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BEIJING - European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson said Monday that safety problems linked to China-made goods would rise this year and the Asian manufacturer had to improve its record.
"After the events of this year, restoring, and then maintaining consumer trust and confidence in Chinese products must be China's priority if it wants to maintain the export growth rates of recent years," Mandelson said in a speech here.
Mandelson, in China for the Sino-EU summit starting in Beijing Monday, underscored data that suggests the sharp rise in safety problems with Chinese made goods was set to continue.
In 2006 the European Union's early warning system raised flags 1,000 times last year and nearly half concerned China, but a series of product scares this year means those numbers will rise by 50 percent, he said.
In recent months, China has scrambled to clamp down on shoddy goods in a bid to build confidence in the "made in China" label.
That label has been tarnished by a string of safety scandals in recent months, with Chinese products ranging from seafood to car tyres to children's toys being subjected to bans and recalls overseas amid safety fears.
Mandelson said that China made up nine percent of warnings last year in the EU's alert system, with problems emerging on products such as honey, peanuts, unauthorised genetically modified rice and animal feed.
"Notified problems originating in China are likely to rise in 2007," the commissioner said.
He warned China that when it comes to food there can be no room for error.
"During the summer some Chinese officials pointed out that less that one percent of China's experts to Europe had alleged health risks. But Europe imports half a billion euros (740 million dollars)."
Many of the product safety issues China was facing were a result of fake goods, a problem that China has long struggled to contain much to the irritation of its trading partners.
"China will never properly tackle the issue of product safety without addressing the tidal wave of counterfeit goods," Mandelson said.
Eight out of 10 fake products seized by EU customs in 2006 were made in China, he said, citing previous EU data. - AFP/ir
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