Rejection not reprisal for THAAD deployment, expert says
South Korean cosmetics products recently failed quality tests by Chinese regulatory authorities because of prohibited ingredients and inappropriate labels, experts said Thursday, noting that there was no connection with South Korea's decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system.
China's imports of South Korean cosmetics products through East China's Shandong Province's customs surged 224.8 percent to 3,924.4 tons in the first six months of 2016, reaching $36.4 million by value, but seven batches of these products failed spot checks at the border, according to a statement on the Shandong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau website on July 21.
These products failed tests because they contained ingredients that are banned in China and their labels didn't meet China's standards, the Xinhua News Agency reported on July 22, citing a source of the Shandong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.
South Korean news site chosun.com, however, said on Wednesday that China is questioning the quality of South Korean cosmetics because of "signs of growing peevishness."
An official of the South Korean Embassy to China, who declined to be identified, told the Global Times Thursday that the embassy has no opinion on the matter at present.
Liu Jianying, an assistant research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times Thursday that it's probably not hard to find disqualified South Korean cosmetics products in Shandong, as this province is a large-scale importer of South Korean products due to geographic proximity.
Also, there are differences between South Korea's approved cosmetics ingredient list and that of China, said Xinhua. For example, some traditional Chinese herbal medicines are forbidden to be used in cosmetics in China while South Korea has no such rules.
Liu said that the cases in question are individual ones and have nothing to do with South Korea's decision to deploy the THAAD anti-missile system.
An official of the Chongqing Entry Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau, who asked for anonymity, told the Global Times Thursday that four firms in Southwest China's Chongqing imported less than 10 batches of South Korean cosmetics products this year and none failed spot checks.
China should strengthen supervision on products, as its import volume from South Korea will increase rapidly, Liu warned.
