Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Tuesday 18th August

Headlines…
- Residents unhappy with pneumonic plague cover-up
- China’s missing earthquake relief funds
- Eight Hong Kong petitioners beaten and arrested for kneeling

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Residents unhappy with pneumonic plague cover-up

Following recent outbreaks of the pneumonic plague in Xinghai, Qinghai Province, news of the plague has also come from Jinshanzhun district of Yichun City, Heilongjiang Province. At least 8 people have fallen ill to the disease in Baishan Forestry Station and Fengmao Forestry Station. Local residents have reported that people in the region are now under curfew, and that the public is unhappy with the government’s cover-ups on information regarding the development of the plague, and their own inability to afford medical costs.

Ms Liu from Baishan told overseas reporters, six cases of pneumonic plague have been confirmed at her station, with symptoms of ongoing fever, pains in bones and joints around the body, as well as vomiting. She said the local government is currently attempting to conceal information about the spread of this disease.

Ms Liu said (recording):
“We have cases of the pneumonic plague here. With over 400 families living in our area, there have been 6 confirmed cases. Each person has to spend their own money to try and cure the disease, it’s just bad luck to whoever gets it. There are also cases in Bailin Forestry Station, Fengmao, and Fengling. Nobody is taking action, and it’s not taken very seriously. The victims just try to cure themselves. We have heard of such confirmed cases since two years ago, and this year there are many more compared. Here, we live by producing Mu-er (an edible tree fungus), and there is no other source of income on the mountain. Come and see! See the difficulties of our people, there is nobody to assist. One family had two victims, and they are spending 15 000 – 16 000 renminbi per person for treatment, which they cannot handle. The authorities don’t report on it to higher levels either, it seems they have suppressed the information!”

Another resident in Baishan Forestry Station also said, the local government has spread pamphlets which describe the disease as a fever affecting the bloodstream. The illness requires expensive treatment, and most patients have been forced to borrow money from friends and relatives for hospital treatment.”

This resident said (recording):
“People who caught this plague have gone to Yichun Hospital, and have not returned since! I don’t know if it can be classified as the pneumonic plague. Nobody has told us how to handle it! They just hand out the flyers, think the job is finished, and have taken any other procedure. Can the government tell us that it is related to the pneumonic plague, and say it can be treated with public funding. Individuals cannot afford it, because each time it takes tens of thousands of renminbi, who has that kind of money to treat it? There have also been people in our region who caught the plague, and they have all borrowed money, a bit from here and there from friends and relatives, in order to see the doctor.”

Ms Li from Bailin Forestry station said people are currently suffering from the plague in her area, and that the same disease has been seen in past years.

Ms Li (recording):
“We heard it’s a serious disease which could take lives. There are 6 to 7 cases here. Last year we discovered one case, but after he fell in a coma, he was eventually revived. We learned over these couple of years that it was the pneumonic plague, we did not know this 2 years ago.”

Resident Mr Dai said (recording):
“I heard two people died in Baishan Forestry Station. In our area, Fengmao, we have 2 cases, both quite serious. We are living under curfew now, nobody is allowed to leave, and nobody is allowed to enter. There’s no real way to prevent the disease, it is up to the individual. There is a vaccine, if you want to spend 39 or 40 dollars to get it, that’s counted as prevention. They [the authorities] have distributed flyers saying, if you get this disease, go to the hospital.”

Other residents have said (recording)
“There have also been cases in Fengmao, two victims who worked on the mountains. They had seen rats crawl over left over food, and drank some contaminated water which lead to the disease.”

This resident says, (recording)
“The situation is quite severe at Baishan, they are preparing for the curfew, it’s serious… … seven or eight people caught the plague, and in some serious cases people have died.”

Sound of Hope reporters telephoned Jinshanzhun District Hospital in Yuchun City, and the doctor in office denied claims of the pneumonic plague.

This doctor said (recording)
“There’s nobody who got the pneumonic plague, no, no, no, it’s a rumor.”

In 1914, an epidemic of the bubonic plague took place in Yichun City, and killed 618 people.

According to reports on The Epoch Times newspaper on August 14, one doctor at Yichun City Centre Hospital admitted there were 9 patients of a blood-fever plague at the hospital. This doctor said although rats were carriers of this disease, it is not the pneumonic plague. Meanwhile, a female staff at the same officer told the reporter 10 victims of the pneumonic plague are currently undergoing treatment.

This report was brought to you by Guo Liang, Xi Wen and Caden Pearson of the SOH Radio Network

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China’s missing earthquake relief funds

Over 70 billion Yuan (or Chinese dollars) was donated to the victims of the Sichuan earthquake. It is currently suspected that 80 percent of the money is being held by the government.

After the May 12th Wenchuan earthquake, contributions to the victim relief effort from all over the world soared to an incredible 76.712 billion yuan. The whereabouts of this huge fund is a mystery and has subsequently raised concerns of those from all walks of life.

The Hong Kong Newspaper Ta Kung reports that the results of this donation campaign represent the largest sum of relief funds China has ever received in history. But the question repeatedly asked by concerned supporters still remains: Where did the funds go?

A six-month investigation conducted by a team from the college of Public Administration at Tsinghua University alleges that 80 percent of the money is being used by the government’s special fiscal budget as extra tax revenue.

The Public Administration investigation team leader, Deng Guosheng, stated that the governments in most western countries normally don’t accept disaster relief donations. For those countries that do accept disaster funds, the money is usually transferred to and distributed by non-government organizations. In China, however, it’s a different story.

According to Deng’s investigation, by November 2008, donations to China equaled 65.25 billion yuan, among which the government accepted about 58 percent or 37.9 billion yuan directly, This portion of the money is allegedly being retained by individual governmental departments.

31 percent of the money (or approximately 19.9 billion yuan) was collected and distributed by The Red Cross, other charities, and local public fund-raising associations. A document from the State Council of the Chinese Communist Party has been sent to lower levels, stating that the money can be spent by local commonwealth organizations themselves. However, the findings of a sample survey of 7 provinces or cities conducted by Deng’s team, reveals that the majority of the money was taken by government departments and officials.

The above was brought to you by Donna Ware of the SOH Radio Network

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Eight Hong Kong petitioners beaten and arrested for kneeling

Eight petitioners from Hong Kong, including a 15-year-old girl, Lu Yangyi, are currently appealing in Beijing on behalf of Hong Kong business people. They knelt together in front of Xinhua Gate on Thursday in order to see the Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. However Beijing Police violently beat and arrested them.

Intending to represent Hong Kong businessmen’s interests and investment rights in Mainland China, they are now detained in Beijing’s Fuyou Road police station and have had their return permits confiscated. This is the second time the young lady and team leader, Lu Yangyi has appealed in Beijing. She is appealing because her mother was deceived while investing in Shanghai and has since had her return permit confiscated. Lu Yangyi stated that their protest was very peaceful, without banners and with them only kneeling on the ground to call for help. However the policemen acted as if confronted by strong enemies.

Lu Yangyi said:
“We just knelt on the ground calling out that long-suffering Hong Kong businessmen need fair treatment and that we need to meet Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. We didn’t want to leave, and then the policemen came out from several police vehicles. Three policemen dragged us very forcefully into their vehicles. Our hands were injured. They become more and more aggressive. They didn’t treat us this way last time, but now they beat us and made us bleed.”

Before heading for Beijing, Lu Yangyi published an open letter to Wen Jiabao. 50-year-old Hong Kong businessman Shi Yuzhen came to Beijing to appeal with his son, because the police in Guangdong seized their goods, suspecting them of being smuggled.

Shi Yuzhen said:
“For eleven years the responsible departments have been shifting the blame on each other. The most provoking thing is that last year, after the Olympic Games, the Public Security Bureau promised to me they would solve the problem, but they all cheated me. I came to look for the Prime Minister Wen Jiabao in Beijing as a last resort. That’s because during the outbreak of SARS, Prime Minster Wen Jiabao told the Hong Kong people that we should come to see him if there are any problems.”

These eight Hong Kong business persons arrived in Beijing on Tuesday. They first came to Wen Jiabao’s home, knelt and called for to meet with him. But the security people beat and kicked them, detained them in the local police station, later releasing them. On Wednesday, they went in turn to the Ministry of Public Security, the Supreme Court, as well as the Appeals Department, but ended up with no results.

By SOH reporters Liang Zhen and Raoul McAlister

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