Dolls and toy dogs have become the keepsakes some senior
American officials have received on their first day in Beijing for
a high-profile trade and commerce meeting between China and the
United States.
US Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was happy with the
life-size toy dog presented from Li Changjiang, chief of China's
product quality watchdog, who had taken great pains to defend and
improve the reputation of China-made products. "It's a lot of fun.
The gift is very nice," he said.
Observers said that the carefully selected gifts ranging from
dolls with curly blond hair or electric trains indicated that
product safety would be an important issue to be discussed on the
18th China-US Joint Commission on Commerce and Trade.
Mike Leavitt, US Secretary of Health and Human Services,
disclosed that two agreements are to be signed on Tuesday afternoon
to ensure the exports of China-made food, feed, drugs and medical
devices will meet US standards.
"We think we are on a glide pattern, which will produce a
successful outcome in our relationship with the Chinese
government," Leavitt said.
As one of the delegate to participate in the 3rd China-US
"strategic economic dialogue" to be held on Wednesday and Thursday,
Leavitt said he was coming to build bridges between the two
countries.
"Our systems are different and yet we need to achieve a common
result," he said.
Li Changjiang, who had talks with Gutierrez, Leavitt and Susan
Schwab, US Trade Representative Ambassador, on Monday afternoon,
hoped the annual dialogue would further promote the bilateral
cooperation on food and product quality issues.
The discovery of substandard products such as toothpaste and
toys imported from China earlier this year have worried some US
consumers about the quality of "made-in-China" goods.
But Christopher A. Padilla, acting under secretary for
international trade of the US Department of Commerce, said he would
take the doll back to his niece and believed she would be happy to
receive such a Christmas gift.
During his tour to the General Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, Leavitt said product
quality was not only about China but about improving the monitoring
of import and export systems of all the countries. "If you desire
to produce goods for the American consumer, you need to meet
American standards of quality and safety."
The market confidence with China-made products has started to
rally after the Chinese government launched a four-month sweeping
national campaign to raise the awareness of product quality.
Customs figures revealed that Guangdong, China's major toy
production base, has exported toys worth $4.94 billion in the first
10 months, up 22.9 percent over the same period last year. About 79
percent were exported to the United States and the European
Union.
The southern coastal port province holds 70 percent of the
Chinese toys made for export and about half of the world's
toys.
To crack down upon manufacturers that supply shoddy goods, a new
recall system was put into place this summer by the government,
while government-sponsored training courses were available to
manufacturers about toy certificate systems, export test
regulations and standards in China, the United States and
Europe.
"The government adopted an active and earnest attitude in
handling the toy safety issue, which earned sensible responses from
the buyers," said Dong Xiaolin, an international trade expert at
the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
Guo Zhuocai, chairman of the Guangdong Huawei Toys Crafts Co.,
which makes 60 million sets of toys a year for domestic and foreign
markets, said "Foreign buyers are getting tough on the quality and
safety of China-made toys, and we are still learning to cope with
that."
(Xinhua News Agency December 11, 2007)
