The Agonist - Asia: South-East

Add locusts to China's list of calamities

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:02:58 -0700

Mark Magnier | Beijing | July 3

LA Times -

Add locusts to China's list of calamities
Riots -- check. Earthquake -- check. Flood -- check. Plague -- check. Such a concentration of woes in this high-profile year has fanned rumors and superstition.

First there was the freak snowstorm in February. Then the Tibetan riots in March. Then in rapid succession the controversial torch relay, Sichuan earthquake, widespread flooding and an algae bloom that's tarnishing the Olympic sailing venue. Just when it seemed that nothing else could go wrong this year in China, the locusts arrived.

Locusts? What is going on here? The litany of near-biblical woes would seem to lack only a famine, frogs and smiting of the first born.

The Middle Kingdom's parade of problems has threatened to put a major damper on China's anticipated moment of glory less than five weeks before the start of the 2008 Beijing Games.

This week, China sent out an all-points bulletin for exterminators. About 33,000 professional pest killers were quickly dispatched to Inner Mongolia in hope of preventing a cloud of locusts from descending on Beijing during the Games.

Direct China-Taiwan flights begin

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:28:45 -0700

July 4

BBC - The first regular direct flight from mainland China to Taiwan for nearly 60 years has landed at Taipei's airport.

Since the two sides split in civil war in 1949, travellers have had to fly via a third destination - apart from a few special flights during major holidays.

The flight from Guangzhou marks the beginning of regular non-stop direct flights between a number of cities.

The flights will be on weekends only but are seen as a big step in improved relations between the two sides.

The Going Gets Weird in Malaysia

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 10:34:15 -0700

Not seeing much coverage of the mess in Malaysia:

An accelerating national drama involving leading government figures, conspiracy claims, personal smears, sodomy allegations and a grizzly murder appears to be driving Malaysia inexorably towards its biggest political upheaval since independence in 1957.

Chinese Massive Wrench

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:12:06 -0700

Francesco Sisci | July 3

Asia Times -

A new world under one Heaven

It is a brave new world for China. And for the world, it is a brave new China. As China reaches across the globe for all kinds of resources and energy as well as new markets for its growing industries, it has had to Westernize many aspects of its culture, from language to dress to housing. In turn, the West will have to come to grips with this new China, which will shake its culture to its roots and its soul.

Part 1: Change in the face of foreign devils

Malaysian opposition leader denies sodomy claim

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 01:59:41 -0700

KUala Lumpur | June 29

AP - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has denied accusations he sodomized a male aide in a politically explosive scandal, which he blamed on a government conspiracy to thwart his rising clout.

The accusations revived memories of a similar sex scandal a decade ago that led to his imprisonment and ouster as deputy prime minister. Hours after the aide filed the complaint, Anwar, 60, took refuge at the Turkish Embassy, claiming his life was in danger. Anwar, 60, dismissed the accusation as "a complete fabrication

Lhasa's monks all but vanish in Chinese crackdown

Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:53:10 -0700

Geoffrey York | Lhasa | June 23

Globe & Mail - Severe restrictions, including checkpoints and surveillance, imposed since wave of anti-government protests in March, exiles say.

The pilgrims returned to the Potala Palace yesterday, spinning their prayer wheels and prostrating themselves in front of the Dalai Lama's ancient palace on a mountaintop in Lhasa.

For two days, the Buddhist pilgrims had been pushed to the sidelines to make room for the Olympic torch relay in Lhasa. The traditional pilgrimage route at the Potala Palace was unceremoniously shut down, in one of many security measures by Chinese authorities, even though a month-long Buddhist festival has drawn thousands of pilgrims to the Tibetan capital.

Temblor shakes China's big dam ambitions

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:36:12 -0700

Antoaneta Bezlova | Dujiangyan | June 26

IPS/Asia Times - China's deadly earthquake last month appears to have shifted more than just tectonic plates in the country's picturesque Sichuan province. The May 12 temblor has given a boost to China's green lobby, which has been calling for a review of Beijing's zealous dam-building program and may tilt the balance of public opinion in favor of such appeals.

When the quake struck, it came in an area famous for ancient hydrological works. Sichuan is the homeland of Da Yu, the legendary Chinese emperor who won his right to the throne in 21st century BCE (Before the Common, Christian Era)by controlling floods. Instead of building dikes as others did before him, Yu dredged out river channels to release the torrential waters. He then directed the water to irrigate distant farm lands.

While the city of Dujiangyan was almost entirely destroyed by the magnitude eight earthquake, the old hydraulic system located only 10 kilometers from the epicenter, survived the temblor with little damage. The same cannot be said about the cluster of 6,000 reservoirs and dams that local experts estimate have been built on the rivers of Sichuan.

Forsake lipstick 'to avoid rape'

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:22:46 -0700

Ian MacKinnon | June 25

The Guardian - Women in a northern Malaysian city ruled by conservative Islamists are being urged by the city's authorities to forsake bright lipstick and noisy high-heels "to preserve their dignity and avoid rape".

Pamphlets have been distributed recommending that Muslim women shun heavy makeup and loud shoes.

The party's brand of Islam - mocked by Malaysian liberals as "Taliban lite" - has already decreed that supermarkets must have separate checkout lines for men and women. .

A directive on dress a decade ago decreed that Muslim women must wear non-transparent headscarves that cover the chest, along with loose-fitting, long-sleeved blouses. There are fines of up to £75 and as many as 20 women are punished for breaking the rule every month.

Re-Emergent Fidel Castro Meets Chinese Official

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:33:12 -0700

Havana | June 25

Reuters - Former Cuban President Fidel Castro, who has raised his public profile in recent days, met on Tuesday with a Chinese official and told him he spends his days gathering information and analyzing policy for Cuba's leadership, state-run media reported.

After almost two years behind the scenes due to health problems, Castro has re-emerged in the past week with several high-level meetings and a spate of newspaper columns, including a biting blast at what he called the "enormous hypocrisy" of the European Union.

Cuban television said Castro and China's top anti-graft official, He Guoqiang, had a "cordial and fraternal" meeting that included an invitation from He to the ailing 81-year-old to attend the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Castro, the report said, spoke of "the advances of the Chinese people" and the "importance of the concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics."

Microbes eating away at pieces of history

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:29:23 -0700

Bina Venkataraman | June 24

IHT - The palatial 12th-century Hindu temple, shrouded in the jungles of Cambodia, has played host to a thriving community of cyanobacteria ever since unsightly lichens were cleaned off its walls nearly 20 years ago. The microbes have not been good guests.

These bacteria (Gloeocapsa) not only stain the stone black, they also increase the water absorbed by the shale in morning monsoon rains and the heat absorbed when the sun comes out. The result, says Thomas Warscheid, a geomicrobiologist based in Germany, is a daily expansion and contraction cycle that cracks the temple's facade and its internal structure. Warscheid, who has studied Angkor Wat for more than a decade, said in an interview that these pendulum swings had broken away parts of celestial dancer sculptures on the temple walls.

"It is getting worse — up to 60 or 70 percent of the temple is black," he added.

Once chalked up to weathering, the damage at Angkor Wat is now seen as the result of a much more complex dynamic: the interaction of micro-organisms with the chemical and physical properties of the temple.

Resistance snuffed out as Olympic torch tours Tibet

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:06:33 -0700

Clifford Coonan | Beijing | June 23

Independent - China paraded the Olympic torch through the streets of Lhasa at the weekend in a blaze of red flags, eager to present a picture of national unity and domestic harmony just three months after the Tibetan provincial capital was rocked by anti-Chinese riots.

With the Olympic Games to begin in Beijing on 8 August, senior Chinese Communist Party officials in charge of the restive province used the opportunity of the torch relay to denounce the Dalai Lama and underline China's tight grip on the Himalayan region. "Tibet's sky will never change and the red flag with five stars will forever flutter high above it," said Zhang Qingli, the hardliner who heads Tibet's Communist Party. "It is certain we will be able to totally smash the splittist schemes of the Dalai Lama's clique."

Rescuers search sea for Philippine ferry survivors

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 21:16:49 -0700

Cebu, Philippines | June 23

Reuters(AlertNet) -

Rescuers scoured the rough seas around a capsized ferry in the central Philippines on Monday in a desperate search for more than 800 people still missing after it sank two days ago in a deadly typhoon.

Coast guard boats searched the area around the 23,824-gross-tonne ferry and divers were expected to drill into the side of the vessel where they hope survivors might be alive in air pockets.

Twenty-eight passengers and crew were the most recently found survivors of the ferry disaster, having landed at a small coastal village after drifting for more than 24 hours in a rubber boat, radio dzBB reported. Two others originally on the life raft drowned in large swells."We are checking whether there were people trapped inside the ferry," Vice Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo, the head of coast guard, said. "We might have to drill holes so our divers can access it."

BBC Video: Hundreds missing in ferry tragedy

Bibles are big business in China

Sun, 22 Jun 2008 01:29:19 -0700

Ching-Ching Ni | Nanjing | June 22

LA Times - A new plant can turn out 12 million copies a year. Some are for export, but most are for domestic sale.

The factory looks like it could be any plant in this export-driven nation. Hundreds of Chinese workers huddle over loud machines churning out large orders for customers at home and abroad.

But what they're making might surprise you: Bibles.

As Tibetan monks grab headlines protesting the lack of religious freedom under Chinese rule, a booming Bible industry is on its way to turning the world's biggest atheist nation into the world's largest producer of the Good Book.

Flood leaves at least 30,000 on rooftops in central Philippines

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 06:36:53 -0700

Iloilo, Philippines | June 21

AFP - At least 30,000 people were Saturday marooned on their rooftops after Typhoon Fengshen caused a dam to overflow in the central Philippine province of Iloilo, officials said.

"At least 30,000 residents of Iloilo city are stranded on their rooftops because of the flood," said Iloilo city acting mayor Jed Mabilog.

He said rescuers have reported that many could be missing or killed, but this could not be independently confirmed.

Malaysia: Unprecedented No-Confidence Motion Against Abdullah

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 06:24:44 -0700

Baradan Kuppusamy | Kuala Lumpur | June 20

IPS - National politics in Malaysia entered uncharted territory this week after a party in the ruling 14-party National Front coalition said it will move a motion of no- confidence against beleaguered Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi. This unprecedented act of rebellion could potentially force Abdullah out of office or call for a snap general election.

Malaysia has never experienced a serious no-confidence vote before and it is unclear what is the next step if, in the unlikely event, Abdullah loses the vote -- whether a snap election is held, or whether the King dissolves parliament, or whether a new leader is given the opportunity to form a new government.