(Clearwidom.net)
[Editor's Note: Articles from other media agencies may not reflect Falun Gong practitioners' views.]
(The article of the special commentator from Radio Free Asia may not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of that station.)
At 8:50 p.m. on July 24, 2002, nine miners at the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania inadvertently drilled into an adjacent abandoned mine (that was filled with water) and were trapped 300 feet underground by the water. The state government started the rescue work immediately. By using new technologies, the rescue crew pumped compressed warm air into the mine to let the trapped miners have air to breathe. At the same time, they pumped the water out as fast as they could to avoid the submerging of the trapped miners. However, when the rescuers were half way through in drilling a tunnel to rescue the miners, the drill bit broke inside the tunnel. A helicopter was used to bring in new drill bits. After three days and three nights, all the trapped workers were successfully rescued. [During that period of time,] the entire U.S.A. was watching the progress of this rescue, indicating their concerns about human lives.
On August 5, President Bush went to the suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to meet with the coal miners. After his speech, he shook hands with every miner and also chatted with them. Bush said that the purpose of his trip was "to celebrate life and the value of life" with the coal miners and their families.
Reading these reports, I could not help but think about the situation of the coal miners in China, where there is a coal mine accident and resulting deaths almost every one or two days. If nobody died, the accident would probably not be considered an accident, and thus there would be no need to report it. Even if some people died in an accident, the officials would try all means to cover it up. This is the case regardless of whether the accident happens in a private-owned or state-owned coalmine, and whether the mine is operated by the local or central government.
From January to November 2000, the Chinese government reported that the casualty number from coal mining accidents was 5,317. In the same period of time of 2001, the death toll was 5,400. However, some people believed that the true death toll (in coal mining accidents) every year was about 10,000. From January to May of this year, the number of mining accidents was as many as 2,014, among which the casualty number reached 3,393 people. So it is obvious that the situation is getting worse. The mining accidents in China were also attributed to the following human factors:
First, government officials often blame privately operated mines for the mining accidents. However, the state-operated mines are just the same. For example, on June 20, a gas explosion in the Chengzihe Mine of Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, caused more than 100 people's deaths; even the general manager of the mine was killed. Only then did this accident catch the attention of "the central government." Even if the privately operated mines have the accidents, could the central government not to be held responsible?
Second, government officials and businessmen collude with each other and cover up the accidents, especially the casualty number. In some cases, the bodies of the dead miners were buried secretly. Since many miners were farmers from other areas, their families who lived far away had no way at all to investigate the causes. Because both the government officials and the businessmen wanted to cover up the mining accidents, the rescue efforts were not done in a timely fashion. Uncovering even more dead bodies during the rescue work could make the accident sound more severe. On May 5th of this year, a coal mining accident happened in Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, and caused the death of 21 people. Among them, 17 people died of starvation and suffocation that was caused by the delayed rescue work. On the rescue site, some rescue workers were even seen playing poker. What appeared more odd was that the rescue command center was set up inside Shaanxi Province, [another province bordering Shanxi province] which was 20 kilometers [i.e., about 13 miles] away from the accident site. Would doing in this way not catch the attention of Shanxi Province officials?
From the numerous news reports about the mine accidents, we saw only one person being saved this year.
According to a statistics, Chinese annual coal production is 1.2 billion tons and U.S. production is 1 billion tons. However, the annual mining casualties are between 6,000 and 10,000 in China, while the U.S. has only 40 casualties. What a big difference! Once the "Theory of the Three Representatives" [Refers to a new political theory created by Jiang and broadcast through out the government] is formally executed, the social status of Chinese workers will be further deteriorated; so grave miseries are waiting for the workers in China.
(The above was the commentary of Lin Baohua, a special commentator from Radio Free Asia).