The authorities are now trying to trace around 100 tonnes of melamine-contaminated milk powder that is believed to be back in circulation.

ECONOMIST: Dissent becomes even more dangerous

For instance, the scandal over melamine-contaminated milk powder last year was handled relatively well by the central government, with punishments handed down to those responsible and compensation paid to the victims.

WSJ: The Urumqi Effect

Similar worries seem to have prompted the arrest in November of Zhao Lianhai, who had been campaigning on behalf of the parents of some 300, 000 children who were affected by milk powder tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical, in 2008.

ECONOMIST: Dissent becomes even more dangerous

The party's apparatus of control dominated every stage of decision-making in the disastrous Sanlu milk powder scandal, from covering up melamine contamination that poisoned thousands of babies to censoring media coverage that could have saved lives to blocking legal action that could have given families some measure of justice and deterred future corporate misbehavior.

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