Chinese regulators have concluded China-made tires at the center of a massive US recall controversy meet American safety standards, a government spokeswoman said Wednesday. 

Officials inspected the Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Co. and tested tires of the same type as those sold in the United States, said the spokeswoman for the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, or AQSIQ. She would give only her surname, Xia.

"They found that all of the examples meet American standards," Xia told The Associated Press. Xia said she did not know how many tires were tested.

Chinese news reports put the number at three.

US authorities ordered a recall of up to 450,000 tires made by Hangzhou Zhongce after its distributor, Foreign Tire Sales Inc. of Union, New Jersey, said they lacked a key component, known as a gum strip, that binds together belts of a tire.

Xia said she did not know whether the tests confirmed the tires lacked a gum strip or whether authorities were sure they were representative of those sold in the United States.

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