Are We Witnessing the Inception of a New, More Transparent China?

No.

This tragedy befell China in the form of a devastating earthquake (7.9 for those of you scoring at home). Normally, when God strikes China with some debilitating plague/natural disaster (about every other year), the state-controlled media habitually creates a cover-up of Orwellian proportions, brainwashing its citizens and tricksying the rest of the world into believing the given calamity is of a much smaller scope (for example: the government kept a lid on SARS for months and it was really only until it spread to Hong Kong that China were forced to release the actual number infected with the virus).  However, the Sichuan earthquake this week was different. The state-media has been covering the incident nonstop, releasing timely, accurate (Jesus, at least I hope they are, there are alrady 10,000+ dead) information to both the Western media and to its citizens. And juxtaposed to their neighbors to the south, Myanmar, China looks like an impassioned government, hell-bent on undertaking any initiative to save those in trouble (note: had China actually built edifices that wouldn’t collapse during an earthquake in a city thats ON A FAULT LINE, the casualties would only be a fraction of what they are. But, hey, keep on giving six billion dollars to Malawi. Your country doesn’t need it!).  And the Western media has been eating this shit up, implying that its the birth of a more open era for China. False.

My friends, do not be fooled. China is just pandering to the West ahead of the Olympics, trying to convince us they’re actually becoming transparent in the wake of the torch fiasco. Why? In order to lull is into a false sense of security. That way, when they commence what I’ve dubbed Operation Ad ExstirPANDA, they might be able to keep it under the radar for as long as possible.  Ad Exstirpanda was a Papal bull that legalized the use of torture to secure information during the Inquisition. When China implements Ad ExstirPANDA, arbitrarily arresting and torturing foreigners, the media will be blindsided. Western governments will be enraged.  China will snicker. Once again, take off the beer goggles. China will not hesitate to break the rules if it means the protection of its self-perceived reputation of infallibility.

And, its official, there’s no way I’m getting a visa now.