VZCZCXRO1370
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #5899/01 2522233
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 092233Z SEP 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1641
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC
RULSDMK/DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAEPA/HQ EPA WASHDC
RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIJING 005899 
 
SIPDIS 
 
EAP/PD FOR NIDA EMMONS 
HHS FOR OGHA/STEIGER AND PASS TO FDA/LUMPKIN 
USDA FOR FSIS/RAYMOND 
USDA FOR FAS OA/YOST, OCRA/ALEXANDER, OSTA/BRANT AND SHNITZLER 
USDOC FOR 4420 MAC/OCEA/ACINO 
USDOC FOR 6300 MAS/HIJIKATA 
STATE PASS TRANSPORTATION FOR NHTSA ABRAHAM/KRATZKE 
STATE PASS CONSUMER PRODUCTS SAFETY COMMISSION RICH O'BRIEN/INTL 
PROGRAMS 
STATE PASS USTR CHINA OFFICE/TIM WINELAND 
STATE PASS OMB/INT'L AFFAIRS 
STATE PASS HOMELAND SECURITY COUNCIL 
STATE PASS IMPORT SAFETY WORKING GROUP 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON ETRD TBIO PREL CH
SUBJECT:  CHINESE AUTHORITIES LAUNCH PUBLIC FOOD AND PRODUCT SAFETY 
CAMPAIGN 
 
REF: A. Beijing 5273 
¶B. Shanghai 302 
¶C. Guangzhou 911 
 
BEIJING 00005899  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Chinese authorities launched a massive campaign in 
late August to publicize their improvements to China's food safety 
and product 
quality systems.  The TV, print, and internet coverage coincided 
with the release of the August 20 "White Paper on the Food Safety 
and Quality 
Situation," the first two meetings of the State Council Leading 
Group on Food and Product Safety on August 23 and 27, and the August 
31 announcement of a 
revamped domestic food and product recall system. Media coverage 
gave Chinese regulatory leaders the opportunity to defend publicly 
the quality of Chinese 
goods, deflect claims about China's culpability for the spate of 
quality problems, and suggest that industry and importers share some 
of the blame for quality shortcomings. It has also given authorities 
some political cover for October's 17th Party Congress to show that 
they are proactive, support Chinese manufacturing and brands, and 
oppose "protectionist" policies of importing 
countries. Chinese officials have reacted aggressively to foreign 
media coverage and official U.S. food import alerts and product 
recalls, repeatedly and publicly citing quality problems among 
several U.S. manufacturers (Ref. A) and recent U.S. agricultural 
exports. END SUMMARY. 
 
STATE MEDIA APPARATUS HARD AT WORK 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Beginning August 17 for two weeks, Chinese media reported 
heavily on food and product safety issues as part of a massive 
campaign to support a 
series of official announcements about government steps to shore up 
quality systems. The media coverage coincided with the release of 
the August 20 "White 
Paper on the Food Safety and Quality Situation," the first two 
meetings of the State Council Leading Group on Food and Product 
Safety on August 23 and 27, 
and the August 31 announcement of a revamped domestic food and 
product recall system.  The three primary sources for high-level 
statements on the issue are 
State Council Vice Premier and State Council Leading Group on Food 
Safety and Product Quality Chair Madame Wu Yi, General 
Administration for Quality 
Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ) Minister Li 
Changjiang, and Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) Vice Minister Gao 
Hucheng.  Other senior 
officials, including Agricultural Minister Sun Zhengcai, have also 
appeared in interviews. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Statements from these officials indicate that the 
government sees the issue as an overall national economic priority 
(thus the creation of the 
Leading Group), as a regulatory issue (thus the involvement of 
AQSIQ), and even as a trade issue (thus statements by Gao Hucheng 
and even MOFCOM Minister Bo Xilai). Nationally broadcast television 
programs on August 17, 19 and 20, two of which featured AQSIQ 
Minister Li, as well as the State Council Leading Group 
teleconference on August 23 featuring Wu Yi, and a MOFCOM press 
conference on August 23 have given officials platforms to push their 
unchallenged points in a controlled environment. While State Council 
pronouncements are focused on the details and principles of 
regulatory improvements, AQSIQ and MOFCOM officials have taken a 
more aggressive tone both in public and also in private meetings 
 
BEIJING 00005899  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
with U.S. officials, pointing to 
shortcomings in U.S. product quality and blaming foreign media for 
misreporting facts. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Post has noted that the Chinese side's talking points on 
food and product safety issues have been standardized across Chinese 
government 
agencies, as follows: 
 
-- Chinese manufacturing and food products are good quality. The 
world should not use a few examples to characterize all of China's 
manufacturing and food 
production industries. The world benefits from Chinese 
manufacturing. 
-- Poor quality is a global problem, not a Chinese problem. No 
country can have a perfect record on food or product safety. 
-- Media are misreporting the facts and exaggerating the scope of 
problems with Chinese goods. 
-- There are product problems, standards problems, and problems with 
factual reporting. These are not all China's fault. 
-- The quality of Chinese food exports to other countries exceeds 
the quality of U.S. and other countries' food exports to China. 
-- U.S. food and industrial product shipments to China have 
experienced their own quality problems, and China expects the United 
States to take corrective measures to prevent a recurrence of these 
problems. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In addition to the national campaign, local officials have 
launched their own public relations initiatives. In Shanghai, which 
is considered to 
have a strong and independent-minded local inspection system, Dputy 
Mayor Zhou Taitong announced that a special food and product safety 
working group 
would be created (Ref. B). The Guangzhou Vice Mayor spoke at a 
city-government organized product safety conference August 20, where 
he emphasized to 3,000 
attendees the key role of local officials in enforcing food and 
product safety rules and proposed severe sanctions on violators of 
food safety regulations (Ref. C). Guangzhou officials have announced 
their own efforts to revamp their 
food safety monitoring system by the end of 2008. 
 
AQSIQ PUBLICLY CRITICAL OF U.S. 
CAUTION, BUT MAKES CHANGES ANYWAY 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) An August 19 program "Dialogue: Trusting Made in China" 
(xiangxin zhongguo zhizao) with AQSIQ Minister Li used video clips 
of spotless factories 
and emotional background music to polish the "made in China" image. 
Foreign and Chinese executives from firms such as Motorola and Otis 
Elevator affirmed 
to Minister Li their confidence in the quality of Chinese 
manufacturing.  The program's host addressed the June 13 Thomas the 
Train toy recall by pointing 
to a sample toy set and noting that the lead paint was found only in 
the small red stop sign. (Note: U.S. Consumer Product Safety 
Commission confirmed to 
econoff that lead paint existed in other toy set pieces as well. End 
Note.) The show's host held up another plastic toy figurine and 
Minister Li noted 
that the lead paint was only contained in the figure's eyelashes, 
and was a very small amount. The Minister conceded that the U.S. 
lead standard was 
different than the Chinese standard.  Still, he said, to "demonize" 
all of China manufacturing because of these few examples was unfair 
 
BEIJING 00005899  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
and was a form of 
protectionism.  "Products with defects should be recalled," he said, 
"but these examples should not be used as excuses to say that all 
Chinese products 
are bad." 
 
¶7. (SBU) When an audience member asked how China was going to 
address the one-percent of substandard goods in China (a figure 
cited by Minister Li himself), 
Minister Li said that products from U.S. firms G.E., Bucyrus, John 
Deere, and St. Jude Medical had experienced quality problems in 
China. The Minister also said 200 Hummer vehicles imported into 
China did not meet Chinese standards, and short-circuit in a piece 
of Bucyrus mining equipment caused an explosion 
that threatened lives. Poor product quality is a global phenomenon, 
he said, and even the United States has experienced problems. 
 
¶8. (SBU) Minister Li said that China took U.S. concerns seriously, 
and so China revoked the manufacturing and export permits for two 
plants involved in the pet food investigation. (Note: Chinese 
investigations into the incident 
are still continuing. AQSIQ and local CIQ offices are now inspecting 
and testing all plant protein exports for possible melamine 
contamination prior to 
shipment. End Note.)  He also said China would cease the use of the 
chemical DEG in toothpaste, even though Chinese standards permit its 
use. (Note: The 
Minister did not indicate if he was referring to cessation of use of 
DEG for toothpaste for domestic consumption or for export, and did 
not refer 
specifically to any new regulations on China's DEG standard. DEG is 
not allowed in any toothpaste marketed in the United States. End 
Note.) In an 
August 28 meeting, AQSIQ Vice Minister Wei Chuanzhong told 
Representatives Rick Larsen (D-WA) and Mark Kirk (R-IL) that there 
is still no conclusive evidence that melamine contamination was 
responsible for the death of U.S. pets. (Note: FDA has not 
identified melamine as the cause of death either. The 
combination of suspect protein compounds and analogues present in 
the melamine purification process is to blame. End Note.) 
 
¶9. (SBU) Chinese official statements emphasize that the government's 
response to recent U.S. complaints on melamine-contaminated plant 
protein and DEG- 
contaminated toothpaste go beyond what is required of them under 
Chinese law, and yet they still acknowledge AQSIQ's responsibility 
to ensure Chinese 
exports meet the standards of the importing country.  China has 
voluntarily adjusted its rules to meet U.S. standards and alleviate 
U.S. concerns, even 
though from the Chinese perspective there is no scientific basis for 
such differences in the standards. While China is taking action to 
respond to its own quality problems, the United States, in turn, 
appears within the lens of Chinese media to be passive toward to its 
own alleged substandard exports. 
(Note: U.S. firms and USG agencies are investigating Chinese claims 
of substandard products. Some investigations have revealed that 
Chinese claims 
about quality problems are not always corroborated by U.S. 
suppliers. The Chinese claim in one case about the cause of turbine 
malfunction has been in 
dispute by the U.S. supplier for over one year.  Another claim about 
defective pacemakers was actually the result of a product labeling 
error and a 
misunderstanding by Chinese port inspectors about variable power 
levels in the product. Other investigations are still ongoing.) 
 
BEIJING 00005899  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
CHINA ASKS: WHO IS TO BLAME? 
----------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Chinese officials frequently address the issue of who 
should be blamed for China's food and product safety problems. From 
their perspective, 
there are several culprits: 
 
-- A small number of small-scale enterprises in China operating 
outside regulatory channels and which are breaking the law. 
-- The media, which exaggerate coverage and overlook the role of 
design flaws and standards in consumer product recalls. 
-- Manufacturers, who have allowed design flaws to get into the 
system. 
-- Suppliers, who are cutting corners to keep costs down, under 
pressure from their customers. 
-- Protectionists, who are taking advantage of the situation to 
promote their own (trade) agendas. 
 
While Chinese authorities do not claim to be blameless, they are 
eager to note that others must take some responsibility for problems 
they helped create. Minister Li in an August 27 press conference 
questioned what level of responsibility the manufacturers in China 
(including multinational operations, like Mattel), U.S. importers, 
and other parties should all bear when products do not conform to 
standards and lead to recalls. He pointed to the need for several 
parties to share the financial costs of these mistakes. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) Convinced that some of the accusations against Chinese 
products stem from protectionist rather than scientific concerns, 
AQSIQ is lashing out with countercharges in an attempt to deter what 
it considers baseless charges. For the last three months, AQSIQ has 
singled out "quality deficiencies" in U.S. 
goods and companies in front of government media outlets.  These 
actions have significantly increased the risk of U.S. firms in 
exporting some products, 
especially food products, and have had direct financial impact on 
many U.S. companies. 
 
¶12. (SBU) Public attention on food and product safety will most 
likely intensify over the coming weeks as the government implements 
a month-long campaign of food and product safety awareness in late 
August and September even as it continues to roll-out the four-month 
campaign to strengthen the entire national food and product safety 
regulatory system.  How China intends to ensure local enforcement of 
new directives, whether it has the resources to carry out this 
enforcement, and whether that enforcement will be consistent 
following the initial four-month campaign remains to be seen. Post 
will continue to report on these and other developments. 
 
RANDT