Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Certifier for organic food made-in-China disqualified


The American non-profit organization Organic Crop Improvement Association (OCIA) used to audit and certify the majority of organic-labelled food supplied from China, but not any more. First, consumer complaints have made retailers such as Whole Foods pull Chinese organics from their shelves. Then, since three years ago, the United States Agriculture Department has discovered problems in terms of conflicts of interests in the procedures OCIA uses in its inspection of Chinese-processed organic food. OCIA employs Chinese personnel (from the Chinese government branch of Environment Protection Agency) for the actual fieldwork of inspection, who then type up reports to OCIA agents (who have a scant presence in China). Currently, OCIA is formally disqualified for further organic-food-certification in China.

Source: NYTimes

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

The White Temple Town story: what happens after account transparency

Contributed by Ying Jiang
Source: www.zaobao.com

白庙乡位于巴中市巴州区东北部山区,1万1000余人中农村人口约占95.5%。2009年全乡农民人均纯收入3393元,属于典型的边远贫穷 乡,经济运行主要靠财政转移支付。该乡目前最急需解决饮水问题,资金缺口达130万元,道路加宽的资金缺口达480万,电力改造需要资金约1000万元, 三项加起来共需资金1600万元。
White Temple Town (WTT) is situated in the mountainous regions of Bazhong City in Sichuan Province. Rural population constitutes 95.5% of its population of around 11000. In 2009, the average income per farmer is 3393RMB, making the town one of those typical remote, impoverished towns. Its main source of income depends on the wealth redistribution policies from the central government. The town needs up to 1.3 million RMB for badly needed improvements on potable water sources. Other than that, it needs around 4.8 M and 10 M for widening roads and reforms in electricity supply networks, totaling its need for capital to 16 M RMB.
实施公开政府财务和公务员财产申报以衡量领导干部是否廉洁自律一直是中国百姓密切关注的问题。今年三月,巴中市白庙乡政府把使用的每一分钱,甚 至是花1.50元(人民币,三角新元)买信纸,都在其官方网站上公开。此举当时获网友盛赞并称之为“政府全裸第一例”。
The publicizing of government accounts and government employees' wealth reports as a measure of corruption is everyone's concern in China. In March this year, White Temple Town council reported every single cent of government expenditure, eg even a sum of 1.50 RMB for envelopes, on its official website. The action has won intense praises from netizens, who called it the first example of a "fully naked government".
自今年三月全国“两会”,政府‘裸’账本已成为一种趋势,中央、广州、北京等地都陆续公开财政预算。白庙乡所属的四川省前天也首次通过省政府网站把 2010年省级预算报表公之于众。然而,有专家批评,白庙乡的“账目”浅白易懂,而其他地方政府出于自身利益的考虑,把预算案搞得犹如“天书”,内行看不 明白,外行更看不懂。
Since then, "going naked" on the accounts has become a trend, where the central, Guangzhou, Beijing governments have published their budgetary outlays. Sichuan province, to which WTT belongs, has also done the same just two days ago. However, critics have stated that while WTT's "account book" are easily understood, some of the other provincial governments have turned their budget statements into a document of mystery out of self-interests. Neither people who are in the trade (accountants?) nor those who are out of it are able to understand it.
白庙乡“裸账”的目的是希望能吸引更多的资金和项目。全国目光聚焦到这个偏远的山村以后,当地老 百姓对自己民生问题的改善寄予了更高的期望,他们迫切希望解决水、电、路等问题。然而,过去两个多月,白庙乡政府向有关部门争取项目和资金,却少有回音, 来白庙乡的上级部门人员与以往相比减少了一半。
WTT was hoping to attract more investment with its account transparency. While its act has indeed attracted the attention of the entire nation, and has raised townspeople's expectations for their standard of living (in terms of solving problems of water, roads and electricity), the WTT government has been failing to obtain capital and projects these past two months. Officials who visit the town has reduced by half.
由于饭钱酒钱烟钱全公开,白庙乡乡长欧明清告诉《四川在线》,即使有上级官员到访,70%以上的客人都是来去匆匆,没有在白庙乡吃饭。... 欧明清认为,“裸账”让很多客人望而生畏,生怕自己的生活费开支被公示在网上。
Since the expenses for meals, alcohol and cigarettes are now made public, the Chief of WWT Ou Mingqing thinks that "going naked" brings fear to many of the clients, whose "living expenses" might be made known to all netizens. Even as officials visit, 70% of the clients rushed to get back and did not stay in the town for meals.

一名不愿透露身份的重庆学者告诉本报, 白庙乡的基层领导勇于尝试,大方向是对的,做实在事,遭遇如此尴尬后果非常不幸,但可以理解。他说:“公开财政的核心在于减少官员腐败的实现途径和方式, 也巩固政府执政的合法性。然而,基于一些利益上的交换,这样透明地公开财政让企业或政府单位难以接受,要扩散到全国的挑战非常大。”

A scholar in Chongqing commented that while WWT's grassroot leaders have been courageous, and are correct in general directions (of policy) by being honest, it is unfortunate though understandable that they obtained the opposite of what they hoped for. "Publicizing expenditures is a means to reduce corruption, and consolidates the legitimacy of the governments' rule. However, due to (a web of) exchanges of interests, such account transparency is hard for enterprises and government agencies to accept. There remains great challenges to implementation to the entire country."

Friday, June 4, 2010

Speech from top Xinhua official sobers Budding Chinese journalists

Xia Lin, Chief Editor of Xinhua News Agency, in his speech at the Tianjin Foreign Studies University, described various instances where recent Chinese news was prettied up. Essentially, journalism in China holds a dual mission, that of providing a swift and clear picture of current affairs while at the same time manipulating that picture towards the public to maintain social harmony. Here's a website describing Xia Lin's talk.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

On Foxconn suicides: Bringing Standard of Living and Concept of Civility to today's relevance

Source country/region: Singapore
Source:
www.zaobao.com
Original contributor:
Original title: 移位的生存标准与文明底线

"  在公开媒体上,同情工人、对资本持批判态度的声音占了上风。当然反对的声音也从未消减,至今双方仍在唇枪舌剑的进行激辩。
富士康发言人以及老板郭台铭本人坚称,富士康不是血汗工厂,他们没有强迫员工加班,工厂的经营方法在法律所允许的范围内进行,给员工制定的薪酬 也符合当地最低工资标准(上周宣布加薪20%)。也有人认为坠楼事件只能说明当事人的心理素质太差,毕竟中国东南沿海地区待遇比富士康更差的企业,大有人 在。 " ...
"What has been reported in media reflects that the majority sympathizes with the workers, and criticizes the "capitalists" (? unclear in original text). There are differing opinions, however, and heated controversy exists.
Guo Taiming, CEO and spokesperson of Foxconn, insists that Foxconn is not a death camp, did not force workers to work overtime, operates within what's dictated by laws, and compensates workers fairly according to local lowest wage standards (with a wage raise of 20% last week). There are also those who hold the opinion that workers who committed suicides could have been more robust in their psyche, since Foxconn is deemed to provide better welfare as compared to an enormous number of coastal enterprises in Southeast China."
"  [青桐,一个前”打工妹“]说:“相对来讲,在长三角的很多代工厂里,富士康在待遇方面已经算是不错的了,但其实是我们整个社会把标准降得太低了,让我们的工人只在生存线上徘徊。”"
"   青桐提到了标准与生存线问题。对于农民工承受力日益低下的批评,说明中国社会对于底层群体应享的生存条件,以及他们“天生”应该具备的吃苦耐劳能力, 抱持一定的传统认知与判定,这个认知与判定已落后于时代变化。对于许多新一代农民工而言,他们的父辈过去可以承受,现在已经不再能够被接受;过去被认为不 错的报酬与生存状态,已脱离他们对现实的期望与人生梦想。
这个变化的出现,在积极的一面,是说明了中国的经济在总体上确实明显优于过去;而在另一方面,贫富两极化的事例也同时以不可辩驳的态势逼视每一个人,透露了财富效应与福利向社会底层分散的速度仍非常缓慢,甚至已经出现了停顿的现象。"
The writer quotes a former female factory worker, Qingtong, who recently autobiographed her Foxconn experiences: "Foxconn indeed provides comparatively superior welfare. However, the truth is the society has decreased the standard such that the factory workers [even those deemed well-provided for] are actually just barely on the edge of survival."
"There are people who disdain the inability of stress endurance, which they deem to be the cause of the suicides. This shows that the Chinese society holds a certain pre-conceived, traditional, attitude and judgement towards people of the lower social strata: that these people are "by nature" able to endure and bear an extraordinary amount of suffering. This attitude is becoming irrelevant as time and society progresses. For many of the rural workers today, what hardship their fathers have born is not necessarily what they are willing to accept; what was accepted as superior compensation and state of existence is lagging behind their expectations and hopes for their lives."
“N连跳”之 后,舆论界开始了一场对于发展模式与社会现状的大反思。“N连跳”刺痛了人们对公平正义的感受,牺牲一部分人的利益以换取大部分人的幸福,按照今天的文明 标准,不再像过去那么被社会视为理所当然,要求提升员工福利的呼声强烈。... 说明全社会都希望国家的发展模式变得更文明。每一次这样的讨论,都是劳动者权益与平等观念在全社会内的一次推进。这种追究的精神与姿态,将是中国走过目前 的转型期的最重要推动力。"

"After what was called the 'N-continuous-jumps', there was extensive ruminations on issues of a developing society. The jumps bothered people's sense of "justice". Sacrificing the well-being of a small number of people to exchange for the majority's "happiness" is no longer a civil norm (editor: think Lei Feng, the moral model of a past era). The demand for worker welfare is on the rise. ... It shows the whole society wishes that national development and building is carried out in a more civilized mode. Every of such debates signifies progress in an awareness of labor rights and equality, and such "inquisitory" spirits is what's necessary to pushing China towards a shifting shape."