Not good enough for China

Another fascinating item of news on China Central Television's 'International' channel today.  Well, more a piece of non-news, actually.  I wonder if they've devised some kind of mechanical suction device to extract all the meaningful and newsworthy content out of their copy before they go on air with it.  Perhaps a modified and scaled-down version of the notorious Weather Machine that they use to create freakishly blue skies for major public holidays and the visits of foreign VIPS like heads of state and the International Olympic Committee?   It was announced on the lunchtime business news programme today that more than 150 foreign products had been refused entry to China after failing quality control checks.   Hmm.  The beginnings of a story there.  But that was it - no development; no context at all.  There was some highlighting of particular brands that were alleged to have been found wanting; and some very vague and possibly misleading examples of the kind of defects discovered (not tied closely to the companies/products that had been mentioned by name); and one fascinating snippet about one of the companies - Pepsi, I think - having warned the authorities in advance about a possible shortcoming with one batch of products being submitted (why?  again, this piece of information was completely without context or explanation - I would assume that the company felt this problem was non-ideal but not actually hazardous or contrary to regulations, and was seeking to forestall any harumphing by the inspectors by giving full disclosure in advance; all we can do is assume in cases like this, because Chinese news reporting hardly ever actually tells us).   There was absolutely no discussion of whether such problems are common or uncommon, or whether this number of rejections at one time is exceptionally large, or how it comes about that these rulings - and the release of the news - should happen just now.  I'd conjecture that it's some kind of shot across the bows in the ongoing grumblings about protectionist trade policies in the US (and elsewhere).  Or maybe it's just pre-October 1st (birthday of the Republic!) propaganda designed to reassure people that quality control in China is finally emerging from the Dark Ages (or to remind them that Western countries are crap, really).   There was certainly a note of barely-contained gloating in the delivery of the Chinese newsreader who read the item.   When they have news stories this badly written - or this nakedly propagandizing - these days they usually seem to run them when the foreign presenters are having a day off.  It's as though they don't trust them to read this stuff without demanding re-writes.  Or without cracking a cynical smirk.   They're probably right.  I hope so, anyway.  It must be a wretched job, being a foreigner working for the state media here.