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HK reporters seek pressure on Beijing

The media is charged with the responsibility of informing people about what is happening in th. At the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Conference on SARS held in Malaysia last week, a Hong Kong reporter was willing to tell the story her government dared not touch.

Center for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General of Su Ih-jen (蘇益仁) led Taiwan's delegation to the conference.

It was not surprising that Su, from a country where the third highest toll of SARS deaths in the world was reported, became one of the media's favorite figures at the conference.

Last Monday morning, after Su had eaten breakfast in the restaurant at the Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel, where the conference took place, Hong Kong's media swarmed in to ask Su questions about SARS.

Su was happy to share his thoughts with the foreign media. A n official specializing in the government's relationship with the media said Su was instructed to catch opportunities to talk to foreign media to let them realize Taiwan's need to join the WHO.

After the impromptu meeting with Hong Kong's media in the restaurant, Su told Taiwan's media: "This fight [referring to the conference] will be very exciting."

"Many countries want to press China to be more transparent in providing its SARS information to the world by interviewing us. Hong Kong is one of them," Su said. He also said that the Hong Kong media would be pressing China to be more transparent in reporting its SARS situation through interviewing Taiwan's delegation.

A female Hong Kong reporter explained on Wednesday morning what Su meant. She, along with reporters from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia, was waiting outside a close-door session entitled "Surveillance and Response Coordination" in which Su was a panelist and she explained the reason Hong Kong's media was following Su so closely.

"It is true," that we are eager to press China, she said. People in Hong Kong have been worried since the WHO lifted travel the advisory on Guangdong Province, from where Hong Kong received its first SARS case, she said

Since the WHO lifted travel advisories on Hong Kong and Guangdong, people in Guangdong have resumed traveling freely to Hong Kong.

The reporter said the SARS situation in Guangdong still is quite troubling. She said Hong Kong, with all its advanced medical systems and surveillance measures, trudged for three months to cool down the epidemic since it broke out in February.

Guangdong, said the reporter, had its first SARS case in November last year. But the Chinese government covered up the severity of the disease for several months until it could hide it no more.

How could Guangdong which had the disease nearly three months before Hong Kong, be removed from the travel recommendations table at the same time as Hong Kong, she asked.

About two weeks before Hong Kong and Guangdong were removed from the travel recommendations table, the number of probable SARS cases reported in Hong Kong was 170 higher than those of Guangdong.

People in Hong Kong were highly skeptical about the number and worried the reopening of its border with Guangdong would bring another SARS outbreak. But the Hong Kong government dared not ask Beijing to do anything, the reporter said.

Calling Chief Executive of Hong Kong Tung Chee-hwa (董建華) Beijing's puppet, the reporter said Tung did not have the guts even to require Beijing to be more transparent in reporting on the SARS situation in Guangdong.

As their government could do nothing, Hong Kong's media wanted words from Su to pressure China to be more honest in reporting its SARS situation, the reporter said.

Su was aware of the Hong Kong media's intention and he told them China was still hiding facts.

Honesty is the best policy. This may be a simple lesson, but nevertheless China needs to learn it.
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