OPINION> Commentary
Handle public crises carefully
(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-31 07:47

The government should learn more about how to deal with the outbreak of a public crisis in the light of the fruit fly scare, says an article in Procuratorial Daily. The following is an excerpt:

On Oct 26, Li Chuanyou, secretary-general of the fruit industry association in Hubei, told the media that Hubei's tangerine sales had stopped since the outbreak of the fruit fly scare in Guangyuan, Sichuan province. As he said, if the situation persisted, Hubei farmers may suffer a loss of up to 1.5 billion yuan.

The panic was caused by rumors in the southwestern province of Sichuan last week that 10,000 tons of tangerines had to be destroyed because of fruit flies.

Within a week, rumors about fruit flies in tangerines started from short messages on mobile phones and ended up becoming a public food safety crisis. The consumers' confidence was once again hit by the rumors and the market of tangerines nearly collapsed. The tangerine sales in other places like Beijing, Shandong and Hebei also plummeted, reaching a record low.

Undoubtedly, the most innocent victims of this incident are tangerine farmers and what the government worries most are the huge economic losses incurred. Hence, after the rumors were denied and the situation went back on track, the government has made efforts to shore up the tangerine market.

We should applaud the government for its countermeasures. But in my view, it is of paramount importance to thoroughly reflect on and analyze the government's mechanism of dealing with the outbreak of such incidents, besides the control of economic losses. An obvious fact is that although people already knew fruit flies occurred only in a few places in China and do not pose a threat to their health, the sales of tangerines still kept falling down.

In fact, this incident demonstrates once again the lack of ability of the local government to handle public crises. It also shows their provincial protectionism and their ignorance of public opinion.

The local government should understand that if it continues to deny and threaten to crack down on rumor spreaders and tries to blame consumers for making a fuss about such a "trivial matter", it will further stimulate consumers' rebellious attitude, worsening the already serious situation.

The reflection upon this tangerine incident also helps to set up a role model for similar cases in future. It is certain that the tangerine incident will not be the last one. A systematic guarantee should be in place to handle a public crisis, prevent unnecessary scares and reduce economic losses.

(China Daily 10/31/2008 page8)