China to crack down on exportation of substandard goods
China is putting in place measures to crack down on the exportation of substandard goods to Africa, the Director-General of the Department of West Asian & African Affairs of the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, Ms Zhong Manying, has announced.
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She admitted that the quantum of substandard goods moving out of China to Africa was giving a bad impression of products from China to the outside world and that the country was committed to addressing the issue.
Ms Manying, who announced this in an answer to African journalists in Beijing, China, hinted that the Chinese Products Inspection Administration would intensify its inspection at the ports to ensure that the kind of goods leaving the country were of the right quality.
Press exchange workshop
The African journalists were in China on a press exchange workshop at the invitation of the Beijing International Chinese College (BICC) with sponsorship from the China-Africa Press Centre of the China Public Diplomacy Association.
The journalists, who were from Ghana and Nigeria, were in China to learn at first hand the culture of China and how that country had become one of the world leaders in many aspects.
Special action
Dubbed, "Special action", Ms Manying said the Department of Commerce was liaising with the various inspection agencies to enforce the law in order to protect the country's image and called on the Africa side to take similar initiatives to prevent anyone from bringing such goods into their respective countries.
China-Africa summit
Ms Manying said China was assisting some ports in Africa to upgrade their products inspection equipment.
She announced that the issue of addressing the challenges confronting the ports in China and Africa would be a major issue at the China-Africa summit to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa in December this year.
Trade volumes
Touching on trade between China and Africa, Ms Manying said Africa was a significant trade partner, adding that last year alone, China's export to Africa and import from Africa stood at $106.2 and $115.8 billion respectively.
She called for a scale up in trading activities between China and Ghana, adding that in 2014, the trade volume between the two countries stood at only $5.58 billion with South Africa, Angola and Nigeria being the first, second and third biggest trading partners.
China as a developing nation
On why China continues to refer to itself as a developing nation in spite of the fact that China was the second biggest economy in the world with foreign reserves of $1 trillion, Ms Manying said China continued to have as many as 70 million people living in abject poverty.