WASHINGTON (AP) -- China blamed a string of problems with its exports on rogue companies on Wednesday and stressed that the overwhelming majority of the food and consumer products it sends abroad are safe.

China has been battered in recent months by reports of safety problems with everything from farmed fish to vehicle tires. The latest came this week, with the recall of millions of children’s toys decorated with lead paint or made with magnets that pose a choking hazard.

In a rare news conference, the first secretary of the Chinese Embassy’s trade and commerce section told reporters the problems represented individual and isolated cases involving illegal companies.

Baoqing Zhao said his government was taking “resolute measures” to ensure similar problems didn’t occur and was meting out fines and prison terms. The company that supplied the lead paint used on the toys, recalled by Mattel Inc., is under police investigation, Zhao said.

Zhao also stressed that no country’s products are immune to problems, and rattled off a list of U.S. exports to China recently found to have safety issues. His list included poultry, pork, pistachios and pacemakers, along with heavy construction machinery and cotton harvesters.

“Quality and safety questions are something that every country has to deal with,” said Zhao, speaking through a translator, adding that more international cooperation and less finger-pointing was needed.

The U.S. and China hope to sign memoranda of understanding by year’s end that would govern trade in food, animal feed and consumer products between the two countries. Zhao estimated trade between the two countries would nearly double, to $500 billion, by 2010.

White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said import safety has been part of strategic economic discussions that U.S. officials have recently had with Chinese leaders.

“The president’s administration is keenly focused on this issue and is taking steps to ensure that the products Americans buy, from anywhere in the world, are safe and effective.”

President Bush recently created a Cabinet-level group to examine the safety of all imports.

Associated Press writer Deb Riechmann in Crawford, Texas, contributed to this report.

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