China's Milk Crisis

Economic globalization includes the movement of goods, services and capital across borders. China’s emergence in the globalizing economy as a manufacturing powerhouse occurred after its liberalization, with the implementation of the open door policy by Deng Xiaoping in 1978. Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) inflows rose from 2% in 1980 to 65% in 2004, overtaking countries such as Singapore, Korea and Taiwan (Kit et al, 2005). Though globalization has proved to be of great benefit in promoting global economic growth, its borderless nature has internationalized erstwhile local issues such as food safety. Beck’s risk society theory defines risks as borderless and not restricted to one country (Ekberg, 2007). Given China’s control over the manufacturing industry, issues such as food safety have new reach that extend far beyond the borders of its own country, posing a threat to large masses of people. They have contributed to a rapid decline of social trust, which is a risk that has extensive social and political ramifications (Yan, 2012). The most controversial example of a food safety issue is the Melamine Milk Scandal in China, which occurred in 2008.

As press freedom in China is severely restricted by the state and most milk producing companies in China are state owned (Castellino & Green, 2010), the state, media and dairy companies have developed an overlapping relationship, with the state being the central body of power. This nexus creates a concentration of power among elites, giving them full control to make decisions that affect the masses, while protecting their own interest. It is this relationship that has allowed elites to take advantage of their power and overlook the wellbeing of the people who are, in this case, the underprivileged. The actions taken by these three named entities are clear representations of this exploitation of power. Therefore, this paper argues that the misuse of power in China’s corrupted political structure has allowed for a culture of negligence and irresponsibility to breed, which explains the delay of news release concerning the melamine contamination. In addition, this paper contends that another possible reason for the delay may have been to cover up the scandal completely, had there not been any foreign intervention. This essay will provide an overview of the incident, explain the three main factors that contributed to it, highlight the lack of media coverage and lastly, offer another possible reason for the delay of dissemination of information.