国内英语新闻：Neighbors to unravel dumpling truth jointly

Finance Minister Xie Xuren and his Japanese counterpart Fukushiro Nukaga have agreed to work jointly to end the controversy created by allegedly contaminated China-made dumplings.

Chinese Finance Minister Xie Xuren (L) shakes hands with Japan's Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga at the latter's office in Tokyo, February 10, 2008. [Xinhua]

At the first-ever ministerial-level meeting since the food scare in Japan, the two ministers vowed to "keep searching for the real cause" that made 10 people fall ill after eating the dumplings.

"We must cooperate in the investigation to get to the root of the problem and to prevent such an incident so that it doesn't become an obstacle to our friendship," Nukaga told reporters in Tokyo yesterday. "And he (Xie) said he completely agreed (with the idea)."

The two also agreed to hold another dialogue next month in Tokyo. Xie was in Japan to attend expanded discussions and meetings of the Group of Seven financial ministers. Representatives of Russia, South Korea and Indonesia were also invited to the deliberations.

The ministerial-level meeting came four days after Lunar New Year's Eve, when Chinese and Japanese officials met in Tokyo and said they were ready to cooperate in the investigation.

China is willing to fully cooperate and share information with Japan, Li Chunfeng, head of the five-member Chinese delegation, told reporters after the third round of talks at the Japanese Cabinet Office on February 6.

The country had set up a joint investigation team with Japan to get to the truth as soon as possible, Li said, calling for an objective attitude and scientific measures to solve the problem.

A joint investigation team that on Tuesday inspected the plant of Tianyang Food, which made the dumplings, did not find any "abnormality" with the production process.

"The plant (in Shijiazhuang, capital of Hebei) is very clean and well managed, and no abnormality was detected," Japanese delegation chief Harashima Taiji said on Wednesday.

Chinese and Japanese journalists, too, visited the plant, where production was suspended on January 30. The plant employs about 800 people.

Also on Wednesday, Japanese Health Minister Yoichi Masuzoe said someone could have deliberately tried to contaminate the dumplings.

"Judging from circumstantial evidence, we'd have to think that it's highly likely to be a crime," Masuzoe said in Tokyo.

Chinese police and law enforcers in Japan's Hyogo prefecture, where the 10 people fell ill, have already set up a joint task force to probe the case.

In a joint announcement, Hyogo police said that after finding large amounts of the pesticide methamidophos on and small holes in some of the dumpling packages they suspected someone deliberately tried to poison the product.

Tianyang reiterated it has never used methamidophos and that the dumplings were always packed immediately after coming off the production line.

China Daily - Agencies