China has established a blacklist of companies that have violated rules on the quality of exports, the commerce ministry said Saturday amid growing global concern about the safety of China-made goods.

"We have set up a blacklist system for companies in the exporting sector and punished some companies that have violated laws and regulations," Vice Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said in remarks posted on the ministry's website. "Already 429 companies have been punished."

Gao said the recent examples of companies that had been targeted included two firms that illegally added a deadly chemical to food products blamed for killing thousands of US pets.

The two companies, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. Ltd. and Binzhou Futian Biology Technology Co. Ltd., had their export foreign trade licenses revoked, Gao said.

Gao stressed the government line that Chinese products were overwhelmingly safe and of high quality, and called on foreign media not to hype the problems of a small minority of goods or companies.

"China will strengthen international cooperation on the safety of products," Gao was quoted as saying.

A delegation of US officials in Beijing hammered out "basic frameworks" for two agreements seeking to reassure US consumers that Chinese-made goods met safety standards, Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt said on Friday.

China, where the former drug and food safety watchdog chief was executed last month for corruption, has also cancelled the licenses of six medicine manufacturers.

(Chinadaily.com.cn August 5, 2007)