Chinese Premier Li says improved product quality key to growth

BEIJING - Premier Li Keqiang has advocated improving the quality of Chinese products as a way to alleviate the side-effects of decelerating economic growth, in an address to the China Quality Conference — the first meeting of its kind held in China. His comments follow a National Bureau of Statistics report that value-added industrial output expanded by 6.9% on-year in August, the slowest pace in six years.

Part of a larger economic slowdown in China, this low percentage hastens concern that China’s economy is losing steam. At the conference, Li said the Chinese economy must rely more on the improvement of quality of products as the country is losing its traditional advantages in supporting economic growth.

Li admitted that China’s current economic structure is not yet balanced, as innovation and technology play a smaller role in economic growth than product output. Quality is crucial to transforming China’s export-led economy to one led by consumption and innovation, he said.

Li emphasised the role of private companies in quality management and the need for less Government intervention. He also stressed the importance of developing a group of educated labourers and a better recall system.

Fear that the country is losing its competitiveness to Southeast Asian and Latin American countries is very real, as the cost of labour and material increases in China. and reliability of quality decreases. www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).