|
|
我们是否还能相信“中国制造”？
【原文来源】《半岛媒体》
【AC专稿】针对近期中国商品和食品质量在全球所造成的对“中国制造”的信任危机，半岛新闻最近撰文指出，虽然中国产品质量有关的法律法规有待完善，唯利是图的西方企业以及斤斤计较的西方消费者也难辞其咎。文章认为重树“中国制造”信誉的最终方式是提高产品价值链，生产价高物美的高端消费产品。
作者首先回顾了“中国制造”从一个舶来品到成为深入全球消费者生活的商品的短暂历程。仅仅在二十多年前，带有“中国制造”标签的商品还很少见，但是二十年后的今天，西方消费者买的任何东西都很少和中国没有任何关联。1980年改革开放初始时，中国出口额以每年5.7%的幅度增长，十年以后，这个数字增加到了26%。
作者接着指出，“中国制造”从根本上改变了整个世界的消费习惯。从美洲和欧洲的大中型商场，到非洲沙哈拉沙漠以南国家的大型集市，曾几何时对于普通消费者来说遥不可及的奢侈品变得触手可及。而这一切都是拜中国所赐。比如，现在现在市场上中国制造的DVD机，其价钱仅仅相当于一部正版DVD光盘的价钱。而廉价的中国制造商品，也成了西方”用完就扔“的消费模式的基础。
文章接着回顾了近几年来由于一系列针对中国商品的安全警告和召回。这些警告和召回使“中国制造”不再是价廉物美的代名词，而是成了“危险”的同义词。西方的政客和媒体也不失时机地利用这些商品质量问题大做文章，他们借此机会对中国进行一系列的污蔑，指责中国为了追求利润不择手段，甚至不惜降低产品的质量。
作者认为，这些产品质量问题是不可容忍的；中国快速发展的经济和其产品质量监测方面的法律法规之间确实存在着巨大的鸿沟。但是中国企业也有自己的苦衷，那就是他们的跨国公司客户不断对他们施加压力，不仅把价格压得很低，而且是一压再压。再加上工人不断要求加薪，这些中国企业面临的是一个“第二十二条军规”式的困境。西方政府在不断抗议中国没有按照它们的要求实施产品安全法的同时，故意忽略了这样一个事实，那就是这些西方政府为了缩减企业税，也不断地缩减其进口商品检验部门的经费。作者还指出，全世界的消费者都要求价格低廉的商品，但是却不愿为为安全地生产这些商品、实施监控产品标准等等有关的费用付出代价。
作者最后指出，出口贸易是中国经济增长的主要来源，中国应该提高“中国制造”的价值链，制造价格更高、更高端、利润空间更大的消费品。能否做到这一点，取决于世界是否能恢复对“中国制造”的信心，而对“中国制造”的信心的重树不取决于商品价格是否低廉，而取决于产品本身是否安全、可靠。
【Anti-CNN dakelv 编译】
原文:
| Can we trust 'made in China'? | | By Joe Havely
It may seem hard to remember, but it was only a little more than a couple of decades ago when the label 'made in China' was seen as something slightly exotic.
Not any longer.
Today, few of the things that we buy do not owe their existence in some way or another to the China factor.
The bulk, if not all, of the computer you are using right now was almost certainly made in one of China's hundreds of tech factories - by a company and in a city you have probably never heard of.
In barely three decades, the communist basket case once known as "Red China" has become the epicentre of globalisation.
In the 1980s, when China began to open its economy to the outside world, Chinese exports rose on average by 5.7 per cent a year.
By the 1990s, that figure grew to 12.4 per cent, soaring to 20.3 per cent between 2000 and 2003, and hitting 26.7 per cent in 2006.
Consumer boom
Backed by its vast army of cheap labour, China's export-driven economy has created an unprecedented consumer boom that has encompassed the globe.
According to the International Monetary Fund, China's export growth rate has been seven times that of the rest of the world in recent years.
As a result goods made in China have transformed the way the world shops.
From the mega-malls of suburban America and Europe, to the bazaars of sub-Saharan Africa, products that might once have been out-of-reach luxury for many consumers have become an everyday affordability for the masses.
All thanks to China.
Now, for example, a DVD player can be bought for barely more than the cost of one of the DVD movies to play in it.
Laptops, cellphones and other modern essentials all owe their prevalence to the fact that Chinese factories have been able to churn them out at an unbeatably low price.
It has become the basis of our throw away society - an apparently infinite Aladdin's cave of goodies; the answer to the dreams of the world's shopaholics.
But recently the sheen on this low-cost treasure has shown signs of wearing off.
Safety fears
A series of safety alerts and product recalls have raised fears over Chinese-made goods ranging from toothpaste and processed shrimp to Thomas The Tank Enginetoys.
Now, we are again seeing China battle a rapidly growing scare over dairy products contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine.
Suddenly, it seems that the 'made in China' label might not be such good value – and may even be deadly.
Western politicians and many pundits in the media have seized upon the issue to engage in a bout of China-bashing, accusing Chinese manufacturers of ruthlessly cutting corners in pursuit of profit at any price.
Chinese consumers themselves are all too familiar with cases of fake or untested – and often deadly – pharmaceuticals.
Four years ago, another scandal surrounding baby formula claimed the lives of dozens of infants.
An investigation found that the formula had no nutritional value whatsoever – apparently part of a get-rich-quick scheme.
Such cases are inexcusable and the latest scare over dairy products shows, once again, that China's monitoring and regulatory oversight of its fast-growing economy leaves much to be desired.
'Chaotic'
China's cabinet admitted earlier this week that deep, systemic failings were to blame.
"[The scandal] has shown us that the dairy market is chaotic, flaws exist in supervision mechanisms and supervision work is weak," China's leaders said in a statement released on state TV.
But many Chinese manufacturers also complain they face immense pressure from their giant multinational customers - not just to keep their prices low, but to repeatedly cut them, and to cut them again.
Faced with growing wage demands from their workers, they are caught in a "Catch-22" situation.
At the same time Western governments have protested indignantly at China's failure to enforce product safety laws demanded by the West.
Many conveniently overlook the issue that, for years, they have helped fund tax cuts by freezing or cutting funding to their own agencies meant to monitor the safety of imports.
Question of confidence
It is, perhaps, a case of wanting to "have your cake and eat it".
The world demands cheap goods, but is unwilling to pay the price that covers the cost of producing them safely, or to put the monitoring systems in place to ensure standards are kept to.
The uproar has understandably put China's leaders on the defensive; export trade is the backbone of China's economic growth, and the continuation of that growth is what China's leaders base their legitimacy on.
That, in turn, depends on China's manufacturers moving up what economists call the "value chain" – essentially, making more expensive, more sophisticated goods that draw a higher profit margin.
But to do that successfully requires confidence in Chinese-made goods.
Confidence, ultimately, depends not just on low price, but on reliability and safety - and safety, as has become all too clear, comes at a price.
|
[ 本帖最后由 CC_best 于 2008-10-16 00:09 编辑 ] |
评分
-
1
查看全部评分
-
|
狗仔卡
发表于 2008-10-15 04:17
提升卡
变色卡
抢沙发
千斤顶
显身卡
发表于 2008-10-15 05:32
鱼与熊掌不可得兼，最终都是劣质产品出了国，被骂。
楼主
