This past week, two news stories caught my attention. Here is an excerpt about the former head of China's FDA...
China executed the former head of its food and drug watchdog on Tuesday for approving untested medicine in exchange for cash. During Zheng's tenure from 1998 to 2005, his agency approved six medicines that turned out to be fake, and the drug-makers used falsified documents to apply for approvals, according to previous state media reports. One antibiotic caused the deaths of at least 10 people.
Here is a excerpt about Scooter Libby...
Breaking news reports late on Monday showed that President George W. Bush had commuted the sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former top aide who also served as Chief of Staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. An appeal by Libby to stay out of jail pending an appeal of his conviction for committing perjury and other offenses was rejected by a federal court this morning.Libby did not receive a pardon, but he did have his 30 month jail sentence commuted by President Bush. He remains guilty of the felonies of perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements in the federal investigation of the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. He will also pay a $250,000 fine.
Although Libby's crimes were not as severe as Zheng's, I am still amazed at how differently the American government and Chinese government handled these cases. At first I thought that America has become too "soft" as a society. Soft in our morals and in our ability to execute justice. But on a more positive note, I believe that America is a country that has embraced the concepts of mercy and grace. Even if all of us don't agree with this kind of forgiveness, I think we can all understand the heart behind it. Despite all the political reasons for "commuting" Libby's sentence, I believe that the main reason was a simple desire to forgive.
1 comment:
it's hard to believe that we as humans can say to another, "you deserve death." (and actually hit the execute button.)
western media seemed more sympathetic to zheng- the new york times carried an article that read more like a biography of zheng than a news report. it hinted at bureaucratic battles within beijing and even questioned the transparency of this corruption case.
at any rate, given the context i think it was china's only choice - either go all the way on the defensive, or admit guilt and pick a scapegoat.
just an opinion..
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