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Home , Censorship in China, Great Firewall, Meng Xuenong

SARS: UNMASKING IN

BY ERPING ZHANG

Effective civil society movements depend on dent. Even those who contracted the illness might never have the free flow of information. Erping Zhang known that they had fallen victim to a raging epidemic. Knowing what we now do of SARS, this seems impossible describes how public participation in control- – until we consider China’s handling of another major health ling the spread of the SARS epidemic was crisis,AIDS. How many years was it before admitted hampered by the Chinese government’s to an AIDS problem, and how many mainlanders even now understand the real extent of the threat? Equally important in policy of censorship and . The respect of disease prevention, how many villagers in central question now is, were any lessons learned?1 China have been given enough information about the risks of selling blood? Have adequate steps been taken to sterilize medical equipment to prevent future contamination? It was Introduction only last year, under pressure from the foreign press and the Censorship in is such a long-standing issue UN, that the leadership in Beijing raised its estimate of peo- that the international community has come to take it for ple infected with HIV from 30,000 cases to up to 1 million. granted. Many long-time China-watchers once hoped that Even at that, Agence France-Presse reported, “According to UN China’s present economic reform, sustained by foreign estimates, up to 1.5 million people in China had HIV by investment, might gradually bring transparency and democ- December 2001, and the number could reach 10 million by racy to China. But in reality censorship and deception 2010.”3 Whether or not Beijing’s revised estimate is accurate continue unabated as the regime has engaged the new era of remains to be seen, just as we cannot know with any great information technology by building the world’s most certainty, even now, the actual extent of the SARS epidemic. sophisticated system and at the same time The Chinese regime’s usual response to a health scare is to has further tightened its vice-like grip on traditional media cover it up and hope it will go away by itself.The Chinese outlets.The worldwide press freedom index published by the Communist Party’s survival depends on regulating public Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders sentiment and sustaining a good public image through an ranks China second from the last among 139 countries, iron grip on information and a policy of effective censor- trailed only by North Korea.2 ship.There is little to suggest that SARS has brought about While China’s draconian efforts have proven successful any change to this policy. throughout the Communist Party’s 50-year rule, their implica- tions to the rest of the world were brought home by the The Story of SARS sudden and unforeseen advent of Severe Acute Respiratory On April 20, 2003, the Beijing authorities officially acknowl- Syndrome (SARS). China’s five-month cover-up of this deadly edged that SARS existed as a serious problem within China, epidemic, immortalized in cover stories by prominent foreign more than one month after the World Health Organization publications such as Time and , sent shockwaves issued a global travel alert on this epidemic.Time reported through the international financial world and caused panic in that this virus was first uncovered on November 16, 2002, in dozens of infected territories in Asia and North America. Guangdong province, where by early February 2003 at least A common point of conjecture has been whether the five persons had died and more than 300 had become infect- outside world would ever have learned about SARS if the ed.4 With the government providing no information on the virus had remained within China’s borders rather than epidemic for months, the frightened people of Guangdong migrating to places such as Singapore and Canada. Indeed, battled the “strange plague” on their own through traditional would even the Chinese public have heard about it? It is quite healing methods such as white vinegar, Banlangen (a herbal possible that SARS would have remained the subject of root), and cold tea.5 The epidemic coincided with China’s rumor, or maybe of the odd article by a foreign correspon- most important holiday,the Spring Festival, during which

h oto fiilscey h uea f3-erodTeYe-a,adoctorkilledwhiletreatingSARSpatientsinHongKong. Photo:. The costofofficialsecrecy:thefuneral35-year-oldTseYuen-man, puses, down anduniversity studentswere confined totheircam- were schools shut ple were quarantinedinBeijingalone.All transpor migrant workers andtheaffluentfledcityby any of form andbustling Beijingsuddenly becameaghosttown as 339, cial n ister andBeijing’s theoffi- mayor were asscapegoats, sacked conf ashehadbeenspottedhostingofficial SARSpress al-Sahaf, Iraq’s Saeed infamously mendaciousInformation Minister, One jok that hadfilled thevacuum ofaccurate official information. andeven rumors jokes (SMS)todisseminate facts, Services Messaging andmobilephoneShort people usingtheInternet Bythenpolicehadbegunarresting ousness ofthesituation. eventually ledtheChinesegovernment toadmittheseri- that at thePeople’s 301, Liberation Army HospitalNo. the f itwas only revelations to 2003, 12, onMarch its globalalert Thailand, SARSthroughout HongKong andtoSingapore, carried turn the diseasewiththem. taking Guangdong for family reunions throughout China, hundreds ofthousandsmigrantworkers leftindustrialized after tra dissemination totheinternational ofthedisease contribute managed tosingle-handedly LiuJianlun, Guangzhou, nArl2,20,thesameday that China’s healthmin- 2003, On 20, April Even afterthe World HealthOrganization (WHO)issued er or umber ofinf ences inBeijing. eign pr which werewhich guardedby police. armed v e ad t a ln oHn ogadifcigohr,whoin eling toHongKong andinfecting others, V albe onatrad,more than20,000 peo- Soonafterwards, vailable. ietnam, vised theU ess on 8by Jiang April aretired doc- Yanyong, ected peoplejumpedtenfold from 37to T aiw A 64-y S government for tohaltitssearch .S. an, Canada andtheU.S. ear -old doctorfrom its co epidemic through allavailable medicalandpoliticalmeans, dea and hasreported5,327 casesand348of , excludingHongKong, China, were confirmedtohave died. been inf 8,437personshad 2003, cases ofSARSstates that by July 10, the da don’t know where they got thedisease…Theproblem with we and that situationis wethe have awholeloadofpeople, caught thehighl information doesnotshow how halfofthecountry’s patients “China’s flaws SARS data hasserious complaining, becausethe quoted report WHO’s spokeswoman MangaiBalasegaramas en ar from patients were hastily loadedintoambulances anddriv- coughing “31 the China-Japan Hospitalinmid-April, Friendship thatreported justbefore a at WHO inspectionteamarrived and thesta how thoroughly they had beenbetrayed by theirleadership to comecalling.”WHO ifits experts talking tothepublic about treating thediseaseandnotalking no notalkingtothemediaabout SARS, Central Publicity: called the Provincial People’s Hospitalin relayed what he , director oftheShanxi ZhangHanwei, “Dr. reported, further While thegovernment attempted tocopewiththisnew The WHO’s cumulative number probable ofreported ths thusf The SARS crisis brought hometomanyThe SARScrisis Chinesepeople ound untilthein v ta istha er -up anddeceptionappear tohave continued. ected withthevir , ‘thr ecnrle ei,arevelation that may havete-controlled media, shivering staffmemberswhohadcaughtSARS ar. t there are holesinit.” ee nos’ 9 y conta disseminated by China’s of Ministry v estiga gious r swrdie while812persons us worldwide, tors left. espiratory illness…Rightnow 8 7 ” In mid-May an 6 This same T ime AP T ime ar ticle

SEEDS OF CHANGE 45 CHINA RIGHTS FORUM NO.3, 2003

never occurred without the disease’s direct affect on the watchdog, blocking information through censorship, and its international community and subsequent international pres- news generator, responsible for dissemination of misinfor- sure that forced the Chinese government to move from mation. Every province in China, every city and every work- complete denial to finally admitting to the presence of SARS place has a division to ensure that the press and within a period of a few months. other information outlets remain consistent with the mes- sage or policy dictated by Beijing. Foreign investors in China Manipulation of Information as a Source of Power are also instructed to allow the government to set up CCP Since its earliest days, the has branch committees in their joint venture corporations so made use of the media’s ability to alter public perceptions that Chinese employees will not be contaminated by foreign of reality.As far back as the 1920s, when the CCP was still in “unhealthy elements.” its infancy,it had already set up a Department of Propaganda The media itself has even become an effective weapon for modeled after Stalin’s system. In 1957, the CCP began its repression in China, in with Mao’s contention that peri- first public of outspoken intellectuals in an effort to odic “class struggles” were needed to keep society disci- control what was being thought and discussed among the plined and united around the Party dictatorship.A prime masses. Millions were labeled as “Rightists” and were sent example is the media campaign against the traditional medi- to jail, so-called “re-education through labor” camps and tation practice of Falungong.The Chinese government had mental institutions for expressing their opinions; thus began the CCP’s successful attempts to muzzle the people. The in 1958 entailed the Party’s most inflated propaganda campaign as the CCP promoted a mass steel production campaign and the setting up of people’s communes nationwide.The propaganda inspired construc- tion of backyard furnaces in a vain effort to boost China’s steel production to surpass England’s, while news media reproduced reports from communes exaggerating their pro- duction output to levels unattainable by even the most advanced technology. The (1967-76) led by perfected the art of using propaganda to mobilize the popu- lace and eliminate political rivals such as Liu Shaoqi and Lin Biao, while the Cultural Revolution attempted to wipe out China’s 5,000-year civilization, culture and values to make room for the foreign transplant of Communist ideology. Before the death of Mao in 1976, listening to foreign radio stations was considered a capital crime of treason. On the pretext that isolation and “self-reliance” were in the best interest of China and its people, Mao succeeded in fending off information and influence from overseas, particularly from the “revisionist ” and the “imperialist United States.” Hogging the truth: animals seem to be the source of SARS, but disinformation helped it spread. Photo: Reuters. In the early 1980’s, initiated economic reforms in a move to save the collapsing economy.But when endorsed Falungong’s health benefits both at home and Deng noticed a degree of freedom of expression accompany- abroad from May 13, 1992 to July 20, 1999, and this writer ing the package, some dissidents were arrested and there was personally attend two large Falungong experience-sharing a clampdown on free speech. Nonetheless, as the economy seminars sponsored by the Chinese Consulate General in started to grow free expression among the populace also New York City during that time. But when the size of the continued to find informal outlets throughout the 1980s. Falungong’s following (estimated at 70-100 million people) All of that was to come to an abrupt end on June 4, 1989, became intimidating, Jiang ordered his propaganda machine when soldiers were ordered to fire on demonstrators at to launch a smear campaign against both the founder and the Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. It is a testament to the power of practice of Falungong. China’s propaganda machine that despite the bloodshed peo- For the past four years, the Chinese people have seen and ple throughout the world witnessed on television, to this read negative propaganda such as suicides and murders very day many Chinese people continue to believe that no blamed on the Falungong, while the incarceration of more students were killed, and that soldiers were the only victims than 100,000 Falungong practitioners in jails, labor camps of this so-called “counter-revolutionary rebellion.” and mental institutions remains an unknown story. The SARS cover-up provided a classic illustration of how And Falungong is hardly the only victim. More recently, China’s Propaganda Ministry serves as both the CCP’s news China’s Civil Affairs Ministry launched a crackdown against quoted assa an official from China’s ofInformation Industry Ministry only partially.The U.K.-based but inChina, Googlewas back week aftertheinitialban, e unavailable’… produces ablank and on A click ‘BBC News’ consistently replied that theinformation ‘is currently Shield, Inter decree from Beijinginearly September 2002that bannedthe attention hadcometointernational followingthe Internet a ma Inter pr are requiredservices software toinstallfiltering toblock shut down for ofChina’s reasons.”All “security Internet cafesthousands ofInternet inBeijingandallover Chinawere Zemin amongthetoptenenemiesofworld press as sequent efforts tocontrol thispenledtheCPJtolistJiang Repor to ted sizeable financial andhumanresources.According andallot- ofInformation Industry andtheMinistry Security the Internet. social problems andfor posting reform-minded essays on of upto10years terms for discussingthegrowingto prison were sentenced Xu JinHaike andZhang Honghai, Wei, Zili, four more dissidents,Yang young Internet 2003, On May 29, lenge theirauthority.” somethingwillhappen tochal- Ifthey losecontrol ofit, pen. isnow but theInternet the Communist Party hasthegun, thegunandpen...The have power you needtwo things: “MaoZedongsaidthat to Protect Journalists (CPJ)in2001, Sciences inBeijingtoldtheNew York-based Committeeto GuoLiangoftheChinese Academy ofSocial Internet. The latest battleground for information control isthe Cyber Censorship Hall Music Association andtheShakespeare Association. theDancing astheChinaFisherman’s such Association, arts, culturalstudiesandthe were formedfor recreational hobbies, Many ofthoseregistered groups andexpression. conscience, 63 organizations inaneffort tocurbfreedom ofassociation, Inter the Inter inChinaforpeople are expressing inprison theirviews on Reporters Without Bordersestimates that more the Internet. issued mor government hasalso users.The dissidentInternet arrest identifyand police force ofsome30,000personstospot, chat-room underthepseudonymchat-room “Stainless SteelMouse.” secur Congress inNovember onaccusations of state “endangering the eve oftheopeningCommunist Party’s 16th v en theweather inEnglandandScotlandisbanned.” ohibited sitesandmonitorsome60millionChinese gic nameofChinesepr Potential cyberdissentiscontrolled through “Golden ejn yial eidalkoldeo hsbn with Beijing typically denied allknowledge ofthisban, Ev Among thevictimsofgovernment’s war onthe net searc net users. net isLiuDi, ity” en bef ters ” a secr net thaninan thr W e than60la or ying, “The Ministry hasreceived “TheMinistry noinformation ying, ithout Borders, 12 ough messages shehadpostedinanInternet nie ogecmadAtVsacm One h enginesGoogle.com and AltaVista.com. hn the Chinesegovernment’s war against e then, et pr a 22-y ogram pr 10 y other country intheworld.y othercountry ws andsetsofr The ChineseCommunist Party’s sub- ear esident JiangZeminwas entered, -old studentwhow oposed by ofPublic theMinistry Golden Shieldemploys acyber Guardian oe:“…whenthe noted: egulations relating to as ar rested on 13 1 1 information about beinglifted.” ablock andwe have received no about Googlebeingblocked, including news as sitessuch from abroad – andother “unhealthy elements” grounds ofprotecting Chinesepeoplefrom exposure to than 500,000foreign Web sitesremain blocked onthe souther programmingmediaoutletsin entertainment tocertain forreturn beingallowed topresentandother cartoons ta the ChineseEmbassyandconsulates or mightbewatching think about theChinese government for fear that agents from seas Chinesedonotdar Many over- awholecultureexports offear andrepression. subliminally tion for many Chinese-speaking Americans, This kindofpr the World by Health Organization. released numbers the with remains suspiciously which low compared SARS death toll, Chinese a For example, war against Iraq. astheU.S. issues such and propagate theCommunist Party lineonSARSandother TV sta radiostations and America’s Chineselanguage newspapers, inlightofthefactAmericans that alarge share ofNorth access toits audience. American whileChina’ssidered “sensitive,” CCTVhaduncensored news orotherprogramming insideChinathat mightbecon- a thr HeraldMorning interrupted withnoexplanation. interrupted even at that topicssensitive tothegovernment are often and residences andoffices for foreigners, tohotels, restricted Network andotheroverseas are routinely satellite channels RadioFree CableAsia andtheBBC.America’s News America, frequencies offoreign as mediasourcessuch Voice of jamthe theChineseauthorities longer atreasonous offense, listeningtoashort-wave radioisno blocked.Although of information totheChinesepublic are consistently Efforts by foreign governments alternative sources tobring Over Central Chinese content from China’s television state-run system, compan media censorship tothe InOctober2001amajorU.S. West. companies seemmoreChinese-style inclinedtoimport dom toChina, classes. washing” Dr Furthermore, hasgoneonahungerstrike. consular sources, accordingtoShanghai-basedU.S. more thansixmonthsand, people ofChina. outside information onthepersecutionofFalungong tothe “pr pping theirphones. . This agreement toChinese importance isofparticular iscurrently serving CharlesLi, Dr. An citizen, American As for the private sector, rather than bringing greater rather free- thanbringing As for theprivate sector, prn”tobreak through atelevision signaltobroadcast eparing” Li hasr ee-y seas Reach tions ar T n China. y TV netw ele ,AOL ,AOL signedanagreementTimeWarner, tocarry ear sentenceinChinaonc epor vision (CCTV), . e f ogramming in theirscramb el enbae,force fed and given “brain- tedly beenbeaten, inanced by theChineseCommunist Party A ork inNew York recently repeated Beijing’s He hasbeenheldinaChinesepr OL Time Warner promised nottobroadcast e speaktor , an important sourceofinforma- animportant , on ca h ahntn PostThe Washington le f b 1 or profits some Western le intheUnitedStates in 5 eporters orsayeporters what they har ges ofallegedl 14 Meanwhile more and ison f The Sydney y or

AIDS AND ARTICLE 23 47 CHINA RIGHTS FORUM NO.3, 2003

Other elements in the foreign private sector also seem have become overnight outcasts. Having fallen into despair, more inclined to bow to censorship than to advocate free some residents of Beiyuan Gardens sent a letter to Wang speech in China. The Los Angeles Times reported last year that Qishan, Beijing’s new mayor… Complex residents some 300 Western businesses and other organizations had are still waiting for Mayor Wang’s response.”18 signed what was described as a “Public Pledge on Self- Does this sound like the reaction of a government and a Discipline for China’s Internet Industry,” otherwise known as media committed to the new “openness” promised by Gao a self-censorship agreement.16 Qiang, the Vice Health Minister, in battling against SARS? In Moreover, it is no secret now that China’s sophisticated , residents of the Amoy Gardens were quickly Internet firewall is built with the assistance and know-how evacuated, quarantined and given food, shelter and medical of foreign corporations. Some companies, however, such as care. In contrast, it appears the residents of Beijing’s Beiyuan Dynamic Internet Technology,Inc. and Ultrareach Internet Gardens were shut out by the security apparatus and left to Corporation, are employing cutting-edge technology to contract SARS and infect others. break through China’s firewall and deliver e-mail and Web China’s Caijing economic journal was recently ordered to content to users inside Mainland China. It appears that this cease publication because its June 20 issue disclosed informa- new technology has contributed to an upsurge in the num- tion on the SARS outbreak as well as a high-profile Shanghai ber of Chinese Web surfers who have managed to access real estate scandal. Ironically,this occurred during the same overseas Web sites over the past few months for news on week that WHO lifted the travel alert against visiting Beijing. SARS and other critical matters. The above examples cast serious doubt on the veracity of China’s SARS statistics even now.Who is holding China and China’s Media & SARS its government accountable? In the run-up to the critical 16th Party Congress last The latest target of censorship by China’s media outlets is November, China’s Propaganda Department was working the burst of mass protests in Hong Kong.When Chinese overtime, sending out a hefty memo informing editors of Premier visited Hong Kong on July 1 for the sixth which topics were considered off-limits — basically any- anniversary celebrations of Hong Kong’s reversion to thing and everything that could possibly reflect poorly on Chinese rule, the occasion became a forum for a display of the Party’s job performance, including industrial accidents public outrage against a proposed security bill commonly and food poisoning.17 With the Propaganda Department referred to as Article 23, which many Hong Kong people threatening closure to miscreants, no reporter dared truth- regard as an attempt to curb freedoms and control dissent. fully address the topic of SARS, which began to make its AFP reported that in China’s state-run press “there was no presence known soon after the Party Congress. mention of the controversial Article 23 legislation nor the It is interesting to note that Health Minister Zhang 500,000 people opposed to it who took to the streets in the Wenkang and the mayor of Beijing, Meng Xuenong, were territory’s biggest protest since more than one million peo- both dismissed from their positions for what state media ple rallied after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in called their inadequate response to the outbreak, allowing Beijing.”19 AP reported, “CNN’s broadcast into China was cut the leadership to claim that it had come clean with WHO. Monday night during an interview with a critic of a planned Neither official, however, was ever accused by the top leader- Hong Kong anti-subversion law that opponents say could ship of involvement in the cover-up or in the deception of stifle the media.”20 the Chinese people and the world. On the other hand, on June 2 AP reported that a top The Impact of SARS Chinese health official, Gao Qiang, was still denying claims An assessment of the long-term impact the SARS crisis will that Beijing tried to hide the seriousness of the SARS virus. have on transparency and media control in China is still Gao claimed that the government warned about SARS as difficult to make at this time.While the epidemic itself seems early as February and that early efforts to contain its spread under control at present, its long-term effects remain uncer- were slowed by poor information. tain, as does the future behavior of the various government Asia Times reported on June 3 that there appeared to have factions. Given the Chinese Communist Party’s track record been an outbreak of SARS at a residential complex called and its apparent willingness to resort to all and any means in Beiyuan Gardens.With more than 10,000 residents living in pursuit of self-preservation, the task of converting China close proximity to each other, the outbreak threatened to into a more transparent and open entity is comparable to ask- replicate the case of Amoy Garden – the Hong Kong housing ing a tiger to turn vegetarian.A totalitarian regime without complex where more than 300 people contracted SARS and media control would not be an effective dictatorship at all. 35 died. Asia Times reported, “Beijing media have yet to report There is, however, one thing that the SARS epidemic has on the situation at Beiyuan Gardens. Some residents have accomplished, and that is to focus more international atten- tried to bring attention to their situation via public tion on the issue of transparency in China.The way the Web sites, but, for example, their information was deleted Chinese regime attempted to cover up the situation and to within less than a minute after posting it on the popular disseminate falsehoods both domestically and internationally Internet portal Sina.com. Even their telephones are now has seriously damaged its credibility,and that is a lesson that unable to send out text messages – Beiyuan Gardens residents China sorely needed to learn. SARS has also served as a the most important factorthe mostimportant in sustaininganopencivilsociety. tion m in thefree world that transparency and freedom ofinforma- better equippedtopar implications for thecreation ofamore opensocietythat is China’son humility little could have part far-reaching betterbehavior Ultimately, anda pressure works. external lessonthat important the communitywith the international itmay have at leastprovided habits, long-term its change trade-off f they are aninevitable remains withinapermissiblescope, andaslongthenumber ofcasualties than astatistic, The stor Conclusion position.”nal andinternational Itwillbealongtimebefore Chinacanrestore itsinter- years. precious politicalcapital that ithasbuilt upover thepastfive Chinahassquandered InitsmishandlingofSARS, hierarchy. measuresimportant toreflect one’s standingintheglobal transparency andaccountability are all Reputation, matters. softpower relations, international “Incontemporary year, economic statistics every year. private sectorwhenassessingChina’s unfailingly optimistic rose-colored glassesworn by somany analysts intheU.S. Perhaps SARSwilleven removefor more the than50years. still arepressive regime that hasbeencompulsively deceitful areminder that thisis wake-up callfor foreign governments, the unelectedb recently that observed to well-known intellectualinexile, a HuPing, tions todominate theirapproach toany issue. under whic Communist system, the operating logicoftheauthoritarian but in individualofficialssibility ofcertain oftheregime, of SARSliesnotmerely inthesimple negligenceorirrespon- ithasaddressed the with which tragedyAIDS epidemic.The treated theepidemicwithsamesecrecy andindifference Communist regime inBeijingwould almostcertainly have eign countr Hadthisepidemicnotplagued for- the deceptioncontinued. andmany more would certainly havefive diedhad months, Beijing c More lives couldhave beensaveda man-madedisaster. had change benefiting China’schange 1.3billioncitizens. but more importantly for thesake ofpositive social ests, eff community’s oftheinternational importance continued outthe Italsobrings andcivilsocietyinChina. human rights of inf aswellCommunist tyranny, offreedom asoftheimportance reality ofcensorshipunderthe remind usofthechilling or The real lessonofSARSwas thereminder for those wholive may whiletheSARScrisis ormay notmakeChina Thus, As oneHongKong-based wrote reporter inlate this April SARS w ts toopenupChina, or ust betr ma y ofSARSismer hosen nottoco or maintainingsocialsta as ana tion inf h go ies andledtoaninter aue safnaetlrgt andisperhaps easured asafundamentalright, ur v ernment officials allowernment politicalconsidera- tural calamitythat cameclosetobecoming acaso hn,humanlife islittlemore eaucrats ofChina, ostering transparency, the rule oflaw, therule transparency, ostering ticipa v el er uptheissuef not only by driven economicinter- y oneexampletha te intheinter 21 na bility. inlotae the tional outrage, 22 na tional comm or mor t ser ves to e than unity. 0 AP, 20. 5. 2 HuPing, 22. 14. 4. 13. .World HealthOrganization, 9. Time, 7. 8. Christopher Bodeen, Christopher 8. 6. .AFP, 3. 8 AsiaTimes, 18. 2. Reporters Without Borders, Without Reporters 2. Thispaper isbasedonmy presentation oftheU.S.-China at ahearing 1. 19. 1 AsiaTimes, 21. 11. Reporters Without Borders, Without Reporters 11. 2 Joshua Eisenman, 12. 10. 5 AP, 15. 6 XiaoQiang&SophieBeach, 16. 7 BBC, 17. 2003). from http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/ED26Ad02.html. h urin(etme 4 2002). (September14, http://www.aegis.com/news/afp/2003/AF030705.html . available from 2003), John Gittings, 2003). china.Rod4_DyA.html. available from http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bb/Asars-2003), cle.html?&id=98794. available from http://origin.sarsinfo.cn/arti 2003; February 12, Asia, Hiding thePatients “Guangzhou’s di “guaibing”wenyi] ‘Strange Disease’Plague”[Guangzhou Tale of Two Countries fr SARS http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/2258389.stm. months Times (September11, ileto h eurmn o ereo atro rs uy9 2003. July 9, fillment oftherequirement for Degree ofMaster Arts, ofLawto thefacultySchool ful- oftheFletcher andDiplomacyinpartial Economy,” andanalysis withadditionalresearch for athesispresented Implications for MediaControl andthe subject of “SARS inChina: 2003onthe ReviewEconomic andSecurity CommissiononJune5, http://209.157.64.200/f Journalists (January 2001). http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=5093. http://www.who.int/csr/sars/country/2003_07_10/en/. AFP AFP, “ A. om http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=4116. Lin Neumann, , CNN Chinabroadcastcensored CNN Chinabroadcastcensored Hundreds ofPolice Storm ‘AIDS 13Farmers China,Arrested Village’in (Jul Goo China food poisoningkills40 Mrh7 03,available from 2003), 7, (March , Chinese newspapersf ibid gle m 0 03;available from 2003); y 10, SARS:the RealStory SARS:the . SARS coulddoomChina’s leadership New SARSdisasterloomsinBeijing ystery deepens Goo Tm 3(pi 8 2003). 28, 23(April ,Time Tm 4(a ,2003). 54(May 5, ,Time gle isback inChinabut don’t tryaskingany difficultquestions T Suppression goes online he Gr WHO:Beijing’s SARSData Seriously FlawedWHO:Beijing’s ail toreport massprotestsinHongKong 2002). ea , (September 13, t Fir , Beijing Spring (June2003). BeijingSpring , ocus/f-ne Young userLiuDisecretly detainedfor Internet four First Worldwide Press Freedom Index Cumulative Probable NumberofReported Casesof ew Jl ,20) available from 2003), (July 1, , The ofChina Spebr1,20) available from 2002), (September14, , all , br Jn 0 2003). (June30, , ief ,The Baltimore Sun(June26, ,The ws/938435/posts ing b 2002). Jn ,2003). (June 3, Arl2,20) available 2003), 26, (April y CommitteetoPr ,The Los ,The Angeles , (July 2, ” ,AP (May 10, ,AP available , Radio Free (July 3, otect ,

AIDS AND ARTICLE 23 49 CHINA RIGHTS FORUM NO.3, 2003