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An official from the Guangdong provincial government reconfirmed Nov. 6 that the province will offer financial and/or legal aid to any Chinese toy manufacturer wishing to sue U.S. toy maker Mattel for damages incurred by the U.S. company’s recent mass recalls of Chinese-made toys. The official denied the southern Chinese province itself plans to sue Mattel, however. The official who spoke — Chen Lipeng, the director of Guangdong’s provincial fair trade bureau — was clarifying his Nov. 5 statement at an international legal forum.
The timing of the Guangdong government’s announcement is no coincidence, coming on the day recommendations from the U.S. product recall task force set up by U.S. President George W. Bush in July are due.
Of the task force’s 14 recommendations, one proposes putting more inspectors in exporting nations such as China, while another recommends granting U.S. agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration the authority to issue recalls at will. Beijing should have no qualms about the first proposal given that multiple U.S. government and business inspectors already have come and gone (with some still remaining). To offer an incentive to the pool of Chinese manufacturers teetering on the edge of bankruptcy not to pursue lawsuits against U.S. manufacturers, the U.S. task force also is promoting a fast-track approval program for Chinese suppliers with the best track records.
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