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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| China declares 'war' on tainted products |
| 2007-08-24 |
| BEIJING, China (Reuters) -- China has launched a four-month "war" on tainted food, drugs and exports, state media reported on Friday, as beleaguered officials embraced time-tested campaign tactics to clean up the country's battered image. About long enough to get the MSM focused on something else. Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi told officials the campaign, to run to the end of the year, would focus on problem products that have badly dented domestic and foreign consumers' confidence in the "Made in China" label. That health and safety inspection thingy might be starting to make sense with them now. "This is a special battle to protect the health and personal interests of the public and to protect the reputation of Chinese goods and the national image," Wu said, according to the government Web site. The world's largest toymaker, Mattel, recalled more than 18 million Chinese-made toys in mid-August because of hazards from small magnets that can cause injury if swallowed, just two weeks after it recalled 1.5 million toys due to fears over lead paint. Wal-Mart said it was asking suppliers to resubmit testing documentation for the toys it sells after Mattel's move. Other Chinese export scares have hit toothpaste, animal-food ingredients, tires, eels and seafood, and deadly chemicals that found their way into cough medicine, killing dozens of patients in Panama. Yeah, don't eat Chinese tires. Shaken by the product scares, China has fought back with new rules, factory shutdowns, constant news conferences and now an old-style campaign to shake up local officials often more focused on economic-growth targets. You forgot about making up $hit about US exports to China. Wu blamed lax inspection and enforcement and failure of officials in rival agencies to cooperate. She vowed to whip them into line with a list of eight tasks and 20 specific goals. "Clearly, this is an autocratic, top-down approach using campaigning methods," said Mao Shoulong, an expert on public policy at the People's University of China. For once I sort of see an advantage to an autocracy. "In China, this campaigning method still has a role to play in addressing relatively simple problems, because when grassroots officials see the premier or vice premier taking up an issue, focusing on it, they know they also have to sit up and pay attention." Since 1949, the ruling Communist Party has often resorted to short-term storming campaigns to deal with enemies, pests and policy bottlenecks, though the frequency and intensity of these efforts have died down in past decades. "The execution of Zheng Xiaoyu was also part of that campaigning approach to get officials' attention," said Mao, referring to the former head of the national food and drug safety watchdog, who was executed in July for taking bribes. I'll bet that got his attention! In the latest health scare the Shanghai Daily reported on Friday that city officials had seized more than a ton of kelp soaked in a toxic chemical to keep it looking fresh. They also found fake wine and vinegar. Fake wine? Wu, the powerful trade-policy chief who was named head of a leading group on product safety, announced targets to clean up pig slaughtering, restaurants and canteens, pesticide use, food additives and the country's vital exports. Vital exports? You mean like lead in paint, baby toys, wiring insulation, etc.? She defended the general quality of food exports but said there were also deep-seated problems. Rat poison, lead, and ethylene glycol, etc. aside, they are fine products. "In some businesses the management level is low, production conditions are poor, quality levels and standards are low, and reliability is weak," she said. Hmm. All those extra costs. |
| Posted by:gorb |
| #9 China declares war 'with' tainted products Far closer to the truth. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-24 21:11 |
| #8 I'm starting to think we are not dealing with a case of "Let's make crap for the export market", but simply everyday business in China. And you'd be thinking right. Notice how it is only the threat of profit loss that is driving this crackdown and not any compromise of actual reputation. Being known for high quality has absolutely nothing to do with this. We are the recipients of goods from a culture centered upon minimal or marginal product quality, not true competition involving premium workmanship. Such an expensive notion is almost entirely foreign to the typical Chinese profit motive. It goes a long way towards explaining China's institutionalized theft of intellectual property, constant copyright violations and routine knocking off of counterfeit products. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2007-08-24 21:09 |
| #7 I first read it as: China declares war 'with' tainted products |
| Posted by: ed 2007-08-24 18:02 |
| #6 "Tainted products--- Yep, Taint food, drugs or any exports from here that are worthashit" |
| Posted by: USN, Ret. 2007-08-24 15:14 |
| #5 I'm starting to think we are not dealing with a case of "Let's make crap for the export market", but simply everyday business in China. For all it's modernisation, China is still feudal, imperial China with the Party taking the place of the emperor. There is no OSHA or Underwriters Laboratories, the country is heavily polluted, and as they say "the mountains are high and the emperor is far away". I suspect toxic food and goods are everyday items of commerce. I pity the Chinese. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-08-24 14:58 |
| #4 Cheap and unreliable I remember. Life threatening? Not so much. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2007-08-24 12:36 |
| #3 "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!" "Uh, sir, that's your blanket or is it the dog biscuits?!" |
| Posted by: Skunky Ebbinesing8410 2007-08-24 12:15 |
| #2 the American consumer should make it happen. |
| Posted by: Heriberto Ulusomble6667 2007-08-24 12:06 |
| #1 Back in the 50's, 'Made in Japan' meant cheap unreliable products. The Japanese government set out to change that. First a ministry was established to insure goods sold abroad would meet strict specification in quality. It took about ten years to work it all out. We can see the effect in the market place. It first of all takes honest real commitment upon those in power to make it happen. We'll see. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2007-08-24 11:52 |