Joseph Kahn's A Reticent China Undercuts Its Milder New Image is excellent, and Richard The Peking Duck's commentary on it is even better:

Worried about a new catastrophic disease that could kill your citizenry by the thousands? Don't give it a second thought -- the Chinese plutocracy has the ideal answer: Don't do anything. If you say nothing, you might be able to contain it. Taking that awful risk is far more attractive an alternative than informing people, and in so doing creating "disharmony."