SARS and Chinese Economy

“SARS as metaphor: a tale of two epidemics”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/apr/25rajeev.htm
bq. Nike has contingency plans to move its production out of China. Motorola has restricted travel to affected areas, while Honda is moving the families of its expatriates out of China. Wal Mart has banned all travel to China. Cathay Pacific has been forced to ground much of its fleet due to rampant cancellations; other Asian airlines are affected. The tourist flow into East Asia, one of the region’s major money earners, has been curtailed dramatically. The Canton Trade Fair, usually the single largest trade show in China, is effectively dead this year.
The chinese may value secrecy above the life of their citizens. But the Capitalist who trades with China values his life more than money.

Time has more news on the coverup happening in China.
“Shanghai SARS Cases a State Secret “:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=308151
bq. But party officials then cautioned that “Shanghai’s SARS caseload was still a state secret,” according to one journalist who attended the meeting. The state media was not to report any SARS statistics higher than the government-sanctioned figures, nor were Shanghai journalists allowed to interview any SARS patients or their families

9 thoughts on “SARS and Chinese Economy

  1. > But the Capitalist who trades with China values his life more than money.
    I wonder if they’re surprised because they believed that “The capitalist will sell you the very rope you intend to hang him with.” (attributed to Lenin).

  2. Andy, Fortunately the Chinese do not control the media in rest of the world. Also, how long can you force 1 Billion people to supress information ?

  3. The Chinese governments penchant for secrecy will backfire badly. Societies whose government suppresses information develop alternative routes for disseminating unofficial information. This is especially true in the internet age. Since these “grapevines” on steroids have no means of validation they also spread unsubstantiated and exaggerated rumor. Given the chinese peoples mistrust in their government these informal channels will make the SARS problem seem worse than it is. The internal repercussion could be severe especially if combined with an economic downturn.

  4. Confront SARS, all Chinese have no choice but depending on their government,right? Just like Americans facing Iraqi war.

  5. Consider about the worst condition: there were no Chinese government at all. Who can deal with the SARS? WHO? USA? UN? That would be the end of the world absolutely.

  6. Chineselady, I have to take exception with your analogy – Americans I bet had a lot more information about the Iraqi war than China ever released to it’s citizens. Not really the same situation.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *