The Christian Science Monitor looks at how the Chinese government’s response to the Sichuan earthquake helped improve the country’s image around the world after a challenging year, and asks whether the positive steps taken by authorities will last:
Faced with these immediate dangers, as well as the long-term issue of resettlement and reconstruction for five million homeless, Beijing is currently under less pressure for its human rights record and its friendship with Sudan from international critics, who appear to have declared a cease-fire since the quake.
At the heart of the change in attitudes, however, were the human stories that reporters were free to tell about the tribulations of the earthquake victims. “This kind of openness was indispensable if the government wanted people to mobilize,” says Shi Yinhong, professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing. “It represents great progress.”
Whether the new press policy will last long, however, Prof. Shi is less sure. “This approach has lots of benefits, but to what degree these lessons will be applied to future situations will depend on the concrete circumstances,” he says.
