Did the Chinese freighter ‘Hit & Run?’
China goes all out to find 16 missing ROK sailors
China Daily, China -12 hours ago
BEIJING — China vowed Tuesday to spare no efforts to find the 16 sailors missing after a Republic of Korea (ROK) vessel collided with a Saint …
China goes all out to find 16 missing sailors following ROK ship …
CCTV, China -5 hours ago
A helicopter searches for the missing sailors off the coast where the “Golden Rose” ship sank near Yantai of east China’s Shandong Province, May 14, 2007. …
China intensifies efforts to search for missing sailors from ROK ship
People’s Daily Online, China -23 hours ago
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said on Tuesday China has intensified its efforts to search for missing sailors from a ship of the Republic …
Rescuers battle winds in hunt for missing sailors
Shanghai Daily, China -May 13, 2007
THE search continues for 16 missing sailors from a Republic of Korea ship that sank off China’s eastern coast on Saturday, but high winds have hindered …
Headlines like these almost make it look like the Chinese have been doing their duty in the Yellow Sea, where three days ago, a Chinese cargo ship struck a South Korean vessel, sinking it 38 miles southeast of Dalian. Sixteen sailors remain missing, but maybe that wasn’t so accidental.
Donga news service reported early on that the crew on the 4,800-ton Chinese ship waited two and a half hours before beginning their search for the seamen. AP reported in its original story (the one I linked to) that the JinSheng’s crew only reported the collision after arriving in Dalian, seven hours after the incident.
International conventions such as the Law of the Sea and the International Maritime Association—of which China is a member—require ships to provide assistance when they receive distress calls or strike other vessels.
Experts in maritime affairs argue that the Jinsheng crew was trying to flee from the scene. A KCG official in the Search and Rescue Division said, “It is a matter of common sense to clarify where responsibility lies after an accident, just like when a car crashes on land. The fact that the Chinese vessel ran away from the site demonstrates that it is very likely they were responsible for the incident.†The KCG believes that the Chinese cargo ship hit the Golden Rose on the side.
South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency ran an editorial yesterday slamming the Chinese for dereliction of duty, again calling it a “hit and run.”
They obviously knew that the Golden Rose was going to sink and didn’t care about rescuing the sailors.
This not only goes against international practice, when the closest ship to a wrecked ship is to do the rescuing, but also against the basic conduct of human life. It is an act contrary to morality, transgressing human laws. It is obligatory for the closest ship to do the rescue, by international agreement. Accidents in remote oceans are difficult to reach for rescue teams, so rescue by the closest ship can save more lives.
It’s hard to be surprised that China’s state-controlled media is doing some nationalist PR for the motherland, especially after what looks to be a rather sloppy international screw-up and a big loss of face. I wonder, though, if a better message might be something along the lines of, “Somebody blew it and we’re going to fix it,” instead of, “We’re coming to rescue you (three days later). Aren’t we heroic?”
Then again, China has never been especially good at PR.
Quick update: Beijing Newspeak puts this incident with several other recent reporting delays, plus insider perspective that’s priceless.
May 16th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
This incident is another in the long line of tragedies whereby Chinese authorities try to hide the truth. Yet the truth always comes out sooner or later..
Let’s go through a few of the more recent ones: Beijing subway tunnel collapses trapping workers and the story goes unreported to authorities for hours, daily coal mine ‘accidents’, AIDs epidemic, fake food exports, SARs, bird flu, Songhua River poisoning, etc.
Whatever happened to compassion, mercy and care for fellow human beings? Is Chinese society really this screwed up? Should we ever trust what the Chinese government has to say? Am I being too negative as many (Chinese) people say I am?
May 16th, 2007 at 11:53 pm
Wow, Dezza, you get the prize for fastest comment ever on this blog.
If it makes you feel any better, I’d say you’re not being any more negative than the situation itself. It’s rough out there.
May 17th, 2007 at 1:07 am
An interesting clash of nationality vs. responsibility.
If there was a wreck in National Waters of China, then I’m sure China would always try to make a propaganda event out of it.
But because this ship was Chinese is it actually any different? Maybe.
Was the collision deliberate? I could hardly say, but I’d doubt it would be so obvious. I doubt it would be a Centrally planned collision at all. Too obvious.
These two factors: propoganda event and making it clear it was not a Chinese plot conjegating. And China is ’saving face’ but probably no more than if a Birtish trawler hit a Spanish trawler in the Bay of Biscay, fled, then reported the matter later. I’d imagine the RN would try to launch a few helicopters and the media (The Sun to The Times) would latch onto it as a rare positive hope which would still grab eyes.
The actions strike me as the usual: nation pretecting reputation in a matter where they want to mimalise nationalist feeling against their own nation.
I don’t think it’s immediate mass-media reaction which has to be questioned, but publications after an event which may arise in the West but may not do so on the Mainland. I think internal disasters are a different kettle of self-protection and based in manipulation much more.
Yes, there were heavy winds last night.
May 17th, 2007 at 7:48 am
I have a few thoughts. First, while there may be a kind of instinctive response to, ahem, keep going after you hit something (It’s the “Oh, shit, wha’dowedonow?!?!?” response), I think there is a culture of secrecy in many Chinese organizations that makes this sort of ‘don’t tell’ reaction more common and harder to overcome.
And maybe I’m cynical, but if a US ship ran into and sank a Chinese ship, CCTV and the media would be practically frothing over the story. The more muted response is, perhaps, par for the course.
May 17th, 2007 at 8:30 am
Chris –
Great post. PLEASE keep covering this. Two reasons:
1. You are doing a great job of pulling in the info and I find this story fascinating.
2. I am going to do a post telling my readers to look to you on this topic.
May 17th, 2007 at 9:59 am
Alex,
I’m pretty sure the British press would be all over it if a UK freighter nailed anything. There’s no one who could tell them otherwise.
Jeremiah,
Agree on both points. Sad state of affairs…
CLB,
Thanks. Will do.
May 17th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Chinese Freighter Hits Korean Vessel And Runs?…
Sixteen Korean sailors are still missing after their ship was apparently hit by a Chinese vessel a few days ago. The Chinese ship is accused of having fled the scene. I have been enthralled by this story as it combines politics, morality, maritime law,…
May 19th, 2007 at 1:41 am
It’s interesting how nationalism runs.
If it were a freighter that hit something, it would be all over the news, because it would be unexpected (and a bad thing).
But if it were a fishing boat it would envoke recent images of clashes in the Bay of Biscay, and harking back to the Cod Wars with Iceland (a bad thing, but striking a certain jingoism/nationality).
The difference that, I feel, populations identify with bad actions as bad, but not if those bad actions are masked by some sense of being the underdog. (If we’re the underdog, how are we to blame?)
And nationality is a dangerous tool to play with. An example of the British Media pushing it too far being The Sun’s ‘Gotcha’ caption on the front of the paper, above a picture of the sinking Belgrano where 1000 were lost.
The short term frenzied reaction is chaotic, but the long term reaction is the true test of what can be published.
May 21st, 2007 at 11:10 am
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