Responses to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines are heartening — with one exception. Has there been any large influx of aid, medical personnel, etc., from China?
I thought that perhaps the Western news media had overlooked the humanitarian response from Asia's largest power. But then I checked out Xinhua, China's large official English language website. There, I could find no mention of any humanitarian response from China to this immense tragedy in its back yard. At last, this morning an online article from Reuters appeared with this headline: "China's meager aid to the Philippines could dent its image." As of this morning, Beijing had pledged $200,000. How sad.
WARD LYNDALL, Minneapolis
• • •
The $20 million in aid from the United States and $25 million from the United Nations reported in Tuesday's paper sounds like a lot of money to help the people who are suffering so much in the Philippines until we recall that the Star Tribune reported on Saturday that David Letterman's annual earnings are $43 million!
