Crackdown on SARS Spread

Newsday ^ | 5-16-03 | Laurie Garrett

[Prince Charles]

Crackdown on SARS Spread

China: Penalty for passing illness is prison or execution

By Laurie Garrett, STAFF CORRESPONDENT

May 16, 2003

Beijing - China's State Council, the nation's primary government body, announced strict measures yesterday aimed at controlling SARS in poor, rural areas, even as the nation's Xinhua News Agency said people who spread SARS can be executed.

The agency cited a Supreme Court warning that people who violate quarantines can be imprisoned for up to seven years, and those who cause death or serious injury by "deliberately spreading" the virus can be sentenced to up to life in prison or execution.

China has reported 271 deaths from SARS.

[Prince Charles]

Reports are widespread of SARS-infected peasants being denied services and others being admitted to medical facilities, then fleeing when presented with bills they cannot pay. One such case in Beijing - where the government said last month that all SARS care would be provided free - involved a student compelled to produce $1,000 upon admission to a hospital, then told she would not be released unless she could produce another $35,000, according to people familiar with her plight.

Another day, another Red Chinese lie revealed.

[Prince Charles]

Ping.

[LurkingSince'98]

could you add me to your SARS ping list?

Thanks

Lurking'

[Prince Charles]

I thought I had you on the list already? Pinged you in the #2 reply.

[blam]

"can be sentenced to up to life in prison or execution."

It's one way to clear out the prisons.

[CyberSpartacus]

SARS may mean the end of communist china to be replaced by a free republic.

[aristeides]

Laurie Garrett on China's SARS death penalty.

[EternalHope]

Good article, worth reading in full. With problems like this, I do not see any way China can stop SARS.

The best China can hope for now is that it will have some seasonality to it, thus giving them a respite before the fall.

[Betty Jo]

When Sars comes to America I assume that our cops and military will have their work cut out for them.

I expect them to drag victims away to hospitals and wont be surprised when they shoot to kill.

The loading time for the Homeland Security code still takes me too long,but I'll get the actual law by tonight hopefully.

[blam]

FYI

I just saw an advertisement for the History Channel about a special on Sunday, 10:00pm (CST) titled, SARS And Plagues. (...or something close to that)

[Ma Li]

I'm afraid that is wishful thinking. It isn't that the government is not corrupt enough to fall--it is--it is that the people are not now ready for self-government. They are, (and I'm not trying to be stereotyping, but generalizing), fundamentally lazy, irresponsible, careless and whiny about needing to be cared for. Some of that is the government's fault, and they have been trained since toddlerhood to believe in, rely on and follow the Party.

But, unlike some other Communiist countries, China's people have been this way throughout their history, and have always fallen apart into anarchy whenever they were not united by a strong, dynamic leader--oppressive or not. They expect someone else to keep order, and if left with the option of self-government, requiring them to show initiative and take responsibility personally, or a strong, orderly, but sometimes oppressive government, I'm afraid a large majority would choose the latter. If they didn't initially, within in a year or two they would be begging for the Communists to come back.

[Ma Li]

I should comment more on that last comment--just to say that certainly not all Chinese are that way. But, enough of them are to make a free republic in the near future a pipe dream. And, one of the reasons we have the general idea that the Chinese are very intelligent and hardworking, is because the best and brightest are the ones who make it to our country. They are the ones who want to work hard, be responsible and make their own way in life, and this is the place to do it.

[Betty Jo]

The New York Times Business Section today the 17th,has an article "Latest SARS Victim Is Clothing"

......"and each time,these manufacturers say,United States Customs holds the packages for four days,the time scientists say the SARS virus can live."

[aristeides]

Taiwan seems to have been working pretty well as a democracy. How do you explain that?

[Judith Anne]

Thanks for posting that.

This article about imprisonment or execution for passing the disease to others is the clearest indication of the seriousness of the SARS epidemic in China.

If SARS were nothing to worry about, and it were not spreading like wildfire in rural areas, penalties wouldn't be an issue.

[Ma Li]

With two comments: first, the question was not if China could function as a democracy, but as a free republic. Those two things are very different, and a democracy can be just as oppressive as any other kind of government. It easily become oppression by elected officials rather then oppression by one man or one party who stole power. Can you look at the Patriot Act and say that isn't a possibility for our country?

The second comment is that when you think Taiwan is a democracy, and South Korea is a democracy, you have to realize we aren't talking about a democracy like we have here. Here's an example: In the demonination which I belong to, we have a general assembly once a year for the pastors and elders of our churches. There are a large number of Korean and Chinese (Taiwan) churches in our denomination (but in the US--they are for immigrants), and they are so numerous they wanted to break off and form their own branch which would have close relations with our branch. They came en masse to our General Assembly.

Now, we are presbyterians--I dont' know if that means anything to you, but our form of church government is republic--in fact the founding fathers modeled the US government on the presbyertian church government.. The people in a church choose their pastor, elect elders among themselves, as well as deacons. All of them are subject to the constitution of the church, and can (and have) been brought up on charges or removed from office only for a violation of the law, and only while following the proper procedures. You probably get the idea.

Anyway, when the Koreans and Chinese (Taiwan) arrived--who have the same church and the same rules and everything--it was obvious that they ran things differently then we did. While in our group all the pastors and elders fellowship as equals, in theirs they had a leader and some other others--someone to whom all of them looked before they would give an answer to any question, someone who was introduced first while the rest of them stood in the back. There was a lot of trouble with understanding between our two groups, because the American men were used to arguing, fellowshiping, discussing and deciding things together. They had a lot of trouble getting along with these Koreans and Chinese who looked to one or two men to make all their decisions together. These were Korean and Chinese who were used to living in the USA--some of them even second and third generation immigrants.

That's just an example to try to explain that "democracy" in Taiwan is not what Americans think. Yes, they are free compared to mainland China, but they still have a strong authoritative government, and definitely not a republic.