China's determination to ensure food safety
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"The reason why the melamine-tainted milk powder was not completely destroyed and instead reused in production lies in inadequate law enforcement and supervision," said Wang Wei, also a professor from the Beijing-based Chinese Academy of Governance.
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Melamine-tainted dairy products have resurfaced in several Chinese provinces. |
The new food safety commission should play its role in supervising enterprises shoulder their own responsibilities to abide by the laws and regulations.
His view was echoed by Prof. Zheng Yongnian, director of East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.
"Food safety incidents not only happen in China, but in developed countries as well," Zheng said, "The key to solve the problem is government supervision, and effective enforcement of the laws."
He said the establishment of the commission highlights that China is further adjusting the relations between government and market. And China's market economy is at such a stage of development that government must play a strong role in regulating it.
"A commission headed by Li Keqiang and seated by more than a dozen of minister-level officials would certainly enhance coordination between government departments and improve the government's supervising and enforcement abilities," he said.
Wang Yukai also said effective coordination between different government departments strengthened by the food safety commission would help with China's decision making when dealing with food safety issues.
"As far as I know, food safety is regulated by multiple government departments in all countries. What is vital is coordinating them to work together well with force," he said.
In addition, the government departments tended to "fix problems after they occur ... instead of finding them before they get too big," he added.
With the new commission in place, however, government coordination could be carried out more smoothly, and government heads would sit together to find problems with the food safety system and solve them, he said.
