Chinese TV promoting exports as new warnings emerge

China's new effort to promote itself as a safe exporter got off to a rough start this week after more product warnings were issued in New Zealand.

On Sunday, Chinese state television launched a weeklong series of programs aiming to win back consumers and repair the country's image as a safe exporter. The first program, titled Believe in Made in China, 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 show.

The programs, which are only available on China Central Television's economic channel, will feature interviews with Chinese producers and officials, as well as foreign buyers and chambers of commerce, CCTV said on its website.

Monday's show, called Back to the Source of Made in China, will focus on exports, including green tea.

The programs are part of a damage-control campaign after numerous recent warnings over toxic and counterfeit products emerging from China.

"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.

New warnings arise

Yet just one day after the first program aired, new consumer warnings for Chinese-made products surfaced.

In the latest warning, the New Zealand government ordered an investigation Monday after scientists conducting tests for TV3's Target consumer watchdog program discovered formaldehyde concentrations up to 900 times above the safe level in woollen and cotton clothes.

The chemical is sometimes used in clothing manufacture to give clothes a permanent-press effect, but is also used as an embalming fluid and can cause problems ranging from skin rashes to cancer.

A Target producer said scientists from the government agency AgriQuality tested a variety of new children's and adult's clothes and the results were so astounding they thought they had made a mistake.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs general manager Liz MacPherson said an investigation had been launched into the scale of the problem.

"We can recall products, we can ban them and we can establish mandatory safety standards, and obviously we'll be considering all of those options," she said.

Prime Minister Helen Clark told reporters products could be banned outright if they do not meet "appropriate standards."

"These aren't country-specific standards, they are universal standards, and if companies don't meet them their goods don't stay here," she said.

Target producers would not release details of brand names or importers ahead of the show's airing on Tuesday, but said the garments tested were "randomly selected items" that are "readily available from common outlets around New Zealand."

Flammable pyjamas recalled

The formaldehyde alarm comes soon after New Zealand cut-price retailer The Warehouse issued a recall of children's pyjamas made in China after two children were burned when their flannelette pyjamas caught fire in July.

The Warehouse's corporate affairs manager said the TWL-brand pyjamas had a label that read: 'Made in China' and 'Low Fire Danger.'

She said all children's nightwear sold in New Zealand must comply with rigorous safety standards.

Chinese exports have been under heavy scrutiny in recent weeks, especially in the U.S., China's most important export market.

Regulators have turned up hazardous toys, tainted pet-food ingredients, seafood and toothpaste with potentially dangerous chemicals and drugs.