By Chen Jingsong

April 22, 2003

(Clearwisdom.net)

The 93rd Guangzhou Fair opened in Guangzhou on April 15^th and will close on April 30^th. SARS cast a shadow over the fair like a dark cloud. However, the Chinese media, controlled by authorities, put a positive spin on the reports. They spread a large amount of good news about the fair and tried hard to create a secure and prosperous scene.

Before the opening, the fair's spokesman claimed that 48 commercial groups and 9,128 companies in total would attend this fair, the largest number of attendees on record. The spokesman also claimed that applications were still coming in from foreign companies the day before the fair. On opening day, the local media reported "the Guangzhou Fair is booming; domestic and foreign businessman are arriving in an endless stream."

However, during the first two days the fair only reached an export volume of USD 334 million, much lower than previous fairs. It was even lower than the 90^th Guangzhou Fair, held right after the events of "9/11", which reached 13.2 billion in the first two days.

As the fair continues, the situation has gotten worse. Lacking anything to report, the local media, especially the Guangzhou media, began to gloss over coverage of the fair.

In fact, contrary to official media reports, the fair has lost business because of the SARS epidemic. Few people attended the exhibition complex. There were even some booths that nobody visited, where the attendants took a nap. The hotels nearby were also under-booked. The situation was unprecedented. Compared with the last fair, the number of clients has been down by 90%.

In order to save face, the authorities ordered all executives of state-run companies to bring their groups to attend the Guangzhou Fair. The Guangzhou authorities also requested local executives to attend the fair to support it. As a result, people at the fair served their own people, who didn't come to do business at all. These measures used by the Chinese authorities not only infringed upon the rights of domestic companies but also openly discriminated against fellow Chinese. Disregarding the obvious danger of exposure to SARS, they put the lives of these businessmen at risk. As we all know, Guangzhou is the place where SARS originated and is heavily affected by it.

As a result of the Chinese officials' habitual lies, SARS not only spread rapidly across China but also brought the disaster to the rest of the world. Regarding the extent of harm to the economy as well as international tourism and the airlines, the impact has been in some ways worse than the events of "9/11." The international organizations and media, including the World Health Organization, have firmly criticized and condemned the Chinese Government's deliberate efforts to conceal information. As a result of tremendous international pressure, the Minister of Health Zhang Wenkang and the Mayor of Beijing Meng Xuenong were removed from their positions.

However, the machine that creates the lies and conceals the truth was not touched at all. This tells us how necessary and urgent it is to rule the country by law instead of one person's will.

In the past, when the international society criticized the bad practices of the Chinese Government, the Chinese Government would defend itself and respond by claiming, "Don't interfere with another country's domestic affairs." Now, since the "domestically produced" SARS resulted in an international panic, people can't help asking: "Is the Chinese system a domestic problem or a problem facing the whole world?"

Posting date: 5/5/2003
Original article date: 5/5/2003
Category: Latest News from China
Translated on 4/26/2003
Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2003/4/23/48878.html

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