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Ex-official ties Chinese leaders to AIDS
scandal
GROSS NEGLIGENCE:A former health official said China’s
vice-premier and its propaganda chief must take responsibility for sickening
almost 100,000
AFP, BEIJING
A retired senior Chinese health official yesterday called for two of the
country’s most powerful leaders to take responsibility for a huge 1990s
blood-selling AIDS scandal.
Chen Bingzhong (陳秉中), 78, who has advanced liver cancer, wrote an open letter to
Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) pointing out that those guilty of gross
negligence in the scandal in Henan Province have still not been punished.
In the letter, published on the Web site of activist group Aizhixing, the former
head of the government’s Institute of Health Education pinpoints “two senior
officials” who have since entered China’s top nine-member leadership.
Speaking by telephone yesterday, World AIDS Day, Chen pointed the finger at Li
Keqiang (李克強) — currently China’s vice-premier and widely touted to succeed
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) — who was head of Henan from 2002 to 2004.
He also named Li Changchun (李長春), the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) propaganda
chief, who served in the same position from 1992 to 1998.
Both are now part of the party’s politburo standing committee, the nation’s
highest and most powerful decision-making body.
“They have to take responsibility. They must apologize,” Chen said.
In the 1990s, entire villages in Henan were devastated by HIV/AIDS.
Many people were infected after repeatedly selling their blood to collection
stations that pooled it into a tub and then injected it back into them after
taking the plasma.
The blood-selling scandal was initially covered up by local officials, some of
whom were actively involved. However, it eventually came to light after fierce
campaigning by activists — including Aizhixing founder Wan Yanhai (萬延海).
The government eventually revealed in 2001 that 30,000 to 50,000 people may have
been infected with HIV through the scheme. Chen, though, said the number was
closer to 100,000, adding at least 10,000 had died.
He raised the example of an HIV scandal in France in the 1980s that saw
thousands transfused with blood contaminated by the virus that causes AIDS.
The incident caused huge concern and led to the prosecution of several officials
including the then-health minister.
“In comparison, Henan’s blood scandal was much more serious than France’s,” Chen
wrote in the letter. “But not only were no investigations launched against those
responsible for the incident, particularly the two officials who now occupy
China’s highest decision-making levels, but they were even entrusted with big
responsibilities.”
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