In ancient times, China was ahead as compared to the rest of the countries in the world when it comes to arts and sciences. In the 19th century, however, social turmoil, substantial food deficiencies, the overpowering of its armed forces and alien invasion occurred throughout China. With the conclusion of the Second World War, the Communists factions under the authority of Mao Zedong instituted a dictatorship.
The dictatorship warrants the independence of China but it enforced stringent dominion over the daily lives of the people.The successor of Mao Zedong which is Deng Xiaoping steadily launched a “market-oriented” reorganization programs and distributed the economic decision-making. “Those efforts were successful as GDP output quadrupled by the year 2000. Today, political controls remain tight, but more and more economic controls continue to be relaxed”. The financial system of China is progressing and its power is apparent worldwide (World Atlas.
Com Inc. , n. d. ).
The present economic composition of China illustrates both the inheritance of a central arrangement and the components of an up to date “market-based competitive system”.The evolution of China from central government financial arrangement continues to be ongoing despite “market-based reforms”. Even though the central command of China played a significant part in its economic activities and price management in the early stages of the reform movement for China, the administrative influence of the government at present is less absolute (Clark, Fry, Stamps, et al. , 2007). Cosmopolitanism versus Communitarianism When the topic of the Normative Theories of Politics is being discussed, the chief peculiarity lies between Cosmopolitanism and Communitarianism.
In view of this, political communities or states have been identified in terms of its terrain or area. Culture therefore does not necessarily characterize political communities but this detail has not been taken into account by the Communitarianism. Communitarians express that every political community or nation is dissimilar, and therefore should operate consequently with each other. Simply put, the independence of the political communities must be unqualified or unconditional when speaking about Communitarianism and the decrees and ethical benchmarks should be self-identified by the political communities themselves.
In addition, states ought to have no commitments to other political communities or whichever category of intercontinental law. In disparity to the Communitarianism are the Cosmopolitans which express the view that there must be a prevailing worldwide ethical benchmark to which all nations or political communities have to abide by. Any interference therefore in the form of austere implementation of international decrees is proper and justified if a political community is contravening the rights of the citizens or of mankind.Communitarianism adheres to the concept that states themselves should provide a definition of what are the fair, equitable and lawful conducts, and hence, these political communities must not be obligated to conform to any common and worldwide ethical benchmark. The Communitarians believe that principles of good behaviour take place from the customs and traditions that compose the political community, and consequently, resolve what is morally upright for that state (AZETE, n.
d. ).It is inopportune to state that a huge number of Chinese manufacturing companies who have been involved in the production of Chinese merchandise that are harmful for human utilization and consumption, are in agreement with the theories of Communitarianism. The truth of their agreement to the Communitarians is evident and is manifested on the insensitivity of these Chinese manufacturers to the existing codes of ethical business conduct which are globally recognized.Consequently, the absence of state laws pertaining to the regulation and control of the use of deadly ingredients of Chinese products can never be a valid justification to persist on the use of those harmful elements because a particular state is obliged to abide by the prevailing worldwide ethical benchmark to which all nations or political communities have to obey. Dangerous Chinese Products At some stage in the years 2007 and 2008, lots of probably hazardous products that originated from China have been discovered.
These hazardous manufactured goods range from those with lead paint ingredients to electrical gadgets with damaged wiring or coffers that melt or are combustible. “Poison pet food and toothpaste, collapsing baby seats, lead toys and jewellery to name just a very few”. Not long ago, it was also discovered that colourful hair bands manufactured from China could be unsafe. It was reported last November that used condoms were being salvaged and reused by Chinese companies in order to be melted down, reused, seized and enclosed with cord to generate dazzling hair bands.The hair bands certainly look gorgeous and are less expensive which is conceivably a major factor why such Chinese firms generate such products; nevertheless, these hair bands are carriers of deadly viruses such as HIV and reproductive organ moles. These childlike and naive looking hair bands are frequently put in the mouth of a person during brushing or fixing their hair before fastening it off with the hair band.
“These potentially harmful Chinese-made products, rubber hair bands have been found in local markets and beauty salons in Dongguan and Guangzhou cities in the Southern Guangdong province of China”.In addition, information from Canadian authorities notifies customers not to purchase the following Chinese health products because they have towering stages of arsenic and or mercury and they are most possibly carried by holidaymakers or bought over the internet. These dangerous Chinese health commodities are Qili Brand Tongbianling Jiaonang, Sincere Brand ChuanXinLian Jiaonang, Xiangyao Brand Xiangyao Weian Jiaonang, Biflora Brand Fufang Danshen Pian, Biflora Brand 306 Xiaoyan Jiedu capsules and Xiang Sha Liu Jun Wan. Arsenic and mercury accumulate in the vital organs of the body.They have a variety of harmful outcomes such as cancers, heart and kidney illnesses and liver, brain and kidney injuries. These dangerous Chinese commodities make customers doubtful about the several manufactured goods produced by Chinese firms that are being advertised and sold in the market (Hubpages Inc.
, 2010). Just recently, the yearly RAPEX statement of EU has been shown to the public. RAPEX is the Rapid Alert System for hazardous customer commodities not including food products, pharmaceuticals and medicinal apparatus.The statement expressed that Chinese commodities topped the directory of the most perilous consumer products and this is not the first time that the Chinese customer commodities have topped such directory. It was stated that the most hazardous and perilous Chinese products for 2009 were children toys which is truly gruesome.
Furthermore, garments, fabric, motor vehicles and electronics stayed at the apex of the index for China. “The biggest problems which came in notice were from dangerous chemicals, injuries, choking, electric shocks and strangulation”.The fraction of the harmful Chinese consumer commodities in the year 2008 was fifty-nine percent and it climbed to sixty-six percent. John Dalli, the EU Commisioner of Health and Consumer Policy, said that if the trend persists with a similar rate then by the end of 2010 the fraction could increase to seventy percent. The fact that these Chinese businesses want to break into the EU market with low prices “without taking into consideration the quality and safety measures” is a key factor why these Chinese businesses produce merchandise that are hazardous (DropshippingBlog, 2010).
The marker which states “Made in China” has undergone a chief stumbling block. A lot of greatly-publicized recalls of a variety of Chinese products such as pet food, seafood, toothpaste, tires, and children toys have obtained the awareness of the Americans on the harmful consequences of the products bought from China. In the midst of extensive media interest and enhanced community apprehension, the absence of safety directives has made one media personnel to name Chinese manufacturing as the “Wild West”.This absence of safety directives emerges more to be the outcome of an explosive, but uneven financial system. “In China, the only pressure to increase consumer protection has come from the outside, most conspicuously the United States, which depends on China for forty percent of its imported consumer goods”.
Certainly, the fact that there is deficiency of safety directives from the Chinese government itself for the protection of the consumers is a key factor why Chinese firms are manufacturing perilous commodities.Another reason for the proliferation of hazardous Chinese merchandise is that there is a tough discouragement to becoming a whistle-blower because, if a person has some stain of bribery himself, he may be castigated. China does not have an exceptional character pertaining to how it treats individual advocates. Several advocates have been reportedly put on trial and jailed on “trumped-up charges, sometimes for no apparent reason”.
It is unfortunate that the local authorities themselves do this because an honest Chinese activist can cause a great harm to an inferior rank official like a mayor or a governor.A movement consisting of activists cannot thrive in this sort of atmosphere. “On top of the persecution of whistle-blowers, Chinese citizens do not have access to the type of information necessary to reveal hazardous conditions by reason of the fact that the communist government controls the media and does not allow that information into the pipeline”. The internet is also stringently controlled in China. Truly, there is less, if there is any, entry to an unbiased perspective since it is only the official word of the Chinese authorities that is prevalent.Hence it is debatable whether the inhabitants of China are knowledgeable about the recalls that are so greatly publicized in the West.
The absence of available appropriate information and a fright of persecution connotes that any activist action to boost product safety will not originate from the bottom up, but to a certain extent, must take place from the top down. Whether the Chinese administration has the aspiration or capability to initiate economic modifications and product safety amendments are yet to be witnessed (Kaplan, 2007, p. 39).Resolutions to Cure the Dangerous Chinese Products Crisis The information previously exemplified points to the heartbreaking reality that a major cause why a lot of dangerous Chinese commodities break into the domestic and international market is due to the lack of consumer product security regulations coming from the Chinese authorities themselves and there are three principal causes why these dangerous commodities are manufactured in the first place.These three principal causes are; to be able to cut on costs especially on raw materials, to be competitive in the world market by promoting and trading products that are less expensive and lastly to be able to penetrate the EU market at low prices. One significant resolution to remedy the problem is the launching of more and more movements or organizations that operate internationally and function like RAPEX.
RAPEX, as previously mentioned, is the Rapid Alert System for hazardous customer commodities not including food products, pharmaceuticals and medicinal apparatus. RAPEX was launched to make sure that the wellbeing and physical conditions of the various purchasers are being protected taking into account the introduction into the market of these commodities by manufacturers and dispensers. Each time a certain commodity is discovered to be unsafe for the purchasers, the RAPEX initiates a legal battle against the producers of such commodity.In order to make the commodities harmless for the customers, the RAPEX has continued to notify the Chinese government of their obligations to manufacture safe products for the customers as part of their indispensable ethical duty to humanity (DropshippingBlog, 2010). Indeed, to achieve the goal of permanently eradicating this dangerous Chinese products crisis, there has to be an establishment of more associations like RAPEX who are prepared to make trips to China in order to persevere in giving warnings to the Chinese authorities and Chinese manufacturers regarding their communal moral business responsibility.
Moreover, the Chinese government has to be advised of the valuable implications of adhering to the theories of the Cosmopolitanism which articulates the viewpoint that there must be an established worldwide moral standard to which all nations or political communities have to abide by (AZETE, n. d. ). The viewpoint of Cosmopolitanism promotes the rights of every human being to have access to safe and harmless items for consumption and manufactured goods and it puts pressure on China to obey the various international laws specifically on consumer health and product safety.Finally, in order to put an end to the dangerous Chinese products crisis, the Chinese government itself must step up and initiate acts of reforms and make more consumer product safety laws and provide for their penalties.
The Chinese government itself must see to it that the laws are obeyed and must impose stricter penalties, such as higher amounts of fines or imprisonment, in the event that these laws have not been complied with.More importantly, in order to assure the United States and the other countries in the West, where most of its customers reside, of its intention to put consumer health first, China itself must make regular reports to the international media, to the United States and to the various countries around the world to which it is involved in trading, setting forth its compliance with international laws and its own domestic laws on consumer product safety.
