Protests in China at official 'cover-up' of teenager's death

Protests in China at official 'cover-up' of teenager's death - www.independent.co.uk
Police station assaulted, torched by local people in southwest China county - news.xinhuanet.com

The reason we have inquiries in Canada is to maintain confidence of the citizens in the supervision of the government (to use Wen’s language, as learned from Thornton’s article). Instead of trying to buy off the family, the government should experiment with how it envisions oversight will deal with corruption.

I really wish Western reporters would not link this story to Tibet. I know they want to supply some background for the readers but, as far as I’m concerned, the story in Guizhou is far more important to what’s happening in China.

10,000 people take to the streets because…. well… we have a pretty clear story told outside of China. Xinhua has different story. And that is one of the problems demonstrated by this story. Trust. 10,000 people don’t riot against the police or other authorities because of nothing. What if the details were mistaken as suggested by Xinhua? Doesn’t mean anything as the details were believable by the mob and they had no trust in the system.

If the same thing happened in Edmonton (capital of Alberta, Canada - don’t worry, nobody else knows where it is either) and someone called for a march on city hall…. you’re not going to get 10,000 people. The demand would be for an inquiry. There would be the expectation that the truth would be revealed followed by consequences.

Guizhou demonstrates that the people’s expectation for reform is leading the action of the government. It also demonstrates the lack of trust people have in the government. Corruption is already a well known problem. What should concern the government more is the trust issue. A compensation package will not restore trust. Some form of public inquiry is needed.

I know that the issues involved with corruption is complicated. Many important relationships are threatened by a crackdown on corruption. This story must show the government that dealing with corruption must be visible to be trusted. The government has an opportunity in the tragic death of a 15 year old girl to move forward with dealing with corruption. Who could possibly stand against not finding out the truth?

UPDATE: Violence ebbs, but questions persist over girl's death in SW China

From the Xinhua article:

The provincial government has set up a work team to handle the incident. It also sent 10 criminal investigators and forensic experts to reinvestigate the death.

This is an excellent first step. The next step is to publish the results of the inquiry.

UPDATE: The Weng’An Riots: “How hard is it to give the masses the real picture?”
This blog entry and the one before contains some good discussions around this event.

UPDATE: 2008.07.02 Weng’an Riots: How the state media hurts China
This blog entry is a must read entry regarding this story.

I hope all of this is a wake-up call to the right-minded leaders in the Chinese government, like (apparently) Shi Zongyuan. Their righteous actions are being corrupted and perverted by others. When the propaganda ministry is in effect hurting the government, you have to conclude the existing propaganda system is truly broken.

UPDATE: 2008.07.10 Final autopsy shows girl in southwest China protest drowned
I'm glad this issue has been dealt with quickly by the government. I feel sad for the friends and family of Li Shufen.