An editorial in The Asahi Shimbun wonders if the recent scare over bad gyoza dumplings imported from China to Japan might also taint President Hu Jintao’s upcoming visit to the island nation:
With Chinese President Hu Jintao scheduled to visit Japan after the Golden Week holidays in May, both the Japanese and Chinese governments are rushing to make final adjustments. Japan is sincerely welcoming Hu on the first visit by a Chinese president in 10 years since Jiang Zemin arrived in 1998.
However, the food scare over tainted gyoza dumplings imported from China is casting a dark shadow on Hu’s trip.
From Japan’s point of view, there are several points of frustration over the Chinese response to the tainted food scandal. Although the two countries had agreed to cooperate in a joint investigation, Chinese authorities held a news conference in which they firmly announced that it was highly unlikely that a pesticide contaminated the dumplings in China.
