The worst domestic maritime tragedy since China’s Communists came to power — the still-unexplained capsizing of a Yangtze River cruise ship that claimed more than 440 lives in the dark of night June 1 — has generated worldwide media attention.
The government has certainly seized upon the opportunity to showcase its extraordinary ability to mobilize large-scale human and material resources to deal with disasters of this scale. But for Beijing, an even bigger disaster is brewing: More and more Chinese citizens seem to be doubting the very credibility of the state.
Publicity for the search-and-rescue efforts after the capsizing of the Eastern Star was momentous and impressive. President Xi Jinping held an all-hands special meeting of the Politburo’s Standing Committee, the core ruling body of the state, to focus on dealing with the tragedy.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang rushed to the site where the ship capsized in the central province of Hubei to lead rescue actions. The Chinese navy dispatched its elite diving crew to search for bodies or survivors in the swift Yangtze current. The Chinese air force dispatched military helicopters and Il-86 troop transport aircraft to ferry rescue materials. The Chinese army and the Chinese People’s Armed Police trucked in more than 3,500 security troops to the site to help and keep order, with another 2,000 armed militia also mobilized for the job. In addition, close to 200 supply ships, rescue boats and other craft were at or near the sunken ship to search for survivors and to right the sunken ship. In the face of international criticism over press control on such “mass incidents,” Mr. Li ordered that foreign reporters be permitted to approach the area to file their reports.
But even after all this, a huge section of the Chinese society remains deeply unimpressed. People are asking some tough questions, questions yet to be answered by the government.
Why, many are asking, did the ship’s top crew team leaders — the ship’s captain and the first mate — turn out to be among the few survivors? Did they know what was to happen and abandon the ship early for criminally selfish reasons, in dereliction of duty at the expense of the lives of 456 passengers and other crew members?
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While the cause for the ship’s capsizing remains puzzling, the Chinese government at the first hour already decided it was caused by a tornado. But millions of Chinese have expressed disbelief online at that explanation and are asking why no other ships or shore facilities near the sunken Eastern Star suffered any damage at all by the mysterious tornado.
Why, they ask, did the government prevent news reporting of the tragic sinking of the ship until 10 hours after it happened? Why were the victims’ relatives banned from publicly expressing their grief and frustration at the lack of transparency of the rescue operation. Why were many of them blocked by security agents from being interviewed by the press?
Why did the Propaganda Ministry ban all domestic media from sending reporters to cover such a huge story? Why did the central government order all media outlets in China to use the state-run Xinhua wire service dispatches as the only version of the story? Of those reporters who managed to reach the area, why did the Chinese government order the local authorities to forcibly turn them around and send them home?
But the toughest question for the Chinese government focused on the discrepancy between the government’s claim of “extraordinary effectiveness” of its rescue efforts and the extraordinarily meager number of people who have been rescued.
While Xinhua and China Central TV monopolized reporting that glorified the Communist Party, why is it that there were only 14 survivors out of a total of 456 passengers? Of the 14, seven of them, including the captain and the first mate, were not rescued by anyone but swam to the shore to safety on their own; five of the 14 were picked up alive downstream where they had been carried along by the swift current.
Strictly speaking, therefore, the government’s claim of “extraordinary effectiveness” of its search-and-rescue efforts, claims which have saturated all the country’s main media outlets, has resulted in saving only two people’s lives, while the lives of 97 percent of the passengers and crew could not be saved.
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The capsized Eastern Star may have been successfully righted and hoisted out of water, but to more and more Chinese, the credibility of the Chinese government has gone done the mighty Yangtze River.
• Miles Yu’s column appears Fridays. He can be reached at mmilesyu@gmail.com and @Yu_miles.
• Miles Yu can be reached at yu123@washingtontimes.com.
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