Doing Their Duties

TO Zheng Xiaoyu, it all must have seemed so unfair. Bribery is common in China and rarely punished. But, in America, reports about poisoned pet food and tainted toothpaste had activated a familiar chorus line of jerking knees on Capitol Hill, and the Chinese government was desperate to demonstrate its commitment to product safety. Zheng protested that his punishment was “too severe,” an understandable complaint. To be shot in the head for taking a few hundred thousand dollars in bribes as China’s top food and drug regulator? When William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat caught with $90,000 in his freezer, hasn’t even lost all of his committee assignments? In China, of course, they do things differently. A mere four months after his arrest, Zheng was executed.

China’s rapid and brutal handling of the Zheng affair made headlines around the world, but it did not stanch the flood of China-related legislation that has poured from the 110th Congress. Since he was put to death in mid-July, lawmakers have introduced 24 such bills, bringing the total number of China-related bills introduced since January to 87. Twenty of those bills address concerns over product safety; most of the others stem from longstanding grievances over the value of China’s currency or subsidies for its exporters. The fear now among free-traders-and Zheng’s execution shows that the Chinese fear it too-is that Congress will use product safety as a rallying cry to pass a raft of legislation whose true aim is to punish China for competing too effectively against a handful of U.S. businesses.

About the Author

Stephen Spruiell

Stephen Spruiell is a former staff reporter for National Review Online.

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TO Zheng Xiaoyu, it all must have seemed so unfair. Bribery is common in China and rarely punished. But, in America, reports about poisoned pet food and tainted toothpaste had activated a familiar chorus line of jerking knees on Capitol Hill, and the Chinese government was desperate to demonstrate its commitment to product safety. Zheng protested that his punishment was “too severe,” an understandable complaint. To be shot in the head for taking a few hundred thousand dollars in bribes as China’s top food and drug regulator? When William Jefferson, the Louisiana Democrat caught with $90,000 in his freezer, hasn’t even lost all of his committee assignments? In China, of course, they do things differently. A mere four months after his arrest, Zheng was executed.

China’s rapid and brutal handling of the Zheng affair made headlines around the world, but it did not stanch the flood of China-related legislation that has poured from the 110th Congress. Since he was put to death in mid-July, lawmakers have introduced 24 such bills, bringing the total number of China-related bills introduced since January to 87. Twenty of those bills address concerns over product safety; most of the others stem from longstanding grievances over the value of China’s currency or subsidies for its exporters. The fear now among free-traders-and Zheng’s execution shows that the Chinese fear it too-is that Congress will use product safety as a rallying cry to pass a raft of legislation whose true aim is to punish China for competing too effectively against a handful of U.S. businesses.