Asians Say Trade Complaints Bring Out the Bully in China

"When a government starts banning things for health reasons -- particularly for chemicals -- you must always question whether there might be a trade issue involved. So the government can legitimately ban something, but in fact their motivation may be with trade," said Desmond O'Toole, a member of Hong Kong's expert committee on food safety and an adjunct professor of biology and chemistry at the City University of Hong Kong.

China's recent conflicts with Southeast Asian countries began with the recall of White Rabbit milk candy in the Philippines in July. Sold in more than 40 countries, White Rabbit candy is one of China's famous old brands, an honor that gives it special protection under Chinese law. In fact, when President Richard Nixon made his historic visit to China in 1972, he was offered White Rabbit candy by Premier Zhou Enlai.

When Weng Mao, general manager of Guan Sheng Yuan, based in Shanghai, which makes the candy, heard about the recall, he said he couldn't believe it. Weng said that the products must be counterfeit and that the Philippines was damaging the brand by making false accusations. He threatened to sue.

Weng said in an interview he has not filed a suit, yet, and "if the Philippines takes corrective action, we will forgive them."

Days after the Philippines announced the problem, the Chinese government enacted its own recall of banana chips from the Philippines, saying they contained high levels of sulfur dioxide, which is used as a preservative but can be toxic at high levels. China dispatched representatives all over Asia to talk to food inspectors in other countries.

Malaysia, Singapore, India and other countries also investigated White Rabbit candy, but after seeing a report from a third-party testing service that inspected the candy at the manufacturing plants, they kept the candy in stores.

The Philippines, however, says it is still not convinced the candy is safe.

Joshua Ramos, deputy director of the Philippines Bureau of Food and Drug, said the countries have had at least three face-to-face meetings and numerous phone calls regarding the recall of White Rabbit milk candy that appeared to be contaminated with formaldehyde. He said the Philippines was asked to verify and then again to re-verify its findings and submit copies of its laboratory tests to China.

He says the defamation charges are unfounded.

"We're not damaging their reputation," Ramos said. "We're just saying we have found formaldehyde in this product bearing the labels that they produce. We are not saying they deliberately used that chemical."

Meanwhile, in Indonesia, Husniah also felt it best that Jakarta conduct its own tests on White Rabbit. They found formaldehyde, she said, so they pulled the candy off the shelves and issued a public warning.

Tensions flared during the Aug. 7 discussions in Jakarta between Husniah and Li Haiqing, a deputy director at China's Administration of Quality Supervision and Inspection, one of the lead agencies responsible with food exports. A spokeswoman at the administration said Li was not available for comment, and she did not respond to questions faxed to her as she requested.

When Husniah, a physician who is head of the National Agency of Drug and Food Control, asked for a list of products that China had recalled domestically, surmising that many of those products had likely made it illegally to Indonesia, the Chinese declined. Husniah said she was told: "Don't worry. We don't permit substandard or hazardous products to be exported."

Shortly before the meeting, China had announced a ban on Indonesian seafood. Husniah said she accused the Chinese of taking retaliatory trade actions. "You banned our seafood because of our public warning about your products," she said. She said Chinese officials denied this was the case.

At one point, Husniah remembers that she said in exasperation, "Are we sitting together to solve problems or to blame each other?"

Husniah refused the Chinese officials' request to recommend new standards in accordance with Chinese law, and the Indonesian government is continuing its testing of Chinese products. But it is holding off from issuing any more public alerts. The idea, Husniah said, is "we cool it down first," until the anger on both sides subsides.