American food as viewed by China?
Seems that China has destroyed shipments of foods and nutritional supplements from the United States citing the failure to meet Chinese safety standards. Truly a WTF moment.
Raisins and health supplements imported from the United States failed to meet Chinese safety standards and have been returned or destroyed, the country’s food safety agency said Friday.
Inspectors in the ports of Ningbo and Shenzhen found bacteria and sulfur dioxide in products shipped by three American companies, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said.
“The products failed to meet the sanitary standards of China,” the agency said in a brief notice posted on its Web site. No details were given on when or how the inspections were conducted.
Could this be the opening salvo in a protracted trade war? The cynic in me says the leaders will meet, laugh about the news reports, share some exotic and luxurious foods and drink, gift exchange and then go on stage and say that the two nations are working together. Besides, can America survive a trade war with China?
“can America survive a trade war China?”
Thats what I would like to know. I think we are in such a war NOW – – we just aren’t fighting back.
Lou Dobbs just reported the Chinese are building a $300 Million RV Auto Plant in Tijuana to ship cars to USA free of the 25% import tariff. More jobs GONE!. Trade deficit INCREASED. Dollar DEVALUED.
Now—I wouldn’t doubt for a moment that said fruit was contaminated==so the Chinese also are inspecting foreign based food as it enters their country.
Why can’t we be more Chinese?
Do we really need anything from China? or Mexico for that matter?
Just because it’s cheap?
Best Chinese food in the world is in San Francisco… Made from local ingredients… I”m working on sampling the Mexican food also…
I remember the last ‘Chevy I ever purchased… an 1975 El Camino… (made in Mexico) It was a good car but that really really was a surprise.
I like the Chinese people I have met here in the States. but I think they think we are suckers just waiting to be had…
In the coming years when:
smallest cheapest starter homes are 1 million
average income is below 40 k
4 year college is 500 k
korean cars are 40 k
1/2 of Americans are below the poverty line
rolling black outs are common
maybe dumb-ass America; we will say Ross Perot in 92 was right, lobbiest and special interest groups are leaches and sucking the life and jobs out of America!
I’m sure you have been there and eaten that greasy crap.
I agree with you, they will try to cheat everyone if they can.
#3,
I suggest you check your sources on BELOW the poverty line. I think that number is ABIT higher.
Want something to think about…
The imports are CHEAP…REALLY CHEAP.
And its not the Imports that are taking your money..
Its the distributours, resellers, and so forth…
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/
I’ve toyed with importing. Those hearing aid batteries that sell 4 for $5… I can get the best quality from China for 11 cents each. South Korea sells them for 15 cents. That’s already in POS packaging . Add your own brand name and full color for 5 cents a pack. Duracell, Panasonic, etc. are making a killing.
Anti-China paranoia, an American classic !
Get used to it folks, China and India have been, for most of human history the center of the world economy; proximity to the most mouths, it just makes sense. The past 200 years have been an aberration, and the transition back will indeed be painful.
However, America still controls 27% of GDP compared with China’s 5% — the China has merely underwritten the light manufacturing sector. That’s global capitalism, deal with it (competition), as Walmart was your own very creation! Meanwhile, this growth has meant hundreds of millions of Chinese lifting themselves from the drudgery of Maoist inspired poverty.
Play the game to win, don’t just grumble and try to change the rules.
That said, the truly scariest dynamic for me is the world economies (esp. China) dependancy on the spending habits of thedebt ridden (North) American consumer class.
Their action was in direct, culturally consistent response to the recent poisoned Chinese goods scandals in North America.
By falsely making similar claims against American goods, they achieve some measure of damage control by a) saving face with their global end-consumers, and b) satisfying a domestic public need for retaliation.
Peasant consumers of Chinese goods worldwide are hereby given the false impression (which they will, as Beijing knows, accept readily, being peasants) that American goods are of no higher quality than Chinese. Phrases like “See, those two-faced Americans accuse the Chinese of selling poison, when they do it themselves!” will be uttered all over the world, in dozens of languages, by people insufficiently educated or knowledgable to comprehend the gamesmanship of global economic politics. Thereby, to a considerable degree, all-important Chinese ‘face’ is saved. Worth uncountable millions – or billions – of yuan, over time. Brilliant and effective PR move, if of dubious ethicality.
But not to be ignored is the satisfaction felt by no small number of Chinese who swallow their government’s propaganda and accept its excuses that the reports of contaminated pet food and toothpaste are politically motivated lies by the West. For those people, this is well-deserved payback. Their wonderful government is on the job, looking out for them, and protecting them from those Western devils!
… or, OTOH – maybe not. 🙂
#9
Mallwart has taken capitalism to the extreme, and I doubt they would lose sleep over a Web site that’s exposing their methods. What they do worry about is a decrease in sales. So, do yourself a favor… don’t go there. 😉
#10
I don’t know about hearing aid batteries, but for normal AA batteries, the quality of Chinese batteries doesn’t yet match up to brands like Duracell or Energizer for that matter.
12,
Hold on a sec… you used the word ethics to describe a government?
#12 – But not to be ignored is the satisfaction felt by no small number of Chinese who swallow their government’s propaganda and accept its excuses that the reports of contaminated pet food and toothpaste are politically motivated lies by the West… or, OTOH – maybe not
Not… Recently I read an article (tried to find it, but failed) that some 60% of the Chinese population is worried about the quality of the food they eat. Doesn’t really sound like they trust that their Government is up to the task with regulating the food supply? The Chinese knows that their Government is corrupt. They’ve lived with lies for all their lives. They know that the stopped American goods is part of politics.
Oh, they believe their gov’t is corrupt, all right. In fact, culturally speaking, they accept corruption as a universal norm, at least to a significantly greater degree than we in the West do. But the masses also believe that, however corrupt their gov’t is, others, not being Chinese, are even worse. Chauvinism has never been unique to Occidental cultures.
Actually mistrust, whether of gov’ts or individuals, is an inherent trait of the Chinese. Don’t believe me? Go buy a soda at your nearby Chinese-owned convenience store, where you’ve been shopping for years, and see what happens if you’re 7 cents short of the price.
And considering the ‘poison’ scandals of late, which are only large-scale samples of everyday occurences in the East, that mistrust has, it must be said, some good reasons behind it.
Jägermeister, Duracell, Energizer, Rayovac and others all sell batteries that are made in China. Just a different skin but the guts are pretty much the same. I did a lot of research for my batteries (air activated zinc) and decided to drop it when I determined that I was being lied to regarding their source and other details. My South Korea source was better, but still suspect in the end. It was a learning experience.
You have to be willing / have the means, to go there to inspect, buy them and bring them back with you.
The original question remains untouched.
Can we survive a trade war with China?
Probably way too complicated, dismal science, overlapping politcal interests, greed, corruption.
Yep, back to Paris Hilton.
What makes you so sure China could survive a trade war with us?
Tech5 you say
Haven’t people on this board been advocating a trade war with China for some time?
Can the US survive a trade war with China? A better question is can China survive a trade war with US? They would lose hundreds of billions of dollars in sales.
So China would lose because the economic reality is that the buying nation will “always” win over the selling nation? ((Not including food or some other specific critical resource)).
My gut hunch is that is correct. We don’t need tee shirts and tupperware but in a war, the other side will retaliate. Are key computer parts exclusively sourced in China or only in Taiwan? Would China invade Taiwan as part of a trade war? etc.
Still, I would guess we currently have the upper hand. We should exercise out power while we have it, before we have no options???
22,
That works UNTIL someone Pulls the plug.
Such as Raiseing the prices or Cutting the source.
But, in the end, we are paying MORE to our OWN people who bring these products Into the USA, then to anyone else.
So, that the POOR become Poor’er.. And when those goods Go up in price, we are no long the poor…We are the “Have NOTS”.
And sence a good share of GOODS are made over seas. And the corps have made their Plants THERE. As the money works around, those countries will Slowly develope and REQUIRE, higher wages.
As well as,
China is enlargeing Everything to rebuild.
The USA decided to join in and help, and also raised prices 2-3 times for the materials they wished. THIS also raised the prices in the USA.
Wood
Metals
Scrap iron
WE then started Importing WOOD from canada, and Charged a 25% import to the USA. so that WE are paying MORE for imported wood, then we are selling to china.
the USA believes in World priceing..
Which is weird.
WE pay International pricing on GAS.
We inflate the prices we SELL to other nations.
Then we Raise the price in the nation ALSO.
NO other nation DOES that.
Japan, has some really NICE Cellphones, and they are fairly cheap. anyone can buy a new one Every year.
Sold to the USA…WE pay ALOT more for that SAME phone.
That $25 Cellphone you got…Thinking it was a GOOD deal…WITH the 2-3 year contract…Cost about $25 Without the contract in Japan.
That imported Booze you get at the store. Such as Rumpleminz. costs $6 in europe. costs $16+ in the USA..
Think about the corporation that gets a GREAT Cut in tax, because they made a Wonderful donation.
Umm, Where in the hell do you think they got the money for it. By over charging YOU.
so dont Blame Those that WORK for us. Look at the Boss’s at the TOP.
Figure that the Cost of a car in the USA, supposedly MADE in the USA, had most of its parts made over sea’s. that the average Profit margin on EACh car/truck is something around $10,000+.
define lose
24—excellent point. And I would add “define win” as well. I see GOUSA on a long declining curve of productivity and dollar purchasing power. This is natural as the rest of the world builds up on a planet of fixed and distributed resources–but I see our current economic policies as encouraging and supporting overseas competition.
I guess winning and losing is the measure of “standard of living” and whether it is going up or down? GOUSA in my view has been trending down demonstrated by the widening gap between average income and average house price.
So, maybe losing is defined by having our standard of living decline sharper than it would if we counterbalanced the stimuli?
23–Did you take a position other than its our own fault?
Not staking out a position—just looking for analysis.
#16 – But the masses also believe that, however corrupt their gov’t is, others, not being Chinese, are even worse.
Percentage wise, the number of Chinese racists probably equal the number of white racists or black racists for that matter. I’ve met Chinese racists… they’re just as dumb as the white racists.
And considering the ‘poison’ scandals of late, which are only large-scale samples of everyday occurences in the East, that mistrust has, it must be said, some good reasons behind it.
Absolutely.
#17
Duracell, Energizer et al, all have their manufacturing process nailed down to a science. And yes, they all do have plants in China. My point is that the local Chinese manufacturers still have some distance to travel on the QA road. But I’m sure they’ll learn fast by doing some S&D and leap ahead.
South Korea as you mentioned, has a longer tradition of quality than China. It doesn’t mean that China won’t pick up one day.
27—My experience is that some asian cultures including the Chinese actually encourage racial pride, so I think their racist percentage is probably higher than in the West where we atleast make an effort to overcome our baser instincts.
In the novel Taipei, I was amused where two characters, one chinese and one English, were revealed to each thinking less of the other in the same terms because of their race. And later, the chinese woman had a half English child who was upset at his mix race and her attitude was “he should be happy he is atleast half Chinese.” Thought that was a good one.
Course, the most racist mainstream culture on earth is the Japanese, and yet they are polite. I think that makes them inscruitable as well.
We can survive any trade war, because capitalism will force new ways and methods to be found as to replace what is lost. Once you go capitalist, you never go back.
The real question is can China survive a trade war. Capitalism has brought a certain level of freedom to their cities, but not to the countryside of their nation. If China’s link to the United States was tightened it would be likely to stop construction/investment/growth, despite being in its own self-interest, and look towards more protectionist moves.
That being said, it isn’t going to happen. There’s too much money to be lost on both sides.
#28
the Chinese actually encourage racial pride
Don’t mix national pride with racial pride… two different issues. I encourage you to visit China and befriend some Chinese people.
the chinese woman had a half English child who was upset at his mix race and her attitude was “he should be happy he is atleast half Chinese.” Thought that was a good one.
Perhaps you should spend more time with interracial couples instead of grabbing “facts” from a novel. 😉
30—How could I be mixing national pride with racial pride when I only used the word “racial?”
No reason for you to have read earlier that I posted I lived in Japan and visited China, but you are responding to a post wherein I reference “My experience.” and yes, that experience was relevant to what I posted.
I quote the novel not as a fact of any kind but as an eloquent statement of every race taking comfort in their identity. What would spending more time with interracial couples teach me?
#5
I’ve been there and I’ve eaten that so called greasy crap you’ve said, it sure beats your good ole wholesome 2000+ calories broccoli & cheese per serving by Ruby tuesday.
#30
The Chinese don’t give a damn about the forceful use of Korean women as prostitutes by the Japanese during WWII just because the victims are not Chinese.
The Koreans don’t give a damn about the 500,000 chinese murdered by the Japanese in Nanking during WWII just because the victims are not Korean.
And the Japanese doesn’t give a damn about those claims because to them if you’re Asian but not a Japanese you’re less than a dog.
In the end it’s all about ethnic pride at its worst.
#27 on – Jägermeister, bobbo, Angel…
“Percentage wise, the number of Chinese racists probably equal the number of white racists or black racists for that matter. I’ve met Chinese racists… they’re just as dumb as the white racists.”
Whoa, hold up there, d0oD. When I first read that, I thought it was Fusion on another of his obsessive racists-everywhere paranoia trips.
That’s not racism, it’s ethnocentrism, and it’s a normal human trait, an expression of group identity. The more intelligent minority generally rises above it, but it is normal for the majority of humans of average intelligence – which is to say, the majority of humans, period.
When you start thinking that a person’s natural inclination to think most highly of the group into which he was born is “racism”, you’ve ODed on the PC Kool-Aid. “Everybody’s as good as everybody else” no matter how much it appeals to you, is not hardwired into the human brain. It’s an intellectual construct and a product of politics. What is part of our standard equipment is programming that will encourage the individual to act on behalf of his ethic brethren for their mutual survival. It facilitates coöperation. Please save the outraged-Liberal cries of “racism! racism!” for the sheeple.