The world has become a very strange place when NZ is getting lectured by China. Problem is, they aren’t wrong.
100% Pure ‘festering sore’ – China news sites
China’s state-run news agency has delivered a sharp critique of New Zealand in the wake of Fonterra’s contamination crisis, describing this country’s 100 per cent Pure tourism campaign as a “festering sore” and saying free market ideology resulted in Kiwi homes becoming damp, leaky and uninhabitable.
In an editorial article published on a number of major Chinese news websites overnight, Xinhua says the time has come to ask the New Zealand Government, “Where is the quality control?”
The news agency, regarded as a mouthpiece of China’s Government, says this country’s food safety problems are not “mere details” – they are beginning to look systemic.
“One could argue the country is hostage to a blinkered devotion to laissez-faire market ideology. Many New Zealanders fell victim to this when the construction industry was deregulated two decades ago resulting in damp and leaky homes that quickly became uninhabitable,” Xinhua said.
“While it’s true the government isn’t responsible for the contamination of Fonterra produce, it should be held accountable for the fact that nothing was done to identify the problem before it was dispatched to export markets and domestic customers.” …
The news agency goes on to describe John Key’s defence of the 100 per cent Pure tourism campaign, when in April the Prime Minister compared it to McDonald’s “I’m Loving it” slogan and said it needed to be taken “with a pinch of salt”.
“No, Mr Key, it needs to be fixed before your trading partners just stop loving it,” Xinhua said.
Go read the whole article at The Herald.
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