China CSR Watch

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

In June 2007, Greenpeace announced that its research has found GE food produced by Japanese food producer Glico and German retail chain Metro. The environmental group criticized the two companies for having a double-standard policy, and demanded them to adopt a non-GE policy in China. Both companies adopt a non-GE policy in their own countries. Glico publicly announced its global non-GE policy the next day.

This was not the first time for Greenpeace to target multinational companies in China on GE double standard charges.

In 2003, Greenpeace accused Nestle of GE violation and consumer sued Nestle subsequently. In 2005, Greenpeace’s publicity campaign on Kraft Food’s GE products in China has pushed Kraft to adopt a non-GE policy in mainland China starting from January 2007.

However, most processed food products are not required to label their GE ingredients under the current Chinese regulation.

Sources:
Green Peace: http://www.greenpeace.org/china/en/press/release/gp-found-gefood
National Business Today: http://finance.sina.com.cn/xiaofei/puguangtai/20050316/01531432293.shtml
Sina.com: http://finance.sina.com.cn/focus/wqzjy/index.shtml
Biosino.org: http://www.biosino.org/law/law59.htm

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

Alibaba.com, a leading business-to-business e-commerce website in China that is 40% owned by Yahoo!, was criticized for allowing online trading of shark fins.

“Alibaba, which has more than 180 companies engaged in buying or selling shark fins, is “the New York Stock Exchange of shark fins,” quoted in the Business Week report on July 20th.

“Yahoo’s response to the news report was, ‘We know the sale of shark products is both legal in Asia and a centuries-old tradition. This issue is largely a cultural-practices one’”, according to ViceZilla’s Views.

Many shark fin traders can still be found at Alibaba.com as of July 23rd.

Sources (in Chinese and English):
Sina News: http://tech.sina.com.cn/i/2007-07-21/11351628915.shtml
Business Week: http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/jul2007/gb20070720_756191.htm
Alibaba: http://www.alibaba.com/buyeroffers/Shark.html
ViceZilla’s Views: http://vicezilla.com/views/index.php/2007/06/28/yahoo_has_1_billion_dollar_stake_in_succ
Stop Shark Finning: http://www.stopsharkfinning.net/

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

Although nearly all MNCs publish CSR report, Ford may well be the first to publish CSR reports specially for China. And not only once, but twice.

October 18th 2006, Ford China published its second CSR report detailing its CSR efforts from 2003 to 2005. Ford China published its first CSR report in China in 2002 about its CSR achievement from 1992-2002.

The billingual Ford CSR report can be downloaded here: Ford China CSR Report on ford.com.cn

Sources (in Chinese):
Xinhua: http://www.xinhuanet.com/classad/zxft/20061018/index.htm
Sina Foreign Management: http://leadership.jrj.com.cn/news/2007-06-29/000002373777.html
Sina.com: http://finance.sina.com.cn/roll/20061017/0752979755.shtml

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

PetroChina published its first Corporate Social Responsibility report on February 28th 2007, in an effort to be more open and transparent to public to improve its image amid oil price gauging accusations and after some major accidents.

According to the report, “in 2006, PetroChina donated a total of RMB 80.11 million in disaster relief, 16.45 million in education, 80,000 PetroChina volunteers served more then 200,000 people.”

PetroChina, the second largest Chinese oil company ranked at 39th in the Fortune Global 500 list, has been plagued with major accidents in recent years. It was ranked 63rd, of all 64 companies evaluated, in the 2006 Fortune Accountability list with an accountability score of 3 out of 100.

In 2003, a blowout of its natural gas well in Chongqing province killed 243 villagers. In 2005, a blast in its oil chemical plant in Jilin province polluted the water system and halted the tap water supply of Harbin, a major city of 3.5 million residents, for 4 days, and directly resulted the resignation of head of the environmental protection bureau of China.

PetroChina has been trying hard to improve its record on safety.

“Compared with 2005, accidents with fatality were lowered by 25%, and fatality was reduced by 12%. However we are regret to see 3 major accidents happened and 21 lives lost,” stated in the CSR report.

PetroChina has been ranked number one in the Top 50 Corporate Social Responsibility Chart compiled by Hurun Report published April 2007.

According to Hurun Report, PetroChina has more than 1 million employees, 177.1 billion Chinese yuan tax payment, and 720 million donation from 2003-2006. PetroChina is a clear leader in corporate social responsibility in China. (According to PetroChina’s CSR report, it has 446,000 employees excluding external employees.)

Sources (in English and Chinese):
PetroChina English CSR Report: http://www.petrochina.com.cn/chinese/zrgg/Corporate%20Social%20Responsibility%20Report%202006.rar
163.com http://money.163.com/07/0411/13/3BQ74E1V00251RJ2.html
Huran Report: http://www.hurun.net/listcn62.aspx
Xinghuanet: http://news.xinhuanet.com/fortune/2007-03/22/content_5880218.htm
WTO Guide: http://chinawto.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/by/cb/200704/20070404614048.html
Chinanews: http://news.163.com/06/1114/02/2VRSKH01000120GU.html
Fortune: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2006/accountability/full_list.html

By China CSR Watch (www.csrcsr.com)

With the latest update of World of Warcraft, a popular online game published by Blizzard, Chinese gamers are astonished to find out that the game characters have been modified to avoid showing any bones, literally. Only the version sold in Chinese market has the “no skeletons” modification.

World of Warcraft is the most popular online game worldwide with more than 8 million global players, of which more than 3.5 million are in China.

“The modification of the game characters are due to the situation in China and the requirement of policy. It’s a minor modification to promote healthy and harmonious online gaming environment. It will not affect any gaming experience for players,” explained public relations department of the9.com, War of Warcraft’s Chinese operator.

The9.com wouldn’t comment on the government regulation issues.

The Content Examination Committee of Imported Games affiliated with Ministry of Culture is the regulatory authority to Internet games. All imported games must be examined before put into Chinese market.

Sources (in Chinese and English):
Nanfang City News: http://www.nanfangdaily.com.cn/southnews/pdf/ds/20070628/A32.pdf
Oriental Entrepreneur http://business.sohu.com/20060705/n244104437.shtml
Blizzard.com http://www.blizzard.com/press/070111.shtml
Newspaper Digest: http://www.gmw.cn/01wzb/2004-05/30/content_35928.htm