So what if they feed us cardboard dumplings?

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Relax, folks, you can all go back to brushing your teeth with Chinese toothpaste: The government in Beijing has just outlawed juicing the stuff with diethylene gylocol (DEG), an industrial solvent. DEG-laden toothpaste has yet to kill anybody, but the Chinese have been feeling cautious lately. In addition to the recent ban, Beijing is gearing up to institute national food safety checks, and just executed the former head of food and drug safety. You know, just to be on the safe side.

Just when I thought the coast was clear, however, I came across the disturbing news that two new phony products have cropped up in China: Dumplings stuffed with cardboard shavings, and bogus Rabies vaccines. Talk about putting the “dim” in dim sum.

But before anybody goes back to shrieking about how China is out to kill us all, take a look at this interesting report from the New York Times. It compares the number of food shipments the United States has turned away from various foreign countries over the past year, and it turns out that China is surpassed by both India and Mexico. And if you think Chinese seafood is bad (391 shipments rejected), you’d better stay away from Danish candy (520 rejections).

So if Beijing isn’t all the devil incarnate, then what’s behind the hype? Sure, China has exported a few particularly nasty products in the last few years, but the “ChiComs” are no worse than some of the other top U.S. trading partners. I’d say all this hullabaloo has a lot to do with the sad fact that Americans just love to hate China. It’s not a new phenomenon, but it has been magnified by China’s dramatic rise. At this point, Americans (and their congressmen) will take any shot they can get at Beijing. The ultimate goal? To control the Chinese while that’s still even remotely possible.