August 26, 2007
Dangerous goods

Everyday I see news about more dangerous goods from China. The "Made in China" branding is now in serious danger. Manual labour is cheap in China, and I assume, some not above board, right? Quality not up to scratch, I read from some news site (can't remember which one), that the China brand is synonymous to Taiwan products nowadays, or to Japanese and Korean products back decades ago. China has blossomed with technological advances, and with a price... greed. Corruption can be found, and Chinese government has been trying to stamp it down. It's good that they have taken steps to increase quality assurances, but how long would this take? How will Chinese exports suffer, given dodgy exports is only a "fraction" of their exports. That's still alot to hurt and dent consumer confidence.

I don't want to criticise China for blunders and greed of a proportion of people, undermining market prices of goods with quality that would harm a small child, engulf a home in flames etc. But knowing that some of these goods get into Ireland as well, just makes me more aware. And it's not just cheap goods, mind you, big toy labels like Mattel has been doing millions of recalls the last few months.

China maybe the superpower for all Chinese to be proud of, but yet it has so far to go. Until then, I'm going to be cautious on these goods.

(It's a posting I've been putting off for awhile, but since I've been thinking all these thoughts, might as well put it into words. )

Posted by whykay at August 26, 2007 12:46 PM