Flower wars

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A farmer harvests honeysuckle flower, now officially renamed "wild honeysuckle flower," in Laibin, South China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on April 25, 2012. Photos: CFP "I will not stop. I will continue to provide evidence and to reveal their lies," announce anti-graft official Lu Qun after declaring a "war" via Sina Weibo against a former chief of the State drug regulator, whom he accuses of corruption. It is rare for a government official to publicly blow the whistle on another high-level official in China. Yet on the morning of August 12, Lu, deputy chief of the provincial anti-graft authority in Central China's Hunan Province, accused Shao Mingli, former head of China's Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) in over one dozen Weibo posts of intervening in the Chinese herbal industry for his own benefit. With his some 200,000 followers in Weibo, Lu attracted thousands of retweets and intense media attention within a day of making the charge.War of words On his personal verified Weibo account, Lu alleged that Shao was responsible for deliberately driving down the sales of a Chinese herb called "honeysuckle flower" grown in the southern China by reclassifying it in the 2005 edition of China Pharmacopeia, an official industry encyclopedia. The honeysuckle flower is widely used in making traditional Chinese medicine. It has developed into a thriving business since the 2003 outbreak of the deadly epidemic SARS when it was recommended by authorities for protection against the disease. According to Lu, Shao has used his influence to squeeze southern-grown honeysuckle flowers out of the category and replaced it with those produced in his hometown in East China's Shandong Province. The change of name has evolved from a pure academic issue to a major shift in economy, as the sales of the southern-grown honeysuckle flowers have reduced sharply after it has "lost" the household name more recognized by consumers. As a result, northern China producers, especially those from Shandong, have benefited from the declining popularity in the southern-grown herbal flowers. "After the southern honeysuckle flowers were renamed as 'wild honeysuckle flower,' the market share of the southern honeysuckle flowers plunged from 70 percent to almost zero," said Xia Yizhong, an official from Hunan Province, quoted The Beijing News. "Nine years ago, the price of every half kilo [of southern-grown honeysuckle] was 80 yuan ($13). Now we sell it at 1 yuan for every half kilo," said Xia. "A lot of farmers can no longer sustain [their business]." Nine years after the official reclassification, Xia is still not convinced by the new name. "We have called it 'honeysuckle' since our ancestor's time. We just don't understand why it should be renamed." Unnatural changeThe shift of market share between northern and southern China was not a natural phenomenon, according to Lu the whistleblower, but was the result of manipulation by Shao, then head of the State drug regulator and current chair of the Chinese Pharmacopeia Commission, the body in charge of the classification of China Pharmacopeia. "I'm holding evidence of Shandong's honeysuckle flower suppliers collectively bribing the media as well as a communications company in Chongqing, bribing experts and media to defame the honeysuckle flowers produced in southern China," LU told the Sina. A rebuttal from the Chinese Pharmacopeia Commission on Tuesday stated that the name change in 2005 was purely an academic consideration instead of a result of Shao's alleged intervention. Despite having no direct evidence of collusion between Shao and Shandong suppliers, Lu is still confident in his charges. "He [Shao] does have a conflict of interest being a Shandong native �� the staff at the CFDA can prove that he is intervening in the matter," Lu said in his interview with Sina. "It is clear that [some] officials [in the CFDA] are in favor of the vested interest group [of Shandong suppliers] �� I will not drop my charges until the southern honeysuckle is officially recognized again," Lu told the Global Times on Tuesday. Hidden spotsIt will take time to prove Shao's graft charges, but the case brings corruptions within the pharmaceutical industry under spotlight again, in the midst of a sweeping nationwide anti-corruption campaign initiated by the central authorities. In 2007, former China Food and Drug Administration Director Zheng Xiaoyu was executed for charges of taking bribery and professional negligence, following two years in office from 2003 to 2005 when prescription costs soared and fake drugs has plagued the industry. Li Danyang, a research fellow of public administration at Beijing-based Beihang University, said that both Zheng and Shao's cases reveal the unique nature of the pharmaceutical industry that has made it vulnerable to corrupt practices. "The field is highly technical and it is not easy for outsiders to be aware of the problematic practices within the industry because of their lack of knowledge in the field," Li said."It is possible for the CFDA officials to make decisions in their own self-interest in disguise of academic decision when there is a lack of transparency and supervision in terms of the administration's management." The fight between northern and southern China will come into full force again in 2015 when the China Pharmacopeia will undergo a new round of amendment. According to reports from The Beijing News, Hunan's provincial government has also made renewed appeals to the CFDA. "Let the bullets fly for a while, until I drop the bombshell," said Lu, hinting he has more critical evidence to reveal in the ongoing fights.The CFDA said on Wednesday that the case has been reported to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. 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