Chinese Government Views Natural Disasters as Threat to Power

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The media in China reported that the National People's Congress is considering legislation that will severely punish media in China that report natural disasters without authorization from higher levels.

Experts on China's current affairs noted that it is unprecedented for the Standing Committee of National People's Congress to implement news censor through legislation, since it is usually the State Council Information Office that implements news control.

Unauthorized Reporting Deemed 'Stealing and Disclosing National Secrets'

According to a report by the Beijing News , for five consecutive days during the 22nd session of the Tenth National People's Congress, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress reviewed a draft on "Proposal for Law on Responding to Emergency Events." The draft implements strict limitations on how the media can report industrial accidents, natural disasters, public health issues, social security issues and other unexpected events. The draft stipulates that if the media in China "release information related to handling emergency events as well as the status of the event development" or "report false situations," they will be fined between 50,000 and 100, 000 yuan (USD 6,250- 12,500)." Any media that reports events related to the emergency incidents without authorization will be charged with "stealing and disclosing national secrets" and sentenced to prison.

Cheng: The CCP Only Cares for Its Own Interests, Not Those of the Public

Cheng Xiaonong, advisor to China's former premier Zhao Ziyang, and currently the Editor-in-Chief of Contemporary China Studies at Princeton University, points out that the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress implementing news censor shows that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) only cares for its own interests, not those of the public, and that the CCP no longer even desires the façade of caring for the public's interest.

Cheng believes that allowing the Standing Committee to draft legislation for news censorship damages the credibility of the legislative function in China. He said, "This in fact is intentionally smearing the legislative function of the Standing Committee and ruining the last sanctimonious sign in China, which shows that legislative agencies still represent the nation's interests. Letting the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress handle this matter means the Standing Committee has fallen into the party's grasp."

Cheng continued to say, "Making emergency news—such as SARS—public is obviously to inform the people, as it concerns everyone's health and safety. Announcing such news is the responsibility of all countries and governments."

Cheng Xiaonong: The Chinese Government Fears Natural Disasters

Prior to the 1989 June Fourth Democracy Movement, Dr. Cheng Xiaonong worked for the Research Office of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress General Office and Research Institute of Economic Restructuring; he was also a head and vice researcher of the Multi-purpose Research Office for Economic Restructuring. In an interview, Cheng said that CCP has always used the mass media as their mouthpiece, but its fear about natural disasters and accidents becoming public reveals how weak the Chinese government is right now.

Cheng said, "It is not surprising that the Chinese government has been controlling the media. The passing of this regulation, however, explains an issue: now the Chinese government is so frail that it cannot withstand even the slightest sign of disturbance. The Chinese government is not really concerned about catastrophic accidents as threats to its power—how much of a threat could a dozen people dying in a coal mine explosion accident be to it?"

Chinese media reports that riots, natural disasters, SARS, bird flu are a few events the Standing Committee's draft considers as "emergency events" and "social security events." The government has also followed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Color-coded Threat Level System to color code those emergency events in China into the following levels: Red (Level 1, severe); Orange (Level 2, significant); Yellow (Level 3, bad) and Blue (Level 4, normal).

Reporters Without Borders: Chinese Government is Driving in Reverse Gear

Vincent Brossel, head of the Reporters Without Borders Group's Asia-Pacific Desk, thinks this policy made by the Chinese government does not protect people's interests. Instead, the Chinese government is not encouraging Chinese media to be transparent regarding those important issues connected to people's interests, but forcing the Chinese media to do a lot of self-check.

Brossel noticed that Chinese media freedom regarding people's health and security accidents improved after the SARS incident in 2003. He expresses regret over the matter that the Chinese government is taking a step backwards this time.

Many Accidents Have Been Covered

Reuters reports that China has a very long history of covering up accidents. Under the influence of Chinese news theory to report only good news and conceal unpleasant news, the media is always concealing those bad-mouth rivals that may impair the image of the party in power. 85,000 persons died in the 1975 dam collapse in Henan Province, but the incident was never mentioned until 1988, when it was cited in a book discussing the most catastrophic disasters in the twentieth century in China.

Last November, news regarding the explosion of a chemical factory in Jilin Province, which led to pollution of the Songhua River, was concealed for days by government authorities. Water systems for nine million people living in Haerbin City, an important Northeast city located by the lower reaches of Songhua River, were forced to close for one week.