China’s Ministry of Public Security (MPS) has just completed the first phase of the well-known "Golden Shield Project." The information technology project was initiated in 2001 and passed the test and the state’s inspection on November 11, 2006. The three milestone achievements of the first phase include 8 national-wide databanks and 60 applications systems, a communication network and computer information systems connecting over 800,000 computers, and a nation-wide PKI/MI system that has issued over 700,000 digital certificates and currently interfaces with 230 application systems