Friday, May 23, 2003

He was lauded around the world for remarkable courage in exposing China's cover-up of the SARS epidemic. But China cannot decide whether the mild-mannered 72-year-old military physician is a national hero or a political threat.

Jiang Yanyong is the whistle blower who, six weeks ago, forced the Chinese authorities to admit they had concealed the truth about SARS. After more than a month in the political wilderness, he was finally given grudging recognition in the Chinese media this week, yet he remains barred from talking to foreign journalists.

Dr. Jiang had a huge impact on the SARS crisis. In a letter to journalists in early April, when Beijing was saying that only 12 people in the city were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome, the doctor disclosed that the true number of SARS patients was at least 100, including at least 10 who had died -- a devastating revelation at a time of official deceit.

He even dared to criticize the health minister by name, accusing him of abandoning the basic standards of medical integrity.

His bold action triggered a firestorm of controversy that culminated in the sacking of the health minister and the Beijing mayor, followed by the government's decision to finally admit the full scale of the disaster.

For a regime with a long history of deception and denial, this chain of events is a revolution in official openness. It probably saved lives and it represents a milestone in political accountability.

The authorities are bruised and resentful. Instead of praising the brave doctor, they left him in limbo: officially ignored, never mentioned by politicians, and strictly prohibited from talking.

As recently as May 13, the government was still pretending he didn't exist. "We have not acquired any information about him," a senior Beijing bureaucrat frostily informed a press conference when someone asked about Dr. Jiang.

This week, suddenly, everything changed. Without a word of explanation for their previous silence, some of China's most prominent state-controlled newspapers began to publish admiring stories about the good doctor.

The official China Daily carried a large photograph of Dr. Jiang on page 2 of its Wednesday edition, showing him at work among a pile of SARS clippings at a hospital of the People's Liberation Army. An accompanying article described him as "a famous surgeon" and "the first doctor to blow the whistle on the misreporting of SARS in China."

Two of China's official news agencies wrote flattering articles about Dr. Jiang's honest action, praising his "good medical skills" and "his love for his patients." They quoted the motto of his alma mater: "The truth will set you free in service to others," and they included a powerful quotation from the doctor himself: "If doctors don't tell the truth, more people will die."

The state media could not resist the temptation to heap excessive plaudits on the government's handling of Dr. Jiang and the SARS crisis. One article quoted the doctor praising the government's action against the disease. Several articles quoted him saying that he was under no pressure to stay quiet. "I haven't received any type of restriction," he reportedly said.

"My life remains completely as usual."

In a brief telephone interview with The Globe and Mail yesterday, however, he acknowledged he's being silenced. "The hospital told me not to talk with foreign media," he said.

Dr. Jiang, the son of a Shanghai banker, has suffered blows before in the Communist state. After 11 years toiling at a military hospital, he was branded a "counterrevolutionary" in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution. He was jailed for two years and exiled to a remote region to feed horses.

When the government crushed student protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989, he treated dozens of the student victims, including several who died of gunshot wounds. He was reportedly angered by the cover-up of that event, too. On the 10th anniversary of the crackdown, he said the government was lying when it said that nobody had died.

Jing Jun, a sociologist and health expert in Beijing, said the flurry of official articles about Dr. Jiang will help to protect him from retaliation by government leaders who might be angered by his honesty. "It signifies that he has another cover, one more safety net," Mr. Jing said.

"But whether it lasts is another question," he added in an interview yesterday. "It's still very risky for an individual to go against the system. It took a lot of courage. He was a loyal Communist person, exposing a terrible problem. Around the world, whistle blowers often end up in trouble. I hope he won't end up like most of them. If something bad happens to him, it will be bad for all whistleblowers."

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