By Kristy Tridhavee
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Asia

BEIJING, China – Recent reports from the state media allege that the Sula Group, the company at the center of the milk scandal in China, asked governmental authorities to help cover-up the extent of the problem, making them aware of the danger months ago.

Shijiazhuang city government spokesman Wang Jianguo said they had been asked by the Sanlu Group for help in “managing” the media response to the case when first told of the issue on August 2nd.  Government officials were told six days before the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing.

China admitted that the Shijiazhuang city government was aware of the tainted milk problems but refused to release any warnings because China was in the middle of hosting the Olympics.  Recently, Beijing fired several Shijiazhuang officials, including the city’s Communist Party chief, for the attempted cover-up.

In the letter from the Sanlu Group to city officials, the group stated, “Please can the government increase control and coordination of the media, to create a good environment for the recall of the company’s problem products.  This is to avoid whipping up the issue and creating a negative influence in society.”

Reporters Without Borders has also released reports that Beijing ordered news of the tainted milk scandal to remain quiet during the Olympics.  Reporters Without Borders wrote, “Several Chinese journalists have said that it is becoming more and more obvious that the authorities in July prevented an investigation into the toxic milk coming out so as not to tarnish China’s image before the Olympics.”

Chito Sta. Romana, chief of the ABC News Bureau in China, stated the scandal was proof of a “failure of the Chinese system of governance.”  He added, “It’s the result of the greed that has been unleashed on Chinese society by the economic reforms [and is proof] of the failure of the system of governance,” he said at a Sulo Hotel press forum in Quezon City.

China’s latest food safety problem arises out of the illegal addition of the industrial chemical melamine to milk to cheat in quality tests.  Thus far, 53,000 children have gotten sick from the tainted milk and four have died.  

For more information, please see:

AFP – China Vows to Clean Up Dairy Industry, More Children Ill – 6 October 2008

Inquirer.net – China Cover-Up More Damaging—Journalist – 5 October 2008

Reuters – China Milk Scandal Firm Asked for Cover-Up Help – 1 October 2008