Salone’s perception about Chinese goods

Many Sierra Leoneans have the perception that goods made in China are not good, because most of the importers are really bringing in substandard goods that are cheap, hazardous, and unhealthy.
There has been lots of argument in the country about Chinese goods flooding our markets as substandard and damaging, but what has the Standards Bureau has done over the years.
I have seen some of them and I have been to some of the industries that produce them in China.
The Chinese government over the years has been setting standards for these industries to work within the confines of the law.
The quality and safety is a major benchmark of the economic development and people’s living conditions of a country. Adhering to the people-oriented approach, the Chinese Government has always attached great importance to quality and safety. Moreover, sticking to the principle of nipping problems in the bud, it has built and improved a supervisory system and mechanism for safety, strengthened legislation and the setting of relevant standards, exercised strict quality control regarding products produced by China, actively promoted international exchanges and cooperation in this respect, and has greatly raised public awareness of quality and safety.
The overall level of quality in China is being steadily enhanced, the situation of products safety is continuously improving, and the order production and operation have markedly turned for the better.
But let me say this, In the Northeast and Northwest of China where the population of Africans is sparse, there is nothing like substandard or fake, because the industries are not coerce into producing substandard goods.
But down in the South where hundreds of thousands of Africans live, they work with these companies secretly to produce these kinds of goods that they will send to Africa.
They tell the Chinese producers that Africans don’t care about standard so let them produce the goods under such substandard conditions for them.
In the South of China, if you want to buy from a Chinese and you are an African, he/she will show you three quality of the same product and will explain to you that the cost varies because of quality, if you decide to buy the cheapest, he/she will tell you there is not guarantee and it is not good, but if you buy the most expensive, he/she will give you guarantee and tell you, you have your money’s worth.
Chinese traders never lie and we are pushing them to produce such fake goods. Chinese products are very good and it is left with our government to stop the importers coming in with substandard goods.
To stop this trend, the Standards Bureau in the country needs to set the conditions for goods coming in. If we continue to ignore standards then we will never stop the flow of fake and substandard goods into the country and we will continue the blame game.
So who do we blame, is the Chinese companies that are forced to produce these fake goods or our various importers who want them to produce such goods for them to come and sell and make maximum profit?
Many African countries have been going through the same problem, but they have stepped up the bureaus responsible to aggressively pursue these importers that come in with fake goods. Countries like Tanzania, Ghana and Egypt are now getting the quality goods in their country. So it will be the same for us if we can stop the importers importing substandard goods into the country.
By Austin Thomas