 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
China Starts 2006 With Tech Bang
by Danielle Belopotosky
The Chinese government on Sunday launched a Web site to serve as a hub for e-government services. China's president also outlined a 14-year technology plan, while the government separately announced record-breaking investments in research and development.
The Web site, which provides information on government affairs, policies and regulations, also includes online services for citizens, entrepreneurs and municipal governments, as well as interactive communications options for users. The English version includes information for employment regulations for foreign workers and commercial services.
"The Internet makes the world smaller, the Web site makes the government closer to the people," the site's editor-in-chief, Zhou Xisheng, said in an online statement. Xinsheng also is the president of the state-owned online news service Xinhua.
The Chinese government began to promote its e-government initiative in the late 1990s and eventually launched a test site in October. China's Web site ranked 744th among all sites in the country and second among government sites, according to information posted on the site and compiled by Alexa, which tracks Web traffic.
"The opening of the Web site marks a major step forward in building a transparent government that serves the people," Wu Jiang, president of the China research institute on personnel sciences, said in a statement.
In late December, meanwhile, the Chinese State Council issued a long-term plan to establish China as a hub for science and technology innovation by 2020.
"We'll make efforts to accelerate the pace of reform and opening-up, enhance capability in independent innovation, give impetus to the shift in economic restructuring and in the mode of economic growth," Chinese President Hu Jintao said in his New Year radio address on Saturday.
Investments by the Chinese government in scientific research and development reached $24.58 billion in 2004, according to a report released last week by the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics, reflecting a 27.7 percent increase from the prior year and an all-time high.
More than $1.4 billion was allocated for basic R&D spending, while another $17.95 billion went to experimental R&D programs and roughly $5 billion went to applied science and technology programs. In all, funding from China's government accounted for 1.23 percent in gross domestic product. Private investments rose more than 36 percent, to $16.28 billion.
In other news, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security announced last week it arrested 25 suspects after a three-month investigation into online chat rooms that offer nude shows through Web cameras, according to the Chinese Embassy in the United States.
"The campaign has been a success," Zhao Shiyaun, the ministry's director of Web security, said in a statement. The ministry has closed nearly 600 domestic pornography sites since September. He said the police received more than 12,000 leads from the public that aided arrests and the closure of the sites.
In 2005, China's police force investigated more than 14,000 cases of online crime, a five-fold increase since 2000. The ministry issued new technical requirements for Internet service providers in December.
Germany's Broadband Plan Wins Approval
The European Commission in late December approved a decision to open high-speed Internet markets in Germany. The decision will allow new market entrants to offer broadband, as well as Internet-based telephone and television services.
The German telecommunications regulator Bundesnetzagenentur offered an amended proposal in November to include very high-speed Internet access in the definition of wholesale broadband access markets. The proposal was approved by the commission Dec. 23.
"This means that Deutsche Telekom's competitors will now have access to the new infrastructure," European Union Commissioner for Information Society and Media Viviane Reding said in a statement. "These measures will play a key role in stimulating the growth of broadband in Germany."
Meanwhile, Chinese media reports that China Telecom received approval to develop an advanced telecom network using "homegrown" technology. The company will invest nearly $5 billion to deploy the advanced communications system.
Bush Implements U.S., Morocco Trade Deal
A 2004 trade agreement between the United States and Morocco took effect Jan. 1. The deal includes provisions to boost e-commerce, strengthen the protection and enforcement of intellectual property, and open market access for telecom services.
President Bush issued a proclamation Dec. 22 to implement the agreement, which immediately eliminated tariffs on 95 percent of consumer and industrial products. Remaining taxes will be phased out by 2015.
Neither country may apply customs duties or other fess to digital products imported via electronic transmission. The deal also prohibits unfavorable treatment of digital products based on national origin. Morocco also must ratify the World Intellectual Property Organization's 1996 Copyright Treaty and the 1970 Patent Cooperation Treaty.
"This agreement will also strengthen our trading relationship with the Middle East and brings us one step closer to achieving the president's goal of a U.S.-Middle East Free Trade Area, Christin Baker, a spokeswoman with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, said in a statement.
Biometrics At The Border
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week announced the Senate confirmation of Emilio Gonzalez as the director if U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Chertoff, who praised the appointment, said Gonzalez will lead the agency to implement "exciting new programs to improve customer services, enhance national security, and eliminate the immigrations caseload backlog."
On Friday, Chertoff announced that the department has deployed biometrics at 104 fixed entry points in the United States and visa-issuing ports abroad under the US-VISIT program. The announcement came one day before the congressionally mandated Dec. 31 deadline.
Biometric data is collected from visitors who are required to obtain U.S. visas under the program. The data is checked against criminal and terrorist databases. The department installed biometric systems at 50 land borders with Canada and Mexico in 2004. But citizens of Canada and most Mexican visitors are exempt from the biometric program.
In other news, the U.S. government is lifting visa restrictions for Chinese business travelers. In a Dec. 29 statement by the U.S. consulate general in Guangzhou, business executives will receive expedited interview and visa-processing services over the next three months.
The consulate will explain to small businesses how they can attend U.S.-based trade shows and is planning presentations around China to promote U.S.-business travel in an effort to dismantle negative perceptions about Chinese visa applications, according to the consulate's office. Chinese applications dropped after the United States adopted tougher visa policies following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
