Swedish furniture brand Ikea said it has no plans to recall a model of drawers that have been linked to at least six deaths among young children and deemed dangerous by North American authorities, saying the furniture meets Chinese standards.

“So far in China there are no complaints and no accidents reported,” Xu Lide, a spokeswoman for Ikea in China told Sixth Tone.

By contrast, in the United States and Canada, Ikea will recall around 29 million chests and dressers.

The chests did not meet U.S. voluntary industry standard established by the American Society for Testing and Materials, according to a statement posted to the website of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), a government consumer safety watchdog.

CSPC said the chests — marketed mainly under the Malm brand — were linked to the deaths of at least six young children and injured scores more.

There is no such recall on the cards in China. Referring to the brand of Malm chests, spokeswoman Xu said: “They are safe as long as they are fixed to a wall.”

Ikea reportedly will also not recall the chests in other countries such as Australia.

In the past, Chinese media have pointed their finger at consumer electronics giant Apple, accusing it of having double standards when it comes to its repair policies. Ikea’s decision not to recall its defective furniture could see a similar reaction from Chinese consumers.

Each year, on March 15, China’s state broadcaster CCTV airs a special program that coincides with World Consumer Rights Day that highlights what the TV station considers serious violations of Chinese consumers’ rights. Targeted brands have included several leading international ones including McDonald’s and BMW.

Chinese net users were swift to react to Ikea’s decision not to recall the chests. On microblogging platform Weibo, user baoxiaobi said that if the Ikea chests in question met with Chinese standards, then it was time to revise those standards.

“Anyway, Ikea’s attitude in dealing with this issue reflects its irresponsibility,” the net user wrote. “I’m disappointed with Ikea.”

China represents a sizable market for Ikea and is one of its fastest growing. In the financial year ending Aug. 31, 2015, the company had global sales totaling 31.9 billion euro (around $35.3 billion), yielding a profit of 3.5 billion euro. China sales during the same period were around 1.4 billion euro.

Ikea has recalled products in China before. According to a report by Sixth Tone’s sister publication The Paper, Ikea earlier this year called back three types of ceiling lamps — more than 35,000 in total — that posed the risk of falling down.

(Source: sixthtone.com  Author: Colum Murphy)