Foreign consumers' concern over safety problems with some
Chinese exports is as valid as domestic consumers' growing worry
about product safety.
It should be a cause for China's quality watchdog to further
tighten inspection. But it should not be an excuse for foreign
protectionists to sell their trade-distorting arguments.
As a rising global manufacturing base, China is providing a
growing number of quality products at low prices to consumers at
home and abroad.
However, some Chinese exports to the United States were recently
found to have safety problems.
Given the potential dangers, efforts to alert consumers to
unsafe products and tightened inspection are definitely needed.
Yet, using the safety issue against all Chinese exports is
neither reassuring nor productive.
Though some specific Chinese exports were found to have safety
problems, more than 99 percent of food exports to the US in the
last three years met quality standards.
It makes little sense to regard some individual exporters'
problems as a national one. Any bias against products with a
"made-in-China" tag does injustice to Chinese exports' overall good
quality.
Admittedly, China has been hit by food safety scares during its
rapid development. But the government has paid great attention to
the issue of safety, especially regarding food products in recent
years.
Thanks to stricter supervision, China has seen steady
improvement in food products.
According to the General Administration of Quality Supervision,
Inspection and Quarantine, the country's records show that food
product safety has been steadily improving since 1998. In fact, the
proportion of food products tested as qualified in the first half
of this year was the highest in recent years.
At the same time, the country is also working to introduce more
stringent food safety standards while strengthening
enforcement.
The recent reports of substandard Chinese-made consumer products
add to the urgency for Chinese policymakers to increase these
efforts.
Nevertheless, the cry for protectionism against Chinese exports
by some Americans will not benefit US consumers. It will disturb
the international cooperation that China is seeking as part of
improving product safety.
(China Daily July 5, 2007)