Chinese struggle to keep order as trains swamped

AFP, GUANGZHOU, CHINA
Monday, Feb 04, 2008, Page 1

Millions of Chinese workers battled for a precious train ticket home yesterday as authorities struggled to keep order following a stampede for seats that left a woman trampled to death.

The savage winter snows and freezing temperatures that have brought much of the nation to a standstill have transformed Guangzhou in particular into a seething mass of frustrated humanity.

Hopelessly outnumbered, some 2,000 riot and army police fought to hold back crowds of hundreds of thousands of mainly migrant workers surging forward at the merest hint of an opening to a train platform.

For many, the Lunar New Year holiday is the only chance to escape to their families from their toil in the factories of southern China.

As Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) urged people to be brave amid the worst winter in 50 years, they waited exhausted and desperate amid growing piles of rubbish and human waste.

Li Kuochun, a 28-year-old trying to reach Hunan Province, said people were pushing out of sheer frustration.

"I'm quite worried there will be a stampede," he said. "I just try to walk slowly but people keep pushing. You're squeezed between people and can hardly move or breathe."

"But I think it's worth the danger and risking my safety to go home and see my family. They are all back there and I really miss them," he said.

Still, the crowds reduced one young woman to tears after losing touch with her friends and most of her belongings.

"I have my ID and all my money in there, please you have to find my handbag for me," she sobbed to an officer, who offered her water and urged her to calm down.

The blizzards and icy temperatures that have lasted nearly three weeks now have stranded millions of people at airports, railway stations and bus depots in China's south, central and eastern regions.

The weather has destroyed crops, hit industrial production, disrupted coal and food supplies and led to power blackouts, for a bill estimated at around US$7.5 billion, according to official figures.

At least 105 million out of the country's 1.3 billion population have been affected and more than 60 have been killed, the government says.

They include a woman crushed at Guangzhou. Police were unable to control a crowd surging to board a train and in the chaos she fell and was trampled to death, Xinhua news agency reported.

China's leadership has been working overtime as it tries to project concern for the millions of stranded passengers, and Wen urged courage in the face of the national disaster.

Television footage from Hunan quoted him hailing those who had given their all for the relief effort.

"In the face of disaster, they show us composure, bravery and the spirit of sacrifice," he was quoted as saying.

The crisis has prompted China to dispatch more than 1 million troops and 65,500 medical workers to deliver relief.

So far, the medics have treated more than 200,000 ill and injured people, the health ministry said.

Congestion along the Zhuhai to Beijing expressway, a key north-south artery, had worsened as people unable to get train tickets home took to roads, a separate report said.

There may be worse to come. More bad weather is impeding efforts to restore electricity in Hunan, and forecasters are predicting more snow across central, eastern and southern provinces.

Economic blizzard is a harsh reality


Monday, Feb 04, 2008, Page 8

The unusually harsh winter weather in parts of China has put a great deal of economic activity on hold over the past three weeks, but the worst may be yet to come.

As south and central China see the heaviest blizzards in half a century, the scale of their effect has caught the Chinese authorities off guard and raised many issues not only for Beijing, but also the many economies with close ties with China.

China's Ministry of Civil Affairs said that the snowstorms have caused at least 53.79 billion yuan (US$7.5 billion) in direct economic losses as of Thursday. The losses are expected to keep growing, as meteorologists forecast another cold front in the next few days.

To ease public concern, Beijing created a 5 billion yuan emergency fund for farmers last week, while asking its commercial banks to extend more credit to businesses in disaster areas.

On Saturday, the Chinese government released emergency food supplies onto the market to stem inflation, which has already reached the highest levels in a decade in the past few months.

The snowstorms have demonstrated the inadequacies of China's infrastructure. It would be foolish to think that other countries are protected from the effects of China's troubles.

The scenes of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers stranded at bus and train stations ahead of the Lunar New Year illustrated the country's demographic problems. The snowstorms made the urban-rural gap as visible as ever, but will Beijing act to narrow the divide?

Adjusting China's two-track development to close the gap would no doubt mean allowing many of these migrant workers to settle as legal urban residents. That would have the advantage of easing the burden on the country's transportation system, but a change like this would also require a sharp escalation in welfare expenditures.

Poverty, inequality and unemployment remain major, almost intractable problems despite double-digit economic growth the last five years.

The snowstorms have made the economic implications of China's under-development clear. Its poor infrastructure could easily shake the world economy. In the global village the world economy has become, China is a giant factory -- with terribly unreliable roads leading to and from it.

Businesses have suffered power cuts as closed harbors and jammed railroads mean delayed coal shipments, while the cold weather has eaten rapidly into coal stockpiles.

If the storms continue and transport remains blocked after the weeklong holiday, blocked production will mean serious losses for many companies and slowed exports. Meanwhile, food supplies and raw materials will also be held back by ice-covered roads and rails. The result? China's already aggravated inflation will get an unwelcome boost.

In the worst-case scenario, China will be facing a slowing economy and rising inflation -- a double-edged sword. If Beijing reacts to rising inflation by tightening monetary policies, it will discourage companies from borrowing money from banks to expand or invest in real estate.

In the context of a global economy strained by the US subprime fallout and whispers of a US recession, it is unclear how markets would stand a slowdown in the Chinese economy. And if the situation continues to deteriorate in the US, it is not clear how Chinese policymakers will react should that cut into exports.

The situation is delicate and the effects of China's poor infrastructure in combination with a cruel winter could multiply. With its many business across the Taiwan Strait, Taiwan's government has every reason to keep a close watch.

Green card editorial a miss


Monday, Feb 04, 2008, Page 8

I was surprised to read the paper's editorial on Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) statements about whether or not he possessed a green card ("Ma's colored leadership card," page 8, Jan. 31). Don't misunderstand: The topic followed nicely on the heels of a news piece you published on the details of this attack strategy by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

Nevertheless, based on your insightful opinions in the past, I had fully expected another take on the issue and had turned to the opinion page partly to confirm that I was right.

Apparently I was wrong.

Instead of reading that DPP presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) strategy has given the appearance that he is "grasping at straws" over a non-issue -- as I had expected based on your past fair and critical coverage -- I read about Ma's half-truth.

Instead of reading that possession of a green card does not equate to lack of loyalty to one's country (which Ma also said), I read about Ma's supposed lack of integrity over the matter.

And instead of reading that Hsieh would have been better off championing Indiana's recent legislative support for democratic Taiwan (admittedly my home state), I read about Ma's so-called image manipulation of the press.

Yes, considering my well-placed confidence in the Taipei Times' editorials, I must have been wrong.

Or was I? I have chosen to reside in a foreign country for a number of years and not out of necessity. Does that indicate a lack of respect for my home country? In a word, no. It does say something good about the people of Taiwan, but not about my respect for the US.

Similarly, possession of a green card implies that -- at least at the time of application -- there was probably something good about the US. Most people love their home country even if they are open to opportunities elsewhere and to suggest otherwise without clear evidence is unjustified and ill-conceived.

How surprising is it really that a foreign student in the US would apply for a green card? I fail to feel the shock. Nearly every week I see a net-based ad offering me green card services. Apparently, a lot of people outside the US have at least some interest. Didn't many Taiwanese students studying in the US at the same time as Ma spend at least a few moments considering whether they should spend the time and money to apply?

In the US presidential election, a few people will try to make an issue out of Senator Barack Obama's admitted brief use of an illegal substance, but will most Americans really care? Or will they be more focused on the hostility in Iraq, health care (or the lack thereof) and the economy? Most likely the latter. So it is surprising to me that so much focus is being spent on Ma's reasonable action to exercise his legal right to apply for a green card while living abroad. Horror of horrors! Of course, if it turns out that he failed to disclose this when legally or morally obliged to do so, then that's perhaps another matter -- but far from earth-shaking.

Your editorial does get it right when you insist that politicians should be held to a high standard of integrity. And telling us that Ma claimed to be "scrupulous in separating public funds from private interests" is certainly of interest, considering how easy it is for so many politicians (no "defense" intended) to fail to "avoid giving even an appearance of evil" when it comes to special allowance funds. But that's another horse to beat on a different day -- one that you have beat quite well in the past, and rightfully so.

Nevertheless, I remain open to any new developments that might raise this matter to the level of an actual issue, for I -- like you -- am hopeful that Taiwan will elect a leader that truly cares about integrity and values liberty at least as much as the economy, if not more so. Of course, there's no telling what skeletons may lie in the candidates' closets, but one thing's for sure: If they're there -- and sometimes even if they're not -- motivated individuals will swing the doors wide open to reveal them, for better or worse.

But, for now at least, I'm inclined to believe that former or current possession of a green card is not such an objectionable thing. It is perhaps even admirable. And I hope that the DPP and this newspaper can get back to focusing on better things at this crucial juncture.

Jim Goodpaster
Taipei