America's Future Update on China

Update on China Processing U.S. Chickens

The U.S. Dept of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that it will allow U.S. chickens to be shipped to China for processing and then shipped back to the U.S. for human consumption. This is despite China's subpar food safety record and the fact that there are no plans to station on-site USDA inspectors at Chinese plants. When you shop, you won't know which brands of chicken are processed in China because there's no requirement to label the chicken or identify where it comes from. American consumers will never know that chicken processed in China is in foods like chicken soup or chicken nuggets. We will never know whether Chinese-processed chicken is included in the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, or Summer Food Service Program.

China's food safety system is decades behind America's. Here are some recent scandals. More than 300,000 Chinese children suffered illness, and several have died, from melamine-tainted baby milk powder. Dangerously high levels of mercury have been found in Chinese baby formula. More than $1 million worth of rat and other small mammal meat has been sold to Chinese consumers as lamb.

Update on China Processing U.S. Seafood

Some so-called experts have tried to argue that it doesn't make economic sense for a Chinese company to buy frozen chicken in the U.S., pay to ship it 7,000 miles, ship it to a processing plant, unpack it, cut it up, cook it, freeze it, repack it, transport it back to a port, then ship it another 7,000 miles back to the U.S. But that's the process already being used for U.S. seafood, which is now widely sold in U.S. markets. According to the Seattle Times, U.S.-domestic Pacific salmon and Dungeness crab are now being shipped to China, processed there, and then shipped back to the U.S. because of significant cost savings.

"There are 36 pin bones in a salmon and the best way to remove them is by hand," said Charles Bundrant, who ships 30 million pounds of his annual U.S. harvest to China for processing. "That would cost us $1 per pound labor in the U.S., but they get it done for 20 cents in China." The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that U.S. poultry processors are paid roughy $11 per hour on average, but Chinese chicken workers earn $1 to $2 per hour.

Update on China's Expensive Military Buildup

Communist China already spends more on its military than any counry in the world except the U.S. Now, as U.S. budgets are shrinking under Obama, Communist China is gearing up for a surge in new funding. China will spend $148 billion on its military this year, more than Britain, Germany and France combined. China will soon spend more than all of Western Europe. The extra spending has brought China its first aircraft carrier. Last year, a Chinese-made aircraft with stealth radar-evading capabilities flew on a test flight.

Expert reporter Bill Gertz reported that "Gen. Shelton issued somewhat of an alarming call, saying that China has the capability to attack U.S. satellites. . . .They have missiles that can shoot these guys down." Gertz also reported that the White House is "dead set against having offensive anti-satellite weapons. We have that capability, but the administration is opposed to that and, as a result, the Administration is playing defense while the Chinese are playing offense."