WHEN is a heart ailment a cold? When the propaganda machinery says so.
When Li Peng first complained about chest discomfort on April 24, the media functionaries and official spokesmen knew by reflex what they would tell the world should the premier fail to get well soon: a cold or influenza.
The same formula has worked for leaders including Deng Xiaoping and Yang Shangkun. And for obvious reasons. Deng is already retired, and even though his long spells of absence might have to do with prostate cancer rather than a cold, everything is forgotten so long as, after two to three months, he gets enough energy from his qigong gurus to make a public appearance.
The trompe l'oeil works even better with Yang. As Deng and Yang's other foes know very well, the former president has a knack for recovering from no matter what disease after a couple of days.
When Li, who, at 65, is a boy by Chinese standards, failed to show up for more than three weeks, however, the spokesman of the Foreign Ministry, Wu Jianmin, knew the ''cold'' theory had become hogwash.
Refusing to back track, he resorted to tough talk. When asked by foreign reporters why the Chinese Government did not publicise daily health bulletins about its sick leaders, Wu said: ''Different countries do things differently. There is no need to go out of one's way for uniformity. Just stop making speculations.'' Wu is, of course, recycling this familiar argument: do not impose ''Western ideas'' on a country that is pursuing ''socialism with Chinese characteristics''.
