WHILE the world is still applauding the stupendous achievement of the Beijing Olympics and Paralympics, the scandal of its poisonous milk has demonstrated another and quite shocking side of Chinese life — the drive to profit, whatever the social or welfare costs. At the heart of the poisoning of powdered milk for babies and at least 10 percent of all China’s liquid milk from its three biggest dairies, lies the deliberate mixing in of the industrial chemical melamine used in the production of plastics. The substance was added to milk that had been deliberately watered down, to boost its nitrogen content, thus allowing it to pass protein quality-control tests. What is so remarkable is that food scientists who were smart enough to come up with this scam, presumably with the approval of their bosses who must have signed off payment for large shipments of melamine, were not also aware that this was a poison which would end up killing and damaging people who bought the products.
At what point did those in charge consider the reputational damage not just to their own companies but, as it turns out, to China’s international commercial standing as well? Malaysia and Singapore have banned Chinese dairy imports and other countries will follow.
China has some of the most comprehensive health and safety and food hygiene laws in the world. The problem is that such regulations are not worth the paper they are written on unless they are enforced. And this is where the system breaks down. Provincial and central regulators apply different standards in different ways. Worse, because these bureaucrats are poorly paid but regulating highly profitable companies, the temptation of bribery is great. No doubt, some officials do their job to the best of their ability, but it only takes a few rotten apples in the barrel for the whole establishment to become corrupt. Nor is such payola confined to China. Currently drowned out by its financial crisis, the US is facing a massive tax and regulation scandal involving its domestic oil producers. Nevertheless, such is the economic surge in China that even an untainted regulatory system would be hard-pressed to keep pace with the rapid expansion. Unfortunately this is far from the only evidence of companies breaking the rules. Many of the buildings, including schools that collapsed in May’s earthquake in Sichuan, clearly contravened construction regulations that stipulated they should be quakeproof. In the wake of that disaster the local authorities moved to cover up the whole affair. Thankfully, no such maneuver is possible with the milk scandal. The executives responsible for this crime are likely to pay dearly, perhaps with their lives. But China regularly executes people for bribery but still the corruption continues.
Part of the problem is that throughout its history China has been careless of individual as opposed to communal rights. This is China’s way, as it is in a subtly different fashion in Japan and Korea. But this outlook will challenge China’s assumption of its new place in the world, as well as fostering further disasters like the poisoned milk.
