In the third spring of the new millennium, China was struck by the sudden outbreak of an epidemic now known as SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The disease had wreaked havoc in China’s Guangdong, Hong Kong, Beijing and other localities even before many people got to know what it was. According to statistics released by the World Health Organization (WHO), in a few months, 32 countries and regions worldwide reported SARS cases. More than 8,000 people were infected and over 800 of them died. China was the hardest-hit area and also the frontline in the global fight against SARS.

The past spring is unforgettable. Beijing with all its bustle had never been so quiet. The possibility of SARS put the Chinese Government and the Chinese people to the toughest ever test posed by an epidemic since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

At the beginning, failure in coordinated action among different departments together with a lack of smooth information flow and an emergency response mechanism led to inaccuracies in statistics on SARS cases, causing public panic for a short time.

The Chinese Government, promptly dealing with the problem, adopted resolute measures. On April 20, the former health minister and Beijing mayor were removed from their posts. Statistics on SARS cases were corrected. A press conference was held to inform the world of the true situation in China regarding the epidemic.

On May 8, 110 countries worldwide began to restrict travel from China, and some even refused Chinese citizens’ entrance to their countries. All of a sudden, China was thrown into a war against an unknown virus, with the speed of its arrival far exceeding that of a war in the real sense. Facial masks covered the spring in China. Crowds on the streets disappeared, and in many stores, there were fewer customers than shop assistants. Everybody paid close attention to the epidemic situation, hoping the disaster would end as soon as possible.

China became the focus of the media worldwide. Reams of reports and comments on China were published – a rare phenomenon in recent yeas. Some Western media, ignoring the fact the SARS is a contagious disease of unknown origin, alleged without foundation that this natural disaster was a man-made scourge in China’s society. One publication even carried a picture of an infected lung embedded on China’s national flag across its cover. Any country would consider such an act rude and offensive.

Many overseas economic organizations and research institutes kept predicting the effect of SARS on the economic development of China and East Asia. They believed that SARS would plunge East Asia into another serious economic crisis following the Asian financial crisis, and that the epidemic would severely affect China’s investment environment and slow down its economic progress. Many international financial institutions revised their forecast of China’s GDP growth downward, predicting that growth rate would drop by 1 percentage point or be reduced by half.

As to the source of the SARS virus, medical experts worldwide to date have still not reached consensus. Some believe the virus comes from a certain wild animal, while others even attribute the epidemic to a kind of space microorganism. Regardless of where it originated, SARS is a natural affliction like many other epidemics that have occurred throughout human history.

The history of human development is one of man fighting against natural disasters. Historically, the presence of the virus in nature is longer than that of humankind. It was not until 1996 that people found out that the source of malaria dated back 90 million years. The United States reported the world’s first case of AIDS. But one could not conclude that it is the source of AIDS. The SARS crisis tells us that in this era of accelerated globalization, opportunities and risks coexist. We have learned an important lesson from the SARS crisis, i.e., we need a more effective disease monitoring mechanism. For this, the State Council promulgated Regulations on Handling Emergencies Concerning Public Health on May 12.

In May, a visiting WHO official recounted his three “surprises” in China. One was that he planned to stay for a week, but after witnessing the wisdom and resolve displayed by the new generation of Chinese leaders in tackling the SARS crisis, he prolonged his stay to 45 days, during which he experienced the ever-closer and better cooperation between the Chinese Government and the WHO. He said that one could not have imagined what great progress China had achieved in over one month and that it was a new milestone in China’s opening-up process.

Foreign commentators wrote that in the fight against SARS, the Chinese Government demonstrated to the world its creative, practical and firm political approach by taking surprisingly harsh measures against those who neglected their public duties. Subtle and gratifying changes have take place in the country’s political and social environment, officials’ work style and the media. Such changes have inspired the Chinese people and enhanced their confidence. One concrete action by leaders is more encouraging than a hundred empty slogans. At least, people know they are doing all they can. People will always remember what they have accomplished.

SARS did adversely affect China’s economy in the first half of this year. But the influence was partial and temporary. The general situation of the Chinese economy is sound and the momentum for rapid growth has remained unchanged. According to preliminary estimates, the growth of China’s GDP in the first half of this year will exceed 8 percent. This once again bears witness to the ability of the Chinese economy to resist the two crises differ in nature.

We noticed that while China’s tourism, catering and retail sales sectors suffered business slackening, sectors such as telecommunications, sports goods, healthcare products and family cars prospered. The changes in consumers’ choices made up for some of the losses caused by SARS on China’s economy.

The three major international economic organizations – the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and the World Bank – all urged that the SARS impact on the economy should not be exaggerated. They noted that the influence of SARS on the Asian economy could be controlled and that on the world economy was limited. Comments in the United States noted that as the epidemic was confined within limited areas of China and had not penetrated into the vast rural areas and thanks to effective prevention and control measures, the epidemic was put under effective control within a fairly short time. So the impact of SARS on China’s economy was not as serious as predicted. The impact on rural areas and non-SARS-affected regions was quite limited. The inflow of overseas investment only slowed down, but had not been withdrawn from the country or redirected to other places. As soon as the epidemic situation eased, construction of many large infrastructure projects got under way. All this has reduced SARS’ impact on China’s economy to a considerable extent. In fact, SARS only brought partial and temporary losses to China’s economy and did not damage the economic structure. If there is no resurgence, losses will be made up quickly.

According to Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao, a report of the Deutsche Bank said that China’s economy is gaining momentum for rapid growth and that the bank has revised its prediction of China’s GDP growth to 7.5 percent. The London-based Financial Times reported that if China could put the epidemic under effective control by the second quarter, structural damage to the economy could be avoided, and that the influence on its GDP would be capped within a 0.5 percentage point. China remains as a global market. Moreover, China, having gone through the purgatory of SARS, will come out more mature and make further headway toward modernization.

Some people questioned China’s system, saying that it lacked transparency and the country’s medical system was ineffective for coping with public health emergencies. On this point, a Morgan Stanley report stated that the new generation of Chinese leaders displayed a high level of flexibility and a reassuring transparency in their efforts to handle the SARS crisis. The firm action taken by the Chinese government and the positive results achieved have won broad acclaim from overseas media. The negative influence of SARS on different Chinese cities varied. While it ran rampant in some major cities, it was quickly contained in others. The epidemic impelled us to improve some of our mechanisms and the methods of work and proved that we are fully capable of doing so.

The Central Government allocated more than 2 billion yuan and various local governments provided 5 billion yuan for the battle against SARS. It took only seven days for the Beijing municipal government to build a 1,000-bed hospital for SARS patients in Xiaotangshan located in the capital’s northwest suburbs. This project alone involved 160 million yuan in investment. SARS-infected urban poor, farmers and migrant workers were all given free medical treatment, and various measures were taken to prevent the spread of SARS among the transient population in cities and among people who returned to rural areas from cities. A three-layer prevention network, encompassing countries, townships and villages, was established in all provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. In a few days, basic knowledge about SARS prevention was popularized in China’s urban and rural areas via more than 2,000 newspapers and 400 television stations, and posters on SARS prevention could be found almost anywhere, from cities down to rural villages. The Picture Album on SARS, compiled and published by the Information Office of the State Council, was well received by Chinese farmers. At the outbreak of SARS, people worried most about the spread of the epidemic to rural areas. China’s success in blocking its penetration into the vast countryside and in controlling it demonstrates the unity of government and the people and the high efficiency of the country’s socialist system. China has won increasingly widespread acclaim from the international community along with its continuing achievements in the fight against SARS.

The world has witnessed the Chinese people’s outstanding calmness and strength under the threat of SARS. They stood fast at their posts, encouraging and supporting each other in various ways. Grass-roots sub-district governments and neighborhood committees formed an effective anti- SARS network. The unity of will and the effort to work together with one accord, as called for by President Hu Jintao, proved to be the most powerful weapon in the fight against SARS.

In the newly built Xiaotangshan Hospital, more than 1,000 medical workers, putting aside their own safety and taking on an overload of duties, dedicated themselves to rescuing SARS patients. They relied on science, their confidence of success and their professional dedication in fighting against the disease and saving the patients. More than 900 medical workers on China’s mainland were infected with SARS at their post, accounting for one-fifth of all SARS patients, and many of them sacrificed their lives. Following in the footsteps of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, they lived up to their Hippocratic oath. We will always remember the contributions and sacrifices made by our medical workers. We will also always remember the lessons drawn from the fact that so many medical workers were infected and died at their posts.

A WHO official said that China’s medical workers had been working very hard and that China should be “proud of them”.

In many Chinese cities, volunteers queued up in streets to donated blood, showing the Chinese people’s unity of will in the fight against SARS. Moving stories about selfless dedication and tenacious struggle against the disease were common and widespread. The spirit of the Chinese nation was further carried forward during this critical battle. The 5,000-year Chinese civilization is the source of our confidence and strength to win the victory. SARS seemed to enlarge the distance between people at the beginning. But it resulted in shortening the distance between people’s hearts. During the rampancy of SARS, danger was omnipresent. But love and responsibility created great feats in ordinary work and built up people’s confidence in winning the war.

Today, people are back outside again doing exercises along roadsides and in alleys, squares and parks, smiling with confidence. Fear on their faces has disappeared. The Chinese people, together with the people worldwide, continue their tenacious fight against the threat of SARS, using a scientific approach. As the world expected, the dauntless Chinese have emerged from under the shadow of SARS and are heading toward a brilliant future.

According to the latest statistics, China’s mainland registered 5,326 SARS infected and suspected cases, 347 deaths and 4,895 cured patients. On June 24, the WHO lifted travel advisory against Beijing and removed the city from the list of areas with recent local transmission of SARS. Thus, all cities on China’s mainland have been removed from the WHO list of SARS-affected areas. We expect and believe that Taiwan will also be free from the threat of SARS in the next few days. (Taiwan was removed from the WHO list of SARS-affected areas on July 5 – Ed.)

As quickly as the disease broke out, the world took equally swift action against it and achieved equally rapid results. This tells us that globalization has made it possible for epidemic to spread to major cities worldwide within 24 hours. But economic globalization has also enabled the world to form joint forces to fight infectious diseases such as SARS.

Here, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, the Republic of Korea and many other countries and international organizations that have granted generous assistance to China’s fight against SARS.

The SARS crisis enabled us to feel more keenly the importance of mutual care and support since we share one planet.

                                                                          (June 24, 2003)