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Ex-Official Criticized over Charity Remark
2012-12-11 16:59:36 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Luo Dan
A columnist at a Chinese news commentary website, Shipingjie.net, contended Monday that accusations by a former Chinese official about a recent charity event in Guangzhou demonstrate the official's narrow-mindedness.
Columnist Qian Guilin also contended that as love goes beyond borders, the charity event in Guangzhou on December 8 to raise money for disabled Chinese children exemplified international cooperation in helping people and building a more harmonious global society.
The accusation by He Keng, former Deputy Commissioner of the National Statistics Bureau, came in response to heated online debate about a charity event held by the foreign consulates in Guangzhou, where some people used 5,000 yuan ($794) in counterfeit money to purchase goods.
In his initial Weibo posts on Sunday, He Keng accused the foreign consulates as being "shameless." He said, "The purpose of such behavior is to humiliate us Chinese." The posts were later removed from his Weibo account.
In one of his later posts, He Keng wrote about his answers to journalists who phoned him for interviews, claiming that he did not want to see foreigners trampling the dignity of Chinese people and that he was not sorry about what he had said.
A group of foreign diplomatic missions in Guangzhou, which held the charity event, raised a total of 330,000 yuan (US$52,400). But to their disappointment, some Chinese took advantage of foreigners' inability to identify counterfeit notes and used them to buy charity goods worth 5,000 yuan. Sources told the Beijing Times newspaper that the phony notes were brand-new and consecutively numbered.
Many micro-bloggers at first joined in the criticism of the Chinese who used counterfeit money to buy charity goods. But He Keng's accusation aroused a bigger shockwave, and more recent online comments have sharply condemned the former senior official.
One microblogger tweeted, "It makes me speechless to see these comments coming from a former Chinese official." Another wrote, "If the counterfeit money hasn't humiliated us Chinese enough, He Keng has."
The Belgian consulate in Guangzhou responded to He Keng's accusations via Weibo on Monday. In the post, the consulate said the charity sales activity was organized by Guangdong's foreign affairs office, and all the goods were donated by Belgian companies. It also said the goods for the charity sale were sold at the manufacturers' prices instead of market prices. Employees from the consulate attended the charity event, and donated more than 7,000 yuan in proceeds to the charity sale. The consulate added that those who used counterfeit bills should be ashamed of what they did.
The columnist who wrote the commentary called for sensible attitude concerning the charity event, saying that while foreign charities that have a political purpose should be disregarded, an open and confident China should accept foreign charities with honesty and kindness.
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