Inside China Today

Inside China Today – Sunday 11th October

-  Price of H1N1 vaccine leaps after first death;

-  Locals dismayed at imminent war in northern Burma;

-  Unlawful prosecution of Falun Gong practitioners.

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Price of H1N1 vaccine leaps after first death

On Tuesday the Tibetan Autonomous Region’s Health Ministry reported that a patient with H1N1 flu died on October 4^th. It was the first reported swine flu death in China. In Sichuan Province, it’s been reported that a number of hospitals have raised the cost of the H1N1 vaccine in the wake of the outbreak.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention verified on Tuesday the first H1N1 flu death in mainland China. It follows a spike in reported cases around the country. Pharmacy owner Mr Li from Sichuan says there are many H1N1 cases in Mianyang city. While vaccine shortages have pushed the price up, it’s still cheaper to get the vaccine from a pharmacy than from a hospital.

Mr Li said there were over 100 cases in Mianyang. Basically each vaccine shot costs 50 Yuan, three shots is 150 Yuan. It can boost people’s immunity, that’s why it’s popular. If you get the shots in hospital, each shot is over 100 Yuan. The vaccine supplies ran out a few days ago. Now the prices go up every month. Ten days ago it was 45 Yuan, now it is 50.

In Sichuan province, there have been reports of widespread H1N1 outbreaks in local schools. Many colleges have begun quarantining school and the traditional October vacation has been cancelled. Some middle schools which suspended classes in September have since resumed. Parents are complaining about the information blockade by authorities.

A teacher from Mianyang said there was one case in the school and the school has now been closed for people’s safety. Students are prohibited from going out. The middle schools have also gone on break. First was Mianyang Cultural Middle School, now Mianyang School has resumed classes. Also, there are rumours of needle attacks in Nanchong. Currently students are not allowed to discuss these matters; all school gates are guarded by teachers and security guards.

A parent of a Beichuan Middle School student, Mr Yang said the Mianyang Canghong Training Centre, Beichuan Middle School and High School all apparently have bad conditions. The students all say there are no cases of fever, but there are actually many cases. Last month a few students were taken to the hospital. The school would not let them go, the students are only allowed out on October 15. To pay the school fees we need to make a phone call and wait for the teachers to notify us before the students can come to the gate. The school has banned the use of telephones.

One Mianyang resident commented on the situation:
“I feel that this rate of transmission is rather fast. The students in Beichuan Middle school, because it’s closed off, it’s not so serious. However the school in Leigu, the teachers have organised to purchase at thermometer for each student. The schools are closed off, and there are not really anyone going in and out.”

So far 76 schools in Sichuan province have reported a total of 500 cases. The tally for the province stands at 706. 71% of those affected are found in schools.

Daniel Teng; Wang Qian; and Xi Wen of the SOH Radio Network.

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Locals dismayed at imminent war in northern Burma

Combat in Northern Burma is imminent following Burmese Army occupation of Guogan at the end of August, and movement of its 33rd Division elite troops to the front lines. Local Chinese are anxious, especially those who live far from the border between Burma and China, who will have nowhere to flee once fighting starts.

Mr. Zhou is a Chinese from Laxu, a traffic hub and goods distributing center in Northern Burma where Dian Mian Public Road and China India Public Road share a common boundary, closely connecting China, Yunnan, and India.

Mr. Zhou had this to say:

Mr. Zhou [Recording]: “In districts such as Guogan on this side of the border, Qingshui River, and Nandeng that are near the old street in Guogan, once the war breaks out, people still can escape to China to keep them away from the war. But people in Laxu have a long way to go. Chaos caused by war will also happen. Chinese’s psychological status is panic. We don’t want to stay here with such a high likelihood of war.”

Mr. Zhou said that, since the Burmese Army occupied Guogan, the situation in Northern Burma has become frightening.

Mr. Zhou [Recording]: “After the war chaos at Guogan, people’s mental state has been unstable. Around 7pm every evening, it’s quite difficult to see an ordinary person walking on the streets. Two thirds of the local Chinese residents are people from Yunnan Province. Now they can’t leave even though they want to. All of them were born and grew up here. Basically we’ve never been given rights to citizenship. So these Chinese have basically been suppressed by the government due to their lack of citizenship status.”

Qi Lin, a Chinese from Guogan, told a reporter that she has seen many indications that war is iminant.

Qi Lin [Recording]: “Relatives of members of the Burmese military are all secretly emigrating or being taken to safe places. Tanks have been mobilized to Dangyang and Jingdong. Laxu is an airbase in first-class combat readiness. Before, the one fighting for Guogan was the 33rd division which used to suppress Burmese protesters. Now this division has all been transferred to the front line.”

Qi Lin also stated, before October 1 Burma Army has already finished disposition of their troops. If two sides can’t reach an agreement, attacking Wabang would be imperative.

Qi Lin [Recording]:”They seemed to finish troop disposition early. Then, this time, Burma asked Wabang and Guogan to accept reorganization. In other words, 30 Burmese military officers will be assigned to each camp. Wabang couldn’t accept this. The Burmese government has already given up negotiations with Wabang.”

Donna Ware; Lin Li; and Wang Zhen of the SOH Radio Network

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Unlawful prosecution of Falun Gong practitioners

Two Falun Gong practitioners Li Yaohua and daughter, Zhang Yibo, were unlawfully taken from their home in Shanghai by the Public Security sub-bureau and are facing illegal prosecution. At present, they are still detained in Xuhui District Detention Centre.

Her son, Zhang Ziyuan who teaches at the University of California, appealed for bail but was rejected without reason by the authorities. He called for a stop to the evil dictatorship of the Chinese communist regime.

Mr Ziyuan cannot understand why authorities illegally arrested and detained Falun Gong practitioners.

He said [Recording]“They arrested those people, who are better than good people; firstly they cannot justify the reason, secondly, according to its own Constitution in mainland China, it is impossible to justify, because the Constitution provides the rights to its people so that people can have freedom of belief and religions. Then why can we not believe in Falun Gong? Thus from now on we will start to demand the release of my mother and sister, without guilt, immediately.”

He had been demanding the release of his mother and sister from the Xuhui District government; however there was no outcome regardless of the avenue he went through.

[Record] He said, “At present, regardless of how many phone calls we make, the only response is the phone being hung-up as soon as I mentioned my mother’s and sister’s name. Sometimes they even said some malicious words to me after I had called many times. Furthermore we wanted to go for bail. As soon as our case was passed to the prosecutor’s office, we immediately put forward the request for bail. Xu Zhenghui is the prosecutor who undertook the case. After about ten days, he rejected our application. He did not even detail any legal reason for the rejection; furthermore we felt that it is unfair as it did not accord with the law. We had one more right to appeal, however they directly denied that right.”

According to Mr Ziyuan the Chinese Communist Authorities did not look at the people’s standpoint and did not work for the people but stand in opposition, even persecuting the people.

[Record] “All my family is in Shanghai; they are Chinese citizens and should be treated with rationality and legitimacy. Another thing is that we felt our basic human rights have been seriously infringed upon. During the arrest, they just break into people’s houses as they wish; they take away anything that they want. Our basic rights have been violated and we feel that our personal freedom has been violated. I hope that they can return our personal freedom and protect our safety,” he said.

Lawyer Zhang Zhuanli said, that in accordance with China’s constitution, the evidence of the prosecutor’s office should be examined before being passed to the court, if there is not enough evidence, it should be dismissed. However until now the prosecutor’s office has given no clear decision.

Matthew Ytsma; Lin Li; and Zhao Ziyun of the SOH Radio Network.