China will pay dearly for the SARS debacle

International Herald Tribunal ^ | April 22, 2003 | Bates Gill

[GingisK]

Yeah, they'll pay. Sure. You bet.

They'll just keep on erroding out manufacturing base until nobody has a job to buy the junk. Yes, I expect the US government will really punish them. For sure. Really.

[KantianBurke]

What are the odds that China will collapse and all of those manufacturing jobs might head back our way?

[tuna_battle_slight_return]

There are some things worse than SARS. Communism is one of those things.

[FreepForever]

Can you give your list a heads up too? Thanks!

[Ebenezer]

Politics before public health: ancient Chinese secret!

Any way you look at it, China still has the markings of a closed society thanks to its inept Communist government.

[HamiltonJay]

Gotta love Communism.. the supposed solution for the hethen capitalist system, and what did China finally admit? That those who came to seek treatment in rural areas were sent home because they couldn't pay!!!! While in the west they get the best treatment available regardless of income.

But I suppose that hypocrisy will be ignored by the leftests as well.

[HamiltonJay]

Short of tarriffs on Chinese goods, zip, zilch and zero.

[Illbay]

IIRC, didn't it take about ten years for Beijing to even acknowledge that there was an AIDS epidemic in China?

[KantianBurke]

If the country is ravaged by disease and disorder I beg to differ.

[FreepForever]

Well said.

A dictatorship government always thinks that saving their communist ass is more important than human lives. Look what a mess they got themselves into this time.

I'm not gloating.

[Illbay]

What are the odds the U.S. unions will agree to scale back their ridiculous pay demands?

[Illbay]

Politics before public health: ancient Chinese secret!

"Chinese", eh?

How do you explain the politics of AIDS in this country, then?

[ContemptofCourt]

Have to agree....zero, zip, zilch....

China has a population of 1.3 Billion people...that is a heck of a manufacturing base, no matter how you cut it.

SARS has killed what, a few hundred people? It could kill a million Chinese and I don't think they would notice.

[FreepForever]

All indicators show that China is on the brink of an unprecedented explosion of the AIDS epidemic. The latest data, prepared by UNAIDS, the Joint United Nation Program on HIV/AIDS, indicate there were well over 1 million cases of AIDS at the end of 2001 and that this number will most likely mushroom to 10 million by 2010. About 70 percent of those infected are peasants living in rural areas.

Only in the mid-1990s did China start to acknowledge the worsening crisis, and the central government has been slow to take action. Currently only a few Chinese hospitals, all in the big coastal cities and far from the vast majority of infected citizens, are equipped to treat AIDS, and the cost of treatment is far too high for average citizens to afford. These factors, combined with the unwillingness of the government at the local level to take actions such as prevention awareness, converge to increase the likelihood of a future AIDS tragedy in China.

[KantianBurke]

thats not my point. its the perception that will come out. If businessmen notice that there's a deadly epidemic or two around alongside 3rd world conditions they're gonna pull up stake and leave. Heck its happening now

[Ebenezer]

"How do you explain the politics of AIDS in this country, then?"

Simple. The United States government doesn't attempt to fraudulently underreport the occurrence of a disease as China did with SARS. That it has caved in to pressure from homosexual groups and their allies to "do more" about AIDS (when our parents and grandparents are more likely to die from cancer or heart disease) is another matter.

[ContemptofCourt]

Doubt it...the money is too good.

[HamiltonJay]

A few thousand cases of disease in a nation of over a BILLION is hardly a nation being ravaged. Don't confuse Media hysteria with reality.

[FreepForever]

All these are happening in Hong Kong now:

70% of the population wear a face mask. Some with disposable gloves too.

Lifts buttons are covered with a plastic sheet which is changed every 2 to 3 hours. All public places are fumigated daily. some twice.

An entire housing complex is cordoned off with all residents sent into quarantine.

Strictly no family visiting of all patients (including non-SARS patients) in hospitals. No last rite allowed. Patient cannot see their family before they die.

No make-up allowed for patients died of SARS. Coffin must be sealed. Can’t even say last goodbye.

All schools suspended (3 weeks). Some even indefinitely in infected areas. All students must pass temperature check and step on disinfectant soaked carpet before entering school. Hand wash every hour. Strict all day face mask rule. Heavy dose Vitamin C for every student. No school lunch in canteen. Teacher supervised lunch in classroom only (strictly no talking). No physical contact with other student.

Temperature check at airport. One passenger found sick, entire plane is quarantined.

All shops, banks, offices, restaurants, schools will be closed immediately for disinfection if one case is found among the staff. Entire team of staff will be sent into quarantine.

Cinemas and restaurants are closing down. Airplanes are grounded. Hotel are empty. It is now causing an “economic meltdown” in a once prosperous city.

The catastrophy happening in Hong Kong can happen to Beijing as well. Is this mere media hysteria?