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Starbucks recalls China-made cups for children in US

Seattle-based coffeehouse chain Starbucks is recalling some 250,000 children's cups made in China from customers in the US, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission said on Tuesday night.

When the cups are dropped, small parts could become detached that children might swallow, the retailer said.

The coffeehouse chain had heard of seven cases in which parts became detached, it was said, but there had not been any reports of injuries.

toy recall

Only a few weeks ago, toy manufacturing giant Mattel caused a stir by recalling within a short period more than 20 million toys made in China.

The Asian Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that China had hit back at US criticism over safety problems with its products, saying nearly 2 percent of US exports to the Chinese market were flawed.

From January to July, 1.8 percent of 267,300 US shipments to China had problems "of one kind or another," Li Changjiang (李長江), the nation's top official in charge of quality control, told the paper in an interview.

US defects

The paper said Li presented a list of defects and dangers he said had turned up in products shipped by US companies.

They included turbines from General Electric Co and ultrasound machines from a US unit of Netherlands-based Philips Electronics NV.

Sean Spicer, a spokesman for US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, told the paper that Chinese attacks on the quality of US products were not the way forward.

"While China's recent efforts to improve food and product safety represent a constructive way forward, attacking the US -- which has one of the best systems in the world for protecting consumer safety -- is counter productive," the paper quoted him as saying.
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