Opportunity and tragedy in China

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News analyst Jesús Torquemada. Photo: EiTB

China had a chance to make the most of the Olympic Games in Beijing and it sure will but the Tibetan protests have tarnished the Chinese reputation. However, it is in the problem of the earthquake of Sichuan where the Chinese leaders must show they can rise to the occasion.

A few years ago, when hurricane Katrina lashed New Orleans, everybody understood that something was wrong in the United States. There are still too many social and race inequalities in the country which is said to be the richest and most advanced in the world.

U.S. institutions did not rise to the occasion in the case of hurricane Katrina. Other cases can also be set as examples: may people have realized now that there is a military dictatorship in Myanmar, former Burma, as they have seen that the military do not care to help the victims of the cyclone.

Chinese leaders have now the chance to show they can respond to a disaster and that their armed forces, almost four million soldiers, are useful. They have also the chance to show that efficiency is more important that excessive secrecy and that they can provide information. And, at the moment, they are doing all right.

PM Wen Jiabao is already at the area leading the rescue missions and the Chinese TV is broadcasting many pictures. If China rises to the occasion concerning the earthquake, it will a propaganda success as big as the one they expect to get at the Olympic Games.