The Japan Times: Aug. 17, 2002 'DISCRIMINATORY INSPECTIONS' China warns of vegetable trade spat
BEIJING (Kyodo) Senior Chinese trade officials warned of another trade skirmish if Japan fails to knock down barriers to vegetable imports, the China Daily reported Friday. The officials stressed that Chinese vegetables are safe and of high quality. However, they did not refer to any immediate plans to launch retaliatory trade sanctions. China strongly opposes Japan's "unfair and discriminatory inspections" of its vegetable exports, said Guo Li, assistant minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation. China hopes Japan will immediately curtail its unfair measures to avoid a repetition of last year's trade dispute, she said, while other officials criticized the Japanese media's "one sided" reporting of the issue. While Japanese customs inspected Chinese vegetables 7,001 times in the first seven months of the year, only 0.5 percent were found to contain pesticide residue higher than Japanese standards, the officials said. High-level negotiations in December were required to solve a bilateral trade dispute that flared up in April 2001 after Japan slapped a 200-day curb on imports of three Chinese agricultural products. Following imposition of the curbs, Beijing slapped 100 percent retaliatory tariffs on Japanese cars and electronics goods. Japan's recent tightening of its quarantine and inspection measures aims to stop Chinese vegetable imports and shield backward local industries under the guise of protecting consumer interests, charged Cao Xumin, chairman of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal Byproducts. The stricter rules inhibit Chinese vegetable imports by slowing their passage through customs, raising inspection costs and reducing vegetable freshness due to the longer inspection times required, he was quoted as saying. The increased number of required inspection samplings means the cost for Chinese vegetables has increased to 800,000 yen per batch from 50,000 yen, Cao said. In the first half of this year, China's year-on-year export of fresh vegetables to Japan dropped 19.42 percent, frozen vegetables slid 22.47 percent and salted vegetables fell 8.09 percent, he said.
