Chinese Premier Li Keqiang gives a press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, March 15, 2017. [Photo by Kuang Lihua/China Daily]

WEDNESDAY WAS WORLD CONSUMER RIGHTS DAY. Premier Li Keqiang has for several times emphasized that China's economic development should enter a "quality era", while Zhi Shuping, head of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, said at a Tuesday news conference that quality should come first. Beijing News comments:

"Quality era" became a hot phrase with the approach of World Consumer Rights Day. But quality is more than just consumer rights, it is also about upgrading the manufacturing sector as well as improving the economic growth mode.

Long gone are the days when the domestic manufacturing industry could rely on low quality and cheap prices to survive. The new core competitiveness of China's manufacturing industry should now be good quality. Only with good quality products can it meet consumers' needs and improve its position in the global value chain.

In order to ensure quality, protection of consumers' rights and interests is a must.

There have been many examples of enterprises being chased out of the market because they ignore consumers' rights and needs.

Domestic internet enterprises are growing much faster than the traditional industries, because they know better how to serve consumers and how to meet the demands of customers. They collect big data from users and analyze the data to improve their products and services. This is something traditional manufacturers should also do.

Of course, a quality era cannot come out of the blue. In addition to relying on the market it also requires strong government regulation.

The government can improve the quality of the products by creating higher standards for product quality and strengthening quality supervision.

A quality era will not come from nowhere. Only with the joint efforts of all will it become reality.