China said on Wednesday that United States importers and brand owners should take responsibility for recalled toys, after it emerged that the US product quality watchdog logged 29 recall cases involving toys made in China in 2006.

"Chinese Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) were performing their duties as importers requested, and the toys conformed with all US regulations and standards at the time of production," said a spokesman with China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

One recall of magnetic construction toys by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), for example, can be attributed to the brand owner's design and leaves the OEM blameless, said the spokesman.

Chinese OEMs produced over 80 percent of toy exports to the US with the vast majority being up to American standards, said the spokesman.

China exported 300,000 batches of toys to the United States last year, with the CPSC only filing 29 recall cases.

The spokesman called for improved product design and quality supervision to allow loopholes in quality control to swiftly be shut.

A recall case filed by US RC2 Corp. and CPSC last month involved toy trains made by a Guangdong-based company which used paint containing lead poisonous to children.

On Aug. 2, another toy company, Fisher-Price, also recalled more than one million character toys due to poor paint quality. The producer's paint provider had used fake materials in mixing the paint.

China's quality control department has suspended the export of the problematic toys, and a police investigation has been opened in the matter.

(Xinhua News Agency August 9, 2007)