The U.S. Food and Drug Agency looks set to open offices in China next month, according to China Hearsay. FDA officials evidently released the information on Tuesday.

Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt called the move "a change in strategy following product safety problems in Chinese imports that prompted several health scares and have been linked to some deaths." Leavitt was speaking to an Associated Press reporter in Singapore Tuesday.

While Beijing still has to approve the details of the deal, Leavitt said he expects the FDA to begin work in China in May and open an actual office by October. The FDA has talked about opening eight locations, including offices in Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shanghai.

Stan Abrams at China Hearsay expressed some degree of skepticism about how effective the FDA might be in China:

Big question for me is whether there will be adequate resources available to FDA to actually do whatever it is they are supposed to be doing here. It's no secret that the capabilities of U.S. regulatory agencies have been degraded quite a bit during the Bush Administration.

Time will tell...