By Satoshi Saeki

BEIJING--Beijing newspapers played down the latest news involving the export of tainted gyoza to Japan in their Saturday issues.

They mentioned the story on front pages, but carried articles on inside pages.

These stories, however, basically had the same content as reported by the official Xinhua News Agency on Friday night, and the newspapers added no original content.

The Beijing News ran the story with the headline, "China solves the case of poisoned gyoza exported to Japan."

Many Chinese people posted online comments expressing concerns about the arrest of a former worker at Tianyang Food, where the dumplings were made.

They asked such questions as: "Will the suspect be given the death penalty for harming international relations?" and "Will it boost or damage Chinese exports?"

The apparent downplaying of the news stems from the Chinese government's strict control of reports in a bid to prevent criticism of the government or rising anti-Japanese sentiment.