Last year's Sanlu milk scandal was a warning call for the Chinese government to tighten up supervision over the quality of Chinese products. Early this year, the country launched a campaign called Quality and Safety Year, which aims to guide manufacturers across the country in making better quality products. Ying Ying has more on the results of the project.
Reporter:
At a recent forum held in Beijing, Wang Yong, director of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, highlighted the importance of the quality of Chinese products.
"China is now a big manufacturing country - it now ranks first in the world in terms of output for over 100 products. We should attach great importance to the quality of our products and set the idea of pursuing good quality as our national strategy and a way of maintaining the state's prosperity."
Official statistics show that more than 610,000 productive enterprises participated in the Quality and Safety Year campaign.
The government amended and perfected relevant laws to enforce the improvement of product quality. The Food Safety Law was put into effect and related departments strengthened the supervision and enforcement of the law. Enterprises were encouraged to adopt advanced quality control measures and quicken their technological innovation and new products development.
Li Yizhong, the industry and information technology minister, says related departments have also adjusted some industries' quality standards to bring them in-line with international ones. Chinese enterprises are also encouraged to adopt such advanced standards.
"There are some 43,000 standards for industrial products. Half of them have been used for ten years. They need to be amended. This year, we are to amend 3,000. And we are working on a new five-year plan for industrial products quality development."
Wang Yong, China's quality watchdog chief, says he is satisfied with the results of the campaign's activities. He thinks Chinese products have seen a clear improvement, with raw materials and food quality nearing an international level, and home appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators and washing machines reaching international levels.
Wang says improving product quality is even more significant considering the current situation.
"In this time of economic crisis, world trade has seen some protectionist activities. Some developed economies have restricted our normal exports. So we should improve our product quality to make foreign trade healthier and more stable."
Wang says product quality improvement is a long-term job, and as China's quality watchdog, he thinks strengthening supervision of quality control will help improve the overall quality of products made in China.
For Biz China, this is Ying Ying.
