Posted on 02/14/2020 1:09:28 PM PST by Zhang Fei
A prominent Chinese scholar has published an article criticising the country’s leadership for failing to control the coronavirus outbreak that has infected almost 25,000 people around the world.
Xu Zhangrun, a law professor at Tsinghua University in Beijing, who has been under close surveillance by the authorities, blamed Communist Party leaders for putting politics ahead of the people in his strongly worded piece, which was published on several overseas Chinese-language websites this week.
“The political system has collapsed under the tyranny, and a governance system [made up] of bureaucrats, which has taken [the party] more than 30 years to build has floundered,” he said in a reference to how reform-minded leaders sought to rebuild the country and modernise the government after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976 and moved away from one-man rule to collective leadership.
Xu was suspended from teaching at Tsinghua University in 2018, after the publication of an article in which he criticised the decision by party leaders to lift the two-term limit for presidents, allowing Xi Jinping to remain in office beyond his second term, which ends in 2023.
His latest criticism came as China’s leaders and law enforcement officials warned that internet controls must be tightened to prevent the spread of rumours and misinformation.
On Monday, Xi chaired a meeting of the Politburo Standing Committee at which it was agreed that officials must maintain a tight grip on online media and direct public opinion about “winning the war over the virus”.
On Tuesday, the Ministry of Public Security held a meeting to remind all police officers that political security was of utmost importance in handling the outbreak.
The police would “strike harshly” on any and all disruption by “hostile forces”, according to a report by Xinhua.
(Excerpt) Read more at scmp.com ...
They probly send to re-education camp.
.
It will be easy to silence him the way they silenced Li WenYang. He will catch the coronavirus and his treatment will be delayed.
Professor Seh Sum Ting Wong
Does he imply that Mao never screwed things up? (Maybe my cafferine titer is low—please excuse if so.)
If you read the entire article, he stresses that open communication would be more helpful than suppression in combating and containing the disease. He appears to be a patriot who is willing to stay in China and be the voice of reason.
Please excuse my ignorance. If I wanted to determine the number of fatal cases in the U.S., exactly what would I enter where?
There haven't been any.
There have been only 4 deaths outside Mainland China.
(at least I believe this is correct)
The Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, and France.
Please use this link to the JHU database. In the top right quadrant are the
lists of of places with deaths and recovered people. I saw only four, but you
may find another or two.
We do need open communication, but let’s look at this situation from a different point of view -— THE EXISTENCE OF RUMORS AND FAKE NEWS!
What would have happened had uncontrolled news leaked out, real or fake, that would cause widespread panic?
Wouldn’t there have been MORE possible infected people trying to escape Wuhan before the quarantine and spreading the virus even faster?
EDIT TO ADD:
The dilemma Chinese authorities face is like you see a person on a train track, the doctor whistleblower Li Wen Liang shifts the train onto another track in order to save the guy that is on the main track. But what the doctor didn’t know is that the other track leads the train off the cliff and could kill many passengers on the train.
This is the big dilemma, on a personal level the whistleblower doctor is a hero trying to do good but on a macro level, the government needs to keep the population safe and contain the virus properly for the greater good. The biggest evils are those who exploit this unfortunate event for their personal gains.
Following protocols in making and handling diagnosis is the responsible and only way doctors and medical staff must follow. There are reasons for these protocols. Sharing a diagnosis on a group message site isn’t a good protocol. This is a key procedure in handling a crisis.
My deep deep gratitude and respect for the medical and supportive staff involved in containing the virus as well as treating patients. Also, for all the people who are making it possible to minimize the impact of this virus on social and ordinary life in China.
Don’t get me wrong, Dr. Li as a doctor is a nice and responsible person to his patients, colleagues, friends and family, but his action might endanger the entire country. As for the situation that his death was used by some individuals or institutions to attack China and the Chinese government, that is another issue, nothing to do with Dr. Li’s action and death.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.