Beijing Bob

Remember at the beginning of the war, when Baghdad Bob would stand in front of CNN’s cameras and plainly state that “there are no Americans In Baghdad” even as US Army humvees would roll past in the background? Well, the Chinese government is beginning to sound just about as credible on the topic of product safety. Amidst the recall, due to lead contamination, of one million Chinese-made preschool toys (Ugh – we may have to toss Elmo. Our two year old will think this an unpopular decision.), the AP contacted an apparently delusional propagandist government official. Let the dancing begin:

China "attaches great importance to product quality and food safety and is highly responsible," said Wei Chuanzhong, an official with the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, one of China's product safety watchdogs.

"We want to cooperate with other countries including the U.S. to strengthen cooperation and communication," Wei was quoted as saying Wednesday on the administration's Web site.

However, Wei added that while China would "not avoid our problems, we also do not agree to playing up the situation regardless of the facts.

So the facts are that a million potentially dangerous toys made it into the American market and this guy is basically saying really now, let’s not blow this thing out of proportion. Wanker.