加拿大人为“中国制造”两肋插刀?

来源:百度文库 编辑:神马文学网 时间:2024/03/29 09:17:34
加拿大全国性报纸《环球邮报》2007年9月8日B2版(周末商业报告)以约半版的篇幅发表了Marcus Gee的评论文章,“There's nothing new about toy recalls”从内容看,其意当为招回玩具,不值得大惊小怪。同一天在《环球邮报》B版的网络版还有路透社记者发自大连的长篇报道:到2020年前中国生产的铝将占全世界铝的年产量的一半。加拿大是铝矾土的重要产地,中国铝业兴旺对加拿大有好处,所以他们当然要关心。万维记者据Marcus Gee的评论文章,以《加拿大人为“中国制造”两肋插刀》为题发出专稿,按中国人的理解,“两肋插刀”是为朋友,但照我看还是为了自身的利益,这些年加拿大从对中国的进出口贸易中得到的好处是很多的。横贯加拿大曾风光一时的加拿大太平洋铁路,因运量减少业务萎缩,濒于关闭,因他们向中国出口的商品,大量是体积大、价钱低的初级产品,走空运不合算,于是起用铁路货运而使它重现活力,就是一个明显的例证。而按加拿大人的思维方式,首先考虑自己的利益是正常的,如果“中国制造”真的是那样糟糕,他们也不会去辩护如为而曲意开脱。加拿大社会不讲究“两肋插刀”而注重诚实讲真话,我看Marcus Gee也就是按他所知,实话实说而已,不必从道德上去解读。
《环球邮报》两篇文章的英文原文都拷贝在后面,下面是万维记者捷夫编译的中文报道全文:
加拿大人为“中国制造”两肋插刀
万维读者网    2007-09-08 23:51:40
[虽然“抵制中国货”呼声四起,但仍有人站出来为“中国制造”辩护。 来源:stevejanke.com]
“中国出口产品质量丑闻”几乎激怒了全世界。然而在外国抨击北京的浪潮里,在大陆一轮轮“出口产品召回”的间隙,在中国政府与西方国家的辩论中,还是有人站出来为“中国制造”说话,他们就是几位加拿大记者和学者。
加拿大“环球邮报”财经新闻网站“reportonbusiness.com”(五柳村按:就是环球邮报的B版)2007年9月8日刊登了署名Marcus Gee的一篇评论文章,极为罕见地正面评价“中国制造”,其口吻和论据的确独树一帜。
文章说,正当Mattel Inc. 今夏以来第三次宣布召回另外80万件中国大陆出口玩具时,国际社会的目光再次被吸引到北京。这些玩具被召回的原因各有不同:有的是由于含铅过量,有的则是因安全性不佳。但是在把中国从廉价商品供应者名单上删除之前,我们应该记住这五件事。
第一,玩具召回不新鲜;中国并不总是问题的根源
人们一定还记得“草地飞镖(Lawn darts)”的玩具吧。这种由美国人发明制造的玩具本来是让孩子们用飞镖投掷放在草地上的靶心,可他们却常常把飞镖扔到同伴的脸上。1988年,美国联邦政府正式禁止了这一产品。这类事件在1970年代还有“Clackers”以及2006年由Magnetix公司生产的磁铁玩具,都与“中国制造”无关而且也都被召回。
第二, “中国制造”不是劣质产品的唯一来源
人们也一定还记得那种被称为“Perrier”的法国制造的玩具。美国研究机构在1990年代发现这种产品含有苯(Benzene),严重致癌。美国人自己生产的“火石(Firestone)”轮胎,由于质量缺陷曾造成271人死亡,被美国有关当局强制禁售,召回数量竟达650万之多。再看看福特汽车的车型之一“Pinto”,实验证明它在被后面的汽车撞击时容易产生爆裂。…. 能够列举的事例还有不少,可尽管中国玩具含铅过量,却还没有一份宣称导致死亡的报告出现。
第三,比较其他发展中国家,中国厂家不必然是糟糕的制造商
“中国制造”使中国成为继美日之后全球第三大出口国。虽然中国产品近来祸不单行,问题却显然遭到了“夸张”----中国去年对美出口玩具总额高达177亿美元,并生产了世界上80%左右的玩具。从这一角度上考虑,一些玩具因质量问题而被召回是在所难免的。
第四,有时应该被谴责的不是中国制造商,而是美国设计家
一份即将公布的报告会告诉人们更多的实情,报告的撰写人是加拿大商学教授保尔•比米什(Paul Beamish)和哈里•巴普吉(Hari Bapuji)。两位教授发现,在迄今为止被中国召回的玩具中,有3/4的产品并不是因为制造问题,而是设计问题。例如玩具的边缘锋利、细小和松动部件易于被幼童吞咽、绳线勒伤甚至可能勒死小孩,等等;真正由于喷漆含铅量过大而导致用户受害的仅在10%左右。
不可否认,中国大陆的安全与健康标准的确低于北美。不过,在一些美国公司严格规定中国生产商必须按质量要求完成订货的同时,其他的美国公司就不那么注意质量检验程序,而是急于将中国廉价产品运到北美市场大赚一把。
第五,中国政府正在提高质量管理规范
别忘了,世界上任何一个经济体,无论过去的日本、香港还是现在的中国,都起始于制造业的廉价;总是“不规范”在先而提高质量标准在后。如今,这一过程也正在中国大陆演进着。中国在大量出口鞋类、服装、玩具的同时,它又已经咄咄逼人地向其他出口领域扩及,包括化工、钢铁、半导体和数字产品等等,就连欧洲航空巨擎的产品“空中公共汽车(Airbus)”,都使用其在中国生产的复杂飞机部件。
几十年前,“日本制造”也一度意味着“劣质”。最近几个月以来的中国食品、玩具和其他出口产品丑闻,是极大地败坏了“中国制造”的名声,然而不必多虑,时间将会改变一切。
(www.creaders.net 记者专稿  转载请注明出处)
There's nothing new about toy recalls
MARCUS GEE
Globe and Mail Update
E-mail Marcus Gee
September 7, 2007 at 6:13 PM EDT
When Mattel Inc. said this week it would recall another 800,000 toys, the third such recall this summer, attention naturally fell on China. Excessive lead levels and other safety problems have set off a health scare in North America, resulting in the recall of Barbie accessories, GeoTrax trains, toy bongo drums and a welter of other products for kids. But before writing off China as an unreliable supplier of shoddy goods, it's worthwhile remembering five things:
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1. Toy recalls are hardly new and China is not always the culpritRemember lawn darts? The large, weighted darts were designed to be aimed at a target lying on the grass, but kids sometimes threw them at each other instead. The United States banned them in 1988 after the Consumer Product Safety Commission blamed them in three deaths. Similarly, the EZ Sales mini-hammock was banned in the 1980s after several children strangled to death – and many others nearly did – in the thin mesh of the hammocks.
In the 1970s there were Clackers, a pair of large marbles suspended from a ring that made a neat clacking sound when they collided. Problem was they sometimes shattered on impact, sending plastic shards into the user's eyes. More recently, in March 2006, Magnetix building sets were recalled after it was discovered that some children had swallowed the small magnets inside the building pieces. One death and four serious injuries were attributed to the toy. It was the same with Polly Pocket play sets, recalled last November after kids swallowed small magnet parts.
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2. China is hardly the only source of faulty goods
Remember Perrier? The French water brand was forced to temporarily pull its product off the shelves in the United States in 1990 after traces of benzene, a carcinogen, were discovered in the stuff. Or think of U.S.-made Firestone tires. The company was forced to recalled 6.5 million tires after it was shown that defective tires were causing vehicles to roll over, a fault linked to a staggering 271 deaths. Or consider the Ford Pinto, which had an unfortunate tendency to burst into flame when hit by another car from behind. So far, there have been no reported deaths linked to high levels of lead paint in toys made in China.
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3. The Chinese aren't necessarily worse manufacturers, just busierIt's because they are just so dominant. Often called the workshop of the world, China is the third largest exporter after the United States and Japan. Of the consumer goods purchased in the United States last year, 40 per cent were imported from China. So it should not come as a surprise that about 50 per cent of the 467 products that manufacturers recalled last year were produced in China.
The problem is magnified in the case of toys. China exported $17.7-billion (U.S.) worth of toys last year, producing about 80 per cent of all the toys made in the world. With that kind of volume, some kind of problems are just about inevitable.
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4. Sometimes it's the North American designerA soon to be released report by two Canadian business professors, Paul Beamish and Hari Bapuji, found that about three quarters of toy recalls in recent years were caused by design faults such as sharp edges; small, loose parts that could be ingested by children; or strings or lines that could strangle them. Manufacturing problems such as lead paint were responsible for only 10 per cent of recalls over the last two decades, the professors found.
There is no denying that Chinese standards and regulations are below North American levels. It's also perfectly clear that many Chinese manufacturers – and, even more often, their smaller subcontractors – are cutting corners to make more money and keep their prices low, a key to their export success.
But part of the blame lies with North American companies that look the other way rather than put pressure on their Chinese suppliers to come up to scratch. Some companies, such as Nike, the sportswear firm, require Chinese suppliers to sign documents guaranteeing they will meet quality and safety standards. Others hire outside testing companies to go over the products they bring in from China with a fine-toothed comb. But many others simply bring in container loads of cheap stuff from China and pass it onto consumers without a second look.
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5. China is moving up the quality ladder Remember, too, that every developing economy, from Japan to Hong Kong and now to China, has started off manufacturing cheap, often substandard goods and then moved up the quality ladder. That progression is well under way in China. Airbus, the European aviation giant, is sourcing more and more of its sophisticated parts from China. While China's exports of shoes, clothing and, yes, toys are huge, it is also moving aggressively into chemicals, steel, semiconductors, digital electronics and a host of other complex products.
Decades ago, the label “Made in Japan” meant poor quality. After the toy and pet food scandals of recent months, a similar cloud hangs over China's reputation. But time will change that.
China will produce half of world's aluminum by 2020: Alcan exec
EMMA GRAHAM-HARRISON
Reuters
September 7, 2007 at 9:13 AM EDT
DALIAN — — China will produce half the world's aluminum by the end of the next decade and will be largely self sufficient in the metal through 2010, a top executive at producer Alcan [AL-T]said on Friday.
Pierre Arsenault, Vice President of Strategic Planning and Energy at the Alcan Primary Metal Group, said the company was in talks for new projects beyond its current smelter joint venture in Ningxia province, which it hopes to expand.
Alcan Inc. itself is the target of a $38.1-billion offer from Rio Tinto Plc [RTP-N], a deal that would make Rio Tinto the world's top aluminum producer. Together the firms can produce 4.4 million tonnes of aluminum a year, and both have major expansion plans to meet rising Asian demand for the metal.
“Half of the world production in 2016 or 2020 will come from China,” Mr. Arsenault said in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in coastal Dalian city.
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China already produced 28 per cent of global aluminum, or 9.3 million tonnes, in 2006. Its output rose 34 per cent to 6.7 million tonnes in the first seven months of this year, as strong prices in the first half tempted idled smelters to come online.
Although China exports the primary aluminum, shipments have slid heavily while imports are rising — leading to speculation the country could turn into a net importer and boost aluminum prices.
Beijing's goal of meeting but not exceeding domestic demand at home through the end of 2010, meant it was unlikely to flood or strain global markets, Mr. Arsenault said.
“They are trying to achieve self-sufficiency. That doesn't mean being a net importer and doesn't mean being a net exporter. Sometimes they will be a little bit up and sometimes a little bit down ... but that's not going to disturb the whole world,” he said.
Demand growth for the metal in China has largely tracked economic growth of around 10 per cent over the last three decades, he added.
In 2004, Alcan invested about $150-million in China's first aluminum joint venture, buying a 50 per cent share in a 150,000-tonne-per-year production line owned by Qingtongxia Aluminium Co., China's second-largest producer.
It is now looking at expanding its China presence, as the industry's centre of gravity shifts away from the United States and Europe, where smelters are closing rapidly because of high electricity prices and other factors.
Long-term talks about setting up another production line are on-going but the company is also looking further afield.
“We are studying other opportunities in China in different locations,” Mr. Arsenault said, but declined to comment further.
“Since they are not approved, the government doesn't like us to (comment),” he added.
The industry is fragmenting as Chinese and Middle Eastern smelters take on a larger role, even though mergers are bringing some bigger players to the market, he added. Western nations could see still more smelter closures, as high energy prices bite and pressure grows to act on greenhouse gas emissions.
Alcan's 25 to 50-year strategic plans already factored in an increase in electricity prices, although Mr. Arseneault said that he could not predict short term energy prices. The energy-intensive industry was exploring how to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions.
“It's a shared view if we don't deal with that threat, then in the mid-long term it could be a threat to the material itself,” he said, adding that the technology path to follow was clear.
“As an industry ... the solution will come through clean coal production, you cannot escape coal.”
(Additional reporting by Lucy Hornby)