Cooperation and Crisis

In the last week or so, Myanmar's coast got hit with a typhoon and China's Sichuan province buckled under an earthquake. The governments of both countries like to control information and are often hostile to foreign involvement. On the BBC tonight I heard that China has accepted aid from Taiwan (!) and that the U.N. is still trying to negotiate with the Myanmar military junta to establish a basic aid presence. The international media has provided regular updates on death counts, destruction situation, and other information as the rubble is uncovered in Sichuan. I gather that "people affected" numbers are still quite vague for the Burmese situation.

I wonder if China maintains tacit support for the Burmese military junta because it makes the Chinese Communist Party's policies look rather mild in comparison.