This is an issue of safety. Parents should be confident that the toys and food that they give their children have been inspected and are safe. That's why I am calling on the President to use his authority to immediately suspend all imports of toys and food from China. It's not enough to simply talk about working for fair trade agreements. We need leadership that will act to enforce fair trade. We have the legal right and power under the WTO to keep products out of our country that threaten the health and safety of our families, and I'm going to do all I can to ensure we do so.
Dodd Calls for Suspension of Chinese Toy, Food Imports to US
posted by Matt Browner-Hamlin, Campaign Blogger on August 15, 2007 - 2:32pm
This afternoon Senator Chris Dodd called for immediately suspending all imports of toys and food from China while addressing the Iowa Federation of Labor.
Comments
Hooray for Senator Dodd!! Many of us have been saying this since our pets sickened and died from Chinese ingredients. Then we noticed bibs had lead. Then we were afraid of electronics because of fire hazards. Then we realized seafood was dangerous. Then there was the poisoned toothpaste. Now toys have killed children. I actually hope they can go further and add food ingredients, electrical items and cosmetics. Hell, just suspend the imports in general until they (and we) can get it together.
One and a half cheers for Chris Dodd! United States China policy has been off the rails for 18 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre. We have had three Presidents in a row, without the backbone to look at China, especially its Communist Party which *is* its government, and to call evil by its name. Since when do ordinary Americans *like* nuclear-armed, communist superpowers? What is the strategic value in enriching communists, dictators, tyrants, and thugs? For a few years after Tiananmen Square, Americans could watch lots of 'China human rights coverage' on TV.
Did that go away? "Problem solved?" No! What went away was only the US TV coverage. The coverage went away, but the atrocities, the blood bath, the human rights abuse continued along at full blast. There have been eight years of a Falun Gong crackdown that has become bloodier than Tiananmen Square. (China's killing of innocent citizens never stopped, it just went indoors and out of camera range.) More people are dead in this later crackdown than in the earlier crackdown! And if you are an American TV viewer, there was a decision by Jennings Brokaw and Rather that they simply wouldn't show or tell you anything of it.
Are mine strong words for Bush Sr., Bill Clinton, and Bush? Yes, but in a speech (that I give yearly for the anniversary of Tiananmen's massacre) I called them "wuss bunnies of moral cowardice." Translation: I will double down on my criticism anytime that somebody cares to challenge me on it. I've mentioned three presidents and three network anchormen, and all six of them were enablers of China's genocide.
Let's call them neo-Americans. I say, enough is enough of neo-Americans; get me a U.S. President who is a REAL American!
Could that be Senator Dodd? Well, I began by saying "One and a half cheers for Chris Dodd." His recent strong stand is good, but he should widen the embargo to medical devices, tires, and anything else safety-related. True China hawks will remember that Dodd voted FOR China's PNTR "permanent free trade" deal; therefore, I will keep a further one and a half cheers in reserve on my shelf until U.S. China policy truly shifts, as with the cancellation of PNTR.
China hawks will generally oppose the "genocidally correct" policy decisions of the neo-Americans. China PNTR is better called "the Communist Enrichment Act of 2000." Communists laughed all the way to the bank, while their killing spree continued domestically, and while their foreign policy supported tyranny in Burma, East Turkestan, Laos, North Korea, Sudan, Tibet, Vietnam, and and made threats against Taiwan, conducting a military buildup while China got into bed with Russia, as seen by recent joint Chinese / Russian war games.
Apart from trade, what can Dodd do for China hawks at this time? He can endorse the boycott / pullout of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, that are slated to be held in Beijing, China at this time next year. Please browse over to www.myspace.com/olympicboycott. As the chief of the China Support Network (an ally of Tiananmen Square Chinese dissidents), I would welcome Dodd's endorsement of the new initiative that is called the Freedom First, Olympics Second Coalition (FFOSC).
FFOSC includes more groups: The Free China Movement, Dictator Watch, the Montagnard Foundation, the Party for Freedom and Democracy in China, and others. PLENTY of people are calling to boycott these Olympics. Senator Dodd will be in good company if he joins us.
Thanks for taking this in. --/s./ John Kusumi, a CT constituent (heck, a 1982 campaign volunteer) of Chris Dodd's.
As a white American, I don't blame my country's problems on any other country. Even without China, our labor intensive jobs will still go to a developing country like India, Brazil, etc.... And most of those countries are equipped with a much inferior product safety testing system than China. The only way, they we can maintain our economy superiority is to educate our next generation with the science and math skills that are essential to our technological innovations. So.. Stop Blaming our problems on anyone.. And try to Raise your Kid right. Because He/She Might hold the key to our bright future.