JOURNAL: "Made in China: Cheap Products Change Lives," by Thomas Fuller, New York Times, 27 December 2007, p. A4.
The United States preferred to wield most of its hegemony in the Caribbean in the early 20th century through "dollar diplomacy," with short bouts of Marine-led nation-building here and there.
China, with no military interventions to speak of, but a bit of fence mending and naval base construction here and there, is doing something similar in SE Asia.
And, by and large, it is immensely welcomed by locals who are gaining access to goods and services they couldn't afford previously. As one rural Laotian put it, "No one had a motorcycle before. The only motorcycles that used to be available were Japanese, and poor people couldn't afford them."
As for product safety? Buddy, we're still in the caveat emptor age as far as SE Asia is concerned. People want to take their chances, not levy lawsuits.
But yeah, plenty of bitching about maintenance. You get what you pay for.
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