As it copes with a series of natural disasters this year, the current leadership of the Chinese Communist Party is acutely aware of the need to not just respond effectively but to also be seen to be doing so.

Within hours of the devastating earthquake striking, Premier Wen Jiabao flew into Sichuan province to oversee the emergency relief. A couple of months ago during the Chinese New Year holidays, when millions in southern China were trapped in a transport gridlock created by powerful snowstorms, Wen was quick to apologise on behalf of the government.

The new candour from the CCP leadership stands in contrast to the SARS crisis of 2003, when Beijing — stuck in a denial mode — fell short of an early and decisive reaction. It was a lot worse during the dark and final days of the Cultural Revolution, when China could not even acknowledge the scale of the tragic earthquake that hit Tangshan and killed nearly 250,000 people.

The CCP leadership is conscious of the fact that a public perception of failure will rob it of political legitimacy, or as the Chinese might call it, the “mandate from heaven”.

Although it might not have a formal democracy in the Indian or Western fashion, politics has never been abolished in modern China. In the last few years, the internet has emerged as a powerful tool for the expression of popular opinion. The outpouring of Chinese nationalist anger against the Tibetans for disrupting the rallies around the world for the Olympics torch helped reinforce the official positions.

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