Visiting US politicians yesterday said they had been aware of the danger of trade protectionism against China in the US Congress and would like to intensify mutual cooperation to prevent it.

"There's certainly been some efforts (in fanning trade protectionism)," State of Maine Senator Philip Bartlett told China Daily after he met Li Changjiang, China's top quality control official.

"Some individual politicians are exploiting this opportunity, trying to go for protectionism for other reasons."

The recent safety scares involving Chinese products, ranging from pet food to toys, has caused concern in the US. The US Congress has passed a number of bills to limit, or strengthen inspections on the import of Chinese products.

However, Li, minister of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ), said the criticism of Chinese products in general was media hype and trade protectionism.

He said the qualification rates of Chinese products to the US in the past three-and-a-half years have remained the same, and only in recent months has it become a hot topic.

He said China's qualification rates were higher than many other countries, including India and Mexico, but only Chinese products have become the target.

"There's growing trade protectionism in the US Congress against China, and it's becoming obvious," he told Bartlett and his visiting delegation of the American Council of Young Political Leaders. "I really worry that such protectionism could harm us both."

But Li said he was glad to notice that some US economists had realized the harms of such protectionism and had signed a petition to the Congress early this month.

In the petition, 1,028 economists from all 50 states and top universities in the US warned that a move toward protectionism could lead to a futile and harmful trade war, causing higher prices, job cuts and reduced economic growth for the US and businesses.

Mark Kirk, member of the US Congress and co-chair of the US-China Working Group, who is on another visiting US delegation to China, also acknowledged there was the danger of trade protectionism in the Congress.

But both Kirk and Bartlett said food and product safety had become a "very real concern" to Americans.

"When we talk about the currency issue, it's often not well-understood by the American people. But poisonous pet food and unsafe toys are understood immediately. It's an emotional issue," Kirk said.

Bartlett also said he hoped the Chinese government could understand why the issue had become so heated in the US.

"We would be vulnerable to anything that affects our children," he said. "The American people buy things not only with their heads but also with their hearts."

Bartlett said remarks by individual politicians should not be construed as the policy of the US government. He said he hoped the two countries could continue negotiations to form mutual trust.

"We also have domestic food safety problems. It's important to help each other to get better rather than building up walls to hurt us all," he said.

To intensify exchanges, AQSIQ Vice-Minister Wei Chuanzhong will head a delegation to the US early next month for the third US-China food safety meeting and the second US-China meeting on the safety of consumer products. The two countries will also hold a vice-ministerial meeting on food and feed safety next month in Beijing.

In another development yesterday, Li said during a food safety inspection tour in Beijing that China had launched an advanced food quality control and tracking system for the Beijing Olympics.

Tang Yunhua, spokeswoman of the Beijing Food Safety Office, said the system started trial operations on August 8, and encompasses scrutiny over the whole food chain from raw materials to processing and delivery.

(China Daily August 29 2007)