East Meets West

It is always a pleasure to watch the Chinese government squirm at the hands of the western media. Officials haven't developed the PR skill set, to their detriment, so they just swat at imaginary flies in the air.

"Two senior quality control officials have lashed out at a section of the foreign media for inciting fears over the safety of Chinese products. "Some foreign media, especially those based in the US, have wantonly reported on so called unsafe Chinese products. They are turning white to black," Minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine Li Changjiang said during inspection of some food enterprises in Beijing yesterday. This is the first time the administration has used such strong words against foreign media reports on China's food safety. Li conceded that there were problems with certain domestic companies, but said: "One company's problem doesn't make it a country's problem. If some food products are below standard, you can't say all the country's food is unsafe [ed - I think you could go beyond "some" to "many"]." During another inspection in neighboring Tianjin Municipality, the administration's Party Secretary Li Chuanqing, too, criticized the foreign media for arousing unnecessary fears."