Sun, Nov 27, 2005 page8

• Lessons unlearned in a time of crisis

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  The crisis in Harbin and surrounding areas linked by the Songhua River, the result of a series of explosions at a petrochemical plant earlier this month, highlights two things.

  First, in this global village, what one does in one's home can never be one's own business, because neighbors could very well end up paying a hefty price. In this case, Russia is the unlucky neighbor, forced to call a state of emergency for Khabarovsk as the benzene slick floats downriver toward that region.

  Second, Chinese officialdom still hasn't learned that honesty and transparency are the best policies in the face of health and environmental hazards or crises.

  The explosion at the plant took place on Nov. 13. At the time, there had been speculation on the potential polluting of the Songhua River, but provincial officials refused to come clean on the issue until almost two weeks later. They kept the general public in the dark about a situation that was always going to have an immediate and longer-term impact on water supplies, as well as on the surrounding environment.

  Worse still, when the Harbin government announced its decision to shut off the city's water for four days, it flatly denied that it had anything to do with the pollution and insisted that it was being done for other reasons.

  Nothing is more agonizing than knowing that something has gone seriously wrong without knowing exactly what it is. This was the predicament faced by Harbin's residents. Most suspected that the shut-down of their water supplies had something to do with pollution caused by the explosion -- Chinese aren't stupid, though their government may think so -- yet, for days, the government could not bring itself to tell them the truth.

  In democratic societies, when governments try to sweep dirt under the rug and are found out, they face dire consequences at the hands of both their constituents and an independent legal system.

  Unfortunately, in countries such as China, a government can repeatedly lie through its teeth precisely because it does not have to worry about subsequent sanctions.

  In the long run, however, behavior of this nature can still cause an autocratic government damage in terms of domestic credibility and its international reputation. And this latter consideration is where the Chinese government can be hit right where it hurts. After all, it is Beijing's aim to become a respectable regional and even world leader. A questionable record on fundamental issues such as protecting the livelihoods of the citizenry and the infrastructure that attracts overseas investors will become a major roadblock on the path to world leadership.

  With this latest mishandling of misfortune, it is impossible not to be reminded of China's track record in dealing with the SARS outbreak and the avian flu. At the height of the SARS scare, Beijing chose to stay silent on the extent of the outbreak at home. Had it told the truth in a timely fashion, Taiwan and Hong Kong might have been able to better prepare their campaigns against the disease -- and the number of casualties may have been significantly reduced.

  In the wake of the outbreak of bird flu in the region, the Chinese government -- which insists it learned its lesson after the SARS saga -- continues to provoke skepticism over whether it is capable of passing on the facts in a time of emergency. The Songhua River incident can therefore only foster grave doubts about the way Beijing will deal with what experts say is an inevitable bird flu epidemic.
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