China's Quality Chief Quits Amid Milk Scare

BEIJING -- China's chief quality regulator has resigned, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday, amid a toxic milk scandal that has killed at least three children and sickened nearly 53,000.

China's Quality Chief Quits Amid Milk Scare

BEIJING -- China's chief quality regulator has resigned, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday, amid a toxic milk scandal that has killed at least three children and sickened nearly 53,000.

Earlier Monday, two people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires that Li Changjiang, the chief of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, had resigned and would be replaced by Wang Yong, deputy secretary-general for the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Xinhua confirmed Li's departure and replacement late Monday in a short report, but didn't provide any explanation.

If officially linked to the growing milk scare -- Li would be the highest political casualty to date that has already included the detention of one top milk executive and the dismissal of a local mayor.

Li didn't show up for work Monday, and staff at the quality watchdog agency were told during a morning meeting that Li had submitted his resignation and that it had been accepted, the people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires earlier Monday.

On Sunday, Premier Wen Jiabao toured a supermarket and visited sick babies in a Beijing hospital. Wen vowed to prevent future such failures, according to state media, as the official tally of children sickened by the tainted formula continued to jump.

State media have said four babies died from tainted formula, although the Health Ministry puts the current tally at three.

Wen, according to Xinhua, vowed the government would put more efforts into food security, taking the milk scandal as a warning and admitted that it "revealed inadequate government supervision and shown a lack of professional morality and social responsibility by some companies."

Children across China have been taken to hospitals after drinking milk thought to have been contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine, which is used to make plastics. The use of melamine has also been found in other China-made dairy products and has been discovered in overseas markets.

As of Monday, a total of 52,857 children have been brought to hospitals after becoming ill, a health ministry spokesman said. Most had "basically recovered," but 12,892 remained hospitalized, a government spokesman said.

---Lily Sun contributed to this story, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588-5848; lili.sun@dowjones.com




BEIJING -- China's chief quality regulator has resigned, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday, amid a toxic milk scandal that has killed at least three children and sickened nearly 53,000.

Earlier Monday, two people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires that Li Changjiang, the chief of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, had resigned and would be replaced by Wang Yong, deputy secretary-general for the State Council, China's Cabinet.

Xinhua confirmed Li's departure and replacement late Monday in a short report, but didn't provide any explanation.

If officially linked to the growing milk scare -- Li would be the highest political casualty to date that has already included the detention of one top milk executive and the dismissal of a local mayor.

Li didn't show up for work Monday, and staff at the quality watchdog agency were told during a morning meeting that Li had submitted his resignation and that it had been accepted, the people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newswires earlier Monday.

On Sunday, Premier Wen Jiabao toured a supermarket and visited sick babies in a Beijing hospital. Wen vowed to prevent future such failures, according to state media, as the official tally of children sickened by the tainted formula continued to jump.

State media have said four babies died from tainted formula, although the Health Ministry puts the current tally at three.

Wen, according to Xinhua, vowed the government would put more efforts into food security, taking the milk scandal as a warning and admitted that it "revealed inadequate government supervision and shown a lack of professional morality and social responsibility by some companies."

Children across China have been taken to hospitals after drinking milk thought to have been contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine, which is used to make plastics. The use of melamine has also been found in other China-made dairy products and has been discovered in overseas markets.

As of Monday, a total of 52,857 children have been brought to hospitals after becoming ill, a health ministry spokesman said. Most had "basically recovered," but 12,892 remained hospitalized, a government spokesman said.

---Lily Sun contributed to this story, Dow Jones Newswires; 8610 6588-5848; lili.sun@dowjones.com