The Sichuan Earthquake: A Test of Openess In China
By Bill Shireman
The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit China’s Sichuan Province on Monday afternoon, killing tens of thousands, is the biggest recent test of China’s commitment to transparency on health and humanitarian crises.
Coming just eight days after Burma’s devastating cyclone May 4 led to condemnations of the nation’s military leaders for clamping down on media and relief efforts, many of China’s leaders want to show a sharp contrast between Myanmar’s response and their own.
They have good reason. In 1976, one of the deadliest earthquakes in global history hit Tangshan, China, causing political temblors as well. Initial reports by the Hebei Revolutionary Committee estimated 655,000 dead and 779,000 injured, making it the second or third deadliest in recorded history. But Chinese leaders downplayed those numbers. An official figure of 242,419 deaths was issued 12 years later by a Chinese Seismological Service.
The Tangshan quake contributed to the end of the Cultural Revolution in China. China turned down UN international aide, and took charge of its own relief efforts. Failing to stem the crisis, China’s so-called Gang of Four then accused Deng Xiaoping of sabotaging the relief efforts. Two months later, Mao's chosen successor Hua Guofeng arrested the Gang of Four, and assumed power himself.
Today, Chinese leaders are likely debating how open to be when humanitarian crises hit. When the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) disease appeared in Guangdong in 2002, Chinese officials repressed and mishandled medical reports, enabling it to spread, and ultimately causing 8,096 known infected cases and 774 deaths, according to World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Jiang Yanyong exposed the coverup at great personal risk, reporting more SARS patients in his hospital alone than were officially acknowledged in all of China. The health minister Zhang Wenkang and other officials were sacked. But as the crisis faded, the openness did too. China's SARS prevention task force head Gao Qiang soon defended fired Minister Zhang Wenkang, claiming the Chinese government had never underreported the spread of SARS and that Zhang's sacking was not related.
China appeared to have learned its lesson in January 2004, when a bird flu outbreak in Guangdong led officials to quickly ban chicken exports in three provinces. But in the run-up to the Olympic Games, which open this August in Beijing, China has cracked down on openness again, say observers.
The nation’s response to the earthquake may give a hint on how China’s leaders think they can best protect China’s image as it moves to the world athletic stage: by tightening or loosening their grip on information.
[Shireman is President and CEO of The Future 500, based in San Francisco and Beijing, and advises global companies on how to best collaborate with non-profits to solve social and environmental problems.]
