Posted on 05/16/2008 5:35:04 PM PDT by Dawnsblood
CHINA may allow more countries to help in rescue efforts in the earthquake-devastated south-west region, a Chinese embassy spokesman says.
Beijing has agreed so far to allow rescue teams from Russia, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, as well as Taiwan - which China considers to be part of its territory - and Hong Kong.
"I personally expect more foreign rescue teams being allowed into China," Wang Baodong, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told reporters.
The offers from the four nations were accepted based on their proximity to China, "which may ensure promptness of the aid.
"As I understand, this is the first time in history for foreign professional rescuers to join in Chinese disaster relief work."
The decision to accept the rescuers signals an apparent shift by Beijing, which initially had politely rebuffed such offers despite clearly struggling to reach many devastated communities cut off by quake-damaged roads.
In previous disasters, such as the Tangshan earthquake of 1976 which killed more than 240,000 people, China refused offers of aid from abroad, insisting the money was more needed elsewhere.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
I thought it was about the Olympics
Personally it seems to me that they weighed their PR options and asking for help looked a lot better than pretending nothing was wrong and continuing to face anger around the world over a growing number of issues.
Could simply be China is joining more in the world community.
Any news about that cracked dam?
They’d get a lot more sympathy from me if they stopped selling weapons to our enemies.
Two dams upstream from a hydropower station operated by China Huaneng Group Corp. may collapse ``at any time,'' endangering the lives of about 110 people trapped at the plant, Zhang Ping, chairman of the company's Sichuan hydropower unit, said on state-owned broadcaster China Central Television today.
I tempted to say screw them.
But Mrs. Lurkin is saddened by the thousands of children lost to the single child (government mandated as they may be) families.
Sure look at how nice they were in escorting the olymic torch through other countries territories. Ambassadors of good will for sure.
You’re both right. Many of the Chinese business people were educated in the West and have seen the results of goodwill efforts by Western nations, particularly the US. They are part of a reform movement trying to reduce the influence of the old-line Communisty Party members as well as the PLA.
More importantly, the Chinese government is trying to rein in the anger of the average folks over substandard construction. Keep in mind that many parents lost their one and only child (thanks to government policy).
Some of the young Chinese who were on FR earlier this week were trying to find out whether anybody outside their country had heard about the earthquake (the 1976 earthquake near Tianjin was kept from not just foreign news bureaus but also China’s own people).
Our family was quite surprised to see so much reported on the quake in the Chinese journals. The Xinhua News actually pointed at the poor quality of construction; the reporters even cited bribed officials as the reason for such poor quality. Boy, heads will roll. If not the officials’ then the reporters.
Disaster is a force of change.
It’s a huge disaster. I imagine they didn’t know themselves how extensive it was to begin with.
God Bless China, President HuJinTao and our citizens,Troops and their families .as the Chinese,i believe the Chinese can overcome the difficult ,and we also can build a new hometown.
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