The price of many staple foodstuffs has more than doubled in China's capital as residents stock up, alarmed by rumors that much of the city will close down due to atypical pneumonia.
In the Jingkelong supermarket, a popular chain in Beijing, eggs that cost 1.8 yuan last week are now 3.5 yuan (US$0.40).
PHOTO: REUTERS
In the Huapu supermarket, onions now cost five yuan, five times the published price a week ago. Tomatoes have increased by 30 percent.
"The majority of prices are stable and the Communist Party will not let people die of hunger, but the government should not let them raise prices like this," said Wang Jian, an elderly man who complained the panic buying was an overeaction.
"Look at me, I do not carry a mask, it is ridiculous that all these people are stocking up. It's an overreaction," he said.
The rush on supermarkets started earlier this week as the rumor mill ground out reports that trains would stop running to Beijing, and the city of 13 million would be isolated with tough new quarantine measures in place.
"The panic started Tuesday afternoon. They are pouring in," said a cashier at a supermarket in eastern Beijing. "I'm buying this stuff because I heard the city is going to be isolated," said one elderly shopper.
It follows the government's admission that the extent of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic was far worse than it initially admitted, with the numbers of confirmed cases in Beijing jumping from 44 to 774 in a matter of days.
Add to that 39 deaths and Beijingers are a bag of nerves.
The rumors have been categorically denied in the state-run press, but many Beijing residents do not believe the rhetoric nor assurances from the government that shops will remain open and fully stocked.
Earlier this week, the government said it was urgently working to check price rises by launching a nationwide check on excessive charges for drugs and staple foodstuffs.
The State Development and Reform Commission said in an emergency notice that it would "severely punish" those profiting from SARS fears, but it appears not to have stopped vendors.
After disappearing from shops during the week as demand soared, many products have reappeared but at prices considered to be prohibitory.
At a market in Yonganli district, the price of green vegetables has doubled, and in some cases tripled, customers complain.
"I'm buying all this because then I will then not need to leave home," said one woman as she loaded her car with crates of vegetables and fruit.
The price of rice has also doubled in some street markets, if it can be found.
Many people complain it has become difficult to find basic products like rice, oil, noodles, sugar and salt
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft