Export Data News
- Over 99% of exports safe: minister
Date: 3-Aug-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
MINISTER of Commerce Bo Xilai has said that more than 99 percent of Chinese exports are safe and of good quality, the latest bid by an official to reassure the country's trading partners on the reliability of the country's goods.
Bo made the comments in a meeting Wednesday with his Mexican counterpart, Economy Minister Eduardo Sojo, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on its Web site Thursday.
China attaches great importance to the issue of product safety, Bo said, adding that he hopes that concerned parties can take an 'objective, fair?view of the issue and not allow it to influence the normal development of trade.
As international concern has steadily risen over the safety of made-in-China goods, senior officials have sought to reassure the country's trading partners and consumers alike that Chinese products are safe.
Two weeks ago, Premier Wen Jiabao weighed in by saying food safety and product quality should be the government's top priority.
In another development, Wei Chuanzhong, a deputy chief of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, told visiting U.S. officials that China fears alarm over product safety could stoke trade protectionism as a massive toy recall threatened to intensify consumer worry about the made-in-China brand.
In the latest scare, U.S. toys giant Mattel Inc. said it was recalling 1.5 million Fisher-Price toys globally because their paint could contain too much lead.
Wei told the U.S. delegation that the Chinese Government was tackling food and drug safety after a string of health scares have shaken consumer confidence.
'We won't avoid problems, but we disapprove of ignoring the facts and of alarmism that takes isolated things for the whole, and we oppose trade protection and discrimination,'said Wei, according to Xinhua.
Wei said disagreements between countries over product quality and food safety should be settled 'through dialogue, negotiation, investigation and seeking out the facts.'
Mattel said the toys, which include characters like Elmo and Big Bird, were made by a contract manufacturer in China using non-approved paint pigment containing lead.
The United States stepped up inspections of imports from China after a chemical additive in pet food caused the death of some pets there this spring.
But China has said that it is the victim of biased news reports that have grossly overstated the depth of the quality problem and are being used to stoke protectionist demands.
It has said 99.2 percent of its food exports to the United States in 2006 met quality standards. Critics say the United States inspects only a sliver of the food shipments from China and other big suppliers.
Wei said China was taking quality issues seriously. But he stressed that China did not want to be singled out.
'Improving overall product quality and food safety is a shared task of the international community,'he said.
The U.S. delegation, led by Department of Health and Human Services chief of staff Rich McKeown, arrived in China on Tuesday for a five-day visit. The department has said it is preparing the way for fresh agreements with China on food and medical product safety.
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