese regime has apparently started another crack down on dissidents around the country. Recently, scores of rights lawyers and democracy activists have been detained or placed under house arrest.

Some believe Chinese authorities are cracking down on dissidents because they fear an Egyptian style uprising against the regime

Singapore has been ranked number one in the Asian Green City index commissioned by Siemens. (Courtesy of Siemens)

In this bulletin:

- Beijing worried by middle-east protests,
- Voice of America’s China service faces chop,
- Chinese parents play matchmaker, and
- Singapore Asia’s greenest metropolis.

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

ET-China

In this bulletin:

- China’s tainted milk squeezes Hong Kong dry,
- Buying restrictions could increase Chinese house prices,
- Media entering darkest hour in China, and
- Japan, Russia island dispute flares again.

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

Ever since China

Lunar New Year preparations in Singapore overlooking Marina Bay. (By Nestor's Blurrylife/Flickr)

In this bulletin:

- China losing ground as world’s factory,
- Chinese bulk buying creates Hong Kong baby formula shortage,
- Tibet’s Karmapa Lama reassures followers, and
- Chinese Consul shocks New Zealand Councillors.

But first our SOH focus on China.

**********************

Police in Beijing recently beat a renowned dissident immediately upon his release from an eight year prison sentence.

He Depu was freed in Beijing January 24, but police prevented his friends from greeting him outside the prison. Instead the police wanted He to get into a police van as soon as he walked out of the gate.

When He refused they beat him, threw him into the van and took him to a police station. At the police station He was read a list of nine things he was prohibited from doing and told he would be arrested again if he criticised the government and promoted his ideology of freedom and democracy.

By Fang Ge and Gu Qinger of the Sound of Hope Radio Network

**********************

ET-Labour strikes in several coastal areas of China have led to wage increases in the mainland. But as labour costs continue to grow, China is losing its status as the low-cost factory of the world.

More and more foreign companies are opting to leave China and are setting up factories in Mexico, Indonesia, or Vietnam.

A shortage of qualified labour in China is posing a serious problem for Taiwanese-owned businesses there. The annual migration of factory workers during the Chinese New Year, low wages, as well as large-scale factory relocations are among the reasons cited for the shortage.

**********************

NTD-Lingering Chinese food safety concerns and a stronger currency means a flood of Chinese parents are bulk buying milk powder from Hong Kong. This is triggering citywide shortages and anger from some local parents.

Two years ago melamine-tainted milk powder sickened nearly three hundred thousand children in mainland China. But problems are continuing to undermine public confidence including the seizure of over one hundred tons of tainted milk powder last year.

Such entrenched product safety concerns have fuelled rapid growth in whole milk powder imports to China.

**********************

NTD/NTD-Two separate incidents again highlighted the Chinese regime’s reliance on propaganda and censorship.

China’s state run broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV) was recently caught using footage from the movie ‘Top Gun’ in a report on training exercises by the Chinese air force.

But just as telling has been the coverage, or lack of it, of Egypt’s anti-government protests. Chinese state-media has focused instead on evacuation efforts to get citizens out of Egypt.

This appears to be part of the Chinese regime