时事新闻:中国坚持对从欧盟进口猪肉实施新规定

【英文原文】

China Rebuffs EU Lobbying To Lift Rule On Pork
China stuck to its position of imposing new requirements on pork imports from several European countries on Wednesday, following a meeting here between the European Union's health chief and Chinese Food-safety officials.

Last week, China announced new measures on imports of pork from four EU nations -- Denmark, France, Italy and Spain -- as well as Canada, requiring certification that the animals used for the meat were free of the H1N1 influenza virus. Pork imports from Northern Ireland were earlier subject to restrictions.

The EU opposes the measures because they impose additional costs on exporters, and it says its pork products are safe.

'In the whole of the European Union, we only had a case in a particular farm in Northern Ireland of the H1N1 virus and we have taken very strict measures regarding the biosecurity of that farm,' said EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou.

Ms. Vassiliou cited a May joint declaration by the World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Organization for Animal Health stating that H1N1 isn't transmitted through the consumption of pork.

'What we are interested in is that the importation of pork will not be restricted, because there is no danger,' said Ms. Vassiliou.

China defended the actions. 'We have to protect China from the transmission of the epidemic from overseas, and we also have to prevent the epidemic in China from spreading further,' said Yu Taiwei, head of food safety for imports and exports at the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, or Aqsiq.

Mr. Yu denied that the move constitutes a trade restriction. 'The measures comply fully with the WTO regulations,' he said.

'Every country in the world should oppose trade protectionism; this is the position of the central government,' said Wang Yong, head of Aqsiq.

U.S. government and pork-industry representatives have also complained about China's ban of U.S. pork because of H1N1 concerns.

【中文译文】

在中国食品卫生官员与欧盟卫生专员于北京举行会晤后，中国周三仍坚持对从多个欧洲国家进口的猪肉设置新规定。

上周，中国宣布对从丹麦、法国、意大利和西班牙四个欧洲国家以及加拿大进口的猪肉实施新规定，要求这些国家提供其生猪未感染甲型H1N1流感病毒的证明。此前，中国已对从北爱尔兰进口的猪肉实施了这一规定。

由于新规定给出口商带来了额外成本，欧盟对此表示反对，并称欧盟的猪肉产品是安全的。

欧盟卫生专员华西里奥(Androulla Vassiliou)表示，在整个欧盟地区，我们只在北爱尔兰的一个农场发现了感染甲型H1N1流感病毒的情况，而且我们已经对这一农场采取了非常严格的生物安全措施。

华西里奥指出，今年5月世界卫生组织(WHO)、联合国粮农组织(Food and Agriculture Organization)以及世界动物卫生组织(World Organization for Animal Health)曾联合发表声明称，甲型H1N1流感病毒不会通过食用猪肉传染。

她说，我们希望猪肉进口不会受到限制，因为这是没有危险的。

中国阐述了采取这一举措的理由。中国国家质检总局进出口食品安全局局长俞太尉说，我们必须保护中国免遭海外疫病的传染，还必须阻止中国的甲型H1N1流感病毒进一步扩散。

俞太尉否认这一举动构成了贸易限制。他表示，这一措施完全符合世界贸易组织(WTO)的规定。

中国国家质检总局局长王勇表示，全球每个国家都应当反对贸易保护主义，这是中国中央政府的立场。

美国政府和猪肉行业代表也提出了抱怨，称中国因为担心甲型H1N1流感病毒而对美国猪肉实施了进口禁令。