So The Chinese Want Us To Believe That This Toy Boss Committed Suicide

Yeah right. I suppose it is possible, but it is also possible in the land of executions that he was ... well ... executed.

BBC:

Zhang Shuhong, who co-owned the Lee Der Toy Company, was reportedly found dead at his factory in southern China.

About 1.5 million toys made for Fisher Price, a subsidiary of US giant Mattel, were withdrawn from sale earlier this month. Many were made by Lee Der.

He reportedly hung himself on Saturday, but I'm thinking he had a little help.

The news report did not give a reason for Zhang's apparent suicide, but Lee Der was known to be under pressure after the huge product recall.

Fisher Price announced on 2 August that it was recalling some of Lee Der's Chinese-made toys, in a move affecting 83 product-types sold around the world, including the US and the UK.

An internal investigation found the toys had been made using a non-approved paint pigment which contained excessive amounts of lead, violating safety standards.

A manager at Lee Der blamed its paint supplier for the incident, according to the Southern Metropolitan Daily.

Something smells fishy in the Fisher Price scandal to me.

If the company was blaming the paint supplier officially then why not wait for the investigation? This doesn't seem like a legitimate situation for someone to be committing suicide either.

I could be completely wrong on this, but China initially took an aggressive stand against the US's accusation of unsafe products after several safety issues. They have since been very passive, and trying to reassure the US that Chinese exports are safe.

Then comes this latest fiasco which served to embarrass the Chinese government, and harm the nation financially. We all know people disappear when you embarrass the Chinese government. Maybe, just maybe China sent a quiet message to business execs in China to not embarrass the country anymore.