No man-made calamity after natural ones

The earthquake which hit Yushu County of western China’s Qinghai Province left many locals homeless and dead, for which the whole Chinese nation mourned deeply. In the face of the disaster, our relief efforts could better showed the strong unity of all ethnic groups and superiority of the socialist system, as a saying goes “a friend in need is a friend indeed.” The rescue work kicked off immediately after the quake. The rescuers saved many victims despite the harsh traffic condition and altitude sickness. Not only did the government organize the rescue work, but also it sent medical teams to treat the sick and wounded; meanwhile, it comforted the victims and help them settle down. Local people also helped themselves in the rescue work. Relief aid was rushed out there and money was donated from all over the country.

Even so, we can still see that some people from abroad desired to stir up trouble. What they could never accept was given that many Tibetans had lost their lives and their homes, why neither there was turmoil, nor ethnic separation, nor conflicts between the army and the civilians after the quake.

With disappointment they set about scheming to invent and spread rumors through some western media in hope for bringing about instability.

In recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently in the world, such as the Hurricane Katrina in the United States, the earthquake in Haiti, the tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the earthquake in Wenchuan, China. As the Wenchuan quake had proved the humanism and high efficiency of China’s rescue work, the Yushu quake proved that the unity of all ethnic groups could overcome any hardship. Of course, the way of rescue may well be different from one another due to different conditions and the difference should never be taken as reasons to blame people’s efforts. The criticism reminded us of a previous one: when the Central Government decided to build airports and railways in the Qinghai-Tibetan region, some people asserted that it would damage its ecological environment. In fact, the Central Government had taken many measures to conserve the ecological environment in the area of common sources of the three rivers. Well, if the airports and railways hadn’t been built up, how could we carry out the rescue work? How could the relief materials arrive so fast?

Some western media simply ignored these facts in their stories. Such practice neither respected the rescuers, nor the victims, nor the facts. Former American President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Out of every crisis, every tribulation, every disaster, mankind rises with some share of greater knowledge of higher decency, or purer purpose.” That is to say, crises and disasters can make people more united and their hearts purer.

However, we cannot see purer hearts or noble demeanor in the words of the rumor-mongers as well some western media. There is only one conclusion: those people never saw this disaster as their own, or the victims as their countrymen. They didn’t want to avert or mitigate disasters but expected the disaster to stir up human calamity, such as turmoil and ethnic conflicts in the Qinghai-Tibetan region. Only in this way can we explain their words and deeds.

Source:China Tibet Information Center