THE CHINESE government is wrestling with a serious backlash over its handling of a deadly high-speed rail crash, with critics saying Beijing is more concerned with preserving its own image than with public safety.
At least 40 people died and nearly 200 were injured after one bullet train rammed into another near the eastern city of Wenzhou on July 23rd.
The multi-billion euro high-speed rail project was meant to be a powerful symbol of China’s technological progress, but instead it has turned into a nightmare for the ruling Communist Party, as commentators and the general public use the crash to vent their frustrations about single-party rule.
Despite muzzles on commentary online – China has the world’s largest wired population at 485million people – the reaction has been fierce, and many of the blog entries have been addressed directly to the government.
“This accident was an accident, but then you ordered the burial of part of the train, you refused to publish footage of inside the train and you stop journalists getting close,” Denaxuta wrote on Tianya. cn. “Is this the first time the government has chosen to bury the evidence.”
Another online commentator, Zhuibianliangxi, asked how come all the details about the Norway massacre thousands of miles away were available but there were such a confused picture of the Wenzhou disaster.
“We could interview the mayor and citizens in Norway, but we even couldn’t reach the nearby village near to where the accident happened. Do you believe in miracles? I do,” wrote Zhuibianliangxi.
On Sina.com’s popular microblogging site Weibo, there has been a torrent of outrage about the way the crash has been handled.
“It’s only five months until the change of leadership, so if you want to enter the new era smoothly, then pay attention to the Wenzhou train crash,” wrote one blogger, Pu Zhiqiang.
Wenzhou authorities had to apologise after they issued a notice saying local legal firms “shouldn’t unauthorisedly respond and handle the cases” as the accident was “a major sensitive issue concerning social stability,” the Xinhua news agency reported.
Late last week, propaganda authorities imposed a media ban on coverage of the crash, forcing papers to drop massive coverage plans, just a day after premier Wen Jiabao, famed for travelling to the scene of a disaster as soon as it happens, visited Wenzhou and pledged transparency and openness, promising to punish those responsible.
The Sunday Morning Post in Hong Kong reported that propaganda authorities had issued a censorship order banning all coverage of the crash “except positive news or information released by the authorities”.
The media has been remarkably frank in its coverage, even after earlier gags issued last week.
The Communist Party’s main organ, the People’s Daily, said last week in an editorial that China “needs development, but does not need blood-smeared GDP”.
So far, 15 families of the crash victims have agreed to accept government compensation, Xinhua reported on Saturday, after payment was nearly doubled to 915,000 yuan (€99,000).
Family members and media commentators complained that an original offer of 500,000 yuan (€54,000) was too low.
Elsewhere on Weibo, Wangdeweibokong wrote: “The huge hole this high-speed train crash has caused is a sacrifice to Wen Jiabao’s government and someone has to be sacrificed to fill that hole.
“I am no longer concerned, I am not angry, I’m not disappointed. All the rumours and speculation are meaningless. In this country you have two choices – either you emigrate or you keep yourself to yourself.”
Police shot dead four “rioters” in China’s far west yesterday after at least three people, including a policeman, were killed in the latest in a series of attacks in the region this month, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported.
Four suspects were caught and four others were being sought in the latest violence in Kashgar, a region long beset by anti-Chinese sentiment from the native Uighur population.
Local sources had earlier said three people were killed in an explosion yesterday, but witnesses reported that the three were hacked to death by the attackers, Xinhua said. Ten people including pedestrians and police were injured, it said.