China Media Says Mattel Apology Overdue

Chinese product safety chief Li Changjiang, right, gestures as he talks to Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations during a meeting at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) office in Beijing Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. U.S. toy giant Mattel issued an extraordinary apology to China on Friday over the recall of Chinese-made toys, saying most of the items were defective because of Mattel's design flaws rather than faulty manufacturing. (AP Photo/Andy Wong) (Andy Wong - AP)

BEIJING -- China's state media on Monday welcomed U.S. toy maker Mattel's apology over its recalls of Chinese-made toys, saying that although overdue it should help restore the country's sullied export reputation.

Mattel apologized in Beijing on Friday for recalling 21 million toys this summer, the majority of which had small magnets that could fall out and be harmful to children if swallowed.

Mattel acknowledged the problem was a design flaw _ not the fault of Chinese manufacturers.

However, the recalls also included hundreds of thousands of toys found to be decorated with hazardous lead-tainted paint. Mattel said the company pulled more of those toys off shelves than necessary and made Chinese manufacturers look bad.

Mattel, the world's largest toy maker, said it understood and appreciated the "issues that this has caused for the reputation of Chinese manufacturers."

"The apology, though delayed, should help dispel the suspicion American customers harbor against Chinese-made products and clean up the stain the recalls left on the innocent Chinese workers who make a living doing honest labor," the official English-language China Daily newspaper reported.

The state-run Guangzhou Daily said in an editorial Monday that Mattel's apology was a little late "but at least it redressed injustice against toys made in China."

But the paper added: "It is still too early to say we are happy."

Thomas A. Debrowski, Mattel's executive vice president for worldwide operations, made the apology Friday during talks with Li Changjiang, who heads one of China's major product safety watchdogs.

Chinese food, drugs and other products ranging from toothpaste to seafood are under intense scrutiny because they have been found to contain potentially deadly substances.

But China has bristled at what it claims is a campaign to discredit its reputation as an exporter. It accuses foreign media and others of playing up its product safety issues as a form of protectionism.

The International Herald Leader, a subsidiary publication of China's official Xinhua News Agency, said in an editorial that the "American media should also apologize" for the way it handled the Mattel recalls.

Beijing insists that the vast majority of its exports are safe but has stepped up inspections of food, drugs and other products in response to the concerns.

China said Monday it had increased checks on agriculture products nationwide to cut the use of banned pesticides and the overuse of animal feed additives and fertilizers. The move was part of a four-month campaign spearheaded by the State Council _ the country's Cabinet _ to improve the overall quality of Chinese goods.

Ten people have been arrested and almost 100 offending companies shut down since August, Vice Minister of Agriculture Gao Hongbin said.

Gao said the ministry was targeting 100 percent surveillance of wholesale agricultural product markets in large and medium-sized cities in the hunt for illegal pesticides and feed additives.

"It is precisely because of the existence of loopholes that we have gone all out to correct the problem," he said at a news conference. "This four-month campaign ... is indeed a special battle we have to fight. If we are fighting a battle, we have to have an enemy. And this enemy is the loopholes."

China's food chain is tainted at many levels by the overuse of pesticides and additives. While the problem has been common in China for years, it aroused international concern this year because of complaints about contaminated Chinese exports, such as farmed fish in which U.S. and European authorities have found high doses of a carcinogenic antibiotic.

Gao said authorities were also targeting the illegal production, sale and application of five types of pesticides.