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The Causes of China's Product Safety Problems
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Daniel Chinoy
ABSTRACT
This paper examines China's recent product safety problems. I argue that these problems generally have three causes: the Chinese government's dysfunctional, enormous, and poorly organized and coordinated regulatory bureaucracy; the small size and large numbers of China's manufacturers; and the country's infamous and rampant corruption. I then contend that these issues are exacerbated by Beijing's unwillingness to make the changes that might have the most meaningful effects, such as giving China's courts and the country's media more independence when dealing with political issues, for fear that they will undermine the regime's hold on power. I then focus on two case studies that illustrate these arguments. Finally, the paper concludes by suggesting that in the long term, while there are some reasons to be cautiously optimistic that Beijing will make some headway on improving product safety, the underlying governance problems that lead to poor quality or fake goods could eventually threaten the survival of Communist Party rule if it fails to do so.
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