The world reaches out to China

A contingent of 100,000 Chinese soldiers and tens of thousands of volunteers streamed into central China this week, in a frantic effort to bring aid to survivors of last week’s massive earthquake. The official death toll from the 8.0-magnitude quake reached 40,000, but the government said

the final tally would likely top 50,000. An additional 12.4 million were left homeless. Many survivors have been sleeping in the open or in cars, and civil-affairs vice minister Li Jiang said there was a “desperate” need for tents and other supplies. Concern is growing that huge dams in the area could give way, compounding the disaster.

In sharp contrast to the intransigence of the military junta in neighboring Myanmar, which was devastated earlier this month by a cyclone, China invited European countries to send medical teams to the scene. Uncharacteristically, China has also allowed reporters unfettered access to the disaster zone, and nonstop media coverage has prompted an outpouring of volunteer aid workers. But survivors angrily complained of poor construction standards, especially for schools. The quake struck during school hours, killing thousands of children—an acute tragedy in a country with a one-child-per-family population policy.

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We’re not used to seeing China’s political elite show compassion, said The Christian Science Monitor in an editorial. But “Chinese leaders have little choice.” As unelected rulers, “their hold on power is tenuous.” And with the Olympic Games coming to Beijing this summer, the leaders want to show their best face to the outside world. Whatever their motives, “if this is the new China, the world can only applaud it.”

The Chinese do seem to be looking at the West in a new way, said Matthew Forney in The Washington Post. Before the quake, “the dominant mood in China was one of frustration.” Criticized for everything from the quality of their exports to their oppression of Tibet, many Chinese felt “a shared sense of victimhood.” But now the world is applauding the Chinese for their response to tragedy, and the Chinese are drawing from the experience a new sense of pride and unity, “without resorting to foreign scapegoats.”

That’s because the Chinese obviously “can’t rebuild Sichuan province alone,” said Jeremy Haft in The Wall Street Journal. “They need America’s help.” China’s factories simply don’t have the capacity, management, or quality standards to meet the coming demand for everything from turbines to sewerage equipment. We do. Let’s seize this chance to “help China in a desperate time of need—while creating jobs and building up our national savings account in the process.”