(Minghui.org) The recent Chinese regime-controlled media coverage of the oil pipeline blast in Qingdao, Shandong Province, is a typical example of how disasters are reported in China: information is tightly controlled; casualties are under-reported; responsibility gets shifted; and, finally, attention is directed to singing the praises of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The rupture of an oil pipeline in Qingdao on November 22, 2013 caused a spill and triggered an explosion, the worse accident in the history of Sinopec (China Petrochemical Corporation). The blast tore up roads, overturned cars, and caused a raging fire. Fifty-five people died from the explosion according to the official report released by the Chinese government. Hong Kong media, however, estimated the death toll at over a hundred.
The government stepped in to monitor social media to prevent leaks of unauthorized information and calls for investigation, and to downplay the explosion in news reports. The story was tightly scripted, and media outlets were reminded to downplay the story and to “report the story in strict accordance with Xinhua News Agency wire copy.”
State media reported the swift evacuation of 18,000 residents and the response of President Xi Jinping, who urged local officials to “spare no effort to rescue the injured” and to improve safety. “Praising the Party for its great leadership” quickly replaced the original theme of a tragic disaster.
Angry Comments Flourish on the Internet
As Internet bloggers pointed out, the CCP again “turned a tragedy into a comedy” and “turned funerals into celebrations.”
Commentator Wu Yan wrote on his Sina.com blog, which has over 5 million followers, “We don't want to hear who arrived at the explosion scene first, how the rescue work showed universal love, or how the firefighters risked their lives. We would like to hear what caused the accident, the true number of casualties, and who was responsible for it.”
Others made sarcastic comments on the angle taken by the propaganda: “This man-made tragedy turns into an opportunity to praise the CCP. Isn't this the 'magic power' of the 'special Chinese style' of disaster reporting? Aren't the special reports telling us about how 'Qingdao People Welcome Disasters' and 'The Explosion Was Awesome?'”
Zuoyeben (“Homework Book”), a famous blogger, posted his criticism on November 22: “This is not an earthquake or a flood. Qingdao is not a disaster zone. Don't mislead us that the explosion was a natural disaster! It's a man-made tragedy. How can we not cry? Don't deceive us and tell us to 'be strong.'”
Propaganda Conceals the Real Problems
As usual, the government's first response was to restrict access to information. The CCP Propaganda Department instructed the media to exercise strict control over the message and the content in their reports. The media were told not to send reporters to the scene and to use only “authoritative information issued by the departments handling the accident.”
The directive added that the media were to refrain from analyzing the cause of the explosion or to conjecture who might be responsible for the accident. Media outlets were also forbidden to print overviews or background information on previous accidents.
The disaster exposed a list of problems, including poor design of the pipeline and drainage networks, safety officials' negligence, poor maintenance of the pipeline, as well as officials' failure to evacuate residents after they detected the leak seven hours before the explosions. Anger flared after the revelation that authorities did little to warn residents, even though they had seven hours to respond.
CCP Responsible for Countless Disasters
Behind the propaganda is the Chinese Communist Party, which, in its effort to maintain power, has been the actual cause of many catastrophes in China.
According to Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party, a total of 80 million Chinese citizens have died as a result of Mao's political policies. Waves of political movements have each targeted different groups of people, including intellectuals, landowners, capitalists, the anti-revolutionaries, teachers, and religious believers. The CCP portrayed these movements that annihilated whole subsets of it own population as “one victory and another.”
Jiang Zemin, the former head of the CCP, launched a brutal persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in 1999. When Falun Gong failed to be eradicated within the three-month time frame Jiang had set, the persecution was escalated.
Thousands of innocent Falun Gong practitioners have lost their lives as a result of the state-sponsored persecution. The CCP's most appalling crime was exposed in 2006, when witnesses who left China testified that living Falun Gong practitioners in custody in China were killed for their organs.
Independent investigations by human right lawyers David Kilgour and David Matas concluded that the allegation was true. The world was shocked by this “unprecedented evil on this planet.”
The CCP's denials have become weaker and weaker as more and more evidence of its crimes has emerged. The European Parliament passed a resolution on December 12, condemning forced organ harvesting in China. The resolution also calls upon the EU to conduct a full and transparent investigation into organ transplant practices in China. There is no easy way for the CCP to elude accountability this time.
