中国事故対応 隠蔽体質と人命軽視は重症だ

The Yomiuri Shimbun (Aug. 1, 2011)
Chinese government must stop cover-ups, trivializing life
中国事故対応　隠蔽体質と人命軽視は重症だ（7月31日付・読売社説）

Top Chinese government leaders obviously felt that if they let the problem slide any more, they would bear the brunt of public outrage, rather than the Railways Ministry.
　これ以上、事態を放置していては国民の批判の矛先が鉄道省から政権中枢に向かいかねないと判断したのだろう。

In the wake of the deadly rear-end collision of high-speed trains in Wenzhou in China's Zhejiang Province, Premier Wen Jiabao visited the site of the disaster, inquiring after the victims and expressing sympathy with bereaved family members.
　中国浙江省温州で起きた高速鉄道の列車追突事故で、温家宝首相が現地に赴き、被害者を見舞って遺族を慰問した。

Apparently the Chinese government has switched policies by having Wen come to the fore in dealing with the accident in an effort to draw a curtain over the tragedy.
　首相自らが乗り出す方針に切り替え、早期の幕引きを狙ったものと見られる。

At a press conference at the scene of the accident, Wen said, "If we fail to think about safety, we will lose [public] trust [in high-speed railways]...Faster does not necessarily mean better."
　事故現場で記者会見に応じた温首相は「安全を失えば信用を失う。速ければ良いというものではない。

"We must maintain safety as a priority," he added, before saying the government would publicly disclose its entire investigation into the accident.
安全第一であるべきだ」などと述べ、調査の全過程を公開することを約束した。

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Complete overhaul needed

China's high-speed railway network is an arterial means of transportation used not only by Chinese but also foreigners.
　中国の高速鉄道は外国人も利用する公共輸送機関である。

It is essential for Beijing to determine the cause of the collision, make public the results of its investigation and work out measures to prevent a recurrence of such an accident.
事故原因を徹底的に究明し、再発防止策とともに、最終調査結果を公表することが重要だ。

The Chinese government's investigative team says lightning struck the railway's signaling system, causing a red light to turn green.
　中国政府の事故調査グループは、事故の原因について、「落雷で信号機が故障し、赤色を表示すべき区間の信号が、誤って青色を示した」などとする、当面の分析結果を明らかにした。

The railway authorities should completely overhaul the signaling and automatic control systems of the railway to ensure safety.
　信号系統や自動制御システムなどについて、改めて総点検し、安全確認に万全を期すべきだ。

Public outrage was intense over what was perceived as the Chinese government's propensity to cover up information and trivialize the lives of people.
　今回の事故では、中国政府の隠蔽体質と人命軽視の姿勢に、国民の怒りが爆発した。

When the railway authorities decided to bury a train car immediately after the accident, the public saw this as an attempt to destroy evidence.
　事故直後に車両を地中に埋め、国民から「証拠隠滅だ」との批判が起きるや、

The authorities then hurriedly dug the car up, while resuming train operations just 1-1/2 days after the accident.
あわてて掘り出したり、事故発生から１日半で運行を再開したりした。

After search-and-rescue operations ended, a 2-year-old girl was found in a wrecked car.
　捜索活動の打ち切り後に、車両から２歳の女児が救出された。

It is natural that this touched off a deluge of criticism for exemplifying a blatant disregard for human life.
人命軽視もはなはだしい、と批判を浴びたのは当然だ。

The Railways Ministry initially proposed 500,000 yuan (about 6 million yen) in compensation for the bereaved families of each fatal victim, but later raised this to 915,000 yuan (about 11 million yen), about the same level as compensation for victims of aircraft accidents.
　鉄道省は１人当たり５０万元（約６００万円）の賠償金を遺族に提示し、さらに航空機事故並みの９１万５０００元（約１１００万円）に引き上げた。

It seems the Chinese government is trying to settle the compensation issue as quickly as possible to silence the bereaved families.
早期の妥結で“口封じ”がしたいようだ。

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Media criticism

A key factor behind the outburst of criticism against the government was a Chinese version of Twitter called weibo (microblog) that is reportedly used by 170 million people, as well as various video-sharing sites.
　政府に対する批判の原動力となったのは、１億７０００万人が使用していると言われる中国版ツイッター「微博（マイクロブログ）」や、動画サイトだった。

This means a large volume of information about the railway disaster was disseminated despite censorship by the authorities.
当局の検閲にもかかわらず大量の情報が流された。

As a result, the Chinese government issued instructions to domestic media, prohibiting reproduction of weibo messages or covering the story on their own.
　中国政府は国内メディアに対し、「微博」の転載や、独自取材を禁止し、

Media were ordered only to use articles released by the state-run Xinhua News Agency.
国営新華社の記事を使用するよう指示したが、

Some media did not comply with these instructions.
一部の報道機関は従わなかった。

This phenomenon has never been seen before.
　過去には見られなかった現象である。

We should pay particular attention to what responses the Communist Party's Central Publicity Department, Beijing's censorship organ, will take toward Chinese media that have criticized the government, a practice long considered taboo.
タブーとされる政府批判を展開した中国メディアに、言論統制の機関である共産党宣伝部がどんな対応を取るか、注視しなければなるまい。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 31, 2011)
（2011年7月31日01時23分 読売新聞）