Beijing attacks: the problem of security, “pretext for commercial barriers”
Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Two more US companies have withdrawn Chinese toys containing led paint from the market. But Bo Xilai, the Chinese Trade minister, has defended the quality of Chinese products and invited other nations not to use the issue of product security as a “pretext to create trade barriers”.
The items include SpongeBob SquarePants spiral address books and diaries, Thomas the Tank Engine spinning tops and some toy buckets, highly popular in the United States. The recall of about 300,000 toys, many on sale for some years, comes after it was confirmed that harmful materials were used in production and that a lack of quality control on toys does not only regard products of the industry leader Mattel ( which last week withdrew over 18.5 million products from shelves around the world).
The China has responded saying that it exports billions of products each year and that the general quality of these cannot be denied on the bases of a few products found to be substandard. August 21 the Chinese Minister for Trade Bo Xilai, meeting with the ex US secretary of State Madeleine Albright, criticised “the protectionist trends in the US, where some people deliberately exaggerate and play up a few isolated product-safety cases to advocate mercantile trade policies”. He promised that Beijing will take adequate measures to insure the safety of its products, but he also invited other nations to collaborate, to “strengthen communication and tackle this problem rationally and objectively” rather than limiting themselves to criticism.
Meanwhile in Guangdong, the main toy producing zone, new and more rigorous norms were put in place this week, which demand a “quality licence” for all products destined for export markets, with checks not only on the finished product but also on primary materials.
Li Zhouming, executive vice-chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Toy Industry Association, was quoted yesterday as saying mainland manufacturers and Mattel should both take blame for the recalls, “because they do not have tight controls over purchasing and production”. The earnings of the Chinese companies – he observed – are minimal because the western companies want to pay below market production prices. This is why there is the risk that the factories seek to save costs on materials and why foreign companies need to step up controls. Instead – he concludes - foreign buyers have only ever worried about the price, worrying little about the guarantees of product safety.
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26/09/2007
