TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has asked the Indonesian government to impose a more stringent quality control measure for imported products from China. According to Li, a tighter quality control would be beneficial for both nations because Chinese exporters are still more known to prioritize mass production and low prices, as opposed to quality products.

“I hope Indonesia could do impose such measures for all products that it imports from China,” said the Premier at the Indonesia-China Economic Cooperation Forum in Beijing on Friday.

Li said that as a developing nation, China wants to improve the quality of its export products. “This will be a beneficial test for our exporters when they invest abroad - because if they focus more on producing quality products as opposed to lowering prices, they will undoubtedly benefit too,” he said.

During his speech at the forum, President Joko ‘Jokowi‘ Widodo explained the variety of possible areas of business cooperation between both nations. “China and Indonesia could cooperate in building new power plants, highways, ports and harbors, airports, and other infrastructure projects which are due to commence this year,” said Jokowi, as quoted by Antara.

Business players in Indonesia has responded positively to the calls made by the Premier for Indonesia to increase its quality control measures. “There are stlll many rules and loopholes that need to be addressed in order for such measures to be effective,” said the Head of The Indonesian Food and Beverage Producers’ Association (GAPPMI), Adhi S. Lukman, to Tempo on Friday.

According to Adhi, the waves of cheap, Chinese products which has flooded the market has negatively impacted the capacity of local producers to compete and subsequently, grow. With tighter regulations, Adhi hopes that Indonesia’s domestic market could begin its transformation into a fairer market with a healthy degree of market competition, wherein only quality products are sold.

Indonesian Retailers Association’s (Aprindo) executive director, Tutum Rahanta, hopes that Jokowi would commit and respond to the Premier’s request, as Aprindo sees that the current state of the market is flooded by opportunistic importers who takes profit from cheap Chinese products without regards to quality and safety. “Loose - if not, non-existent regulations - have driven our consumers towards these sort of products, because its‘ cheaper,” said Rahanta to Tempo.

URSULA FLORENE SONIA | ANTARA