China's Ministry of Commerce will help related departments
implement measures to ensure the quality and safety of China-made
toys, said a spokesman with the ministry on Thursday.
The measures include enhancing self-discipline and supervision
of the toy industry, helping local authorities train manufacturers
to improve management over product quality, and strengthening
international cooperation and information exchange on toy
production, spokesman Wang Xinpei said.
Wang said most toys made in China were produced in accordance
with importers' designs, techniques and quality criteria. Some
problematic toys uncovered recently stemmed from poor quality
management in the production process and slack supervision by
importers and traders as well.
A spokesman for China's General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said late last week that the
United States importers and brand owners should take responsibility
for recalled toys.
To prevent loopholes in quality control, overseas brand owners
should improve their product design and supervision over product
quality, the spokesman said.
The U.S. product quality watchdog filed 29 recall cases
involving toys made in China last year.
A recall case filed by US RC2 Corp. and CPSC last month involved
toy trains made by a Guangdong-based company which used paint
containing lead poisonous to children.
On Aug. 2, another toy company, Fisher-Price, also recalled more
than one million character toys with unqualified paint. The
producer's paint provider made the paint using fake materials.
China's quality control department has suspended the export of
the problematic toys, while the police have launched an
investigation into the case.
China exported more than US$7 billion worth of toys last year, a
growth of 7.5 percent over the previous year. The total included
300,000 batches of toys sold to the United States.
Food safety
On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington
called for global cooperation to improve food safety, noting that
it along with product quality is an international problem.
"No country's products are immune to problems," said Zhao
Baoqing.
But Zhao added that China will intensify food safety supervision
and punish all those responsible for supplying tainted food.
"Food safety and product quality is an international problem,
and is also something that all countries pay attention to," said
Zhao, who previously worked for China's product quality watchdog,
the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and
Quarantine (AQSIQ).
Zhao admitted that China's food safety needs improving, but said
that the vast majority of Chinese exports to United States are of
high quality.
"During 2004 to 2006, more than 99 percent of Chinese food to
the U.S. met the U.S. safety and quality standards," he said.
The official said the Chinese government has been actively
cooperating with other countries to seek solutions to issues of
food safety and product quality.
"Quality and safety questions are something that every country
has to deal with," Zhao reiterated, adding that more international
cooperation and less finger-pointing was needed.
(Xinhua News Agency August 16, 2007)