Figure Concord (FC). Fictional Li Changjiang, Sixteenth Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, Director of the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine; thank you and welcome.
Li Changjiang (L). The pleasure is mine.
FC. The dead cat, as it were, was just that. Additives in canned food, in February causing the confirmed deaths of a dozen pets across several states, marked the first time many of us Americans heard about products from China containing extraneous and dangerous chemicals. As either part of a trend or rapid discovery, reports of toxins in Chinese imports have been unremitting.
L. As my government pledged to the World Health Organization, the People's Republic "has consistently placed a high priority on the work of food safety." This news is infelicitous, reflecting poorly on China's good name and business.
FC. It is also alarming, as the extent of deficiencies in craftsmanship is now well beyond comestibles. Mattel, Inc. is recalling several million of its products, some toiletries are suspect and there was even an embalming agent found in children's clothing traded to New Zealand.
L. Most products from China are safe.
FC. Lotteries are conducted to award prizes, not a serious illness. For consumers, the most important figures are the numbers of scares.
L. Let me repeat what I told reporters on Monday. Those companies from whose factories came the items in question are culpable. But are we, perhaps, neglecting to consider the oversight for which foreign buyers and distributors are responsible?
FC. Yes, and you completed that statement by referring to "serious problems" in design. If I may, Mr. Director — it is incumbent on the contractor to supply for production not only the quantity but the quality of materials commensurate to those specified. When Mattel has been in the toy business for sixty years, never having ordered recalls quite like the latest, let alone because of use of materials with prohibitions so settled as lead paint — and the manufacturer's country of origin is China — to believe otherwise one must mount an assault, à outrance, against logic.
L. As I have said, this is a disagreement over "different standards" between buyers and sellers.
FC. You are aware, Mr. Li, of the difference between right and wrong?
L. I know what is intrinsic and what is extrinsic to my country. Do you understand?
FC. I am afraid I do.
L. The Communist Party, in the legacy of the judicious Chairman Mao Tse Tung, spent over three decades learning how to sublimate the esurience — the recklessness — of the capitalist. We are only now, finally, able to apply the lessons of our history and build wealth carefully and properly. Have we made mistakes? Perhaps since the West is still impatient for China to act alike, we sometimes hurry to please, and repeat some of your own errors. Is it a reasonable thing to say that because the obligation of standards has been delegated to the market, industry is no longer under the conduction of the government?
FC. It is a literal thing to say.
L. Are the Chinese not allowed to prosper, to enter the modern world? If so, must we be perfect?
FC. The matter is more of that which "China" and "the Chinese" are respectively comprised, the depth of those "different standards," and by whom they are elected. One more question, Mr. Li, a bit of a non sequitur, but I thought I would ask. How does one take Tiger Mountain?
L. By strategy, of course. However slowly — patiently, assiduously, unrelentingly. The Chinese know that we are different, but we are confident. To continue your metaphor, if I may, the worldwide acceptance of our rise as an eventuality spares us doubt, even humiliation, when we stumble here and there along the incline.
FC. And you are eleven months from planting a flag in the summit. Thank you for your time, Mr. Li. Good day.