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By P. S. Suryanarayana
At an unprecedented summit in Bangkok, the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, and the leaders of all the 10 ASEAN member-states agreed to set up a China-ASEAN fund to fight the new disease on various fronts, ranging from the scientific-medical zone of action to the political-legal spheres. It was announced tonight, at the conclusion of the China-ASEAN summit, that Mr. Wen had pledged a contribution of 10 million yuan (over $1 million) towards the Anti-SARS Fund. This would be China's contribution for the present at least, and some individual ASEAN member-states also announced their immediate financial commitments. As the host to the conference, Thailand announced a contribution of $250,000. Cambodia, the current ASEAN Chairman, also specified its contribution, while other members, too, would follow suit. The other major decision taken was that relating to what the Singapore Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, described as a policy of keeping borders "open'' so that people could freely travel across the frontiers of SARS-hit countries. The idea was to safeguard the economies of the SARS-afflicted countries by allowing free movement of people and goods under some guidelines of health checks at the exit and entry points. The idea of safeguarded "open borders'' was recommended to the summit leaders by the Health Ministers of the ASEAN countries as also China and Japan, besides South Korea. These Health Ministers had met in Kuala Lumpur a couple of days ago. However, the latest Bangkok summit was attended only by China and Hong Kong (as part of the Chinese delegation) in addition to the ASEAN member-states, the reason being the acute seriousness of the SARS crisis in China.
First case in South Korea
While Japan has so far reported no SARS cases, South Korea today indicated that the first SARS case might have occurred within its territory. The Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, took the initiative for this summit and sought to make it more meaningful by inviting the leader of China, which is reckoned to be the epicentre of the SARS disease. Mr. Thaksin underlined that the summit was aimed at winning back the international community's confidence in the ability of the SARS-affected countries of East Asia to combat the disease. In this sense, the latest confidence-building exercise was likened to similar efforts that were launched in this region in the wake of a "financial melt-down'' in the 1990s and the more recent terrorist inroads into East Asia. To induce confidence in the global community in the present context, Mr. Wen said in Bangkok today that he would be willing to let the World Health Organisation inspect any hospital or any place in China to determine the causes of the outbreak of the disease and to work out remedies. Mr. Wen's assurance followed certain China-specific comments that the WHO's executive director for communicable diseases, David Heymann, made on the sidelines of the summit. Mr. Heymann, who briefed the summit leaders on the WHO's perspectives, noted that the global SARS control efforts would depend on the efforts of China, which was at present fully engaged in the battle against the disease. According to the latest WHO assessment, SARS was still raging in China, while the worst of the disease might either be over or nearing the end in places like Vietnam and Singapore and perhaps even Hong Kong. China's latest SARS death toll was 148 against the total confirmed cases of 3,306.
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