2007-12-14

Reposting: Not Just the Mainland's Fault

This news item relating to toy safety underscores how the actions of a Hong Kong company can affect not just Hong Kong's reputation but China's. And in this case, it is China's reputation that takes the battering.
You might also read this article on Yale Global by two researchers at Australian National University's Contemporary China Centre, Anita Chan and Jonathan Unger. They write: “The neglect of safety standards in these factories used to be more severe before the big brand-name corporations that contract out their production to China-based factories came under attack in the 1990s in an anti-sweatshop campaign by Western NGOs.” According to Ms Chan and Mr Unger, "multinationals have adopted strict community-responsibility programs, and yet do not speak out for injured Chinese workers. Products will only be truly safe when companies extend respect to workers and consumers – monitoring all steps in the long supply chains that create many popular products."