|
As China milk scandal grows, leadership escapes blame
2008-09-24
BEIJING (AFP) - As China's tainted milk scandal rumbled on Wednesday, there are few signs people are willing to blame their nation's top leadership despite evidence the health risks were covered up for months. Whether because of traditional deference for Beijing or clever state media management, public anger is directed more at second- and third-tier officials at the local level. Premier Wen Jiabao, in contrast, has received kudos for visiting children's hospitals and hugging babies sickened by tainted milk powder. China has said 53,000 children have been sickened by milk contaminated with the industrial chemical melamine, which is normally used to make plastics. It has led to four deaths so far and prompted a host of nations to ban, or at least scrutinise, Chinese dairy imports, further tarnishing the reputation of the "Made in China" label. Melamine, when added to milk, can make it appear richer in protein. In a frank editorial Wednesday, the China Daily said political leaders had succeeded by their crisis management to reassure the public while at the same time scaring local officials into more responsible behaviour. "The central authorities' high-profile intervention, highlighted by the personal involvement of the top leaders, and the exhaustive... treatment of the victims have worked well in calming the public," it said. "The treatment of delinquent public officials, on the other hand, conveys a much-needed message to both the public and public officials -- no one should expect kid gloves when things get really bad." The overseas ripples continued to spread, with the Philippines ordering tests on all infants hospitalised with kidney ailments to see if Chinese dairy products were to blame. So far, the only four cases outside mainland China of children falling ill after drinking tainted milk have been reported in Hong Kong. Kenya became the latest country to ban Chinese milk products, while Italy has stepped up checks on imports. More than a dozen countries have now ordered such bans or taken other steps to curb consumption. "The supervisory authorities should be blamed. How can you not submit food companies to inspection?," 64-year-old retiree Li Xiuhua told AFP, referring to a policy of exempting companies with a good track record from inspection. "On the other hand, I feel Premier Wen did quite well because he went to the grassroots level to see the situation for himself." It is part of China's culture not to criticise the political elite but also reflects lack of choice over the leadership, said Joseph Cheng, a China watcher at City University of Hong Kong. "In China, you never blame the emperor, you always blame the courtiers around the emperor. It's a kind of self-censorship," he said. "In the West, when something like this happens, the government may resign, you have a general election, and perhaps the opposition moves in. But in China, there is no credible alternative to the government." Sanlu Group , the dairy firm first found to be selling melamine-contaminated goods, began receiving complaints of sick children as early as last December, according to a cabinet probe. The probe said Communist officials in the northern city of Shijiazhuang, where Sanlu is based, delayed referring the matter to higher authorities for over a month after Sanlu finally told them of the problem on August 2. The delay in reporting the matter has moved some Chinese to see a link with the August 8-24 Olympics -- a period, they speculate, when a large part of the political establishment was wary of negative publicity. "Even if the government didn't want to disclose it to the international community because of the Olympics, they could at least have taken some quiet action to deal with it," a 35-year-old Beijing woman told AFP. The International Federation of Journalists last week criticised what it said were government curbs on websites reporting on the scandal. The press freedom group said they included orders only to publish official government information and to report positively on Beijing's handling of the crisis.
| 
