Word: premiers
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...That's why President Hu Jintao called for an "all-out" response, and why Premier Wen Jiabao was on an airplane to the earthquake zone even before the aftershocks subsided. On the night of May 12, millions of Chinese watching state-owned television stations were repeatedly shown video footage of Wen rallying rescue forces, issuing orders in a driving rain, poring over maps and venturing into the ruins to assure victims still trapped that they should "hold on a little longer" as help was on the way. By the second day of the crisis, an exhausted Wen sometimes appeared...
This is all very bad news for Israel, which was drawn into a war with Hizballah in 2006 that cost 1,600 lives mainly on the Lebanese side. "Lebanon," says Israeli Vice Premier Haim Ramon, "is controlled by this terrorist organization, and its government has become irrelevant." Israelis point out that behind Nasrallah and his fighters lurks a possibly greater threat: Iran. Hizballah's dominance in Beirut allows Tehran to project its power into the Mediterranean Sea, something the U.S. and its European allies must now factor into their calculations. (The Pentagon denied reports that the U.S.S. Cole, heading...
President Hu Jintao called for an "all-out" response, and the government rallied some 100,000 relief workers, including military, police and medical teams. Premier Wen Jiabao flew to Sichuan, and state-owned television showed him rallying rescue forces, even venturing into the ruins to urge victims still trapped in the rubble to "hold on a little longer." It's hard to know how much the tragedy will change China, but this much is certain: with the media allowed unprecedented freedom to report the humanitarian effort, the Chinese will be able to judge their leaders' performance as never before...
...that episode, which came during the first days in office of Premier Wen and President Hu Jintao, was a turning point. "The government learned the experience and the lesson from SARS," says Shen Kui, a professor at Peking University's law school, implementing new laws and regulations that made the process of crisis management more open and transparent. Even so, Shen says, "in a country where the people are used to hearing lies and cover-ups from its government, there is a certain amount of time required for people to get used to the more open approach. The first reaction...
...anything to go by, Beijing's decision to allow unusually open coverage of the earthquake has been vindicated. Comments on bulletin boards and blogs were overwhelmingly in favor of the government and approving of its reaction to the disaster. "I almost cried when I saw the pictures of Premier Wen at the front," a typical post ran. "I felt very warm when I read that Premier Wen Jiabao immediately set off to the stricken," another poster wrote. "I feel like our leaders are always with us when there is any trouble...