CHINA is no stranger to natural disasters, but it has come a long way in how it deals with them. When collapsed during a typhoon three decades ago, killing more than 80,000 people, it was several years before the outside world knew anything about it. Beijing’s reaction to last month’s earthquake in Sichuan, which is known to have killed nearly 70,000, has been refreshingly different. Foreign aid agencies have been welcomed and journalists given full access. This has garnered international sympathy for the victims and praise for the speed with which the government acted.
But this…
