America's Future Update on China

Update on Poisons Sold by the Chinese

In the biggest recall in history, Mattel, the world's largest toy company, has recalled tens of millions of Chinese-made toys because they are covered with lead paint. The U.S. banned lead paint decades ago, but Chinese-made toys continued to use lead paint. Lead is highly toxic, especially to children, who don't have fully developed nervous systems. Mattel also recalled millions of toys that contained small, powerful magnets that children could swallow. About 65% of Mattel's toys are made in China, some in five factories the company owns and operates there.

It's not just toys, but it's also children's jewelry and bibs. Certain vinyl baby bibs sold at Toys "R" Us stores appear to be contaminated with lead.

The Netherlands recalled Chinese-made foam mattresses. Tests show hundreds of mattresses contained a poisonous insecticide, probably as a result of being sprayed to kill insects in packaging. New Zealand found that imported Chinese children's clothes contained formaldehyde (to preserve a permanent press) at levels 900 times regarded as safe.

Update on U.S. Reporting About China

Why are there no questions about Communist China in the presidential debates? Why do the news media ignore China's tremendous growth in military weaponry? Why is CNN's Lou Dobbs the only one who ever refers to "Communist" China?

The poisons China has put in pet food, toothpaste and toys have made headlines for months. But the fantastic rise of China's military has been a non-issue in the 2008 presidential campaign. But, if you think ahead to the challenges the U.S. will face over the next ten years, almost every knowledgeable person would say that China is a major threat. We are generally told that our trade with China will eventually turn that country into some form of capitalism, presumably peaceful. But that's not what the current Chinese bosses have in mind at all.

China has deployed mobile land and sea-based ballistic nuclear missiles with the range to hit America. Its new submarine can carry a nuclear missile with a range of more than 5,000 miles, and China is preparing a new mobile, land-based ICBM that could target the whole U.S.

Update on China Still Communist

President Hu Jintao (who is also chief of the Communist Party), in a major address on June 26, said that attempts to modernize China's political system must not jeopardize one-party rule. He was laying down the Party line prior to an important Communist Party conclave this fall. He paid lip service to greater "political participation" by ordinary people, but he ruled out steps toward democracy. He said: "The reform of our nation's political system must maintain a correct political direction, must unrelentingly keep pace with economic and social development."

He called on China to "advance the self-perfection in the development of the socialist political system," while preserving the Communist Party's monopoly on political power. "Insist on the Party's leadership," he said. This speech was reported as one of his most important speeches since becoming China's boss in 2002. He made it crystal clear that he does not envision any overhaul of a authoritarian rule. He warned that any changes must proceed without diminishing the Party's "leading role." (New York Times, 6-27-07)