Poisonous pyjamas! Toxic toothpaste! Deadly dog food! For the last couple of months newspapers around the world have been full of headlines screaming about the latest product safety scare to hit mainland exports.
They have hardly fuelled a balanced debate. Around the world, local producers have seized on safety scares to call for protectionist barriers against mainland imports. In South Africa, for example, trades unions last month called for a boycott of mainland products following reports that hazardous pesticides imported from the mainland had contaminated local crops.
The mainland response to the problem has hardly been any better. Many senior officials have simply opted for denial. The chief of the mainland's quality inspectorate, for example, accused foreign media of whipping up anti-China alarmism, and blamed US design faults rather than poor mainland manufacture for the worldwide recall of 19 million dangerous toys by Mattel.
Even more troubling, Commerce Minister Bo Xilai dismissed international concerns over dangerous mainland products, claiming over 99 per cent of the country's exports are safe. If he is right about his proportions, there could still be tens of millions of unsafe mainland toys on the shelves of the world's shops.
Safety scares are a big problem for the mainland. Although the recent scandals are unlikely to make any impression on export growth rates, perceptions that mainland goods are shoddy will hinder the emergence of mainland brands on the global market. And in the absence of homegrown brands, mainland manufacturers making goods under contract for foreign brands will have a powerful incentive to cut corners and save costs by skimping on quality. If Beijing wishes to develop the economy by moving up the value curve, it must address concerns over product quality.
Sensitive to criticism, mainland officials have promised a crackdown. But promises are easy to make and harder to deliver. In any case, the real solution to the problem of poor product quality lies not with Beijing, but with the country's companies and their management culture.