China product watchdog hits back at US
Thursday, 11 October 2007
BEIJING, Oct 10 (AFP): China has hit back at US criticism over safety problems in its products, saying nearly two per cent of American exports to the Chinese market are flawed, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported today.
From January to July, 1.8 per cent of 267,300 US shipments to China had problems "of one kind or another," Li Changjiang, the nation's top official in charge of quality control, told the paper in an interview.
The paper said Li presented a list of defects and dangers he said had turned up in products shipped by US companies.
They included turbines from General Electric Co, and ultrasound machines from a US unit of Netherlands-based Philips Electronics NV.
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, told the paper Chinese attacks on the quality of American products were not the way forward.
"While China's recent efforts to improve food and product safety represent a constructive way forward, attacking the US-which has one of the best systems in the world for protecting consumer safety-is counter productive," he said, according to the paper.
Dangerous exports from China ranging from toys to seafood have sparked a wave of global bans and recalls in recent months and severely tarnished the made-in-China label.
Beijing has been taking many steps to contain the problem, and in July executed the former head of its food and drug safety watchdog for corruption.
From January to July, 1.8 per cent of 267,300 US shipments to China had problems "of one kind or another," Li Changjiang, the nation's top official in charge of quality control, told the paper in an interview.
The paper said Li presented a list of defects and dangers he said had turned up in products shipped by US companies.
They included turbines from General Electric Co, and ultrasound machines from a US unit of Netherlands-based Philips Electronics NV.
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, told the paper Chinese attacks on the quality of American products were not the way forward.
"While China's recent efforts to improve food and product safety represent a constructive way forward, attacking the US-which has one of the best systems in the world for protecting consumer safety-is counter productive," he said, according to the paper.
Dangerous exports from China ranging from toys to seafood have sparked a wave of global bans and recalls in recent months and severely tarnished the made-in-China label.
Beijing has been taking many steps to contain the problem, and in July executed the former head of its food and drug safety watchdog for corruption.