SARS Unmasks a Wider Scandal

Writing from Beijing, Jasper Becker asks what lessons China will take from the Sars crisis? The crisis, he argues, reveals great flaws in the Chinese government's system of management in non-economic areas. "The half-baked reform of China's health system is nothing short of scandalous and the country is now paying for it," he says. "Peasants - who can least afford it - must shoulder their entire medical burden, while the wealthy party elite and state employees enjoy a lavishly subsidized health system that consumes most of the state health budget." These inequities, together with oppressive restrictions on the Chinese media, he argues, must be addressed for the benefit of the new leadership and the average citizen. – YaleGlobal