Photo/Illutration A photo of Chinese doctor Li Wenliang is displayed at a vigil in Hong Kong on Feb. 7. (AP Photo)

A society that tries to restrict the freedom to provide medical information and opinions concerning the health and safety of its people should be described as ailing.

Such an attitude only erodes the stability of order in the society.

China’s Communist Party government is tightening its control over freedom of speech. Beijing is ramping up its efforts to monitor and restrict what can be said publicly about the deteriorating public health situation in the country, where the novel coronavirus epidemic is raging.

This week, China decided to expel three Wall Street Journal reporters from the country in retaliation for the newspaper’s publication of an essay criticizing Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak written by a U.S. university professor.

Last autumn, the Chinese government forced a Wall Street Journal reporter to leave the country by refusing to renew his credentials after the newspaper published his report detailing allegations that a cousin of Chinese leader Xi Jinping was involved in high-stakes gambling and potential money laundering in Australia.

This time, the action is extraordinary because none of the newspaper’s reporters in China had any involvement with the publication of the essay in question.

Beijing has also been cracking down hard on citizens who have criticized the government’s response to the epidemic.

In Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic that is still on lockdown, lawyers and citizens who posted videos showing gruesome scenes at hospitals on social media for a while went missing one after another. They are believed to have been detained by the authorities.

In its efforts to control foreign media reports and social media posts concerning the public health crisis, the Chinese government is clearly seeking to restrict public criticism about its actions to contain the epidemic.

The Communist Party regime has long justified its restriction of the freedom of speech, arguing that social stability is more important than anything else for the interests of citizens.

But there is growing suspicion that this suppression of the freedom of speech has led to disastrous cover-ups of information that have caused the tragic spread of the infection.

Last year, Li Wenliang, a 33-year-old doctor in Wuhan, sounded the alarm about a troubling cluster of virus infections through his social media posts. But he was reprimanded by police for disturbing the social order by “spreading false rumors.”

In early February, Li died after contracting the virus he had warned about.

In response to his death, a group of Chinese academics associated with the nation’s top universities, including Peking University, published an unusual open letter saying tens of thousands of people had become infected with the disease because the people had been robbed of their right to freedom of speech.

The letter also denounced the spread of the infection as a “man-made disaster” caused by the government’s restrictions on free speech.

Beijing will not be able to silence such criticism by suppressing media reporting or cracking down on citizens voicing criticism against it.

China should realize the vital importance of freedom of speech for the resiliency of society. People should be allowed to communicate and discuss freely whatever problem that is occurring in their society so that necessary measures can be taken to deal effectively with the problem.

The current crisis has made Chinese people reflect on the social evils of restrictions on freedom.

Li, the whistleblowing doctor in Wuhan who has died, told a Chinese magazine: "I think a healthy society should not only have one kind of voice.”

The country’s Communist Party-controlled government should feel the weight of his words.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 21

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