China's movement toward a national information infrastructure

Abstract

Since implementing economic reforms in 1979, China's economy, spurred by foreign investment, has been growing at an average annual rate of ten percent. Unfortunately for companies doing business in China, reliable connections to telecommunications and computer networks have only recently become available in the major cities and are non-existent in most of the country. In response, the Chinese government has made the development of an information infrastructure a high priority, but its efforts have been hindered by conflicting political and business interests. In this paper we look at two aspects of the development of an information infrastructure in China: telecommunications development and the internet. Currently the central government maintains tight control over telecommunications development, but this control is quickly breaking down. The internet in China has been developing in a totally separate environment, largely out of the control of the central government; but recent policy changes have brought strict controls over the Internet. This paper presents at China's progress toward a national information infrastructure in light of the political and economic conflict.