At first, suspicions fell on Middle Eastern terrorist groups; there are many who, on previous experience, would love to horrify the world by an atrocity of such magnitude. It was unfortunate that the passenger list should have contained two Iranian refugees travelling on false passports; but it was soon established that they had no terrorist background. In the wake of the recent terror attack in Kunming, attributed to Islamic militants from Xinjiang, China is particularly sensitive to this kind of terrorism.

But at least terrorism is not politically divisive; everyone is against it. The real problems arose when friction appeared between the affected countries. Both the families and their governments were keen to find answers; and so the Malaysian government came under attack for not releasing information quickly enough. Meanwhile China, trying to be helpful, released data suggesting that debris had been spotted in the sea of Vietnam, which proved misleading, and the Chinese government admitted afterwards that that information should not have been released.

Under popular pressure, it is easy to see the problems faced by governments in these circumstances. If there is no information, they will be accused of withholding what they know; however, if they release information which they hold before it has been fully checked, this will be counter-productive if it proves false.

And all this time the poor relatives were waiting in an agony of uncertainty. It is not surprising that some of them became angry and started to complain that their governments were not doing enough to solve the mystery. It is entirely understandable that the relatives became impatient; nonetheless, they were demanding from the government more than the government could possibly provide. If there is no information, the most responsible thing a government can do is to state firmly that there is no information; to speculate on guesses and possibilities would almost guarantee disappointment, and would be most irresponsible behaviour.

In the end, following some early quarrels between China, Malaysia and one or two other countries whose lack of cooperation was criticised, the governments affected managed to establish a solid basis for cooperation, sharing what information they possessed, to seek a common purpose rather than to seek advantage over one another. China has provided satellite data, Malaysia all available data about the plane and its flight; Australia, the nearest country to the presumed site of the plane's disappearance, is providing highly sophisticated search equipment, and the British company Inmarsat has proved invaluable tracking information.

This is how international cooperation should work. It is sad that it takes such a major disaster to bring together such a mutually supportive arrangement; but one can hope that in such cases in the future mutual suspicion can be cast aside in the name of common humanity. Remember all the grieving relatives and friends still waiting for news, and think: it could have been me.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.ccgp-fushun.com/opinion/timcollard.htm

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