May 28, 2007

Bush slams China for its refusal on US beef exports

US President George W. Bush has stressed the "need" for Chinese to eat US beef for their health, and lamenting China's refusal to allow US beef exports on mad cow disease scare.

Bush has told Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi in a meeting last week that he was "disappointed" that China was still not accepting US beef.

Wu agreed that beef was an "outstanding" issue and pledged to "report to my boss (President Hu Jintao) and find a solution to that" on her return home.

As the Paris-based World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) on Tuesday appraised United States and Canada's "controlled risk" nations for mad cow disease, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said China will have its own national conditions while respecting OIE's decisions.

Bush's push for China to accept US beef was the latest attempt at so-called "cheeseburger diplomacy" to persuade major trading partners like China, Japan and South Korea to remove curbs on US beef imports.

The barriers were erected over fears that US beef is tainted with bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the brain-wasting condition commonly known as mad-cow disease.

The White House has served cheeseburgers and beef dishes to visiting diplomats such as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French president Jacques Chirac and recently to Wu.