The news from China and Burma: then and now.

Natural disasters transcend state boundaries and nationalities and remind us, quite brutally, that we mere humans are not ultimately in charge, that our capacity to control our fate is not unlimited, and that it is the forces of nature (which we barely understand) that ultimately call the shots of our destinies.

At the same time--leaving aside differing ideologies, politics and religions--disasters also remind us that there's no time like the present for the appearance and application of competent government.

That's the key lesson to be drawn from a close look at the recent horrors in China and Myanmar. One government responded about as well as it could, and the other appeared to take almost satanic pleasure in responding as grudgingly as it could. The result was a view of two very different governments--one looking to find its place in the future, the other withdrawing like a frightened snail back into its oblivious shell.

To be sure, China has never been a world leader in the crisis-response department, still isn't, and probably never will.

It will take a transformation in the role of the nation's news media to routinely turbo-charge the reaction of Beijing to earthquakes and other national tragedies.

At the same time, let's be fair about what has happened.

The response of China's national government, led by the avuncular media visage of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, was not bad at all by international standards. Indeed, by Beijing's previous performances, the recent rapid marshaling of resources looked to be a quantum jump in responsiveness.

Sleepy Response

Just compare it to Washington's initial sleepy response in 2005 to Hurricane Katrina. Do that and the Chinese actually come out looking rather good. Even though Katrina proved to be one of the five deadliest U.S. hurricanes ever, Washington acted for days as if New Orleans had been hit with something no more menacing than a light rain.

True, no one would accuse the Bush administration of the moral callousness of the Myanmar (also known as Burma) government in the face of its devastating tornadoes.

The Burmese junta government of General Than Shwe is in a class by itself--which is to say it only cares for its own self-preservation no matter the cost to its people.

The insolence of the indolent Burmese government raises two central concerns. One is the extent to which this can or should be all but ignored by ASEAN, the neighboring regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Myanmar became a member in 1997.

The theory then was that membership might mellow the junta into something like a humanoid entity. That calculation--perhaps plausible at the time--has proven flawed over time.

Nobody seems to be able to knock some sense into the junta. China itself, blocking U.N. Security Council action, seems not to even want to try. By stark contrast, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, working over time as always, could not even get Than Shew to answer his telephone call.

If I were running ASEAN, I'd kick Myanmar out of the organization.

And if I were Ban Ki-moon, I'd let Beijing know, quietly, that there are limits to the humble groveling servitude of the U.N. Secretary-General to the will of the five powerful permanent members of the Security Council, which includes of course China.

The other lesson is how to improve national governance so that citizens get the best deal possible from their government.

Not Adequately Addressed

This issue has not always been adequately addressed in Asia. No more. Increasingly recognized in the region is the vital relevance of best governmental practices.

This standard remains more or less separate from the issue of whether a government is formally democratic or not. Rather than focusing on the classification of the political system--authoritarian, democratic, developmental, totalitarian--the new standard raises the bar for how well the system (of whatever kind) delivers services to the people. That makes increasing sense.

To this end, tiny Singapore is trying to establish regional standards by serving as the intellectual center of what constitutes good service government. Its National University and its Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy aggressively seek to locate the brightest governmental careerists in the region and offer them best-practices training in government.

"We hope to attract some really bright students ... and are looking to governments around here to put their future and current high-fliers through the rigorous leadership and management training," explained Singapore Professor Christopher Earley, dean of business school, adding: "In the fast-paced complex global economy ... top-tier administrative officers in government and their enterprises (need) to be visionary, strategic, prudent, pragmatic policy-makers--and enterprising administrators."

China, though it may have a truly dreadful political system, understands that it is this approach that is the wave of the future.

The Burmese generals either do not--or care not.

UCLA professor Tom Plate teaches Asia politics and media, and is a syndicated columnist.