August 20, 2007	Monday	Sha’aban 6, 1428

BEIJING, Aug 19: Politically motivated, unfair, biased and poisoned by jealousy – China’s quality watchdog chief gave his verdict on Sunday on the storm surrounding the quality of Chinese goods, describing it as a “cold wind”.

Li Changjiang told a carefully choreographed talk show on state television that his department was doing everything possible to check quality and probe substandard goods, especially following the recent huge toy recall by Mattel.

“I’m here to tell you: have faith in made-in-China,” Li told a selected group of foreign and Chinese executives and journalists.

“Children are our future. So their health and safety is very important,” added Li, the man leading the counter-offensive to convince the world that Chinese goods are safe.

“We have three million people working hard, making toys to make children around the world happy.”

The Mattel recall affected Big Bird, Elmo and millions of other toys with safety risks associated with magnets and lead paint. The show’s host, Chen Weihong, held up a small plastic toy, which was part of the recall, and asked the audience to guess which part contained too much lead.

Eyes? No. Tail? Not that either. Legs? Way out. The answer – the eyebrows, only visible if you looked up close.

“There is no danger. You can hold it with no problem,” Li told Chen when he asked him if it was safe to hold. “The US has told us that there have been no cases of children being harmed.”

Next appeared a wooden toy train set, complete with engines and signals. In fact, the only part with too much lead in it – the reason it was recalled – was a small bright red stop sign.

“Children won’t eat this sign, or smell it every day. The effect is very limited,” Li said.

“It’s exaggerated. In the first example it was the eyebrows which exceeded standards. And in this whole set, it’s only the stop sign. It’s not fair to say China’s products are not up to scratch. Not fair at all,” he added.—Reuters