SARS a Wake-up Call for Chinese Gov't: Outlook Weekly

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, June 13, 2003

SARS a Wake-up Call for Chinese Gov't: Outlook Weekly

The SARS crisis is a warning to government that it should modernize the way it operates. In the past, when crises occurred, the government used to tackle them by trying to play down their repercussions to maintain social stability, which was their top priority. However, this tactic did not work with the SARS outbreak.

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The SARS crisis is a warning to government that it should modernize the way it operates, an Outlook Weekly article said.

In the past, when crises occurred, the government used to tackle them by trying to play down their repercussions to maintain social stability, which was their top priority.

However, this tactic did not work with the SARS outbreak.

The government should understand that one of its major tasks is to adapt itself to new developments at home and abroad, said the article.

Most parts of the economy have been deregulated since China initiated market-orientated reform two decades ago. The information revolution and the tide of globalization have also resulted in profound changes to Chinese society and culture.

"In the past, the government could deal with problems merely by issuing orders and then everything was solved. But it does not work now because the government no longer has its hands on all resources," Li Lulu, a sociologist with Renmin University of China based in Beijing, is quoted as saying in the article.

Problems that arise in the market need to be solved through market mechanisms or the law, Li said. "The changed situation calls for an adjustment in the government's administrative logic."

The article recommends a "limited government" approach, which means it should focus on policy-making and supervision and avoid direct participation in economic and social undertakings.

To some extent, the State Council's sweeping reform package in March demonstrated the government's efforts to realign its roles.

Unlike previous reshuffles which mainly focused on downsizing, the scheme repositioned many ministries and State commissions as policy-makers, watchdogs or think-tanks, rather than all-powerful regulators as they used to be.

The closed-door administration method China adopted in the past is now challenged by advances in information technology and increasing exchanges with the outside world.

As the 1997 Asian financial turmoil showed, one country's problems can turn into international crises in the globalized era.

The government needs to look at things from a wider perspective and respond more quickly to cope with emergencies, said the article.

The traditional way of information control may lead to "uncontrollable" consequences, the article warned.

At the beginning of the SARS outbreak, poor disclosure of information caused widespread rumours and dented public confidence in local authorities in epidemic-hit regions.

The situation did not improve until April 20, when the government began to address the crisis by facing the facts.

"Emergencies like SARS have thrown the communication issue into stark relief. Simple cover-ups will jeopardize the government's credibility among the public," the article quoted Peng Zongchao, a professor with Tsinghua University's Public Administration School, as saying.

"It is virtually impossible to block news in the information age," he added.

China's economic restructuring has created not only new vocations, but also a range of social interests and values which are beyond the control of an old-style centralized administration.

For example, there were no proper rules available for effectively handling the flow of a vast transient population at the beginning of the SARS crisis as the country's decades-old residence registration system is losing its base.

"The old administrative methodology of the planned economy era does not work today, and this is really a big challenge for public administrators," Zhang Jing, a political sociologist of Peking University, told Outlook Weekly.

He suggested the government should learn to strike a balance between the interests of different social strata and try to be more pluralistic.

"The government's ability to react to crises will improve greatly if it has an efficient communication system with different interest groups so that its policies can be accepted by these groups," he was quoted by the article.

The article warned that the gap between cities and rural areas has become a potential source of social turmoil.

Some 120 million rural residents make a living in cities, providing abundant and cheap labour for urban development.

These migrant workers cannot rise above the poverty line if they stay in the countryside. However, their labour and social security rights are not well protected in cities because of the segregation between rural and urban administrations.

It is reported that some 1.8 million migrant workers and other transient people fled Beijing from May 21 to 28, reflecting their fear and loss of confidence in the government's social administration.

Migrant workers in Beijing recorded the city's highest incidence of SARS infection from late last month.

The government must end rural-urban segregation in economic, social and cultural terms. Otherwise, the huge transient population could be hard to manage whenever crises break out, the article warned.

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