VP urges better in quality of China-made products

BEIJING—Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi demanded that quality supervisors and inspectors nationwide be fully aware of the new challenge posed by the internationalization and politicization of quality problems.
She made the remarks at a national quality supervision and inspection work conference held on Thursday in Beijing. At the meeting, Wu called for continuous quality improvement for Chinese products. She affirmed the achievements that have been made by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine since it was established seven years ago.
Wu said that at present, and for some time to come, efforts should be exerted to build and improve upon a market access system and a recall and notification system for defective products. Supervision should be extended over the entire process of production and marketing of industrial goods and food, she added.
Work related to food safety and consumer goods safety, particularly during the Olympics this coming summer, should be intensified, Wu said. She stressed that standardization should be enhanced, obsolete criteria should be upgraded and more international criteria should be adopted. Quality supervision and inspection of both imported and exported items should be reinforced, she added.
According to Wu, international communication and cooperation should be enhanced regarding quality supervision and inspections. In 2007, “Made in China” experienced an unprecedented “confidence crisis,” triggered by the recall of China-made toys by Mattel Inc. of the United States. This incident was followed by others in which Chinese exporters encountered quality problems with toys, toothpaste and food. The reasons for the recalls were not just quality defects. Behind them were disputes over standards, technical barriers, trade protectionism and playing-up of media coverage.
However, China was determined to restore confidence in its products with a four-month nation-wide special campaign to rectify product quality and food safety. December 13 proved a unique day to Yang Yuguo, an all-powerful official extending credit at Sanligang Rural Credit Cooperative in Cengdu District of Suizhou City of central China’s Hubei Province. Each day, Yang would make about 20 small loans or collections in his spacious three-desk office with local individuals and village enterprises from seven neighboring villages. But that day, he thought he might lose some clients to a formidable competitor.
The new lender, small as it was now, was HSBC Rural Bank, a wholly-owned subsidiary of British financial giant Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited (HSBC). The subsidiary opened for business that day, marking the first entry of an overseas bank into a rural area of China. In October, the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) lifted restrictions for overseas financial institutions on the regions where village and township banks could be established. Instead of the six previous pilot provinces, such banks could now be established in any rural area.
HSBC, with experience of running rural banks in Brazil, India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Mexico, showed great enthusiasm fordoing business in rural China. With a staff of 22 and an initial capital of 10 million yuan (about 1.36 million U.S. dollars), HSBC Rural Bank offered deposit services for local businesses and individuals and helped businesses raise funds. It also provided trade financing and settlement services for export-oriented rural enterprises.
Tucked away in northeast Hubei, Suizhou now had 21 financial outlets, mainly rural credit cooperatives and postal banks. These serviced its 1.81 million rural residents, about 88.7 percent of its total population. “The weak presence of financial institutions and the inadequate, inefficient services they offered in rural China would allow foreign banks to do more business with less competition,” said Du Xiaoshan, deputy head of the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.—Xinhua