Is China hiding the truth again?

It is time to stop pussyfooting around. On-air news said the second Sars case in Guangdong may be a mild form of the virus. Surely, one either has Sars or not. Mild or not, we know how quickly Sars can get out of control.

Lest we forget, in last year's outbreak, complacency and secrecy (hiding of the truth) led to the virus gaining hold in China and Hong Kong. It killed hundreds of people and infected thousands around the world.

The recent mild (wishy-washy) announcements from the mainland, which have been confirmed and played down by WHO experts, suggest that China is afraid that the truth - that the country has Sars - will damage its economic health. Tourism will be affected and businessmen will not travel there to do business. I suspect that the delay in making an announcement that Sars is back was due to China putting pressure on WHO experts not to contribute to damaging headlines around the world.

China is well versed at applying pressure. The other day I heard a replay of 'Reflections on Asia' by Harvey Stockwin on Radio 3. He pointed out that China's pressure on others not to allow Taiwan to be an observer at last year's global meeting on Sars organised by the WHO preceded Taiwan's latest call for a referendum.

This was a time when all countries should have cooperated to fight Sars; politics should not have come into the equation. Lives were at risk. China should realise that if it wants reunification of China (through Taiwan rejoining the fold), this is not likely to happen if it continues to show an aggressive, stubborn and imperialistic attitude towards democracy.

China's refusal to allow Hong Kong to announce arrangements, last December, for consultations over constitutional reform is yet another demonstration of that intransigent attitude. Now our officials must go to Beijing and be lectured about the legalities of the Basic Law, while we have our own experts in Hong Kong who were part of the Basic Law Drafting Committee.