According to Zhao, the growth rate in China’s IT sector now triples its GDP growth, and the authorities are taking steps to ensure that IT is nurtured and adopted by state agencies.
Zhao’s comments echoed those made by Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, who in 2002 called for faster development of the local software industry and the construction of a national information network.
“The government has created a favourable policy environment for the growth of IT,” Zhu told the Xinhua News Agency last year. “The implementation of the national strategy on informatisation has been expanding the market.”
The government’s goal of going “e” to streamline a notoriously slow bureaucracy should mean boom times for local IT companies. According to a report in the official People’s Daily, 95 per cent of China’s IT service suppliers are losing money.
Currently, public-sector investment in the IT industry is about 24.8 per cent. Zhao added that by 2004, the government would be the largest investor in the sector. The China Daily reported that in the first half of 2002, government hardware purchases hit RMB10.7 billion (US$1.3 billion) while spending on software reached RMB2.1 billion (US$254 million).
Blueprint for change
Yang Xueshan, senior information official with the State Council’s Information Technology Promotion Office, said the government was basing its e-strategy on three pillars, as reported in the People’s Daily:
- Construction of two unified platforms: an intranet to handle government affairs at all levels, and an external Web to handle transactions with public and private enterprises, and with other governments.
- Promotion of online services in customs, taxation, finance, public security, social security, agriculture and water resources.
- Establishment of databanks on population and agricultural information.
Progress report
In the initial stages of the development of China’s e-government, Zhao said, officials had completed the “in-house automation” of major offices, as well as promoted cooperation among state agencies in building up the country’s IT infrastructure.
The authorities are now concentrating on “the informatisation of the economy, society and government” through several large-scale projects. These include:
- The “Golden Customs Project”, under which documents related to the processing of goods at major ports will be transferred and completed electronically.
- The “Golden Tax Project”, which will result in online taxation services and state-of-the-art management application systems for the government’s revenue collection efforts.
- A “Government Fiscal Management Information System” that is intended to boost “openness and transparency in the government’s dealings with other parties”, according to Zhao.
And with Beijing rushing towards world-class status prior to hosting the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese capital’s e-government is expected to be fully functional by 2005.
According to the People’s Daily, databases, online services, e-approvals, taxation and human resources management systems should be ready to serve the public and private sectors within the next two years.
With the large-scale undertaking and tight time frame the Chinese have given themselves, slip-ups are inevitable. Xie Lijuan, a member of China’s national advisory board, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, was quoted by the People’s Daily as saying that many of the Web sites run by more than 220 million government departments were poorly interconnected, with content requiring more frequent updating.
China’s IT progress
- Growth rate in IT sector is triple that of GDP.
- Public sector now accounts for about 24.8 per cent of investment in the IT industry. By 2004, the government will be the largest investor in the industry.
- Government spending on hardware hit US$1.3 billion in the first half of 2002, while spending on software reached US$254 million.
- About 90 per cent of government agencies have LAN access or are in the process of securing it.
- About 42 per cent of government agencies have their own Web sites.
