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Jewish World Review March 21, 2003 / 17 Adar II, 5763
Michael Ledeen
The Killer Pneu:
Virus terror from China
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com |
Wars have never reached the level of mass killing that diseases have achieved,
and the new viral pneumonia spreading throughout the world from its incubator
in China may yet do more damage than the terrorists and the war against
terror. But even if it doesn't, we've learned some things about the Chinese
government that should give our political and business leaders plenty
of food for thought
It
is widely reported that the Chinese kept the story secret from the rest
of the world. Why? Most seem to think it's because it's their nature to
suppress bad news (remember that they still deny there was a massacre
in Tiananmen Square). No matter that an epidemic in China could produce
millions of deaths at home, and even more overseas. It was more important
to keep the information from their own people.
I'm not so sure that the authorities were keeping the information from
the people. It may well be that the people were keeping it from the authorities.
There is an unusual relationship between the government of the People's
Republic of China and its people, one which we do not begin to fully comprehend.
We don't comprehend it because we don't know very much about recent Chinese
history, and even those few of us who study it fail to grant it the great
importance it has in contemporary China.
Not very long ago within the past five years, let's say
an American businessman of my acquaintance, a leading figure in the health-care
field, was approached by an authoritative official of the Chinese government
with a truly fabulous offer. How would the American like to set up a nationwide
network of clinics, under his own name and with clear American identification?
He would provide the medicine, the staff, the doctors, the technology.
The Chinese would provide the money, the land, the labor force to build
the clinics, and guarantee a substantial profit for at least a decade.
The American was impressed; who wouldn't be? And of course he was curious.
Why were they being so generous?
The answer helps understand why it took so long for the Chinese to fess
up to the existence of the new Viral pneumonia. The Chinese official put
it this way: "we are having a terrible time getting people to see
doctors, even for routine physical checkups. And this is because of an
event that took place back in the late 1940s, following Mao's revolution.
At that time, the government promised to eradicate venereal disease in
China. And it did. Everyone was forced to undergo an examination by a
certified doctor. And anyone with venereal disease was executed. Ever
since, most Chinese stayed far away from medical doctors."
So the current regime, which would like to improve the health of the
population, thought that it might be possible to get the people to a doctor
if that doctor were clearly separate from the government. Indeed, as far
removed from Chinese officialdom as one could imagine: an American doctor
in an American clinic that guaranteed utter privacy.
That's quite a confession by the Chinese government, isn't it? In essence,
the Chinese official told the American that there was no way a Chinese
citizen would see a doctor, because of fear that the doctor would kill
him. A sick Chinese might fear death from the disease, but that was only
a possibility, not a certainty, whereas going to the doctor was certain
death.
Given this background, the most surprising part of the story about the
new pneumonia is that the government found out within a few months. It
would be interesting to know just how they discovered it (my own guess
is that someone under their control maybe a prisoner? contracted
the disease, and could not escape medical treatment), and it's most encouraging
that they informed other governments.
There are many things in this world that we never imagined, and you can
find most of them in China. Just remember, if it's a one-in-a-million
possibility, there are more than thousand of them in the People's Republic.
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JWR contributor Michael Ledeen is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and author of, most recently, ""The War Against the Terror Masters," Comment by clicking here.
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© 2001, Michael Ledeen
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