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TechnologyDaily Mobile
China Keeps Clamp On Internet
by William New
With its accession to the World Trade Organization, China appears to have lost the incentive to relinquish its control of media sources, including the Internet, several experts told a congressional commission on Monday.
"Chinese policy regarding the Internet is just the extension of the country's policy toward any objective source of information about what is occurring in China or the rest of the world," said Edward Kaufman, one of eight private-sector members of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors. "All levels of the Chinese government are committed to controlling any information that might reach the Chinese population."
Kaufman made the comments to the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which was established to monitor human rights in the country. Kaufman's group includes the secretary of State and oversees all U.S. non-military international broadcasting, such as the Voice of America.
He said visitors to China get a false impression of a media-rich environment because top hotels are allowed to have outside media sources, but the Chinese people get only government-controlled media. And when President Bush visited China in October 2001, blocks on foreign Internet news sites were lifted until he departed, Kaufman said.
To overcome China's censorship, Kaufman said, the United States sends news and information every day via radio, television, the Internet and satellite broadcasts. Millions of Chinese access the broadcasts, despite direct jamming, interference from local stations and government blocks.
"With China's acceptance into WTO [in December], we had hoped the jamming would subside," Kaufman said. "But since the start of the Chinese New Year, it has only increased."
Kathryn Hauser, senior vice president at the Information Technology Industry Council, defended China to some extent. Hauser said that the Chinese government is trying to implement its WTO commitments and that "we're going to begin to see change." She noted that China's incentive to open its market would increase when Chinese IT companies begin exporting and face similar non-tariff barriers abroad.
Hauser cautioned against the "slippery slope" of trying to control what U.S. companies can ship to China, for instance, by using export controls.
Kaufman said that while the government has pushed growth of the Internet for economic and educational reasons, it systematically blocks foreign news sources not under its control. Kaufman called the lack of objective information among the Chinese people a "policy disaster." He urged the government to put "some meat" behind the pressure on China to change.
Sharon Hom, acting executive director of non-governmental Human Rights in China, said the uneven distribution of Internet access in China is creating a "digital divide" that will prevent it from being a tool for democracy. The government has adopted a range of low- and high-tech strategies to control Internet content and access with the help of foreign companies, notably from Canada and the United States, she said.
Hom recommended that the U.S. government and private sector find opportunities to intervene, such as the annual conference of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers in Shanghai, China, in October 2002. For the 2008 Olympics in China, she said digital surveillance and authentication equipment should not be left for the government to use against citizens.
She said China's agreement to be part of the international economic regime does not equate to it opening. "China will test the principles of the WTO," she predicted.
James Mulvenon, deputy director at the RAND Center for Asia-Pacific Policy, said the government is getting more sophisticated in identifying Internet users who access forbidden sites through proxy servers and other methods. Mulvenon predicted that many lawyers would be needed to handle dispute-settlement cases at the WTO involving China.
Telecoms Critique USTR Reports
Several telecommunications industry representatives are praising two recent annual reports from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) targeting less-than-competitive practices of trading partners. One report, the National Trade Estimates (NTE), focuses on the full range of trade barriers faced by U.S. companies abroad. The other, referred to as the Section 1377 report, specifically reviews other countries' compliance with telecom trade agreements.
Jason Leuck, director of international affairs at the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), said Section 1377 is a "very helpful, very specific" report. But he said for telecom firms, some critical information, such as standards and certification or conformity assessments, gets buried in the NTE report.
Nevertheless, between the two reports, the association found "virtually everything we wanted was included," Leuck said, so he had no substantive complaints. "We don't feel anything major slipped through," he said.
Leuck said TIA follows closely the developments in the rapid-growth markets of India, China and Brazil.
Joanna Lowry, director of international government relations at Cable and Wireless, said the company was "encouraged" by both reports. "We're happy USTR is focusing on delays in provisioning of leased lines and high mobile-termination charges," she said.
But with respect to Germany, Cable and Wireless is "not quite in agreement with USTR." Lowry said a decision on leased lines by the German regulatory body "was not sufficient" because it "only covers a small portion of leased lines."
On a German proposal for provisioning safeguards, including penalties for delays, on which USTR was sanguine, Lowry said the company is reserving judgment. "We haven't seen that ruling," she said. "We're not convinced it's going to solve the problem."
But Lowry said the company is pleased that USTR is addressing problems with mobile-termination rates. Overall, she said, "It will be interesting to see how it all plays out."
WorldCom also praised USTR's focus on leased-line provisioning and pricing, and fixed-to-mobile termination rates, according to a company spokeswoman. She argued that U.S. carriers like WorldCom bring lower prices, better quality and constant innovation to overseas markets. But in order to compete effectively, they need access to the "last mile" of connections, the leased lines, at "reasonable prices and on a timely and nondiscriminatory basis," she said.
WorldCom applauded USTR's focus on several European Union member states and Switzerland. The company is working with regulators in many European markets, and is beginning to see progress, she said. For instance, regulators in Germany and the United Kingdom have active proceedings on leased-line issues.
On the fixed-to-mobile problem, the European Commission and many member-state regulators have begun to act, the spokeswoman said. For instance, the commission is investigating the largest Dutch wireless carrier for "price squeeze" activities stemming from its high fixed-to-mobile rates, she said.
The company hopes that in the coming months, more regulators will tackle the mobile-rate issue by requiring mobile operators to charge cost-based rates as soon as possible. That could lead to rate cuts of up to 60 percent, she said.
Europe Seeks Public Input On Government Services Online
The European Commission has posted an online consultation on electronic services as member states proceed with putting services online. E-services typically include Web sites, one-stop portals, electronic forms, electronic transactions and interactive services, the commission said. The hope is to avoid the erection of barriers to online activity as the process continues.
Separately, at the 2002 EU-China Forum on Information Society in Beijing this week, EU Information Society Commissioner Erkki Liikanen pushed for greater bilateral cooperation in information technology research, development and training.
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