Trust in China Should be Toppled in Similar Fashion

January 28th, 2010. By Hunter West

Okay, so China has had its problems with heparin and toothpaste, lead in kid’s toys and tires, cribs and pet food. But you can’t argue with the fact that the Republic of China is an economic powerhouse already and if you’re a manufacturer, you can’t argue with the cheap cost of labor. 

They’re talking about having cars built in China now. 

If that’s just fine by you, take a few minutes and study the picture here—that’s an apartment building lying down. On its side. Intact. It happened in June while workers were attempting to add an underground (and under building) garage. According to reports, one worker died in the collapse. And as ChinaDaily.com reported, “Improper construction methods are believed to be the reason of last Saturday’s building collapse in Shanghai, according to a report from the investigation team”. Really?

Are you shaking your head yet? This a country that wants to build our cars? Vehicles that will carry our children, our spouses, ourselves? Vehicles that could fail, at a moment’s notice and take out other cars on the road carrying innocent people? 

I don’t think so. 

The building collapse from last June is yet another example of the apparent greed on the part of the Chinese, so bent on economic growth and prosperity that they will cut corners on safety, ingredients—anything—in pursuit of the almighty buck. 

Why else would the Chinese allegedly put cheap and toxic melamine in pet food and baby formula to mimic protein content? Never mind you put children’s lives at risk. Never mind cherished pets died. 

Never mind that a counterfeit ingredient in heparin killed dozens of people and impacted the lives of thousands around the world. The counterfeit, of course, was but a cheap imitation of the real thing. 

Reports of industrial-grade glycerin used instead of pharmaceutical-grade glycerin for things like toothpaste. Toxic levels of lead content in toys our kids put in their mouths. Tires that come apart. 

And then, buildings put up resting on outlawed pre-cast concrete pilings without the stabilizing force of steel rebar… 

The building was empty. One construction worker was killed. Of course, even one unnecessary death is too many. That construction worker may have had a wife, and kids at home. Parents, to mourn over him and friends. 

But what, pray, would the fallout have been were the building to topple over while full of people? 

I remember years ago when Honda first came out with the little Civic, and Toyota first introduced the Corolla. Europeans have forever driven small cars, and even though North America had welcomed the hardy little Volkswagen Beetle for years, there was hardly similar support for anything else. We seemed to have embraced the idea of German engineering—plus the seemingly indestructible Bug just wouldn’t quit.

But what of these Japanese cars? And wasn’t Honda a maker of motorcycles? What business do they have making a car, for Pete’s sake? The ubiquitous Beetle notwithstanding, as it was in a league of its own, we were skeptical of these ‘toy’ cars that were attempting to take market share away from the Big Three and their miles of sheet metal, tailfins and V-8 grunt. 

The Japanese wound up getting the last laugh. Slowly they proved that their cars were not only good, they were better than what Detroit was making, and America embraced them. The quality and reliability proved substantial. Toyota’s current recall woes notwithstanding, and a corresponding increase in the fortunes of the once-beleaguered Ford, Japan has proven through their workmanship in the automotive and electronics industries that their stuff is world-class. 

The same cannot be said for China. 

Perhaps they will turn that around one day. But it will take awhile. 

And it will take a long time for me to get the image of a newly constructed building, lying on its side in the dirt, out of my mind. 

Tags: China, Chinese exports

This was posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 10:56 am and is filed under Defective Products . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.