What separates China from the rest of the world? Accountability.China's former top food and drug regulator was executed Tuesday after his conviction on corruption charges, state-run news media said.
Zheng Xiaoyu, 62 years old, was given the death penalty on May 29 after being found guilty by a Beijing court on charges of taking bribes and dereliction of duty. Mr. Zheng, the former director of China's State Food and Drug Administration, appealed the verdict last month, but a higher court upheld it and the execution was approved by China's Supreme People's Court, according to Xinhua News Agency, which reported the news.
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Mr. Zheng and other past SFDA officials were accused of accepting bribes in return for approving the sale and distribution of drugs. This past weekend, the SFDA said it had suspended the sale of a drug widely used to treat leukemia and other cancers after a number of patients suffered adverse reactions.
In the US, Secretary of Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff still has his post despite overseeing FEMA during the disastrous handling of the Katrina aftermath. Iraq has been a debacle but Rummy resigned without being fired, and -- as far as we know -- is still standing. Former CEO of Home Depot (NYSE: HD), Robert Nardelli, oversaw a half dozen years of stock price stagnation and walked away alive with hundreds of millions in cash money.
Does the US really get it any more? I mean besides our high standards of living, long life expectancy and unparalleled freedom --things which only matter to theorists, liberals and puppy dogs. Does the US get it?
In China, the state would have culled the bottom 10% and sprinkled their remnants into Meow Mix so that Western cats would feast on soy-meal based bits of their under-performing souls. That is accountability.
If there was a chance that your performance review would end with your execution, you (even Canadians) would be motivated to effect the kind of growth the Chinese have been able to wring out of their rice paddies and toy factories the last 23 quarters or years or whatever.
And just to demonstrate that you can't be too cruel:
Another former SFDA official convicted on corruption charges was given a suspended death sentence Friday.
A suspended death sentence is a signal to the People to let them know that while Big Boss expects a lot, he is willing to show some mercy.
Recommendation: China gets how to set a tone and stick to it. This is why when the squids take over, China will be their no.2.