Foreign companies want to sell food to the United States, but they don't want to follow our rules or be burdened by our inspections.

Foreign steelmakers want to sell steel to the United States, but the steel is often weak or rusts prematurely.

Now foreign companies want to be listed on U.S. stock exchanges, to access our vibrant capital markets, but do not want to follow our accounting rules.  Some, including me, would call this hubris.  Why is change this even being discussed? 

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I don't consider myself a member of the Black Helicopter Society.  But this China espionage stuff keeps coming.

*  Our FBI told Congress that China's civilian and military spies are the world's most effective;

*  The FBI is investigating Chinese students in several universities for spying;

*  New Zealand's secret service accused the Chinese government of hacker attacks on government networks.

Now the German government believes the Chinese government hacked tremendous amounts of data in an "extraordinary" economic espionage operation.

Der Spiegel, quoting senior officials from the German equivalent of Special Branch, said that the hacking operation was discovered in May. Computers in the Chancellery, the Foreign, Economics and Research ministries had been targeted. The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) conducted a comprehensive search of government IT installations and prevented a further 160 giga-bytes of information being transferred to China. Commentators described it as “the biggest digital defence ever mounted by the German state”.

The information was being siphoned off almost daily by hackers in Lanzhou, northern China, in Canton province and in Beijing.  

Hollow structural tubing from China has been the big issue in the steel industry.  You hire engineers to design a building that is strong enough to withstand weight and impacts.  The engineers use standard steel load projections to determine the size of the structural steel in the building.  The Chinese make it and sell it cheap, you put it in the building, and it is substandard.  It doesn't carry the load.

Now different steel products are implicated.  This from an industry trade publication - Steel Business Briefing (subscription only).

Steel for scaffolding and electrical wiring conduit have been added to the list of substandard Chinese steel allegations being made in the US. Roger Schagrin, a US mill trade lawyer, discussed the fresh allegations at American Metal Market's China Summit in Washington yesterday.

He says Chinese conduit pipe was tested and found to rust 20 times faster than it is supposed to, posing electrical fire risks.

Schagrin is trying to involve US government agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission, to investigate the allegations. Schagrin also serves as the executive director for the US Committee on Pipe and Tube Imports, a US mill group that has filed unfair trade cases against China and other exporters.

Mattel apologized to the Chinese for the toy recalls, saying the recalls were overbroad and did unnecessary damage to China's reputation.  The Associated Press brings excerpts of articles recently put out by China’s state media:

‘’The apology, though delayed, should help dispel the suspicion American customers harbor against Chinese-made products and clean up the stain the recalls left on the innocent Chinese workers who make a living doing honest labor,'’ the official English-language China Daily newspaper reported.

The state-run Guangzhou Daily said in an editorial Monday that Mattel’s apology was a little late ‘’but at least it redressed injustice against toys made in China.'’

But the paper added: ‘’It is still too early to say we are happy.'’

Um... what more can I say?