China delegates to discuss safety in U.S.

Source : CNN.com

Origin : http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/15/china.recall.reut/index.html

Title : China delegates to discuss safety in U.S.

Date :Aug 17th 2007

Translater and Reviewer : TJY

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- China will send delegations to the United States in August and September to discuss food and product safety following a spate of product recalls, a Chinese Embassy official said on Wednesday.

在一連串的產品回收動作之後，中國駐美大使館宣佈，中國將於八九兩月派遣代表團至美國討論食物與產品的安全性。

Zhao Baoqing, first commercial secretary of the embassy, told reporters the senior-level delegations would discuss the recent problems and Chinese safety measures with U.S. authorities from the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

大使館的貿易幹事Zhao Baoqing告訴記者，比較高階的代表團將會就現存的問題與中國的(產品)安全措施和美方的相關單位如FDA和CPSC(消費者產品安全委員會)作討論。

The first delegation will arrive later this month, and a second delegation of vice-ministers will visit in September, he said.

他表示，第一個代表團將於八月底到達，另一個有次長隨行則將於九月抵達。

Mattel Inc., the largest U.S. toy company, on Tuesday recalled 18.2 million toys globally, including 9.5 million in the United States. The toys were recalled due to hazards from small, powerful magnets and lead paint.

美國最大的玩具商Mattel於星期二大動作回收了全球182萬件玩具，其中在美國境內佔了95萬件。回收的原因則是因為內含有危險的強力小磁石及含鉛的塗料。

The recall prompted some U.S. lawmakers to demand a temporary halt and inspections of shipments of Chinese products for children that contain paint and to demand that China open its toy factories for inspections.

這個動作讓激起一些美國的立法者要求暫時停止(進口)、檢查中國製且有塗料兒童用品貨物、以及要求中國開放其玩具工廠以供檢查。

In a rare news briefing at the Chinese mission in Washington, Zhao outlined measures Beijing authorities had taken since the "Made in China" scare emerged in March. He also mixed appeals for cooperation with a show of frustration at the U.S. handling of the widening problem.

在由中國大使館罕見的聲明稿中，Zhao大略地指出一些在這波『MIC恐慌』中中國政府所作的處理措施。他同時綜合了一些在此次事件中遭受影響的廠商的訴求。

"When we found problems with food imported from the United States, we usually took a completely different approach than our U.S. colleagues," he said, referring to recent Chinese complaints with U.S. poultry, pork and pistachios.

在提到中國普遍對於美國進口之豬肉、家禽及開心果等產品的抱怨時，他表示，『當我們發現自美國進口的產品有問題的時候，面對這些問題的態度通常與我們美國的同伴們截然不同。』

China first contacts the U.S. embassy to discuss ways to sort out the problem imports, Zhao said, adding: "We would not immediately publish reports in newspaper or on the Web."

中國主動與美國理事館聯繫，希望能夠適當地處理這些有問題的進口商品。Zhao更進一步地說，『我們不會立即透過平面或是網路發表聲明稿。』

China signed a memorandum of understanding with the FDA in April 2006 on food safety that covered 20 percent of its food exports to the United States. Beijing hoped to conclude an MOU on the other 80 percent by the end of this year, Zhao said.

中國曾於2006年四月和美國FDA簽訂了有關其出口食品安全的規約，這項規約涵蓋了其總出口食品種類的20%。北京方面希望於年底前能夠與美方制定涵蓋其他80%產品的規約。

Zhao noted that 99.2 percent of China's food exports to the United States in 2006 met quality standards and said the "vast majority of China's food exports to the United States are safe." But he reiterated Chinese plans from September to make all of its food exports carry labels on sales and shipping containers that prove they had passed government inspections.

Zhao更提到，2006年中國進口到美國的食物中，99.2%的出口食物有達到品質的標準。『絕大多數的中國進口食品是安全的。』他很肯定的表示。但他仍表示北京方面於九月開始將會將其出口食品以標籤及容器妥善標示以確保這些食品已經偷過(中國)政府的檢測。

The Mattel toy recall prompted U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat who has stridently criticized Chinese trade practices, to call on the State Department to exert pressure on China to open up its toy-manufacturing plants to U.S. inspections, his spokesman said.

Mattel公司的回收動作同時引起曾經嚴厲地批評過中國貿易行為的美國參議員Charles Schumer的高度關切。他的發言人表示，Schumer呼籲州政府應該要向中國施壓，要求中國開放玩具製作工廠供美國檢驗。

Asked about independent testing of Chinese factories, Zhao said such checks should be a "matter of commercial agreement between the importer and the exporter."

問及中國工廠的個別檢驗，Zhao認為這項動作應屬於進口商與出口商本身的商業協定。

"We do not wish to make third-party testing compulsory as this would be disadvantageous to the importer, the brand-holder and the exporter," he said

『我們不希望強加上第三者的檢驗程序，這將對進口商、該品牌以及出口商都造成不良的影響。』他說。

Review and related news :

繼先前Bush成立進口食品管制小組後，中國這方面也在美國時間8/15日作出了回應。當然，在『玩具事件』爆發出來以後的這個時間點做出這項聲明不免有點亡羊補牢的味道。不過，有作總比沒有作好。細看這項新聞，會發現中國的發言人Zhao話中一些有趣的地方。譬如說他提到2006年，中國出口至美國的食品有99.2%符合標準，乍聽之下合格率相當高。但是實際上，文章中也有提到，所謂的規範其實適用的對象只有所有出口數的20%（在此筆者推斷所謂的20%應是指品項，而非數量，不過內文沒有寫清楚，待查），那麼剩下的80%呢？Zhao很巧妙地迴避了問題。政治話語果然是全球共通的語言，全世界的政治人物都講同一種話。

關於文中的powerful magnets，筆者在此作一些補充。這小磁石原本是dolly塑膠玩具裡面的配件，用以將衣服穿在娃娃身上。有個七歲的小女孩在玩這個玩具時，為了要把衣服分開，不小心吞入了兩個小磁石。結果這兩個小磁石到了他的腸子之後，又相吸在一起，傷害了腸壁組織，結果造成腸子裡有一小孔。這使得所有腸子裡的東西都能夠跑到女孩的體腔內，造成了一些感染，甚至差點失去性命。相關新聞的連結可以點這邊：http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/08/14/toy.victim/index.html

筆者是認為就這個案件來看，廠商實在是有點衰，當然沒有設想到這樣的危險性是廠商的疏忽，而且使用者的使用習慣廠商也不能事先預測。不過兒童用品就是這樣，一有危險就必須馬上回收，這是無庸置疑的。

另外，在Mattel大動作的回收之後，也有些一些其他的廠方進行了回收的動作，相關新聞可以在下列網址看到：

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/02/06/toy.oven.recall/index.html?iref=newssearch

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/08/01/toy.recall.ap/index.html?iref=newssearch

最後再對於文中的MOU作一個補充，MOU事實上就是Memorandum of Understanding，翻成中文不太好翻，事實上就是一種規約。常見於部門、這種機關、或是關係相近的公司之間。詳可見wikipedia，網址如下：

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memorandum_of_understanding