Tainted Food Strains Relations Between China and Japan

In January of this year 10 Japanese citizens became severely ill after eating dumplings imported from China. It was later discovered that a batch of dumplings from China were contaminated with harmful pesticides. Japanese media has given much attention to this discovery and has created a wave of fear among the Japanese people. This is a major problem for Japan who imports sixty percent of its nation's food supplies. This incident made both countries suspicious of the other and has strained the relations between the two. President Hu Jintao has postponed his scheduled visit to Japan in April because of this poor state of relations. This scheduled visit would be an important event in relations between China and Japan because it would be the first time a Chinese leader has visited Japan in ten years. This comes at a bad time for China who is looking to improve its image world wide before it hosts the Summer Olympics this year.