CNN's sneaky apology buried by earthquake

Oh that was sly.
CNN has finally apologized to China over remarks by Jack Cafferty which sparked protests in China and the U.S.
But they pulled a fast one by making a sudden u-turn on their initial refusal to offer an outright apology. The network has chosen to say sorry amid the chaos of China's earthquake relief effort.
In a move reminiscent of the British government spin doctor who declared September 11 'a good day to bury bad news', CNN President Jim Walton wrote to the Chinese Ambassador to the U.S. this week saying the network actually has great respect for China after all. And they 'apologize to the people of China' yadda yadda.
All that stuff their outspoken anchor Jack Caffery said about Beijing's government being 'goons and thugs' was just a big misunderstanding.
CNN had previously stood firm in the face of China's overreaction to Cafferty's off-the-cuff slur - despite its executives being summoned to the Foreign Ministry to explain why it was being mean to little old China.
The news channel earlier expressed 'regret' but that was dismissed as half-arsed by the Chinese who wanted to see groveling and/or Cafferty's head on a big stick in Tiananmen Square.
Cafferty's remarks were pretty stupid and ill-informed. His assertion that China is run by 'the same thugs' as 50 years ago says more about his ignorance of modern China than anything else. His regular rants-of-the-day often provoke debate or a roll of the eyes - but viewers usually get mildly provoked/entertained/angered and then they move on.
Not this time. The Chinese people took it personally and granted Cafferty the publicity he craves. There was a song ('Don't be too CNN') a website ('anti-cnn.com') and many front page headlines demanding an apology.
I didn't agree with Cafferty but respected CNN's stance that this was not a slight against 1.3 billion people and, anyway, it's a question of free speech. Tough.
Even if they really felt the need to apologize, they could have done it immediately rather than allow the fiasco to drag on.
But instead, they took the low road and said sorry when nobody was listening - because tens of thousands of people were buried under the rubble of their own homes.
The apology barely made it into China Daily, there's no mention on CNN itself, and a couple of Indian websites picked it up, as did a Singapore paper. The New York Times is the only heavyweight western media outlet to even notice the apology and they gave it one paragraph.
And, of course, a few bloggers will give it a mention...

Full apology available here: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2008-05/15/content_6688594.htm

China grappling with quake, virus and Olympic preparations

There's no good time to face a colossal earthquake but the timing of this week's disaster in the Sichuan province could hardly be worse.

China now finds itself facing three major challenges over the coming months: They must grapple with the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, continue the battle against the EV71 virus ('hand, foot and mouth disease'), while racing against the clock to complete preparations for the Olympic Games.

As the quake death toll nears 20,000 and threatens to continue soaring, rescue work continues to be undone by harsh weather which is causing mudslides and hampering the delivery of aid.
The face a monumental task.
Consider the devastation caused in New York in 2001 when the Twin Towers fell killing 3,000 people. Now think of several inaccessible cities where, in some cases, 80% of buildings are said to have been razed to the ground.
The death toll is likely to be ten times greater than 911 by the weekend and the carnage that must be picked through and then eventually cleaned up covers eight, huge Chinese provinces. It's a nightmare.

Meanwhile, there are other battles to fight.
Up until Tuesday, China was gripped by a national campaign against hand, foot and mouth disease which has spread across the country.
The virus has already killed over 40 children and, today, the first death in Beijing was recorded. A total of 27,500 children are currently infected but it could get a lot worse.
The peak season for the virus is expected to be June when warmer weather facilitates the spread of the disease.
Naturally, the deadly outbreak has taken a backseat while the central government attempts to lead rescue work in Sichuan.

One of the problems for the Beijing government is its need to control of everything that happens in its vast territory.
They want to appear to be directly handling the outbreak of the virus; they have dispatched the Premier, Wen Jiabao to direct operations at the site of the earthquake; and the Olympic preparations are being handled at the highest level.

For a nation of 1.3 billion people spread across a truly sprawling land mass, it might be time to delegate some tasks to local leaders and people on the ground.
The top-down control freakery which has ruled China for 60 years might not be best suited to fight a battle on three fronts.

Conquering Mount Qomolangma - what's in a name?

How impressed would you be if somebody told you they'd climbed Mount Qomo- langma?
It might not sounds familiar to the Western ear, but Qomolangma is, in fact, the world's highest mountain.
Qomolangma is Mount Everest.
Perhaps you are wiser than I and would not have been perplexed by today's headlines proclaiming the Olympic torch is bound for Mt Qomolangma. But to me, it was all a bit confusing. It didn't get all that much clearer after I looked into it a bit more deeply.
The Tibetan name for Mount Everest is Chomolungma or Qomolangma which means 'Saint Mother'.
English explorers in the 1800s recorded the local name of the massive mountain (which spans the Nepal/Tibet border) as Deodungha, or 'Holy Mountain'. It was in 1865 that the Royal Geographical Society gave it the name Mount Everest.
Then, in the 1960s, the Government of Nepal gave the mountain a brand new official Nepali name: Sagarmatha which means 'Goddess of the Sky'. (Thank you Wikipedia)
The continued name changes are rooted in all sorts of complicated stuff like China's claim over Tibet, Nepal's desire for reunification, Britain's colonial exploits in India, and the variety of local dialects spoken by people in the villages near the foot of the big hill.
The latest twist came in 2002 that the Chinese People's Daily newspaper published an article making a case against the continued use of the English name for the mountain in the Western world, insisting that it should be referred to by its Tibetan name: Qomolangma.
This name, they said, preceded the English name and was marked on a Chinese map more than 280 years ago.
And there was I thinking it had always been called Everest.
So, that's it. We're going back to the oldest recorded names we can think of.
That's why I'm changing the name of my book to: Peking for Beginners: a Hibernian in the Middle Kingdom.

Rebranding protest marches as 'group walks'

When is a protest march not a protest march? When it's in China, of course.
It appears 200 people joined a march to protest against the construction of two industrial plans in Chengdu this week.
Locals fear the proposed new ethylene plant and oil refinery will bring further environmental pollution, adding toxins to the air and water of Chengdu - home of the giant panda.
Or at lest that's how it might have been written up in a Western newspaper.
Here, the state media say local residents held a 'group walk' on Sunday afternoon to 'express concerns over the environmental impact' the two plants may have on their city.
It was, say the papers, 'a two-hour leisurely walk from Nine-Hole Bridge to Wangjiang Pavilion in the eastern part of the city'.
China Daily quotes a local driver as saying that the walkers did not carry posters, nor did they shout slogans. So it definitely wasn't a protest, right?
Officials at the information office of the Chengdu municipal government declined to comment on the walk, and officials at the city police department said they had not heard of it.
So there are protests taking place in China over issues that affect people's lives - it's just that they can't call them protests.
It might seem like weak coverage by the national press, but at least they covered it. That, odd though it may seem, is a sign of progress.

New virus a big test for China

The new virus spreading around China's Anhui province is a huge challenge to the Beijing government on two fronts.
First, it's a test of its ability to handle a serious threat to public health.
Second, the way it is handled will tell a lot about progress and openness in China.
The virus has already killed 24 young children and infected around 5,000 more. Enterovirus 71, which is often referred to as hand, foot and mouth disease is expected to peak in the summer as weather hots up.
The government has closed nurseries in Fuyang and is spraying disinfectant around houses in rural areas.
With experience from SARS and bird flu, as well as the additional determination to be seen to act decisively ahead of the Beijing Olympics, it's reasonable to expect the practical side of containing the virus to be handed well.
But the memory of attempted cover-ups and denials when SARS hit are still fresh.
The Chinese authorities say the WHO was informed of the problem with E71 within 24 hours of diagnosis.
Continued transparency and open communication with local people at risk of infection will reveal how far China has come since 2003.

An early contender for headline of the month

Every day brings a fresh batch of jarring headlines from the Chinese press and today was no different.
A story from the state-run Xinhua news agency, carried by China Daily is headlined:

"Rioters in Lhasa unrest receive fair trial"

Why is that so remarkable? Isn't that what's supposed to happen? With Xinhua, there's always a sense that they are trying to get their retaliation in first; that they are desperate to deny something before anyone has thought to level an accusation.

On this occasion, I presume they foresee complaints about the trial, not to mention the severity of the sentences handed down for taking part in the riots in which 18 civilians were reportedly killed. There is no mention from Xinhua of how many monks died during the unrest.

While nobody was charged with murder, 30 people were convicted of arson, robbery, creating a disturbance and "assembling to assault state organs" (just consider the breadth of that phrase for half a second). Three were sentenced to life.

Just in case you were wondering whether anyone was tortured or had confessions beaten out of them, you can stop thinking that right now.

We know everything was done by the book because a court-appointed lawyer casually ignored confidentiality norms by telling reporters:
"The defendant Yexe told me that the police did not extort or torture him for a confession. His jail term was shorter than I expected."
His client got 12 years for disturbing the peace.

Anti-France protests erupt across China

Seven people have been arrested in China following protests at French super- market chain Carrefour.
Demonstrators targeted Carrefour outlets in Beijing, Changsha Fuzhou, Chongqing and Shenyang but no violence was reported.
The Associated Press says one man ran around with a sign that read "Protest Carrefour, Protest CNN" as about 200 bystanders cheered.
Browse posting from April if this all seems utterly bizarre. In summary, CNN and France are being targeted for alleged anti-Chinese bias following the unrest in Tibet.
The funny thing is that I was roaming through a packed Carrefour in Beijing's Zhongguancun area on Saturday afternoon. It was packed.
I was passing through with some Chinese friends on the way to a shopping mall and we were all surprised by the frenzy of customers snapping up bargains.
The shop had launched a major sale in an effort to attract customers in the face of ongoing negative publicity. They also issued staff with a new uniform which reads 'Beijing 2008'.
Whatever about the patriotic pandering, the fact is that Chinese people are a pragmatic bunch and nationalism takes a back seat when there's cooking oil on sale at half price.