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CCP: unfit to govern?

The earthquake in China has devastated various regions of the country, placing the regime in great difficulty. At least six large schools were destroyed. In one school, over one thousand children died. The tragedy of the students has revealed the pathological corruption in the construction sector in China which has produced the dangerous low-quality structures which were destroyed by the earthquake. The people’s rage was increased by the fact that government buildings, hotels and private schools were left unharmed by the earthquake.

Chen Baosheng, an official of the Ministry of Construction, and part of an investigative team that examined the ruins of the school in Juyuan, told the Southern Weekend, China’s largest weekly, "There were certainly problems with site selection, the building's structure and structural features, the construction and materials."

In Mianzhu, one of cities seriously damaged by the earthquake, the parents of the children who died under the ruins of their school buildings angrily protested, demanding that investigations of school constructions be carried out and accusing the government of grave wrong doing. The school buildings had not been constructed in accordance to Chinese law or to antiseismic recommendations. This has now become a grave difficulty for a regime guilty of ignoring the fundamental norms of construction as well as its own laws, placing its citizens at fatal risk.

Some parents of the young victims declared that local officials were well aware of the school’s precarious constructions, but had done nothing about it. A photo of Jiang Guohua, communist party head of Mianzhu, on his knees begging the angry grieving parents of dead children to halt their protest, saying "Please trust that the Mianzhu party committee can solve this problem," were seen all over the world. A dramatic image of the government’s vacillating hold on its authority.

Some parents (many had lost their only child, due to the one-child policy) reported that they had promised compensation (circa 4,500 dollars per child) – all they had to do was stop protesting. "We don't want their money; we just want this corruption to end," one man declared. Many were extremely offended by the fact that neither school officials nor government officials had offered their condolences to the grieving parents.

Further, the government had been warned about the earthquake. On his blog, Chinese scientist Li Shihui revealed that Chinese seismologist Geng Qingguo had accurately predicted the earthquake, including time, place and magnitude. He had suggested to authorities that they begin preparations to be as ready as possible for the end of April, but he was ignored. When this news got out on the internet, it caused another “earthquake.” Now, comments on Shihui’s blog are demanding the resignation of the head of the China Seismology Bureau. The Chinese government is doing everything in its power to suppress this scandal. It is now impossible to interview any of the seismologists.
In 1972 Geng Qingguo, veteran seismologist, in collaboration with Li Shihui had developed a method for the prediction of major earthquakes based on the frequency of periods of drought. Using this method he had predicted the 1975 earthquake of Haicheng City as well as the 1976 Tangshan earthquake which caused the deaths of at least 240,000 people. On both occasions, his warnings were ignored by the government. (In 1980 he published his theories in his book “Relationship Between Drought and Earthquake in China.”) On April 26 and 27, he came out of retirement to present his dire predictions to a meeting of specialists, predicting that an earthquake of over 7 on the Richter scale would take place within 10 days of May 8 along the boundaries of Sichuan, Gansu and Qinghai provinces. He even predicted that the most likely date would be within 10 days of May 8. He sent a copy of his findings to the State Earthquake Bureau in Beijing on April 30.

Veteran journalist, Ching Cheong, chief China correspondent for The Straits Times of Singapore, states, “We do not know why the authorities chose not to act. Some attributed it to the Olympics frenzy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/28/world/asia/28quake.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&sq=Jiang%20Guohua&st=nyt&scp=1
http://en.epochtimes.com/news/8-5-14/70663.html
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/china/article4039973.ece
http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSPEK24048020080530
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/27/asia/quake.php
http://en.tibetculture.net/index/lnews/200804/t20080410_375858.htm

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