How did I know he was lying? Because reports of products with problems continued to roll in. And because, in Washington D.C., when the Ambassador from China speaks you can be pretty sure he is telling the truth, as far as he knows it. When the deputy chief of mission is rolled out: the Chinese typically have something to hide.
I hate to give that away but the Chinese know it is true and we know it is true.
At about the same time that the Chinese Embassy’s deputy chief of mission briefed reporters, Li Dongsheng, vice minister for the State Administration for Industry and Commerce in Chiina, told reporters that China had developed “very good, very complete methods” to regulate product safety.
“There is now largely no problem with food safety. It is an issue the people care about greatly,” Mr. Li said. “So if there is a small problem, it becomes a big problem for us. So basically for now, we can guarantee food safety.”
That had to be a lie too.
Later that same afternoon, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a recall of some “Thomas Train” toy items. They were painted in China using lead paint which is toxic. Everyone in the world has known for decades that lead paint is toxic.
Of course the food and product safety scandal widened, even after China had said, “we can guarantee food safety.”
It occurred to me that China had entered Phase Three (schmooze, show that everything is O.K. and move on) even before Phase One and Two had been allowed to play out. By not following their own play book, China got tied up and tripped in its own shoelaces.
What followed was a series of other “summer scandals” including an abuse of child worker scandal (they were making Beijing Olympics 2008 mementos) and a slavery scandal, to name a few.
Today, communist news organs and the India news agency IANS announced gleefully that China had secured another vote to assist its foreign policy goals in the United Nations.
Sudeshna Sarkar, reporting from Kathmandu, Nepal, for the India News Agency (IANS) wrote, “A bounty of 50 million Chinese yuan (over $6.5 million) and promises of more have procured for China fresh diplomatic support from Nepal, with the communist-majority Nepal government stating that it was opposed to Taiwan’s bid to join the UN.”
Excuse me? China is now BUYING votes in the U.N. from client governments and allies?
So we are back where we started. Please excuse me if I am distrustful of just about everything said and done by China’s government.
Related:
U.N. Vote for Sale: China Buys an Ally
China Plans Happy Olympics But A Few “Small” Problems Remain
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