The new Hong Kong law stipulates a penalty of up to $64,500 and two years in prison for anyone convicted of breaking the milk powder export limit.

At Hong Kong’s international airport, the public address system informed passengers that they were not permitted to carry out more than two cans of powdered milk formula.

Mainland traders are known in Hong Kong as “locusts,” for stripping store shelves of milk powder and other consumer goods for resale across the border. The booming milk powder trade in Hong Kong was fueled by fears on the mainland that domestically produced baby formula is tainted with industrial chemicals.

Rowdy demonstrations by Hong Kong residents protesting the cross-border consumer-goods trade last year helped turn milk powder into a powder keg threatening relations between Hong Kong and the mainland. Hong Kong parents complain that they are unable to find baby formula for their own children.

The accused included 26 Hong Kong residents, 18 mainlanders and one person with a foreign passport, according to the South China Morning Post. A number of tainted baby formula scandals have hit China in recent years – thousands of children fell ill with kidney problems in 2008 from milk powder tainted with the industrial chemical melamine – and mainland mothers have since turned to places such as Hong Kong and even Australia for their baby food. More recently, a cancer-causing element was found in samples of a mainland dairy company last year.

China’s health minister called the smuggling of infant formula a “temporary problem” in Beijing on Monday, according to the Financial Times. Checking in from the sidelines of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) on Sunday, the South China Morning Post noted a mixed bag of opinions on the issue among the members of China’s top political consultative body:

Wang Xudong, head of the School of Information Technology at Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, lashed out at Hong Kong’s measures, calling them strict.

“The Hong Kong government is way out of line…[It] only cares about Hong Kong’s babies, not at all for the ones on the mainland. [It thinks] it isn’t enough to only seize milk powder, but even imprison the carriers,” Wang said.

…

Other CPPCC members called for a serious crackdown on food safety violators after an seemingly endless stream of scandals in China. They said food safety issues were at the core of the milk power controversy.

Three-time CPPCC member Pan Qinglin from Tianjin urged heavier punishment on offenders. “I suggest imposing the death penalty to [foodmakers who put people in danger]… [Food fabrication] has damaged the image of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

© Scott Greene for China Digital Times (CDT), 2013. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baby formula, children's health, CPPCC, dairy industry, food safety, food scandal, milk contamination, smuggling
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The charges from the probe, called “Project Honeygate,” mark the culmination of a two-part investigation that began in 2008 and included U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. attorney’s office in the northern district of Illinois. In the first phase, federal authorities charged 14 individuals for allegedly evading about $80 million in anti-dumping duties.

The latest phase of the investigation included an undercover agent, who took a role as director of procurement with a cooperating honey supplier. The resulting investigation led to two of the nation’s largest honey suppliers — Honey Holding and Groeb Farms Inc. — entering into deferred prosecution agreements with the government and paying $1 million and $2 million in fines, respectively.

[…] U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat who has pushed federal officials to crack down on counterfeit honey imports, said the “successful sting operation is sure to be a buzz kill for would-be honey smugglers.”

“We need a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to honey laundering,” Schumer said in a statement.

The Associated Press’ Alexa Olesen examined the debate over anti-dumping tariffs and problems associated with honey smuggling in 2010 (via Tom Hancock):

Honey-laundering is just one of many unsavory practices that have besmirched China’s vast honey industry and raised complaints from competing American beekeepers. China produces more honey than anywhere else in the world, about 300,000 metric tons (660 million pounds) a year or about 25 percent of the global total. But stocks are tainted with a potentially dangerous antibiotic and cheaper honeys are increasingly getting passed off as more expensive varieties.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration seized 64 drums of Chinese honey tainted with chloramphenicol, an antibiotic, at a warehouse in Philadelphia. Last year, the agency said two Chinese honey shipments were found to contain the drug, which is approved for medical use but banned in food products because in rare cases it can cause aplastic anemia, a potentially fatal illness.

Experts say quality problems are hard to avoid in a business dominated by small manufacturers, many of whom are poor and uneducated.

[…] “If their bees got sick, the first thing in their mind is saving their bees instead of caring about the quality of honey,” said Wei, a honey dealer from Chengde in central China’s Henan province. “They can’t afford the loss of bees.”

In the more recent case, according to the AFP, ICE deputy director Daniel Ragsdale “was quick to insist there was ‘no health and safety risk’ despite some of the 4,900 barrels of seized honey being adulterated with antibiotics not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.”

Besides the dangers of direct ingestion, agricultural antibiotic use can accelerate the development of drug-resistant bacteria: see recent posts at CDT and IHT Rendezvous.

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“They never register the houses in their own names and they use a string of agents to do the deals,” said Mr Fu. He said one company had bribed an official by buying him a property at the Mountain Water International Complex. “The property was put in the name of the official’s relative. After six months, it was sold for two million yuan (£200,000), around the same amount it cost. Then the official could cash out.

[…] Marco Pearman-Parish at Corporation China, a company in Beijing that helps clients find properties abroad, said there had been a strong rise in clients looking for homes in the Cayman Islands.

“In Beijing, half our clients are government officials,” he said. “Nine out of ten claim to be businessmen, but it emerges over the course of the deal that they have government jobs. What they are looking for is resident permits abroad so that if anything happens they can escape easily.”

Neither the anti-corruption speeches nor the escape artistry began with Xi’s appointment in November. According to the Commission report, Moore writes, as much as U.S. $1 trillion was smuggled out of China last year—though this figure is disputed—while 714 officials made successful getaways during the October National Day holidays alone.

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Post tags: anti-corruption, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, corrupt officials, corruption, naked officials, property market, real estate, smuggling, Xi Jinping
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Mr. Jennrich, 31, the company’s general manager and a German citizen, was taken away on the evening of March 30 during a raid of the business’s Beijing offices; hours later Ms. Chu, 29, its operations manager, was summoned for questioning. Mr. Jennrich’s family and colleagues have expressed concern for his health, saying he has been forced to share a cell with 11 others. During the first days of his detention, they added, he was interrogated for 36 hours straight, a violation of Chinese law.

“It’s a living nightmare,” said Mr. Jennrich’s fiancée, Jenny Dam, who said the couple had planned to marry in May.

No trial date has been set.

The detentions have put a spotlight on the mercurial Chinese legal system and raised questions among collectors and industry executives about the potential pitfalls of China’s fast-growing art and antiques market, which last year surpassed the United States to become the world’s largest, according to the European Fine Art Foundation. The crackdown, industry professionals have warned, could dissuade Chinese collectors from bringing home art purchased abroad.

Some have privately questioned the government’s motivation, noting that Integrated Fine Art Solutions has handled the work of Ai Weiwei, the maverick artist who has earned the government’s wrath for his criticism of the ruling Communist Party. Others have suggested that the case is aimed at taking down a foreign-owned company to clear the way for a well-connected domestic player that recently began lavishly investing in the art-handling business.

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Post tags: Ai Wei Wei, art imports, contemporary art, Nils Jennrich, smuggling, tax evasion
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“The Chinese government’s determination to attack crime and root out corruption is unwavering, the report said.

Lai can still appeal against the conviction and sentence.

The court concluded that, from 1991, Lai “established companies, strongholds and networks in Hong Kong and Xiamen to form a smuggling clique” that cheated customs inspectors to import cigarettes, cars, oil products, industrial materials and textiles worth a total of some 27.4 billion yuan ($4.3 billion).

Lai bribed 64 officials through gifts of cash, real estate and vehicles worth some 39.1 million yuan, and he evaded taxes totaling 14.0 billion yuan.

Lai’s crimes occurred in the special economic zone of Xiamen in Fujian province in the mid-1990s when Jia, now the Communist Party’s fourth most senior leader, was the province’s party boss.

In The Globe and Mail, Mark MacKinnon traces Lai’s opportunistic rise to the top of China’s black market and writes that today’s ruling marks the end of China’s Great Gatsby:

In a country where few profess to know the details of the Tiananmen Square massacre, nearly everyone knows Mr. Lai’s name. He’s the ultimate antihero, the poor kid from Fujian province who came to symbolize the excesses and corruption that have spoiled China’s economic rise. Tell someone here that you’re Canadian, and you open yourself to questions about why Canada would shelter a man like Mr. Lai for the dozen years he was in Vancouver fighting extradition before he was finally sent back to China 10 months ago.

The story of Lai Changxing resonates here because it is interwoven with that of modern China. He made it rich through his own enterprise, only to become mired in the payoffs and profiteering that so many Chinese detest. He was a rogue and a bootlegger, a Chinese Jay Gatsby, who is believed to have rubbed shoulders with some of the rising stars of Communist Party, which many believe helps explain the passion with which Beijing fought to have him extradited and jailed back on Chinese soil. (The party boss in Fujian at the height of Mr. Lai’s influence was Jia Qinglin, now a member of the all-powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo. The provincial governor was Xi Jinping, the man tipped to be China’s next president.)

See also recent CDT coverage of Lai’s trial and legacy as “China’s Most Wanted Fugitive.”

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Post tags: Canada, deportation, Lai Changxin, legal system, prison, smuggling, xiamen
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The rewards signal Beijing’s determination to stamp out an illicit trade that threatens to undermine recently reintroduced price supports. China is a net sugar importer and the world’s top sugar importer, according to Chinese customs data, as growing affluence helps boost consumption.

The government reinstated a floor price for sugar of 6,550 yuan a ton in February after a two-year hiatus to protect farming incomes in China’s sugar country, mostly in the south. China’s floor price has helped buoy local prices, which were around 6,735 yuan a ton on Wednesday.

By comparison, import prices including taxes and freight were around 5,274 yuan a ton Wednesday, according to the Yunnan Sugar Network, an industry website. Global sugar prices have fallen to a 20-month low as an output surplus weighs on prices.

Chinese industry groups say that has led to a surge in illicit exports, particularly from Southeast Asia. The Guangdong Sugar Association last month estimated that sugar smuggled into China totaled about 500,000 tons in the first quarter, slightly more than the 499,254 tons imported legally according to government statistics.

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Post tags: China Sugar Association, imports, smuggling, subsidies, sugar
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Despite the closure of Gaza travel and commercial crossings, Palestinian merchant Abu Hussam Huwaity, can still get shipments of high quality made-in-China goods and sell them for good prices in Gaza.

“China is a blessing from God,” said Abu Hussam, who was one of the first Gazans to travel to China for business when it began to open up its economy to Palestinians in the early 1990s. “We no longer need the Israelis or the Europeans, China is enough.”…”I have a business office in Yiwu City of China,” said Abu Hussam. “I used to ship goods from China to the Israeli seaport of Ashdod then to Gaza through Karni crossing.”

…”Tunnels are also blessing from God,” he said, smiling. “My office is still operating in China, I still can buy China-made goods and ship them to Egypt then get them into Gaza through the underground tunnels.”

© cschultz for China Digital Times (CDT), 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: israel, Palestine, smuggling
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Chinese media claim that the diamond smuggling racket was busted by Shenzhen Custom’s officials. The ring is said to have sourced diamonds in Hong Kong and hired Indians and local carriers to smuggle them into Shenzhen before distributing them to factories, which, in turn, sold them on the open market.

The incident comes at a time when Chinese nationals working on various infrastructure projects in India have complained of a host of problems, including issues relating to their visas.

Three Chinese engineers were arrested in Korba town in Chhattisgarh on Monday for chimney crash in the Balco plant in which 41 workers were killed in September last year. The Chinese were on Tuesday shifted to a district hospital in Korba town after they complained of health problems.

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Post tags: diamonds, India relations, smuggling
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Reports of rice smuggling have surfaced this week in areas all along China’s sprawling borders, from Yunan province next to Vietnam, to northwest Xinjiang, which borders the central Asian states of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, all the way to Guangdong, a prosperous southern Chinese province that sources 60% of its rice from elsewhere in the country.

See also “China wary of importing food inflation” from Reuters.

© Kiran Goldman for China Digital Times (CDT), 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: agriculture, food prices, food supply, smuggling
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Hello, I’m Amy Jiang. On the surface, I could be a poster woman for the face of modern China. I am a mostly successful 20-something, savvy English-fluent woman with international business experience as a buyer and translator. But the truth is that I’m currently working for shady Russian businessmen posing as legitimate buyers in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. And while much of Shenzhen seems occupied with smuggling counterfeit handbags and shoes to the west, Sacha and Bogdan, as we will call them, are preoccupied with smuggling more serious stuff. Like buses, among other things. [Full text]

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2007. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Shenzhen, smuggling
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Worldwide, there are an average of 92 ivory seizures a month — or three a day, the report said. Thirty-two seizures of 1.1 tons or more of ivory were recorded from 1998 to 2006, up from 17 in 1989-97, according to the group’s analysis of international elephant product seizure records.

Markets in China are driving the demand for illicit ivory, which arrives either directly or through Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Japan and Thailand are also important final destinations, and the Philippines is a key transit country. [Full text]

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Post tags: endangered species, ivory, smuggling
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The forests of Zhangjiagang are horizontal: tens of thousands of felled, stripped trees lying on the quayside of China’s biggest timber port, far from their roots in Indonesia, Russia, South America and Africa.

The trunks of pine, maple, merbau and zebra wood are dead, but this forest is growing. Every year, more and more logs are shipped into these wharves to satisfy the voracious demand for timber in the world’s most populous and fastest rising nation.

© Sophie Beach for China Digital Times (CDT), 2005. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: forests, smuggling, timber
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