China softens tone on product safety

China pledged to raise standards at domestic factories and processing plants by the end of the year in a bid to restore US consumer confidence in Chinese exports, the Financial Times reported. The conciliatory tone at a Thursday media briefing in New York was a departure from the rhetoric in a domestic media campaign that aired last week criticizing foreign recalls of Chinese products as a "new trend in trade protectionism." Kuang Weilin, China's deputy consul general in New York, said there would be "zero tolerance for violators or government officials who fail to perform their duties." A cabinet panel on product safety headed by Vice Premier Wu Yi earlier this month will begin a food and product safety campaign with a crackdown on livestock and food processing plants, small restaurants and grocery stores.