After two weeks of unrelenting pressure from the Chinese government, Swedish furniture giant IKEA on Tuesday announced that it would recall its Malm series sets of drawers in China.

According to a statement published on official website of China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine (AQSIQ), IKEA would recall all its Malm dressers and chests that were sold between 1999 and 2016 in China.

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According to CNBC, AQSIQ said on its official website that any Chinese customer who wishes to return IKEA's Malm dressers and chests will be offered complete compensation, or could demand IKEA to fit their existing Malm furniture to the wall. The installation will be done completely free of charge.

The New York Times reported that Xian Jiaxin, IKEA's spokeswoman, said in an interview that Consumer safety is very important for the company, which is the reason why it made the decision to also issue the recall order in China.         

Last month, the Swedish furniture maker announced that it would recall 36 million chests and dressers from US and Canada over safety concerns. The announcement came after the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned that Malm-branded chests and dressers could topple from the wall if not installed properly, which could prove dangerous especially for young children.                         

IKEA's decision to recall the drawer set immediately resulted in a backlash in China, as the company had excluded the Chinese market from its recall. China's state-owned media news agency, Xinhua, criticized the Swedish company for its apparent double standard.

"The behavior shown contradicts the 'IKEA spirit' that founder Ingvar Kamprad talks about, being helpful and responsible," Xinhua wrote in its editorial. "China is a huge market, and should not be deprived of the high standards that the brand promises."              

Chinese consumers had also expressed their frustration about the decision of the Swedish company to exclude China from the recall. Hordes of Chinese consumers criticized IKEA on Chinese social media Weibo, describing the company's decision to exclude China from recall decision as "discriminatory."

Experts have noted that IKEA's announcement on Tuesday to include China in its recall decision clearly shows growing power of Chinese consumers. China has helped many global multinational companies to keep a tab on their declining profits and revenues and the expectations of Chinese customers for safety and quality have increased.

TagsIKEA, china, IKEA Malm Dressers, IKEA China