China can not accept the indiscriminate and automatic detention
of four kinds of Chinese seafood by the United States and the ban
on importing those products, a Chinese official in charge of
quality supervision said.
Li Changjiang, director of the State Administration of Quality
Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, made the remarks late
Friday during a telephone conversation with US Health and Human
Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to address the US announcement
to ban some Chinese seafood a day earlier.
Li urged the US side to "properly deal with the problem as soon
as possible."
He said that China also detected many substandard foodstuff
among US exports to China every year, and these problems were
properly handled in the principle of cooperation.
Likewise, there might be isolated cases of Chinese enterprises
exporting products with quality problems to the United States.
However, "indiscriminate" ban of all exports of such Chinese
aquatic products is "unacceptable", said Li.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said on Thursday it
would detain three types of Chinese farm-raised fish -- catfish,
basa and dace -- as well as shrimp and eel unless suppliers could
prove the shipments contained no harmful residues unapproved in the
US for use in farmed seafood.
China has already adopted measures to solve the problems of the
Chinese seafood complained by the US side, Li said.
Li said the US side should let the exports go after checking the
sanitation certificates issued by China Entry-Exit Inspection and
Quarantine.
The US side said it would send a team to China soon to negotiate
a solution to the seafood ban.
(Xinhua News Agency July 2, 2007)