China said yesterday its tainted milk scandal had been brought under control and recently tested liquid milk samples showed no traces of the toxic chemical melamine, as US and European consumer safety officials urged Beijing to better enforce product safety standards.
“There is no problem,” Xiang Yuzhang (項玉章), the national quality watchdog’s chief inspection official, told reporters in Beijing.
“It has been brought under control, more or less. There are no more problems in the market. As far as I know, there will be no more bad news,” Xiang said.
China’s quality control agency said on its Web site that 235 samples of carton milk and drinking yogurt produced since Sept. 14 and sold across the country had shown no signs of melamine.
But China could face an uphill struggle to convince its own people and those abroad that it has the situation in hand, as fears grow that compromised ingredients may have contaminated other Chinese-made products such as cookies and chocolate bars.
Australia issued fresh warnings yesterday for China and nearby nations in the wake of the scandal, advising its citizens overseas to avoid all Chinese-made milk products, unless companies have confirmed their goods are free from contamination.
Milk powder adulterated with melamine has sickened about 54,000 Chinese babies and is blamed for the deaths of four infants.
Speaking in Shanghai, where US and European officials were attending seminars on product safety, acting US Consumer Product Safety Commission Chairwoman Nancy Nord said China’s troubles with contaminated milk highlight the need for better enforcement of product safety standards in manufacturing.
“The melamine situation just underscores the message that we are trying to deliver, and that is you have to know what’s coming into your factory and what’s going out of your factory,” she said.
“One can always do more. We’ve seen reasonable progress in China, but there’s a long way to go,” she said.
Speaking at the UN in New York, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) said his government would use the crisis as a chance to overhaul safety controls.
China would “strengthen institutional development, and take seriously supervision and inspections in every link of production, truly ensuring the interests of consumers,” Xinhua news agency quoted Wen as saying.
“We want to make sure that our products and our food will not only meet the domestic and international standards, but also meet the specific requirements of the import countries,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sanlu will not recover from the damage it has suffered, its New Zealand partner said yesterday. Beijing has taken control of Sanlu, 43 percent owned by New Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative, and shut down its operations, Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier said at a briefing.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
TIT-FOR-TAT: The US allegedly revoked the visa of a Chinese national working at Xinhua News Agency in the US in response to Beijing’s expulsion of Vivian Wang The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China for expelling a New York Times correspondent from Beijing following the newspaper’s interview with President William Lai (賴清德), saying the move highlighted Beijing’s suppression of press freedom and its threat to international news media. Taiwan has noted a series of recent incidents in which Beijing used similar tactics to “threaten and pressure international media outlets and journalists,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said in a statement. “This concerns not only press freedom and freedom of expression, but also the safety of journalists, and Taiwan and relevant partners are paying close attention to the situation,” she
RSS