Chinese PR Combats Export Rap

Enemies in Washington stymie effort to promote food products called unsafe
By Greg Atwan,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 30, 2007 11:05 AM CDT
Chinese PR Combats Export Rap
In this photo released by China's official Xinhua news agency, people prepare to release an over three-meter-long Chinese sturgeon, which was miscaught and injured earlier, at the estuary of the Yangtze River near Shanghai, east China, on Sunday June 17, 2007. Some 150 Chinese sturgeons, a prehistoric...   (Associated Press)

China is on a public relations blitz to keep its exports solvent after nonstop coverage of unsafe toothpaste, fish and even tires in the US, China's largest customer, last week. Beijing broke its pattern of protest over the coverage, shutting down 180 offending factories and promising consumers that tainted food represents a fraction of US imports from China.

Major diplomats in Washington are also circulating pamphlets titled "Chinese Food Exports Are Safe." But the Journal reports they're encountering hostility from the US, at least partially because of China's intransigence over its devalued currency. More generally, the PR push represents an increased transparency from a government that would have kept silent 10 years ago. (More China stories.)

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