China on Thursday strongly defended the quality of its exports and said that it would work with the US to improve product safety in the wake of another substantial withdrawal of consumer goods made in China.

Mattel is recalling 1.5m toys worldwide, including replicas of popular children’s TV characters such as Elmo, Dora and Big Bird, because they use paint that contains too much lead, the biggest such problem to face the US toymaker in more than a decade.