Time to Get a Backbone

China pledged to raise standards at domestic factories and processing plants by the end of the year in a bid to restore US consumer confidence in Chinese exports, the Financial Times reported. The conciliatory tone at a Thursday media briefing in New York was a departure from the rhetoric in a domestic media campaign that aired last week criticizing foreign recalls of Chinese products as a "new trend in trade protectionism." Kuang Weilin, China's deputy consul general in New York, said there would be "zero tolerance for violators or government officials who fail to perform their duties."

Here's the problem: the domestic market is the market that needs to hear the tough rhetoric rather than the whiny trade protectionist victimization propoganda. That domestic ad blitz last week sent a message to domestic manufacturers that China's manufacturing standards are good enough. Wrong. They aren't.

This is a crummy time to send mixed messages which is all the Chinese government seems to be capable of. Hu needs to take the lead and say "By XXX X, 2008, China will have these quality standards in place and no deviations will be allowed". Then he should delegate enforcement responsibilities to his ministers and hold them accountable for enforcement.

I'm not sure why, but the Chinese roll over and play victim frequently.