I'm not a political animal by nature, but, like many people, I am concerned with all the products we use that are made in China. I have serious issues with China's environmental policies, not to mention their human rights and labor abuses. Still, "made in China" is an inescapable fact of life for most Americans. Optics, in general, and
binoculars, in particular, are hardly an exception.
Issues aside, I'd like to make two points as far as
binoculars that carry the "made in China" tag. First, as far as optics go, "made in China" is not necessarily a sign of a cheap
binocular. On the contrary, some excellent binoculars are being made in China by Nikon, Pentax and many other of the big names in binoculars. As always, price, not country of origin, is a reliable guideline for binocular quality. The second point, and probably the most important, is that a great many people would be unable to afford a decent binocular if not for "made in China". Labor costs, even in Japan, make it necessary to much of the world's binocular production to China.
In the end, I doubt whether a mass boycott of Chinese made products is realistic, but I do think that consumer countries, especially the U.S., should and must apply more pressure on China to clean up their act. If China wishes to outgrow the stigma of "made in China" on their products, China will have to do more than address the quality of their products.