A biz reporter held hostage at China toy factory

David Barboza of The New York Times writes about what happened to him when he, a translator and a photographer were held against their will at a Chinese toy factory that was involved in the Thomas the Tank Engine toy recall because of lead in the paint.

Barboza wrote, “‘You’ve intruded on our property,’ one factory boss shouted at me. ‘Tell me, what exactly is the purpose of this visit?’ When I answered that I had come to meet the maker of a toy that had recently been recalled in the United States because it contained lead paint, he suggested I was really a commercial spy intent on stealing the secrets to the factory’s toy manufacturing process.

“‘How do I know you’re really from The New York Times?’ he said. ‘Anyone can fake a name card.’

“Thus began our interrogation, which was followed by hours of negotiations, the partial closing of the factory complex and the arrival of several police cars, a handful of helmet-wearing security officers and some government officials, all trying to free an American journalist and his colleagues from a toy factory.

“Factory bosses, I would discover, can overrule the police, and Chinese government officials are not as powerful as you might suspect in a country addicted to foreign investment.”

Read more here.