tsurara

For those who are completely unaware of news in Asia: thousands of Japanese have reported illness after eating a particular brand of frozen dumpling (gyoza). Tests on the dumplings and packaging are positive for toxic levels of pesticide. The twist: while the dumpling's manufacturer is Japanese, the filling was manufactured in China.

The latest in the dumpling saga is that people are beginning to suggest that the tampering was intentional and the dumplings were poisoned. While authorities have named neither the Chinese supplier or the Japanese manufacturer as a suspect in a deliberate tampering case: word on the street is that the Chinese supplier is at fault. Not because any evidence has been released to support this claim: but because the Japanese couldn't POSSIBLY be at fault.

My boyfriend warned me against eating dumplings a week ago when the story first broke: adding that "the Chinese are at it again".

Today at work, people were talking about the tampering as though China, as a single scheming national entity, deliberately tried to poison Japan's food supply. They shook their heads, clucked their tongues and made all sorts of vaguely negative comments about China.

This makes me a little uncomfortable.

Sure, if China (as a government) is at fault, they deserve a verbal thrashing and worldwide boycotts of their products... but if one idiot at the supply plant poisoned a single batch of the filling deliberately, that's on him and the plant (not the entire nation of China)! And if it ends up being some ticked off Japanese worker at the manufacturing plant dumping little surprises in the food: I sincerely wonder if anyone in Japan is going to feel the least bit guilty for having jumped to conclusions...

Do you trust Chinese products?
Do the recent product scandals affect your opinion of the Chinese in general?
Do you understand why Japanese people are jumping to conclusions?
Are you Chinese and think this is screwed up?
Does China deserve the benefit of the doubt? Or have they earned the suspicion of the world with fake Disneyland, poisoned toothpaste, lead toys and pet food that kills pets?
What can we do to repair relations between Japan and China in this respect?

China's food safety | Economist.com
Japan suspects Chinese dumplings deliberately poisoned: minister - Yahoo! News
Food safety in the People's Republic of China - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Abu Dhabi

honestly, it's the companies fault for having manufacturing in China altogether. it seems that something is wrong in China, it seems as though every year some new item has been tampered with and needs a massive recall.

it's nothing on China as a nation, it's just that foreign companies either are not giving them the money to make necessary updates on their machinery or they simply don't care what happends during manufacturing.

as for the Japanese, eh... they sound crazy saying it, that's all i have to say about it~!

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blue_rebel

Hah. Why am I not surprised? I mean, last time there was all that fuss about MSG and China was the last country to give in to the findings that MSG wasn't all as harmful as they'd made it out to be (at least not if taken in moderation). So now something similar is happening again, only the roles are reversed. =/

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Hassun

Ah the beauties of being a rapidly developing world power.

*Yes I trust Chinese products.
*No my opinion on China hasn't changed with all the scandals.
*The Japanese need to get off their high horse. But with their strong nationalistic feelings, blaming foreigners is easy. Foreigners are an easy target in most countries with strong nationalistic feelings anyway.
*No I'm not Chinese.
*Products made in China should be thoroughly checked (as should products from any other nation) during this time of growth.
*Just fixing relations 'in this respect' won't do. They'll need to go deeper, talk about the Second World War, the Japanese occupation before it and their relationships in the past. They'll have to form ties with each other from which they both benefit. Japan for its expertise and China as a means for Japan to cut some of its dependence on the USA.

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Legend

First to respond to your first paragraph. Unfortunately that's how it's going to be. Remember the last incident when a restaurant was accused of using cardboard for their meat in the buns?? I was just as ignorant until I joked about it to some co-workers and they told me it was the doing of a disgruntled employee. The sad thing is, more people saw the first news report but probably did not see the second one.

As for the questions:
*I trust most China-made products, but if I can I will stay away from consumables.
*No recent scandals do not change the way I look at them. If people want to point the finger point it at the companies that decide to let the Chinese make their toys.
*Besides the animosity, I actually understand why Japanese would jump to conclusions. As a matter of fact I am sure that they are not the only people to jump to conclusion when they hear news like these.
*Thinks this is screwed up in terms of what?
*And no China does not deserve the benefit of the doubt. They have to be smarter for these type of things especially when they are slowly growing.

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Arrianna

No they do not. China has little to no regulation nor do they care what happens to exported goods and those who buy them. They negotiated really good trade deals from countries and companies who wanted the cheap labor and now the price of that cheap labor is being felt. This isn't going to change until some kind of regulation is imposed and it won't be done by the Chinese government.

Does the poison come from China? Probably but I doubt it is the deliberate act of sabotage your friends seem to think and more a case of criminal negligence.

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Scourge

Well you get what you pay for. Cheap laber equals cheap products. I dont think it was intentional. But as for my self I am always scepticle when it comes to other countries products. Not because I think they are trying to kill me but because of the half assed work and lack of regulations on products because companies want to produce more for doing less, even if that means increasing health risks to their customers and even their own employies. Killing their customer is bad buisness sense. But at the same time they will do anything for a quick buck.

theblackmist

I don't think I trust Chinese products much but I wouldn't blame the nation. I think they need to learn to have proper inspections and guidelines, as well as inspectors from other country and that the products should be inspected before and after shipment.

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