Redefining conditions of mental healthcare
The Chinese government recently released a draft mental health law to gather public feedback. This draft is the result of a 26-year effort by legal experts and has received applause for its emphasis on patients’ individuals right and freedom. It is also believed that this law will set a good foundation to stop the notorious abuse of involuntary commitment of people wrongly accused of mental illness.
According to 2009 statistics, China now has over 100 million people suffering from mental illness, with 16 million being seriously ill.
Because of financial difficulties, a lack of awareness or an absence of channels through which to seek help, only 20 percent of seriously ill sufferers had received treatment.
There are sometimes also problems with diagnosis, which ignored people who should be hospitalized while institutionalizing those suffering from no mental illness.
Hopefully, this may change if the draft law becomes official. It stipulates that people who cannot or have difficulties to pay for treatment will receive funding and help from central and local governments.
More public focus, however, was placed upon the diagnosis and involuntary commitment section, especially after repeated media reports of healthy people being forced into mental institutions after trying to expose corruption cases.
Xu Wu, an employee with Wuhan Steel Corporation, was the latest prominent case after he ran away from a mental hospital and was recaptured by police as he tried to talk to the news media in Guangzhou.
According to past practices, almost any company, neighborhood committee or individual could send somebody they suspected of being mentally ill to a hospital where the person could find themselves confined, even if they claimed to be healthy.
The draft law now stipulates that a forced hospitalization would only be called in if a person displays behavior endangering themselves or others. Moreover, the draft requires the patient be diagnosed twice by two different hospitals if the first diagnosis suggests the person be hospitalized. The second diagnosis must be carried out by two licensed psychiatrists.
The draft law has been trying hard to ensure a fair diagnosis process. But what if doctors are bribed or influenced to favor a third party?
The draft has said mental experts from agencies authorized by the State’s judicial departments will step in if the patient still insists on a review.
However, there must be clear rules stating how doctors and those trying to commit an innocent healthy person should be held responsible and punished.
Deciding whether a person is mentally ill and how serious their illness is no easy task. Mistakes that led to healthy people being hospitalized or to troubled people left unsupervised and hurting others have happened in China as well as other countries.
But one thing is for sure, as some legal experts suggest, independent medical personnel will examine a patient, but deciding whether their freedom should be taken will be left to judicial department in order to avoid abuse.
US intervention in South China Sea daft
For years, the South China Sea was relatively calm. Conflicts over disputed waters occurred, but were largely outshone by regional cooperation.
The involuntary announcement last year of the US’ readiness to “broker talks” among the countries concerned tipped the regional balance off-kilter. The patience that Vietnam and the Philippines used to possess has been replaced by an impulse to act tough.
Now the US has vowed to take no side in an international dispute.
This might be part of what US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as “smart power,” with which the US appears to be reaching out to countries around the South China Sea, while in fact, it is masterminding discontent and resentment among them. The US looks to be the biggest winner from this discord.
Vietnam and the Philippines are clear that the US will be happy to see Southeast Asian countries join hands to form a wall to contain China. But the US will not bear the cost of building this wall – the “expenditure” would be too dear to justify US interests.
In the worst scenario, if a military conflict did occur in the South China Sea, it would be almost impossible for the US to step in and fight China for the two Southeast Asian countries.
It is a big mistake for any country to involve itself in the territorial conflicts of others.
The US may seek to create some trouble for China, but Sino-US relations outweigh this corner of the world.
US warships will not be willing to attack Chinese counterparts for a third country’s interest in the South China Sea or anywhere in the Western Pacific.
In the meantime, China will not give up its sovereign rights for the sake of Sino-US relations.
All countries around the South China Sea, including China, must keep calm. A war or a military threat is useless here.
No party will back down easily from their territorial claims.
However, China’s successful talks with Vietnam in the demarcation of Beibu Bay prove that talks are able to solve territorial issues.
China still insists on negotiating the South China Sea disputes. It should not anger easily at provocations by certain groups in neighboring countries.
But China will also stand strong in protecting its interests and principles.
This requires patience and time. If China cannot get along with its neighbors, how can it handle its progress on the world stage?
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