Outrage over faulty vaccines, again

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Click HereYet another vaccine scandal punctures public trust in safety

Over the weekend, a scandal over reports that Changchun Changsheng, a vaccine producer in northeastern China’s Jilin Province, had produced and sold hundreds of thousands of substandard vaccines devolved into nationwide outrage. The initial reports of trouble brewing happened a few days earlier:

• On July 15, Changchun Changsheng was first told to stop production of a rabies vaccine, according to a notice posted by the State Food and Drug Administration (in Chinese). The notice simply mentioned that “fabricated records and other grave violations” (记录造假等严重违反 jìlù zàojiǎ děng yánzhòng wéifǎn) had been found. The report attracted some attention, but it was not a crisis yet.

• Then on July 19, a nine-month investigation concluded that over 250,000 substandard DPT vaccines (diphtheria, pertussis, and tetanus; pertussis is more commonly known as whooping cough) had been produced and sold by the company to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in eastern China’s Shandong Province, according to the Jilin Food and Drug Administration (in Chinese).

• Panic spread on July 21, after a viral WeChat article excoriated Changchun Changsheng for its business practices, and reminded readers ominously, “These vaccines they produced are being injected into you and your kids every day.” Sixth Tone says that the article “pointed out that the same powerful individuals who run Changchun Changsheng are also responsible, through their ownership of other companies, for producing a large proportion of the most widely used vaccines in China, including those for hepatitis B, chicken pox, and influenza,” and that it had been “viewed over 100,000 times, the maximum number displayed by WeChat” before it was censored.

• You can read that WeChat article, titled “Vaccine king” (疫苗之王 yìmiáo zhī wáng) and written by a blogger with the pen name Beast (兽爷 shòuyé), in a cached version (in Chinese). If you’re big on blockchain, TechNode reports that some savvy Etherium users inserted the article text into the metadata of a transaction, where it cannot be censored by Chinese authorities.

Chinese officials rush to reassure

• President Xi Jinping called the violations “serious and appalling,” the SCMP reports, and also urged severe punishment “to cure the chronic disease [of corruption] and scratch poison from one’s bones.”

• “This vaccine case has broken the moral bottom line” (此次疫苗事件突破人的道德底线 cǐcì yìmiáo shìjiàn tūpò rén de dàodé dǐxiàn), Premier Li Keqiang 李克强 said on July 22 (in Chinese).

• Premier Li Keqiang has launched an investigation, but the New York Times notes (paywall) that his is a familiar and disappointing face for many on this issue:

“One image circulating online showed a screenshot of a news item touting a promise from Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday to ‘resolutely crack down on all illegal and criminal acts that endanger the safety of people’s lives.’”

“Next to it was a similar statement that Mr. Li offered after another vaccine scandal in 2016, suggesting the government had done nothing to address the problem.”

• “Beijing does not have either of these two vaccines in question, the public can be at ease,” an unidentified official at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Beijing said, while regulators in Guangdong and Sichuan Province also felt compelled to reassure that the problematic vaccines were restricted to Shandong Province, AFP reports.

• Altogether, “eight provinces or cities immediately announced they would be stopping or suspending the use of human rabies vaccine from Changsheng, while another four claimed they had never used it,” CNN reported.

• State media called for transparency, with an editorial in the China Daily urging that “the government needs to act as soon as possible to let the public know it is resolved to address the issue and will punish any wrongdoers without mercy.” Meanwhile, the Global Times admitted in an op-ed that the government’s reluctance to shed light on the facts allowed “many readers” to side with “public outrage over vaccine manufacturers and suspicion toward the nation’s supervision department.”

• Lawmakers raised alarm in Hong Kong, which “urgently requires a policy to ensure local children receive necessary vaccines before an influx of mainlanders drives up demand in the coming months,” the South China Morning Post reports.

• “In Hong Kong, all vaccines for children are imported from foreign brands. Private clinics usually see about 20 percent of their patients come from across the border to avoid jabs made on the mainland,” a number that is “expected to soar in the coming one to two months,” the SCMP adds.

A series of safety failures

Though no injuries or deaths have been reported from Changsheng’s vaccines in this case, this is far from the first time a wide-scale vaccine scandal has erupted in China, nor is it the first time that the central government has vowed to eliminate substandard vaccines in an attempt to restore the public’s trust in the country’s medicine supplies. The promise, however, seems to be unfulfilled given the latest scandal.

• In 2010, the China Economic Times, a Beijing-based newspaper, reported that improperly stored vaccines administered by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Shanxi Province had killed four children and sickened more than 70 others who had been vaccinated between 2006 and 2008. Wang Keqing 王克勤, the investigative reporter who exposed the scandal, was forced to leave the publication under pressure from higher-ups.

• In 2013, “eight infants died in…two months following injections that were meant to immunize them against hepatitis B,” according to the New York Times (paywall).

• In 2016, a pharmacist in Shandong Province was caught peddling 25 kinds of unrefrigerated vaccines to medical facilities across 23 provinces and cities since 2010. Premier Li Keqiang ordered (in Chinese) central agencies to conduct a thorough investigation into the incident and pledged to improve the regulatory system.

• “In November 2017…at least another 400,000 doses of the same [DPT] vaccine, produced by a different, second company, the Wuhan Institute of Biological Products, were found to be substandard,” CNN notes.

And in China, the memory of public health crises goes far beyond just vaccines:

• “In 2008, six children died and 300,000 fell ill after drinking milk powder tainted with melamine, a case officials initially had covered up,” the Guardian notes.

• Some on social media compared milk powder with vaccines: Reuters quotes one commenter on Weibo, who said, “Yesterday it was milk powder, today vaccines. What will it be tomorrow?”

• “This Chinese vaccine scandal is becoming as big of a [crisis] as the milk powder incident a decade ago,” Bloomberg reporter Lulu Yilun Chen wrote on Twitter.

Blowback for China’s pharma industry

• Changchun Changsheng was fined 3,442,887 yuan ($507,843) for its data forgery and substandard vaccine production, which the Wall Street Journal says (paywall) breaks down into a $380,610 penalty and $126,683 worth of assets seized from sales of the vaccine.

• “Changsheng’s shares fell by the 10 percent daily limit to 13.05 yuan on Monday after trading was halted in the morning. It was the sixth straight day that the stock had fallen by that magnitude, erasing 11.2 billion yuan (US$1.65 billion) in value from its market capitalization,” the SCMP reports.

• Other companies were hit: “Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products, which makes vaccines for pneumonia and rabies, led declines among pharmaceutical stocks on Monday, dropping by its 10 percent daily limit to 44.10 yuan. Hualan Biological Engineering, which makes serum albumin and other biological products, plunged by 9.9 percent to 31.32 yuan,” the SCMP adds.

Rage on the Chinese internet

• The word vaccine (疫苗 yìmiáo) had over 320 million mentions on July 21, according to WeChat Index, an in-app feature that offers data on how many times a word has been used on the app within a certain period of time. In comparison, there were about 8 million mentions of trade war (贸易战 màoyìzhàn) on the same day.

• The relevant hashtag on social media platform Weibo had over 10 million views. The hashtag included the company’s name: #长春长生疫苗造假# “Changchun Changsheng fabricating vaccines.”

• “It’s terrifying to raise a child in China. I am afraid that one day my daughter will ask me: ‘Dad, why am I fed with baby formula like this? Why do I receive vaccines like this? Why do I breathe air like this? Why do I drink water like this? Why do I receive education like this,” one Weibo user commented (in Chinese).

• Another viral article on WeChat (link here in Chinese) is instructing people to make complaints against the State Drug Administration (SDA) amid the two-month-long government-backed campaign named “I give suggestions for the general inspection survey” (我为大督查提建议 wǒ wéi dà dū chá tí jiànyì). “Let’s report the SDA’s unsatisfying service to the State Council instead of just expressing anger and depression on your WeChat Moments,” the author wrote.

• What is the general inspection survey? Glad you asked — here’s an article on The China Project about it.

• A local procuratorate in Henan Province apologized on July 23 for making “inappropriate remarks” on the news using its official Weibo account. In a since-deleted post, the account shared an old Weibo post from SDA entitled “It’s unnecessary to trust imported vaccines blindly because China has already established a regulatory system covering all kinds of vaccines,” commenting, “Go f**k yourself.”

—Lucas Niewenhuis and Jiayun Feng

—–

Our whole team really appreciates your support as Access members. Please chat with us on our Slack channel or contact us at editors@thechinaproject.com.

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Monetary policy
  China’s $74bn cash injection highlights growth worries / FT (paywall)
  “China’s central bank injected 502 billion rmb ($74 billion) of cash into the banking system on Monday morning through loans to commercial banks, in the latest indication that policymakers are moving to ease monetary policy as the economy slows.”

• Trade conflicts
  China and EU told to respect free trade as Steven Mnuchin says US’ goal is no tariffs, no barriers, no subsidies / SCMP
  “The United States and its European Union allies were locked in a trade stalemate on Saturday after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin refused to budge on demands for concessions.”

  Mnuchin: Overall U.S. economy not harmed by trade battles / Washington Post
  “Mnuchin spoke to reporters on the sidelines of meetings of finance ministers and central bank presidents from the Group of 20 nations, composed of traditional economic powers such as the United States, Japan and Germany and emerging economic powers including China, Brazil, India and Argentina.”
  US’ Steven Mnuchin ‘available for talks’ but G20 summit brings no dialogue with China and no global consensus on ending trade war / SCMP
  Mnuchin says he ‘wouldn’t minimize” chance of tariffs on all Chinese imports / WSJ (paywall)

• ZTE
  Republicans bow to White House on Chinese telecom firm ZTE / NYT (paywall)
  “Republican lawmakers backed away from a plan to reinstate stiff penalties on Chinese telecom firm ZTE, handing a win to President Trump, who had personally intervened to save the Beijing company.”

• JD.com
  China’s JD.com plans move into Europe: CEO tells German newspaper / Reuters
  “Chinese e-commerce company JD.com plans to expand in Europe and aims to have finalised its strategy for entering the market by the end of the year, its chief executive told a German newspaper.”

• Peter Thiel
  Billionaire Peter Thiel is said to explore venture capital investments in China / Bloomberg
  Watch Bloomberg’s Selina Wang discuss why billionaire Peter Thiel is considering strategies to invest in Chinese startups on “Bloomberg Technology.”

• Soybean
  Soybean giant Brazil swoops on US crop as China trade war punctures prices / SCMP
  “Brazil, China’s main supplier of soybean, is swooping on cheap American exports as the trade war with China forces US farmers to sell the crop at a discount.”

• Chinese tech entrepreneurs
  Chinese tech entrepreneurs join Zuckerberg et al on Fortune’s “40 Under 40” / RADII
  “Some of China’s leading tech entrepreneurs have made the latest Fortune ‘40 under 40’ list of ‘the most influential young people in business.’”

• Obsession with robots
  Wild about tech, China even loves robot waiters that can’t serve / NYT (paywall)
  “Some in China are building a future that isn’t quite ready. Still, the exuberance may be a good thing, as useful products find their place and bad ones disappear.”

• WPP
  WPP in talks to sell minority stake in Chinese unit / WSJ (paywall)
  “WPP PLC has held talks to sell a minority stake in its operations in China, according to a person familiar with the matter, as the world’s largest advertising company reviews its business after the exit of its founder Martin Sorrell.”

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Currency war
  Currency War Erupts, Threatening to Ripple Across Global Markets / Bloomberg
  “So say some of the best and brightest in the $5.1 trillion-per-day foreign-exchange market. U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday accused China and the European Union of ‘manipulating their currencies and interest rates lower.’”
  China says threats, intimidation on trade will never work / CNBC
  China also has no need to use competitive devaluation of its currency to aid its exports, Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, told a daily news briefing.
  US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin watching Chinese yuan weakness for manipulation / Reuters via CNBC
  “The United States is monitoring the recent weakness in China’s yuan currency and will review whether the currency has been manipulated, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Reuters on Friday.”
  Fmr. Treasury secretary: ‘Absurd’ to say Chinese are currency manipulators in recent years / CNBC
  China says it won’t devalue currency to bolster exports / Reuters via Times of India
  Trade dispute teeters on verge of currency war as Trump weighs in / FT (paywall)
  China isn’t weaponising its currency (yet) / FT (paywall)

• Xi in the Middle East
  China’s President Xi Jinping wraps up UAE visit with series of deals to boost presence in Middle East / SCMP
  “China and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to strengthen their cooperation on a wide range of areas from trade to military and energy as President Xi Jinping wrapped up his visit to the Middle Eastern nation on Saturday.”
  China Woos UAE with Trade, Balancing Concerns Over Iran Ties / WSJ (paywall)
  “Chinese President Xi Jinping met leaders of the United Arab Emirates on Friday to bolster China’s economic ties with a key ally of Saudi Arabia, just as Beijing is emerging as a critical partner for an increasingly isolated Iran.”

• Trade war
  Trump’s tariffs threaten global prosperity, warns Angela Merkel / The Guardian
  “The war of words over President Donald Trump’s threat to impose wide-ranging tariffs on imports from China and the European Union intensified on Friday after the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said the levies threatened the incomes of workers across the world.”
  US official: trade war with China is not personal, it is just business / SCMP
  “The United States’ aggressive stance in its trade war with China should be viewed in a purely economic context and not as part of a wider, politically driven approach, an American official familiar with the situation said on Friday.”
  CIA accuses China of waging a ‘quiet kind of cold war’ against US / SCMP
  “China is waging a ‘quiet kind of cold war’” against the United States, using all its resources to try to replace America as the leading power in the world, a top CIA expert on Asia said Friday.”

• Xi in Africa
  Chinese leader arrives for Africa visit as US interest wanes / Washington Post
  “China is already Africa’s largest trading partner, and it opened its first military base on the continent last year in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, which this month launched a China-backed free trade zone it calls the largest in Africa.”
  Senegal is getting addicted to Chinese loans as France’s hold loosens / Quartz
  “Dakar, Senegal When China’s president Xi Jinping stops over in Senegal for his first State visit to the country it will be the third time since 2012 Xi and Senegal’s president Macky Sall will meet.”
  Xi Jinping agrees to loans, grants worth millions of US dollars in Rwanda / SCMP
  “China’s President Xi Jinping signed 15 deals including loans and grants worth millions of US dollars with Rwanda on Monday as part of a whistle-stop tour to cement relations with African allies.”
  Rwandan leader says China relates to Africa ‘as an equal’ / Washington Post

• China-India relations
  China, India jockey for influence in Bhutan ahead of polls / Times of India
  “Ahead of Bhutan’s Parliamentary elections, both India and China are jockeying for influence with all stakeholders who, they believe, are like to play a major role in government formation in the tiny but strategically located country.”

• China-Indonesia relations
  Indonesia looks to China as it tries to deal with trade pressure from US / SCMP
  “China and Indonesia are forging closer economic ties as the two countries face threats to their trade relations with the US, a trade official from the Southeast Asian nation said.”

• Superpower competition
  CIA official: China wants to replace U.S. as world superpower / CNN
  “The goal of China’s influence operations around the world is to replace the United States as the world’s leading superpower, the CIA’s Michael Collins said Friday.”

• Personnel shuffle
  Beijing’s head of discipline to take over as boss of capital of southern China’s economic powerhouse / SCMP
  “The Communist Party’s disciplinary chief for Beijing has been named as the new party boss of Guangzhou, the capital of south China’s economic powerhouse province Guangdong, as part of a nationwide reshuffle at the provincial level, according to state media.”

• Hong Kong politics
  Hong Kong independence advocate Andy Chan mulls legal challenge if gov’t bans his party / Hong Kong Free Press
  “Convener of the Hong Kong National Party (HKNP) Andy Chan said at a public forum on Sunday that he may launch a legal challenge if the government succeeds in banning his party.”
  In Pictures: Hongkongers rally for free speech amid gov’t plan to ban political party / Hong Kong Free Press
  “Hundreds of people protested Saturday in Hong Kong after police sought to ban a pro-independence political party, as Beijing ups pressure on challengers to its territorial sovereignty over the city.”
  Why now is the time to protest, even if you disagree with independence for Hong Kong / Hong Kong Free Press
  “People like myself who do not support the Hong Kong National Party or its objectives should not have the smallest hesitation in protesting over moves made to outlaw its very existence. Indeed anyone interested in the defence of liberty has a duty to speak up for the right to express views that may well be contrary to their own.”
  As Hong Kong police evoke ‘Minority Report’ in banning a political party, who will be next? / Hong Kong Free Press
  “The notion that national security will one day be invoked to silence dissent comes as no surprise to hardened Hong Kongers. Commentators, academics and filmmakers have long prophesied that doomsday scenario.”
  In full: The 700-page Hong Kong police dossier detailing the words and movements of independence party chief / Hong Kong Free Press
  Hong Kong journalism watchdog condemns police use of media reports to justify pro-independence party ban / Hong Kong Free Press
  “The Hong Kong Journalists Association has raised concerns over the police use of media reports in a dossier used to justify a potential ban on the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party.”

• Belt and Road
  China’s Silk Road Fund to buy 24% of UAE solar thermal plant / Bloomberg
  China’s Silk Road Fund will acquire a 24.01 percent interest in the world’s largest single-site solar thermal plant, which is being built in the United Arab Emirates.
  Xi Jinping signs up Senegal for belt and road plan, pledges closer Africa ties / SCMP
  “China’s President Xi Jinping has pledged at the start of a visit to Senegal to strengthen economic ties with Africa, a continent already awash with cheap Chinese loans in exchange for minerals and huge construction projects.”

• South China Sea
  South China Sea: UK could send aircraft carrier to back Australian vessels / The Guardian
  “Australia and the UK are discussing plans for the British aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth to be sent to the Pacific amid tensions over China’s militarisation in the South China Sea.”
  Recent developments surrounding the South China Sea / Washington Post

• Air quality
  As China’s skies clear, Philips sales of air purifiers decline / Bloomberg
  “China’s battle to cut notorious air-pollution levels is hurting sales of air purifiers by Royal Philips NV…. Revenue from the machines that capture harmful fine particles in homes dropped by a high-single-digit amount in China, in the second quarter, the Dutch maker of hospital scanners and medical gear said in a statement on Monday.”

• Anti-Xi protest
  Chinese protester who splashed ink on Xi Jinping poster sent to psychiatric hospital – report / Hong Kong Free Press
  “The protester who splashed ink on a poster of Chinese President Xi Jinping has been sent to a psychiatric hospital by authorities, according to US-backed news outlet Voice of America. VoA cited several local activists as saying that the protester — who Twitter activists identified as Dong Yaoqiong — was sent to the Third Hospital of Zhuzhou in Hunan Province.”

• Anti-China protest
  Ten jailed in Vietnam after violent anti-China protests / SCMP
  “Ten people were jailed in Vietnam Monday for joining explosive protests that swept across the communist country last month after a draft investment law triggered widespread anger.”

• Modern colonialism
  A new battle for Guadalcanal, this time with China / NYT (paywall)
  “For Guadalcanal and many other islands in the region, this is a moment to embrace competing offers from world powers, not spurn them.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Censorship
  Language and politics in an Inner Mongolian post office / Language Log
  “I entertain little hope that the Chinese security authorities could be shamed into modifying their methods. They are not afraid of being described as heavy-handed since that is their job. Nor are they likely to be shamed by ridicule if they sincerely believe that someone might go to the expense of printing information about the Cultural Revolution concealed inside a children’s book.”

• Family planning
  Chinese province suggests ending birth restrictions / Sixth Tone
  “Faced with an aging population and declining birth rate, northwestern China’s Shaanxi Province has suggested abolishing family planning restrictions ‘when the time is right,’ according to a recent provincial report.”

• Sexual assault
  Prominent activist accused of sexual assault apologizes, resigns / Sixth Tone
  “Lei Chuang, the founder of YiYou Charity Center, a nonprofit dedicated to the welfare of hepatitis B carriers, apologized on Monday for sexual misconduct and resigned from his position as head of the charity before later claiming the relationship was consensual.”

• “Ultimate Arbiter”
  It’s time to talk about ‘Evening Talks at Yanshan’ / China Heritage
  “To help readers interested in the tradition of what could be called commentary in confinement, as well as those who might appreciate China’s grand tradition of cultural and literary political conjecture, allegory and parable, we are introducing one of that country’s important twentieth-century essayists, Deng Tuo (鄧拓, 1912-1966).”

• Chinese comfort women
  Chinese former ‘comfort women,’ aged 94 and 90, break silence about brutal treatment by Japanese soldiers / SCMP
  “Two sisters in their 90s from central China have spoken out about being forced to become ‘comfort women’ during the Second World War, mainland media reports. At least 200,000 Chinese women were abducted as sex slaves during the Japanese invasion, only 14 of whom were previously known to be still alive, according to Chinese official data.”

• The Yangtze
  On the banks of the Yangtze / some LANDSCAPES
  “The river’s form was traced by light, purified by water and earth, and then fixed into permanence by the air that passed over its surface.”

• Tibetan culture in Nepal
  Nepal: The Great Plunder | 101 East / Al Jazeera via YouTube
  Al Jazeera’s Senior Asia Correspondent Steve Chao tweeted: “The theft of Himalayan antiquities is having a profound impact on Tibetan communities in Nepal. In our latest investigative documentary, we expose some of those allegedly involved in the international black market art trade.”

• False arrest
  Chinese man gets US$130,000 compensation after spending eight years in jail for crime he didn’t commit / SCMP
  A Chinese man who spent almost eight years in prison for a crime he did not commit has been awarded 880,000 yuan (US$130,000) in compensation, according to a local newspaper report. Zhang Jun was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in 2008 for what the court ruled at the time was his role in two robberies in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, The Beijing News reported on Thursday. Despite arguing at hi

• Chuan’er
  “The Story of Chuan’er” Shines a Light on China’s Best-Loved Street Food / RADII
  “Among the countless, extremely varied types of cuisines, there is one beloved food that one can find everywhere in China, from Harbin to Chengdu, from Urumchi to Guangzhou: chuan’er (串儿), which can be roughly translated to Chinese barbecue, often involving meat on skewers.”

VIDEO OF THE DAY

Fashion designer Alexander Wang on his China ambitions

“Every time I go back, it changes completely. It is moving so quickly. It’s inspiring, and there’s so much innovation coming out of China right now that I feel very proud to call that a home base,” said the 34-year-old fashion designer.

Viral on Weibo: Fish out the water in Taiwan

On July 20 in the Bisha fishing port in Keelung, Taiwan, tens of thousands of sardines could be seen hopping out of the water. The seawater looked as if it were boiling because of the fish!

ON SUPCHINA

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Kuora: China’s dramatic fall from grace and its long road back to respectability

Around the signing of the American Declaration of Independence, China was an enormous empire and world power. Its decline would be swift and catastrophic, marked by one devastating mistake after another — for about 150 years. Seen through the lens of history, it really is a miracle that the country is where it’s at now, writes Kaiser Kuo.

Sinica Early Access: Australia’s Beijing problem

This week on Sinica, Kaiser and Jeremy chat with David Brophy, senior lecturer in modern Chinese history at the University of Sydney and a prominent scholar on Xinjiang, and with Andrew Chubb, a post-doc fellow this year at the Princeton-Harvard China and the World Program, about the response to China’s alleged influence operations in Australia. David and Andrew were both signatories to one of two “dueling open letters” addressing the issue; the one they signed warned of the dangers of overreaction.

• Subscribe to the early-access Sinica feed by plugging this RSS feed directly into your podcast app!

The Caixin-Sinica Business Brief, episode 57

This week on the Caixin-Sinica Business Brief: China’s currency amid the trade war, potential merger of China Telecom and China Unicom, Didi Chuxing’s launch in Japan, Doug Young on Vatti giving refunds to some customers due to a World Cup-themed marketing campaign.

• Subscribe to the Business Brief on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, or Stitcher.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Beijing Capital International Airport as a spaceport

Is Beijing futuristic? It can sometimes seem that way, depending on how you look. Here’s a view of Beijing’s main airport, with an awning that bends into the distance. Photo by Elise Klein.