Taipei Times Commentary Cites Lack of Respect for Human Life in SARS Coverup

The SARS epidemic originated in China. It has spread to many countries, not only leading to international economic losses amounting to tens of billions of US dollars, but also causing many deaths and broken homes. Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan, all ethnic Chinese societies, have too much interaction with China and have therefore suffered particularly severe losses.

Even if the epidemic is quickly contained, the Taiwanese economy may still suffer economic losses in excess of NT$100 billion. If it can't be quickly contained, those losses will be even heavier. The functioning of Taiwanese society, human interaction, daily life and international contacts have already been deeply affected. The value of such intangible losses is difficult to estimate.

The main reason why this epidemic has created such a serious disaster is China's confused bureaucracy, fighting to gain credit for some things while shifting the blame for others and presenting a falsely positive picture of the situation. The deeper reason, however, is that China has never understood that human life is invaluable. The SARS epidemic erupted in Guangdong Province as early as November last year, just as the Communist Party of China was convening its 16th National Congress.

For political reasons, the epidemic was covered up. Even after the epidemic began to spread, China continued to make false announcements to the world. This wasted precious time, making it difficult to control the spread of the epidemic.

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Over the past 50 years, China has seen an uninterrupted succession of political movements large and small, each accompanied by a large death toll. Each of the "three evils," "five evils" and "anti-rightist" campaigns in the 1950s led to millions of deaths, and the woefully misguided policies of the Great Leap Forward, also in the 1950s, led to more than 30 million deaths from starvation. Countless people died unjust deaths in the armed struggles during the 10-year-long disaster that began with the onset of the Cultural Revolution in 1966.

Other smaller incidents, such as the persecution of members of the democracy movement, the bloodbath on Tiananmen Square in 1989, the suppression of the Tibet uprising, or the persecution of Falun Gong members, are too numerous to list. Such a government does, of course, not understand how precious and invaluable human life is. It will also have difficulties understanding its responsibilities towards the international community.

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The spread of SARS from China to Taiwan has caused Taiwan heavy losses. Furthermore, WHO personnel still need a nod of approval from China before they can travel to Taiwan to assist the SARS prevention effort. When such a government talks loudly and unabashedly of being capable of caring for the health of the people of Taiwan, we can only shake our heads and sigh.

During the SARS epidemic, China has not missed any opportunity to display its revolting neglect for human life, its selfishness and its ignorance. Unless China can draw a lesson from this epidemic and learn to respect human life, it will never be able to understand its responsibilities toward the global village.

To this day, China has not apologized to Taiwan for the losses resulting from the SARS epidemic. Not only that but it has once again done its utmost to oppose Taiwan's bid to participate in the WHO as an observer.

But what else could be expected from a government that only knows how to trample on human life and human rights?

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2003/05/30/2003053273