Turnabout is fair play. Sometimes.

The Chinese government is making a long list of US goods and services that are no good. According to The Wall Street Journal the items include turbines from GE (NYSE: GE) and everything from pacemakers to cotton pickers to ultrasound scanners from other companies.

Of course, some things made in the US don't work or are broken. But the fact that senior China officials are making these lists now does seem a bit odd. Especially after Chinese-made toy cups from Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and toys from Mattel (NYSE: MAT) have been recalled by the hundreds of thousands.

No one is fooled here. It is strange that the Beijing government believes that pointing the finger at the US will take the spotlight off its country's failings. But Chinese trade officials have to to something to keep their jobs.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

China dumps on US product quality originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.