Chinese Imports - Dangerous, or Trade War?

China has taken a beating in the media - regarding the safety of the goods it was importing to the US.

Was this simply a case of poor control by the Chinese manufacturer's - or was it a case of sabotage?

I believe there's good reason to believe it was operation from US agents - intended to threaten China, strengthen the US negotiating position and force China to accept measures to balance its trade deficit with the US.

One of the main reasons that I suspect foul play, is purely based on the range, frequency and depth of the media coverage. The US media can hardly be considered a reliable and unbiased source of news - but rather is now, and has been for a long time a propaganda factory.

This link tells the story of the tensions that underlined a pressing need to re-balance the trade deficit with China.

useconomy.about.com...

Here's a quick quote for those who tire of reading too much;

In 2006 brand new U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson - was given the mission.

"His first mission was to start a series of Strategic Economic Dialogues with China to convince them to loosen their peg against the dollar, to raise the price of Chinese exports, help U.S. companies become more competitive, and lower the trade deficit."

Here's an article about contaminated milk; reading the article one wonders why the issue was never raised prior to 2006 (after our main man Paulson was on the job), and why "2 million pounds" of product were accepted - but suddenly its a huge issue?

www.foodandwaterwatch.org...

Here's a much more telling story regarding the manager of a toy manufacturer - who has been selling toys to the US for years with no problems, then suddenly his trusted supplier "ran out of paint" and supplied leaded paint without his knowledge, his company failed to test that batch of paint (well, the supplier had been reliable for years). Afterward, he hanged himself.

www.atimes.com...

This particular story seems a little bit too much to me. Also the question is - how was it detected in the US so quickly, especially when the effected batch of toys was quite small. It seems unlikely that all toys are tested - probably only new suppliers - so detecting the problem by chance seems fairly .. er lucky?

Here's a link from the distributor in the US.

www.irrawaddy.org...

This article tells us that an "internal" audit detected the problem - and very quickly I might add. More interestingly "Cheok said markets such as Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Korea, China and Taiwan were not affected by the recall." One wonders why ONLY the US market received these toys?

Now, after some "negotiating" with China, Paulson appears to have a measure of success. I think negotiations are certainly helped along when you 'smash the crap' out of your opponent with dirty tricks. But those who know Paulson, would of course defend his integrity and honest character .. er cough, cough ..

[edit on 19-4-2009 by Amagnon]

Interesting ...and thanks.
I feel that this is going to open up a slew of debates on many topics.....
Why do we feel we need this crap?
Why did our companies move their manufacturing operations to China?
Why are Chinese "Epa" laws so lenient?
ummmmm....on and on and on.

So..do you suppose that if there is a cease and desist that Wal-Marts would start shutting down and "Americans" would be without?????

Let the games begin!!!


Peace....

In this household, when we're in the grocery store, and we find food from China, we put it back on the shelf. After all those scares (esp. with melamine), we feel that it's just not worth taking a chance. Whether it's sabotage or not hardly matters because it forces us to buy domestic (North American), which we should be doing anyway as American/Canadian citizens.

Outsourcing MUST end! We haven't been taking care of our own for a while now and it's time to stop allowing the few (which constitute the ruling elite) to disregard the needs of the many (our own citizens). If we want to help out other countries once we're in a better place, I have no issue with that. But we're nowhere near that point yet and if we don't stop what we're doing, our markets are going to be overrun with cheap junk from China (not just tainted food). I don't know if you've noticed just how flimsy things are now. I can't imagine any of my things lasting long enough to become an antique (unless it already is one; manufactured in western Europe or North America)!

I think we would all be fine without Walmart if we all had decent jobs, wages & benefits. The bottom line is that most of us don't have any of those things, let alone all three.

Vote with your wallets!

[edit on 19-4-2009 by X-tal_Phusion]

reply to post by Amagnon


Very interesting theory. (S&F)

It does make logical sense that if you wanted to create distrust for Chinese manufacturing you would go about it in this manner, however it also makes sense that if you wanted to destroy the trust for Chinese goods you could do a little more than these incidents. The level of fear that is being obtained by these incidents is not really as much as could be attained if the MSM really wanted to flog Chinese manufacturing. Also, it could all be part of a bigger plan to sow the seeds of distrust in Chinese manufacturing so that a bigger more insidious flaw could be introduced into some product line which would cause actual deaths or sickness and thus attaining the desired level of fear.

However, it could all just be shady Chinese quality control but it is beginning to seem more and more like that is not all that is going on due to the frequency and coverage as you have pointed out.

reply to post by Amagnon


Hmmmn, not really hearing this problem in the UK? I am guessing that America has the same standards as EU/EC?? Isn't this why we have regulations, HMC&E and stuff?

Example - This link talks about the EU regulations regarding imports from U.S.

edit - due to the cache messages i'm getting, i guess i'm not meant or permitteed to link it (.gov website)





[edit on 19-4-2009 by MCoG1980]

reply to post by Amagnon


Thank you for starting this thread - I’m so glad to see you did.
I’ll admit right up front I don’t believe the majority of the claims made by MSM concerning the harmful substances found in products imported from China.
My reasons why link arm in arm with yours.
I’m really going to enjoy this thread.
Let me scratch up some of the info I’ve got and get back to you tomorrow (it’s after midnight here).
For now I just wanted to say thanks, lend my support and a S&F to get this pushed up and noticed.
Thanks again -

peace