April 8, 2003

MEMORANDUM TO: OPINION LEADERS

FROM: ELLEN BORK, Deputy Director

SUJECT: Response to SARS: China, Hong Kong & Taiwan

The outbreak of a new disease has provided an unfortunate illustration of the differences between the governments of communist China, the special administrative region of Hong Kong and democratic Taiwan. More than four months after the first cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) first appeared in southern China, PRC officials are only now beginning to cooperate with the World Health Organization and provide information on the disease. While the extent of the disease is still unclear, it is apparent that acknowledging the disease when it first appeared in November might have prevented its spread around the world.

That's what Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian thinks. That is why his government responded quickly to the outbreak. Taiwan also tried to cooperate with the WHO, but because China objects, the WHO refused to cooperate with Taiwan. Despite this rebuff, Taiwan unofficially supplied information to the organization. Taiwan has a tiny fraction of the cases the mainland does, and no deaths are reported.

In Hong Kong, now under mainland rule for 6 years, officials first denied there was a problem. The Beijing-appointed chief executive waited more than two weeks to institute a rigorous response and his top health official lashed out at the WTO for causing panic, and at the media for "sowing discord." Hong Kong has almost nine hundred cases, and 23 deaths. Nevertheless, Hong Kong remains more open than the mainland, and the media - both local and international - has been able to cover the story.

China, by contrast, muzzled its press. Even the new public relations campaign to convince the world of its cooperation shows that China still doesn't get it. The deputy governor of Guandong province, the suspected site of the outbreak and cover-up, told John Pomfret of the Washington Post exactly what she thought of allowing ordinary people to know about a threat to public health. "You can see how much trouble the Hong Kong government created for itself after it made everything public. They didn't have the ability to control and handle the disease, so what good was it to make everything public? Their tourism and investment are affected." ("China's Slow Reaction to Fast Moving Illness; Fearing Loss of Control, Beijing Stonewalled," April 3). As of today, China has over 1200 cases and at least 83 deaths.

The SARS outbreak carries some important lessons for the world community. Membership in international organizations alone does not bring about responsible, let alone humane, behavior from Chinese authorities. Hong Kong is getting more and more like the mainland. SARS is one reason the U.S. cannot ignore the consequences of Hong Kong's decline. People infected in Hong Kong are believed to have spread the disease worldwide; the U.S. has well over one hundred cases. The U.S. should declare itself in favor of democracy there and back a constitutional convention in which Hong Kong's people choose their own future. Finally, democratic Taiwan should be admitted to the WHO. This is not only a matter of international fairness, which in our view would be enough, but also of international health and safety.