BEIJING - Chinese state television has launched a weeklong series of programs dedicated to defending the country's reputation as a safe maker of global goods, pushing forward its campaign to woo back international trust.
The first program was aired Sunday on China Central Television's economic channel and featured the head of a quality watchdog criticizing the recent furor over the quality of Chinese exports as "demonizing China's products."
"Personally, I believe it is new trend in trade protectionism. Although recalls are necessary, it is unfair to decide that all products made in China are unqualified," Li Changjiang, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said on the inaugural 90-minute show.
Li said his department was doing everything possible to monitor and check product quality, especially after recent recalls of millions of toys by Mattel Inc., the world's biggest toy maker, because of lead paint and small magnets.
"I'm here to tell you: have faith in made-in-China," Li told a group of foreign and Chinese executives and journalists invited to the show.
While the shows can be seen only in China, they will have interviews with Chinese producers and officials, as well as foreign buyers and chambers of commerce, CCTV said on its Web site. Monday's show will focus on exports, including green tea.
The programs are the latest in China's recent push to prove it is a safe manufacturer and exporter of goods amid discoveries of high levels of chemicals and toxins in Chinese products by countries around the world.
On Monday, New Zealand launched an investigation after children's clothes from China were found to contain dangerous levels of formaldehyde.
The government ordered the probe after scientists testing clothes for TV3's "Target" consumer watchdog program discovered formaldehyde concentrations up to 900 times above the safe level in woolen and cotton clothes.
The chemical gives a permanent press effect to clothes and is also used as an embalming fluid. It can cause problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer.
The television station says it will not release details of brand names or importers ahead of the show's airing on Tuesday.
