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China says dumpling scare will not affect Hu's Japan trip
14 Feb 2008 09:15:38 GMT
 Source: Reuters
BEIJING, Feb 14 (Reuters) - A scare about Chinese-made food in Japan triggered by contaminated dumplings will not affect President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit to the country, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday.

The saga began in late January when 10 people fell ill after eating dumplings made in a northern Chinese factory. It has since become an emotive issue in Japan following a series of global health scares over Chinese products ranging from pet food and toys to toothpaste.

"I believe China and Japan have sufficient wisdom to properly resolve the issue and such an incident will not affect the upcoming high-level visit between the two sides," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a news conference.

Liu said the incident was an "isolated case" rather than a systematic food safety problem, citing results from preliminary probes by Chinese and Japanese investigators who said the plant was "very clean and well managed".

Japanese officials have hinted that the dumplings might have been tainted by activists opposed to improving China-Japan relations.

But a senior Chinese official said on Wednesday that there was almost no chance that the dumplings were intentionally contaminated in China.

"Finding out the truth is key to restoring Japanese consumers' confidence in Chinese products and to normal bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Liu said.

Relations between the two Asian powers have been strained by a number of issues, many dating back to Japan's occupation of parts of China last century and a row about gas fields in the East China Sea, but there has been a thaw in the past year or so.

New Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda visited China in December and Hu's reciprocal trip, probably in April, will be the first by a Chinese President in a decade. (Reporting by Guo Shipeng; Editing by Ben Blanchard)


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Last updated:Thu Feb 14 09:14:39 2008