Why Are Chinese Imports Disproportionately Unsafe?
Let’s begin with the root of the problem: Why are Chinese imports so likely to be unsafe? A Chinese proverb, “The mountains are high and the Emperor is far away,” astutely sums up one contributing factor: the difficulty governmental entities confront when attempting to enforce regulations or provide oversight of industries. Regulators must oversee 23 provinces (including Taiwan), five autonomous regions, four municipalities, and two Special Administrative Regions (Hong Kong, and Macau–now the largest gambling destination on earth). In so doing, they face significant language barriers; the Mandarin of the North is as different from the Cantonese of the South as English is from French. In many respects, then, it makes no sense to expect that Beijing could simply wave a magic wand–as many recent U.S. delegations to China have seemed to suggest–over the vast expanse of the Chinese manufacturing landscape, and thereby bring the teeming millions into compliance with U.S. safety regulation
