Information/Technology - 114. page

On February 22, 2008, China’s eight leading State run online media signed the "Chinese Pact on the Self-discipline on Visual-Audio Programs and Services of the Internet," urging all Chinese domestic websites to “spread positive, healthy programs and boycott corrupt, outdated ones.” The eight State media are the official websites of Xinhua News Agency, People’s Daily, the State Council Press Office, China Radio International, China Central Television, China Youth Daily, China Economic Daily, and the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

There are 210 million Chinese Internet users, according to the 21st Statistical Survey Report on the Internet Development in China published in December 2007. 69 percent are under 30 years old. The largest age group is between 18 and 24, accounting for 32% of the total Internet users.

Source: Xinhua, February 22, 2008
http://news.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2008-02/22/content_7647209.htm
China Internet Network Information Center, December 2007
http://www.cnnic.cn/index/0E/00/11/index.htm

The most recent issue of Qiushi magazine published an article titled “Understand, Treat, Use, and Manage News Media Properly” written by chief of Chinese Communist party’s Fujian provincial Propaganda Department. It reinstated that China’s news media is a mouthpiece of the Party and people under the socialist condition. It should not be deemed as a public venue independent of or opposite to the Party or people. News media should carry both the functions of news propaganda and information dissemination. It should insist on the role of guiding the public opinions, which is the soul of the work of journalists.

Source: Qiushi magazine, 3rd issue 2008 (Qiushi is the official publication of Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee)
http://www.qsjournal.com.cn/qs/20080201/GB/qs%5E472%5E0%5E21.htm

Zhuang Fengan, a Chinese Aerospace expert, disclosed that China has been conducting research on spaceplane. Yan Liang aircraft stress testing base in Xian, a subsidiary of No. 1 Group of China Aviation Industry will carry out the final testing, which is expected to be completed before 2010.

The Global Times calls the U.S. developed spaceplane “sudden and swift; capable of bombing any target on earth.”

Source: Wenweipo, Hong Kong, February 6, 2008 http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/army/2008/02/200802060815.shtml

On January 24, after ten years of research and development, the China Ministry of Information announced the launch of a decimal internet technology. It combines domain name, ip, and MAC addresses, and will replace the existing hexadecimal system developed by the U.S. Xie Jianping, Chief Engineer in charge of the project said that China has become the second country in the world next to the U.S. that has mastered the technology in domain names and address distribution.

China pays 500 billion yuan (US$6.9 billion) to the U.S. each year for worldwide Internet usage, including domain registration, analysis, channel resources, equipment, and software. The total amount exceeds China’s annual defense budget.

Source: China First Finance Daily, January 24, 2008
http://finance.people.com.cn/GB/6818246.html

According to China Internet Network Information Center, as of December 31, 2007, the number of Internet users in China had reached 210 million. According to The Beijing News, "This is a tremendous force that can guide and push China towards democracy and freedom." The most challenging task is not the Internet, but the authorities’ attempt to control it. The article is critical of the practice of putting someone in jail because of what that person writes. It suggests that the authorities should be open and treat Internet users with kindness – one should go along with “the grand trend of human civilization” instead of bucking it.

Source: The Beijing News, January 19, 2008
http://www.thebeijingnews.com/comment/shelun/2008/01-19/014@014708.htm

On January 13, 2008, Deutsche Welle reported that Xunlei (Thunder, 深圳市迅雷网络技术有限公司), an Internet company based in Shenzhen, has rapidly become the biggest company providing Internet search and download services in China. The company was established in 2002. It initially offered only software downloads. The number of users kept increasing, to the point where it now claims to control 80 percent of China’s Internet download business. The company has quickly expanded its business into other areas. All the new hot products, such as music, movies, and software can be downloaded through its website.

Source: Deutsche Welle, January 13, 2008
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3055799,00.html

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

In November 2006, the propaganda department of a county Communist Party Committee affirmed that news reporting is a matter of politics. "Media is the mouthpiece of the Party." The Party should carefully guide public opinion by following "the principle of ‘enhancing positive publicity, blocking negative reports, and handling sensitive reports with caution." The directive calls for implementation of a mechanism of censorship so that "no person shall collect and publish news reports on problems and hot issues without the approval of the County Committee’s Propaganda Department." Topics banned from news reporting include disparity of income, lawsuits against the Party and the authorities, embezzlement and anything that will "bring instability to our society." News reporting of international events must be consistent with that of the central government. Violators will be publicly reprimanded.