China's rejection of 460 tons of U.S. soybeans may be a warning to the U.S. not to escalate recent disputes over the quality of Chinese food and merchandise exports into a trade war, a former official said.

Chinese inspectors seized 21 containers of soybeans after they found they were infected by live Khapra beetles, an insect that destroys grains and seeds, the semi-official China Daily reported earlier today, citing the quality inspection bureau.

``China is only reacting to the U.S. by stepping up inspection of U.S. food imports,'' Guan Anping, a Beijing lawyer and former legal aide to Vice Premier Wu Yi when she was China's foreign trade minister in the 1990s, said today in a telephone interview. ``The U.S. has been very strict on Chinese food and drug exports. China is saying, `If you inspect me with a microscope, I'll do the same with you.'''

The discovery of the beetle, a pest that can infest stored grain such as wheat, rice and corn, is a first in the country, the China Daily reported, citing quality inspectors. The shipment of soybeans was exported from Omaha, Nebraska-based Scoular Company and may have passed U.S. quality inspections, it reported.

Telephone calls placed to Scoular's offices in Omaha, Overland Park, Kansas, and Minneapolis went unanswered.

``It's almost impossible that over all these years, Chinese inspectors didn't find more incidents of this beetle or some other infestation from U.S. soybeans in the past,'' Guan said. ``It means Chinese inspectors are under orders to start examining U.S. food imports very carefully. When you look at anything carefully, you'll find flaws.''

Top Soybean Importer

China is the world biggest importer of soybeans. U.S. exporters shipped more than 10 million tons of the grain to China last year. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced just yesterday a sale of 120,000 tons of soybeans to China.

Soybean imports to China may rise to a record 34 million metric tons in the year starting October, from 28.5 million tons this year, according to Zhu Yufeng, general manager of Louis Dreyfus Corp.'s Beijing office.

China is trying to repair damage to the ``Made in China'' brand with a four-month crackdown on unsafe products after tainted pet food, drug-laced seafood and lead-painted toys sold globally were linked to Chinese manufacturers this year.

At the same time, officials have insisted that media have exaggerated quality problems, and used foreign companies to support their arguments.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Carrefour SA and Metro AG said 99 percent of goods the retailers source in China meet standards and expressed satisfaction with the quality of the country's products, Ministry of Commerce Spokesman Wang Xinpei told reporters in Beijing on Sept. 27.

Mattel Inc. last week acknowledged publicly that design flaws, not problems at Chinese manufacturers, were to blame for the majority of the dangerous toys it recalled in August, and apologized to China.

``The apology, though delayed, should help dispel the suspicion American customers harbor against Chinese-made products and clean up the stain the recalls left on the innocent Chinese workers who make a living doing honest labor,'' the English-language newspaper, China Daily, wrote on Sept. 24.