We've been running something of a mini-series on China as a key figure in the intricate tapestry of globalization. China makes such an enormous quantity of the world's goods that consumers -- particularly Americans -- are forcing its leaders to think more carefully about a cultivating a brand. A few weeks ago I noted that assurances of product safety will only take China so far up the economic ladder. If it wants to start competing on more than price, it will have to cultivate some of the finer things as well.

Today the New York Times ran a story on China's brand, titled "China Moves to Change Its Damaged Global Image." Chinese leaders are doing a lot, even by consumer safety advocates' standards, to assure the world that its goods are safe:

Last week, Beijing unveiled new controls aimed at fighting counterfeit drugs and substandard exports. High-ranking officials and regulators vowed to strengthen China’s food safety system, tighten controls over chemical use by large seafood and meat producers, and create a system that holds producers more accountable for selling unsafe products.

These are needful steps in any economic coming-of-age story. But this latest step in China's growth will only sustain its image for so long before deeper pressures cause consumers to ask what it even means to "regulate" something in China:

“The issue is not whether Chinese businesses are regulated; they are,” says Yasheng Huang, an associate professor at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “The issue is that the regulators themselves are unable to be impartial in the enforcement of the laws. Those laws are meaningless in a system that does not even pretend to have judicial independence, media freedom and legislative oversight.”

Huang makes an interesting point about the underpinnings of policies as ho-hum as regulatory effectiveness: even these hinge on democratic norms. It will be fascinating to watch China's leadership navigate calls for accountability from producers while trying to maintain its own unaccountable hold on power.