Welcome to news asia its good to have you with us ah Global Brands such as folks fog and met say these bands nike and others using products made by ethnic we girls under forced labor a report by an australian think tank claims that is the case the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says at least 80000 have been forcibly transferred out of the factories in china that make products for Global Brands in chinas not west is where china has detained some 1000000 we girls in detention camps sensibly to fight terrorism the report also says some of these 80000 we girls were transferred from detention camps to these factories in these factories in the reports authors we were forced to take part in socalled Patriotic Education prevented from practicing their religion and forced to live in carefully guarded dormitories the factories in question cater to some 83 foreign and Chinese Companies we contacted some of the german firms named in the report including folks fog and meditate is bents that is owned by dima and b. M. W. All 3. They take their corporate human rights responsibilities seriously lets begin with folks fog and folks talking told us of the company high broad advanced material which was mentioned in the report is currently not a direct supplier of folks fog and the firm said they were investigating the claims as well. Which owns met it is bens said i brought is not its a blight of dharma and our previous investigation has revealed no further indication b. M. W. Told us they couldnt comment on the report but said that suppliers are required to implement b. M. W. Policies which prohibit the use of forced labor china too has responded to the claims made in the report heres what a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. The report has no factual basis this organization has repeatedly thrown out prejudice fallacies related to the shin jang issue its only doing so now to follow American Anti china forces and smear chinas efforts to oppose terrorism and fight extremism in shin jang newly. Joining me now the coauthor of the report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute dr james lybrel dr level walk and its good to have you on the program with us now the Chinese Government has said that this report has no factual basis but id like to ask you what evidence did you use to arrive at the conclusions that you have in the report. What we spent. A team of researchers binning over 3 and a half months collecting numerous data points easing the Chinese Governments media reports as well as documents available wadley available locally available on the chinese internet we also he said light imagery to to examine some of these factories and we also collaborated with the Washington Post for some on the ground reporting particularly around the conditions at the top long factory in qingdao where you have basically a situation in which the Chinese Government is sending we goes on to work in factories in other provinces in china what youre calling that a forced displacement of sorts as i connect. Well what were searching is that these readers weve documented up 280000 that have been transfers and 2017 that many of these we years appear to have been sent against their will and they are held in conditions in these factories that are indicative of forced labor so there are conditions in some of the factories are able to document as they lived in secure gated dormitories often with you know barbed wire or armed guards watching over them that they had to undergo compulsory mandarin and ideological training after after hours after their through work they were subject to constant surveillance both human and technological sants and theyre also prohibited from observing and practicing their Cultural Roots religious practices so taken together what were suggesting is that some of these weak areas quite possibly are being compelled to work against their will in conditions do mit do mit sort do amount to what the International Organization labor defines as forced labor you know of course whats what so what from underfunding to as john did in your report a program of the Chinese Government what exactly is this program. You know what so this is a longstanding program so really since the 1950 s. When the Chinese Communist party came to power in the people for which they have been cross subsidising frontier regions like change in tibet by massive fiscal transfers so even to this day about 60 percent of young budget comes from transfers of money outside of st john so this goes both through Central Government as well as from regional governments coastal coastal cities like shanghai and also increasingly companies so there is lots of pressure brought to bear on companies to contribute to a to bringing. Firmly into the motherland and. You know the partys agenda for Economic Development but also a reeducation and transformation and change on the where youre describing it it almost sounds like an extension off the policies that the Chinese Government is implementing in should journey particularly with respect to the detention of up to a 1000000 wee girls in detention camps is this an extension of the policy. Yes i see it as a kind of reeducation 2. 0 and part of part of the reason this is carrying is. You know the campaign to Mass Detention Campaign of over a 1000000 readers its kind of run its course its received International Criticism its highly expensive and so the party state wants to move to the next phase which is bringing people back into productive labor. And distributing the cost of reeducation across the country and so what were seeing is you know as i said before that these workers in these factories will who do productive labor during the day. For which they will be there are questions about whether theyre paid a fair and equal rate targets but in the evenings as well it will have to undergo continued Patriotic Education mandarin Language Training you know training in chinese laws and how to adopt to chinese norms even norms of how to take a shower daily you know how to dress properly how to be a good kind of modern citizen where you are there for the time being dr james bible thank you so much for speaking to us. South koreas reporting another spike a new coat on ovide us cases as of battles the biggest outbreak of the disease outside china today beating off in south korea all necessary assistance to fight the epidemic points to its expertise treating tens of thousands of patients in the city of what the epicenter of the outbreak but doctors on the frontlines are theres still a lot they dont know. Why should. Weve discovered special cases such as a symptomatic carriers in tests positive for the virus but have no symptoms whats the reason behind that. And weve heard reports that some patients test negative off the treatment but after a period of time a few of them test positive again that still unsolved mystery such. As cases in south korea have now been known to more than 6000 in the capital seoul transport officials are taking extraordinary measures sending disinfectant teams into trains and stations and forcing commuters to wear mosques and wash their hands. So 3 is Transit Networks are using strong medicine to combat the deadly covert 90 epidemic special teams are working overtime to sanitize the entirety of seoul metro with stations prepared to shut down if anyone with the coronavirus is confirmed to have been there and theres a good bit of Public Outreach going on as well. Among the measures taken by saul metro to prevent the spread of the virus are Public Service announcements in 4 languages promoting containment several times for our commuters are encouraged to wear their masks sanitize their hands in practice healthy safe hygiene. Subway authorities have brought in extra staff to cope with decontamination efforts there keeping a watchful eye on overall working conditions. The health of our workers is a top priority so in making sure they weigh mosques and fairly wash their hands and in the course of their work minimize unnecessary contact with passengers through the michelson was with the couple was near the subway ridership in seoul has significantly dropped since the onset of the virus but commuters have also changed their behavior kelly that long as all i find myself avoiding anyone whos coughing and doesnt have a mask on so using the subway has become a bit disturbing and i used to hold on to a handrail but not so much now everything has become more challenging and i think its. The money knowledgeable kind of look at that few people on the subway now which makes it more comfortable to use but i think about the people who afraid to come out and how inconvenient that must be to be stuck indoors to find they had down at. The National Railway has also seen its ridership and schedule drastically reduced with the government discouraging nonessential travel hygiene is a top priority there too with co rail cleaning its trains several times a day and disinfecting stations on average twice a day. But tonight it will come down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus handrails tables response rooms and other areas that come into frequent contact with passengers authority disinfected in addition. As of monday we are selling window seats 1st to keep passengers as far apart as possible. Some government officials had earlier suggested locking down the city of daegu the source of the vast majority of cases now cleanliness containment and mitigation have come to define south koreas strategy against the coronavirus. Thats a foot to the head over to our website did over dot com forward slash to do the show online of all the stories from the region including updates on the outbreak. We leave it all with images of walkers preparing to carlos to be used for in just off coming all the festival also called the 1st one of only represents a victory of good over evil and also celebrates the arrival of Spring Research moral. Earth. Home to moods of species. A home worth saving. Given those are big changes and most start with small steps. Tell stories of creative people and innovative projects around the world. News that could turn the good news to Drainage Solutions and reforestation. To interactive content teaching the next generation of mental touchup. Channels available to people to take action and more determined to gain something here for the next generation the idea is for the environment series of global 3000 on t. W. And online. Well market slide the virus fueled volatility extends into a 3rd week in factories trying to getting production up and running again but there are more new cases and deaths globally and. On International Companies well bring you up to date. All eyes are on the opec meeting the oil cartel considers another Production Cut to bolster wheat prices but not opec produces. One of the 1st big corporate casualties of the coronavirus britains fly collapses after a plunge in demand for travel. And waste of what not one womans vision is to turn trash into treasure tackling president s rising mountains of plastic rubbish. And then physical and lets do business here opinion stocks are under pressure but asian exchanges are holding up today despite the apocalyptic sounding news of a virus spreading around the globe like wild wild fire there are tentative signs of Chinese Companies of the grinding back to life after weeks of lockdown after weeks of shutdown and quarantine these speeches from chinas state news agency show the country is getting back to work it insists 3 quarters of private businesses are already back up thick sheree