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Shenzhen Issues Plan to Promote Development of HarmonyOS Operating System

HarmonyOS is a distributed operating system (OS) developed by Huawei for smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, smart watches, personal computers and other smart devices.

On March 3rd, the government of Shenzhen issued the “Shenzhen Support for Open Source HarmonyOS Native Application Development 2024 Action Plan” to promote the Chinese version of this OS.

The plan puts forward specific development goals and directives for the development of the HarmonyOS software ecosystem by the end of 2024:

  • The number of HarmonyOS native applications developed in Shenzhen should account for over 10 percent of the national total;
  • major industries in Shenzhen are to be fully served by native applications targeting HarmonyOS;
  • HarmonyOS development courses will be offered in major universities and training institutions in Shenzhen;
  • the number of certified HarmonyOS developers will account for over 15 percent of the national total;
  • establish at least two industrial parks that rely primarily on HarmonyOS-based applications and software;
  • there will exceed 1000 software companies with staff who are qualified in HarmonyOS application development;
  • promote the stable operation of the HarmonyOS Ecosystem Innovation Center, providing public services such as showcasing and promoting HarmonyOS native applications, and talent cultivation; and
  • officially launch and expand the global Smart Internet of Things (IoT) Alliance to continuously increase the international influence of HarmonyOS applications.

The plan also encourages capable enterprises to expand outsourcing services for development of HarmonyOS-native applications, aiming to reach a scale of 500,000 HarmonyOS developers.

By the end of 2023, a total of 49 enterprises in Shenzhen had participated in the construction of the open-source HarmonyOS ecosystem, contributing 133 products and 11 software distributions. The open-source HarmonyOS community has more than 250 ecosystem partners, 35 project donors, 173 partners passing the HarmonyOS compatibility evaluation, and over 230 commercial devices in fields such as finance, education, smart home, transportation, digital government, industry, and medical care.

Source: Xinhua, March 3, 2024
http://www.news.cn/local/20240303/dca3e6d4bd734380b4dc9602d5df9b76/c.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics Information/Technology

Lianhe Zaobao: China Bans Government Use of Intel and AMD Chips

Singapore’s primary Chinese language newspaper Lianhe Zaobao recently reported that China is reportedly phasing out the use of U.S. chips and operating systems for government computers.

Following official procurement standards released last year, Chinese officials are winding down the use of Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) components in government computers and servers. At the same time, China is also trying to eliminate the Microsoft Windows operating system and foreign-made database software in favor of domestic software. State-owned enterprises are required to complete the transition to domestic technology by 2027.

China’s Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released seven government procurement standards on December 26 last year. They clearly required that the Communist Party and government agencies at or above the township level comply with the standard of “safety and reliability.” On the same day, China’s Information Security Evaluation Center announced the first list of “safe and reliable” processors and operating systems. All of the recommended processors and operating systems are produced by Chinese companies, including Huawei and Phytium.

In the context of the China-US technology war, China has continuously encouraged government agencies to use domestically produced tech products in recent years. In 2022, government agencies and state-owned enterprises were asked to replace foreign-brand computers with domestic equipment. Mandates for equipment replacement at that time did not include hard-to-replace components such as processors, however. In addition to computers, China is also requiring employees in government agencies and state-owned enterprises to switch to domestically produced mobile phones. As of December last year, at least 10 provinces, including Beijing, Tianjin, Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu, had implemented such requirements.

Source: Lianhe Zaobao, March 24, 2024
https://www.zaobao.com.sg/news/china/story20240324-3209230

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology US-China Relations

China Times: Beijing Pushes Chinese Car Companies to Favor Domestically-Produced Chips

Taiwanese newspaper China Times recently reported that the Chinese government has quietly asked Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers, including BYD and Geely, to significantly increase the use of domestically produced chips. Beijing may be quietly pushing for a chip decoupling “that tends to exclude U.S., Japanese and European parts from the Chinese market. … These changes could be Beijing’s answer to the U.S.-led sanctions and export controls.” Below are some passages from the China Times article:

“China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued an official notice this year, requiring Chinese electric vehicle companies to expand their procurement of domestic electronic components. The Ministry originally had an informal goal of asking car companies to expand their domestic chip procurement to one-fifth by 2025, but it now feels this progress is not quick enough.”

“In recent bidding for contracts with a well-known Chinese car company, a foreign supplier offered a price that was 30 percent lower than the winning bid, but it still did not get the contract.”

“Share prices of European companies that supply electric vehicle chips to China fell on March 15th.”

“Bloomberg believes that the Ministry’s new instructions are consistent with Beijing’s strategy of ‘mobilizing all forces to compete with the U.S. and other countries over who has the top position in terms of science and technology.’ … The move could lead the United States to tighten its import restrictions on Chinese-made cars.”

Source: China Times, March 16, 2024
https://www.chinatimes.com/cn/realtimenews/20240316000935-260409

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

China Unveils Plan to Bolster Industrial Data Security Capabilities Amid Security Concerns

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released a new plan aimed at enhancing data security capabilities in China’s industrial sector over the period 2024-2026. The plan emphasizes the importance of ensuring data security as crucial for national security and economic development. It calls for promoting the application of technologies like secure multi-party computation, anti-ransomware, data traceability, and commercial cryptography in the industrial field.

Specific measures include selecting a batch of general data security technologies and products with broad application value across industries; developing data security solutions tailored for different industries, scenarios, and small-to-medium enterprises; and creating typical data security use cases to promote across regions. The MIIT plan aims to train over 30,000 people and cultivate more than 5,000 data security talents by the end of 2026. It targets having over 45,000 enterprises implement classified data protection, covering at least the top 10% of large industrial firms (by annual revenue) in each province.

This push for data security comes amid Chinese government efforts to accelerate its replacement of foreign software and hardware with domestic alternatives as a response to recent years’ national security concerns.

Beijing has also been making efforts to strengthen its oversight of user data for reasons related to national security. One manifestation of this is in a $1.2 billion file levied on Chinese company Didi in 2022 over data security violations. Another is in plans announced by China’s Ministry of State Security in December 2023 regarding inspections targeting security risks related to handling of geographic data. The Ministry of State Security alleged that “certain foreign organizations” have made attempts at intelligence theft via mapping software.

Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), February 26, 2024
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202402260267.aspx

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Sina: US-led “Shared Principles on 6G” Aims to Curb China’s 6G Development

Well-known Chinese news site Sina (NASDQ: SINA) recently published an article commenting on a “Joint Statement Endorsing Principles for 6G” that was jointly released by the United States as well as nine other countries. The article stated that “this US-led effort is obviously aimed at curbing China’s 6G development.”

The Sina article quoted sources saying “this move is intended to compete for dominance of the 6G standard.” The article also stated that “China has an extremely large user base, and Chinese technology companies such as Huawei have their own independent 6G strategies. … China has established a 6G promotion group in 2019 to systematically promote various tasks such as demand, technology, standards and international cooperation. The group also launched 6G technology trials.”

The ten countries party to the statement include the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Japan, South Korea and Sweden. A copy of the statement released by the White House on February 26 enumerated six “shared principles” to be fulfilled by 6G networks: “Trusted Technology that is Protective of National Security”, “Secure, Resilient, and Protective of Privacy”, “Global Industry-led and Inclusive Standard Setting & International Collaborations”, “Cooperation to Enable Open and Interoperable Innovation”, “Affordability, Sustainability, and Global Connectivity”, and “Spectrum and Manufacturing.”

Sources:
Sina, February 28, 2024
https://news.sina.com.cn/c/2024-02-28/doc-inakqwnf2276916.shtml

The White House, “Joint Statement Endorsing Principles for 6G: Secure, Open, and Resilient by Design.”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2024/02/26/joint-statement-endorsing-principles-for-6g-secure-open-and-resilient-by-design/

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

Global Times: South Korea’s EV Subsidy Plan Unfavorable to Chinese Companies

Global Times, a tabloid under the Chinese Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily newspaper, recently reported that the South Korean Ministry of the Environment has updated its electric vehicle (EV) purchase subsidy plan for 2024. According to the article, certain vehicles will be disadvantaged by the new subsidy plan, including:

  • vehicles equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries (the main product of Chinese battery companies), and
  • cars built by foreign companies that are not able to set up direct after-sales service centers throughout South Korea.

The new subsidy plan introduces a “battery environmental protection factor” aiming to account for the “waste battery recycling value” in the subsidy. According to this new standard, electric vehicles equipped with lithium iron phosphate batteries will be subsidized less on the grounds that such batteries contain less valuable recyclable metals. Subsidies for Korean consumers purchasing EVs equipped with Chinese batteries will shrink by up to 40 percent.

“Some have said that this move is the South Korean government’s response to the rapid increase in the domestic supply of electric vehicles equipped with Chinese batteries.” One commentator said that “the new policy is to align with foreign policies such as the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, which is detrimental to Chinese battery companies to a certain extent.” According to Yonhap News Agency, “about 96.4 percent of South Korea’s EV battery imports currently come from China.”

Source: Global Times, February 7, 2024
https://m.huanqiu.com/article/4GUtT6ffRr9

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend Information/Technology

China Pilots “Vehicle-Road-Cloud Integration” Programs

China is promoting “vehicle-road-cloud” integration. The idea is to advance commercialization of smart vehicles by integrating intelligent driving technology with roadside perception and cloud control. On January 17, 2024, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a “Notice on Carrying out Pilot Projects for ‘Vehicle-Road-Cloud Integration’.” The ministry’s pilot program will run from 2024 to 2026.

“As of the end of 2023, China has set up 17 national-level test and demonstration zones, 7 vehicle networking pilot zones, and 16 pilot cities for development of connectivity between intelligent vehicles and smart cities. … There are now more than 22,000 kilometers of test and demonstration road; more than 88 million kilometers of road testing have been completed.”

One example involves autonomous driving technology company WeRide’s work in the Beijing High-Tech Autonomous Driving Demonstration Zone: WeRide has conducted “in-depth cooperation with the government” to integrate “roadside perception of traffic signals and dynamic blind spots, driving path optimization, unprotected left turns, two-vehicle collaborative control, status sharing, and more.” The article states that “as of now, 12 companies including Baidu, Pony.ai, WeRide, AutoX, NavInfo, and Audi have conducted development and testing of ‘vehicle-road-cloud integration'” in the Beijing Demonstration Zone.

Source: Stock Times, February 3, 2024
https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/1114322.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources Information/Technology

Xinhua: National Data Administration Launches Survey on Data Resources

A recent Xinhua article reported that, according to China’s National Data Administration (NDA), China has launched a “national data resources survey.” This nationwide survey will investigate the generation, storage, circulation, exchange, development, utilization, and security of China’s data resources. Its goal is to “implement the NDA’s ‘Overall Plan for the Construction of Digital China,’ assess China’s baseline of data resources, accelerate the utilization of data resources, and better leverage the value of the data element.” The survey will be jointly conducted by the NDA, the Office of the Central Cybersecurity and Information Technology Commission, the Ministry of Industry & Information Technology, and the Ministry of Public Security.

The survey targets the following organizations: provincial data management agencies, industry and information technology departments, public security departments (bureaus), provincial key data collection and storage equipment vendors, consumer Internet platform and industrial Internet platform companies, big data and artificial intelligence technology companies, application companies, data exchanges, central-government-owned enterprises, industry associations, chambers of commerce as well as the National Information Center.

Source: Xinhua, February 21, 2024
http://www.xinhuanet.com/20240221/3e499e3361d947619b117cfc4b9c9a9b/c.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology