Why did Wen thank the people

Liang Jing, Why did Wen thank the people?*

On February 2, Wen Jiabao said in an interview, "What moved me most of all about the snow disaster was the people. I often hear people spontaneously express their thanks to the Government, but I think that it is the people who are truly deserving of gratitude."

Premier Wen was possibly telling the truth, but he dare not tell the people the real reason for thanking them, because if they knew the whole truth of the disaster, they would be unlikely to offer the government any thanks at all, and would by rights damn it instead.

How much of this long interruption of China's north-south traffic artery was a natural disaster, how much man-made? Confronting this question is what Wen Jiabao fears most of all, and the Chinese media never dared pose it to him.

While it can be said that there were irresistible human meteorological factors behind the traffic congestion on the north-south highways, this was not the case with the interruptions to the north-south railway arteries. The reason for the latter disruptions was not that the tracks weres impassible, but that there was no electric power; and the power cuts were mainly due to human factors. In order to cover up this point, the Government is using some experts in the media to tell the public that extreme weather conditions weren't taken into account in designing the power supply system, and facing a once-in-50-years snowstorm, many cables broke.

Another explanation is circulating privately in Beijing however, namely that another important cause of the large-scale disruption of supply was the game between the departments responsible for coal and electricity. A story reported last week by 21st Century Economic Herald revealed this background.[1] Entitled "Winter Coal and New Tests," it reported that during the local-level National Peoples Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Congress meetings, the coal-producing province were, for political reasons, extremely careful about accidents; when coal mine accidents occurred, the entire region often suspended production to rectify it. Coal production was thus substantially reduced. On the other hand, the coal-producing provinces, giving priority to ensuring their interests, restricted the inter-provincial circulation of coal; coupled with the fact that now is a crucial period for coal mines to sign contracts with power plants, they deliberately suppressed coal production to increase their bargaining chips.

It was due precisely to this game of interests, totally unrelated to the snowstorms, that a serious coal shortage took place in winter, when China's energy needs are greatest. In Hubei Province, site of the North-South transport hub, an electricity company producing 3.8 million kilowatts was operating at only 1.6 million kilowatts because of lack of coal. Even so, the company's entire coal reserves could barely manage to hold up for four days. No wonder that at the time of Wen Jiabao's high-profile visit to the disaster areas, Hu Jintao went to the coal-producing provinces to personally supervise coal output and transportation.

The International Herald Tribune published a bulletin from China by Howard W. French on February 1.[2] He pointed out that the 2008 snowstorms were a disaster for the government's public image, exposure the gross inadequacies of China's public crisis management capability. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had to rely on "looking wise and earnest" and run back and forth between crises to remedy them. The author was apparently unaware that this disaster was not merely because of inadequacies of public crisis management capabilities—it was a bureaucratic man-made calamity.

Naturally, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao wanted to thank the people. As the leaders of the Communist Party have repeatedly said, Chinese people are the best in the world. Whether natural or man-made disasters, when suffering suddenly comes upon them , they always accept it as misfortune, silently and endure it. They expect little of the Government, and are just grateful to the almighty that it does not find any more trouble for them. How could Wen Jiabao, who knew the facts about the disaster, not thank the Chinese people's resigned attitude from his heart?

Of course, Wen Jiabao's high-profile message of gratitude to the people also sent some political messages through the media. One was to warn officials that "water can carry boats but can also capsize them," and it was not impossible for this ship to capsize; another message was transmitted to the world, because Wen Jiabao knows that the world is concerned about China. The slogan of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games is "One World, One Dream," and Wen wants to tell the world that the Chinese people are to be respected as a civilized nation .

However, as Howard W. French observed, Wen's performance was unsuccessful, because he could not cover up the enormous gap between the rulers and the ruled in China.