China protested against the destruction of its animal products in the Netherlands

Lead: Beijing, April 18 (Reuters) - China has condemned the Netherlands for destroying animal derived food containing illegal drugs on Tuesday But the Dutch government said it did it in accordance with the requirements of the European Union Wen Zaixing, spokesman of the Ministry of foreign trade and economic cooperation of China, said in a statement, "in spite of the solemn negotiations of the Chinese government, the Netherlands began to destroy the Chinese meat and aquatic products detained in Rotterdam port of the Netherlands due to the so-called" non-compliance with EU standards "from the 16th In this regard, the Chinese side expressed strong dissatisfaction " China urges the Dutch side to immediately stop destroying these products and bear all consequences for its actions The European Union banned the import of certain Chinese meat and aquatic products, citing the presence of harmful antibiotics In the statement, China asked the EU to return the above goods to China in accordance with international practice A spokesman for the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture said the Dutch government was close to destroying the agricultural products "Any food containing illegal antibiotics such as chloramphenicol, regardless of its quantity, cannot be accepted and must be destroyed China wants them to be returned, but EU laws require them to be destroyed, so we have no choice " The spokesman said that a considerable number of containers were being destroyed, but he was unable to provide specific quantities "The destruction of these goods by the Netherlands will not only cause huge economic losses to Chinese enterprises, but also damage the development of EU China Economic and trade relations, especially those between China and the Netherlands," China said in the statement Earlier this month, Shi Guangsheng, Minister of foreign trade and economic cooperation of China, said in a meeting with EU special envoy Peng Dingkang that the EU has no right to destroy these goods because they have not yet been cleared and they are still owned by China Last month, China banned imports of cosmetics containing substances that could cause mad cow disease, mainly from some European Union countries Erkki liikanen, special envoy of the European Union, is visiting Beijing to urge China to lift the ban on cosmetics.