Category: China – Economics

Matt Groening, Say It Ain’t So

From Jay Nordlinger, at National Review:

I’ve always been of two minds about China products — the majority of what Wal-Mart stocks. Globalization has unquestionably been a boon to the Chinese — ordinary Chinese — which is so gratifying. Of course, globalization has been a boon to most everyone else, too. But how do you tell which products from China are free-labor products and which are slave-labor products — items from the Laogai, or Gulag? You cannot, as far as I know.

I once interviewed a man — a Falun Gong practitioner — who, between bouts of torture, was made to manufacture Homer Simpson bedroom slippers. You placed your foot where Homer’s mouth was. He also made Christmas lights.

A slipper that looks like Homer Simpson's head. The wearer's foot goes in Homer's mouth.

(Homer Simpson slipper image from UKexpert.co.uk)

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Former Ag Minister May Not Be As Guilty As People Think

On Tuesday it was revealed that Paul Sun, Taiwan's former Minister of Agriculture, had hired himself out as an unpaid adviser to a Chinese Communist Party agricultural organization.  The response to his conflict of interest was swift and bi-partisanly negative, and rightfully so.  The KMT is going to have to crack down hard on people like Sun, or else they fully deserve the charge of, "Sellout!" every time it's leveled at them.

Sun certainly did himself no favors when speaking in his own defense:

“We shouldn’t see agricultural technology as sensitive material; instead, it should be a public asset. China has large stretches of land and a good plant diversity, and can be seen as an extension of Taiwan’s farmlands,” he said.

About 5,900 Taiwanese farmers or businessmen in the farming industry are in China, Sun said.

“If you view it positively, you can see it as helping Taiwanese farmers become more professional. If you view it negatively, then you can make many criticisms. From the positive side, I feel it is something worth promoting,” he said.

Taiwan’s agriculture should not be shut behind closed doors. Instead, people should open their minds to what is out there, he said.

Here he seems to be saying six thousand Taiwanese farmers in China should be helped at the expense of tens of thousands of Taiwanese farmers back in Taiwan.  And for that, he deserves every bit of criticism that he gets.

However, there is one part of the story that seems to have been overlooked.  After serving as Agriculture Minister, Sun went to work as chairman of Taiwan's Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center (AVRDC), which is a non-profit INTERNATIONAL institution.  Yes, it receives money from Taiwan's national government.  But it also receives money from the Bill Gates foundation and numerous other countries as well.

Now, if the AVRDC was a national institute, this would be an open-and-shut case.  Taiwanese taxpayers contribute to fund the center, and they expect Taiwan's agricultural sector to bear the fruits of whatever research goes on there.

But since it's an international research center, the benefits of its research are supposed to be shared globally.  Its mission statement isn't, "To help Taiwanese farmers," — its mission statement is, "To alleviate poverty and malnutrition in the developing world through the increased production and consumption of safe vegetables."  And in fact, AVRDC has field offices in countries such as Thailand, Tanzania, India, Mali, Uzbekistan, South Korea, Camaroon, Madagasgar, Indonesia, Laos and the Solomon Islands.

There's another conflict-of-interest going on here, that I've just alluded to.  As Agriculture Minister, Sun's job was to strengthen Taiwan's agricultural industry.  But as chairman of AVRDC, his job is to help strengthen OTHER COUNTRIES' farm industries.  Those are two very different sets of hats.  The CEO of Monsanto has every right to quit and pursue his life-long dream of becoming the next Johnny Appleseed.  Monsanto however, has every right to be concerned that its former Chief Executive Officer may be giving away proprietary information.

Same deal applies here.  An investigation should be conducted into Mr. Sun, because during his stint as Ag Minister, he had access to techniques and cultivars developed by national institutions, which were intended to benefit Taiwanese farmers only.  If that's what he gave to China, then he's harmed Taiwan greatly.  But, if he only gave them techniques and cultivars developed by the AVRDC, then he was only doing his job of diseminating the Center's research to the world.

(And, just to reiterate, whatever the outcome of that investigation, he should still be punished for taking a job in the PRC, creating an obvious conflict of interest.)

Chinese Communist Party, Meet Leo Johnson

Bonus points if you remember Leo Johnson was the abusive husband from Twin Peaks.  Leo comes home one night and gets suspicious of the wife.  Seems there are cigarette butts in the ashtray, which aren't the kind Shelly usually buys . . .

"And another thing.  From now on you smoke ONE brand of cigarettes from now on.  Because if I ever see another brand of cigarettes around here, I'm gonna snap your neck like a twig."

Leo is a fictional character. 

Or is he?

Local government officials in China have been ordered to smoke nearly a quarter of a million packs of [Chinese-made] cigarettes in a move to boost the local economy during the global financial crisis.

[…]

Even local schools have been issued with a smoking quota for teachers, while one village was ordered to purchase 400 cartons of cigarettes a year for its officials, according to the local government’s website.

[…]

Three “non-compliant” cigarette butts were discovered by the “cigarette marketing consolidate team” which informed the teacher he had violated the related civil servants “cigarette usage rule” After some negotiation the school was spared a fine, but subjected to “public criticism” for “undisciplined practices”.

Pretty lucky no one's neck got snapped like a twig, huh?

Leo Johnson from Twin Peaks. Leo stands in a street wearing coveralls, while the autumn leaves on the trees are mostly yellow.

(Image of Leo Johnson from MySpace.com)

Hat tip to Counting Cats in Zanzibar for this one.

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SEF Head Unrepentant Over Son’s PRC Ties

The chairman of the Taiwanese organization tasked with negotiating with China . . . has a family member who was doing business with China.

These aren't the droids you're looking for . . .

[Straits Exchange Foundation Chairman Chiang Pin-kung said that although] his son’s company won a contract to represent China’s state-owned steel company, it did not need a special permit because any private company can sell the products.  Besides, Chiang said, the contract expired in January and was not renewed, he said.  [emphasis added]

Well, that makes it alright then . . .

The office in Shanghai is closed and he had asked his family to decrease business ties with China since he took office, he said.

Chiang said he knew very little about his son’s business and rarely asked about it. He also said that he had not used his position to secure any business deals for his son.  [emphasis added]

If you say so, Chiang . . .

The [SEF] statement said [Chiang's son] had resigned from a joint venture and a foundation to avoid any conflict of interest.

Ah.  So at least ONE person realized there was a potential conflict of interest here . . .

He said he hoped the media would be more supportive of him and the cross-strait negotiation team.

Farmer Bao:  Is that a thief I hear in my hen house?

Answer:  There ain't nobody here but us chickens!

Speaking of which, Taiwan's Chinese Nationalist Party was quick to defend that strangely-out-of-place voice emerging from the hen house:

[Mainland Affairs Council Chairwoman Lai Shin-yuan said] that Chiang was not a “policymaker” or “negotiator” in cross-strait affairs, but rather the “executor” of the council’s policy and that the Chiang issue was therefore “irrelevant.

I . . . see.  Chiang is the CHAIRMAN of Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation — but he has absolutely NOTHING to do with the organization's policies or negotiations. 

(No doubt the poor guy just comes in 3 times a week to mop up and clean the windows.  So lay off him, already !)

Support from another quarter:

[KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih] said the [sovereignty-minded opposition party's] criticism was unreasonable as “by DPP logic, family members of a company chairman should all be barred from working for a company and depend on [the chairman] for a living.”

It may come as a surprise to nepotism-lovin' Lin, but some large corporations categorically forbid the hiring of family members.  From the (American) National Conference of State Legislatures:

Nepotism in business, as in public service, brings both costs and benefits. The positive aspects of nepotism include: lower recruiting costs; less employee turnover; higher levels of loyalty, trust and satisfaction; and a sense of "ownership," according to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.  Those businesses that discourage nepotism do so because it may cause problems with favoritism, discipline, fraud, confidentiality and liability.  [emphasis added]

Makes sense to me.  Lots of small mom-and-pop operations hire family members because the benefits of doing so outweigh the disadvantages.  For larger operations, the situation may be reversed, and it's rational for corporations to adopt anti-nepotism policies.

Flash quiz:  Which organization does the country of Taiwan more closely resemble?  A mom-and-pop convenience store on the corner?  Or a large corporation?

*  Despite Lin Yi-shih's retrograde views on nepotism and conflict-of-interest, I must extend grudging admiration to the KMT for choosing a former dentist to be their party whip.  No, really.  I simply cannot imagine a better man for the job. 

(Cue Steve Martin, from Little Shop of Horrors.)

POSTSCRIPT:  The title of this post is shamelessly paraphrased from the Taipei Times' original, "SEF head regretful over son's PRC ties."  Paraphrased, because it turns out that the SEF chairman is decidedly NOT regretful over his son's PRC ties.  As Shaw-Chang Maa of the SEF puts it:

Chairman Chiang and his family never abused his position to secure any business for themselves, so in his mind what he feels regretful is particular media reports based on fake information which could potentially do disadvantages to future cross-strait talks.

I earlier quoted someone from the Mainland Affairs Council who swore up and down that Chiang WASN'T a "policymaker" or "negotiator".  That this conflict-of-interest was "irrelevant".

Yet now, Shaw-Chang Maa comes forward and says that media silence about Chiang's conflicts-of-interest is CRUCIAL to Taiwan's economic well-being.

Maybe some folks ought to sit down and get their talking-points straight.

China Exports Baby Powder Contaminated With Asbestos

Yeesh.  The story, as I understand it, goes like this.  A German baby product company, NUK, licenses its name to a South Korean company.  The South Korean company begins to produce baby powder, under the NUK trademark.  Unfortunately, they use imported talc tainted with asbestos from China.

The asbestos hits the fan when the South Korean FDA finds out.  The baby powder gets pulled from the shelves.

Irony:  Some of the NUK baby powder from South Korea got re-exported back into China.  So, right back atcha.

How Defective Chinese Products Reveal Beijing’s Priorities

Y’know, I sure wish it’d been me who’d made this observation:

Since China is a totalitarian state*, it means the government has its fingers in just about every conceivable pie there is, except the ones it really ought to.  Monitoring speech? Check.  Blocking internet access?  Check.  Busting dissidents who post online (with the help of Google)?  Check.  Forcing women to have abortions if they violate [the] “one child” [policy]?  Check.

One thing the Chinese are not short of is government oversight.  It’s just that consumer safety is not a priority for them at all.

* I’d call it authoritarian instead, but pffft.  The guy’s general point still stands.

Premium Mainland Quality

Now, with 5% MORE diethylene glycol!

Package of sliced cheese in Taiwan. The package declares the cheese has Premium Mainland Quality. (Cheese is actually from New Zealand).

(Photo by The Foreigner)

These cheese slices are actually made in New Zealand, not China.  (And, just to cover myself, they do NOT contain diethylene glycol.)

All kidding aside, don’t the boys in marketing realize that when it comes to foodstuffs, the expression "mainland quality" may have lost some of its cachet in recent days?

UPDATE:  Looks like "Mainland" is the brand name.  Oh well.  Still good for a cheap laugh.

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