China falls back into crisis mode

BEIJING — How quickly things can change.

Exactly one month ago, China was staging the closing ceremony of the Olympics, basking in a haul of gold medals and wide praise for nearly perfect management of the Summer Games.

Today it is struggling with another crisis in a year that, aside from two weeks in August, has been filled with scandal, natural disasters and ethnic troubles.

The revelation that adulterated infant formula has killed at least four Chinese children and sickened 53,000 has presented rulers not only with the most serious quality-control issue in memory, but a daunting political challenge. Officials face suspicions that they knew about the crisis months ago, but hid it from consumers to avoid damping the Olympic excitement.

This crisis has hit particularly hard, in part because the repercussions are so widespread. The contaminated brands are nationally known and supposedly China's best. The news comes after previous scandals and a massive campaign to improve the quality of Chinese products. And, though any parent would be angry, it also affects the treasured "little emperors" of China's one-child generation.

At the Capital Institute of Pediatrics in Beijing on Tuesday, a long line of parents waited for their infants to have blood tests and ultrasound exams at government expense. Impromptu nurses stations were set up in the hallway to help with the crowd.

Particularly disconcerting for many is evidence that so many producers were involved while regulators stood by, that warnings were ignored, and that knowledge of the tampering appeared to be widespread. What started this month as news that a single company, Sanlu Group, was selling powdered milk containing the industrial chemical melamine to boost measurements of its protein content ballooned within days to involve 22 companies.

China's reputation has been tarnished. Taiwan, Singapore, Japan, Malaysia, Brunei and even far-off Gabon either banned or recalled Chinese milk products, coffee packets and chocolate. The U.S. doesn't allow the importation of Chinese dairy products, but the Food and Drug Administration has stepped up testing of candies and desserts from Asia.

Tang Zhongjun, father of 18-month-old Fukun, said his family used Sanlu milk products since their son's birth because of their excellent reputation. Several of the companies involved had been considered so safe that they were not subject to inspections.