No.378 June 19, 2009
Special Issues  
USITO/AmCham Joint Breakfast Series on "Shan Zhai Ji"
USITO Issue Paper on Green Dam Software
 

On June 18th, USITO hosted a joint breakfast event with AmCham China, on the topic of "Shan Zhai Ji: Creative Copycatting, industry threat?", featuring Karl Weaver and Scully Meng. The two experts briefed the audiance the ˇ°Shan Zhai Spiritˇ± and the economics, legal, creative and cultural aspects of what has been recognized as a major force in the mobile market. Their speeches were followed by heated discussions. Members please click here to download speaker's ppt.

Top Story

USITO Update on China's CCC Information Security

As we know, the Certification and Accreditation Administration of China (CNCA) has announced that it would delay implementation of the 13 infosec product mandatory certification regime by one year and reduce the scope to government procurement activities only. USITO has prepared an Issue Paper on this subject.

CNCA has made available the finalized implementation measures for the 13 categories of information security products. These are detailed documents which describe the certification process, and which standards products must be compliant to. With the help of USITO parent association and member company support, USITO has translated these 13 implementation measures into English. Download Links: Issue Paper No.631; 13 CNCA Implementation Meausures (English) (Strictly USITO member only).

In conjunction with it's parent associations and member companies, USITO has over the past month been looking at the impact of the adjustment announced by CNCA. USITO will over the next two weeks hold several meetings with the Chinese government in order to gain further clarity on the state of play, and logical next steps for industry. We will provide a readout of these meetings to the membership at a later date.

- Member Access Only -
USITO Issue Paper No.631


June 16, 2009

9-Ministry Joint Circular to Request Preference for Domestic Products [Circular No.1361-NDRC]

On June 4, nine Chinese ministries jointly released a circular (No.1361-NDRC), ruling that all projects fall under the 4-trillion Chinese government stimulus package shall give preference to domestic products, because they belong to the category of "government procurement" and are thus justified to "buy domestic". The circular is entitled as "Notice on Further Strengthening the Supervision of Public Bidding Activities Conducted for Construction Projects". The nine ministries are: the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Supervision, Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Water Resources, Ministry of Commerce, and the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council.

According to local media reports, the background for formulating such circular was because of the "excessive preference for foreign products" in projects funded by the government, and the "Chinese buyers are using all kinds of excuses to buy foreign products and exclude domestic ones". The circular thus highlights the government stance that domestic products shall not be excluded whatsoever in any government funded projects, and the responsible officials/staff are subject to "severe punishment" if they were found to violate the 1361 Circular. people.com.cn, 6/15/2009

USITO Notes: This is a very important circular worth due attention from our members. It clarifies the key suppliers for the big market brought by the RMB4T government spending must be Chinese companies. Unlike previous circulars, this one requires a complete overhaul on the existing projects, to check whether discrimination against domestic products exists; and the circular was signed by a total of nine ministries, the first time for any government procurement related circulars, signaling the top level attention to address the issue. The Ministry of Supervision is included, which reflects enhanced enforcement for the circular's spirit. The pro-trade authority MOFCOM (Ministry of Commerce) is also on the list, perplexing the international community with mixed messages, since in numerous occassions the ministry has vowed to fight against any forms of "protectionism". A minor surprise to outsiders is that the Ministry of Finance (MOF) has not signed. Experts doubt this is out of the turf battle between the two ministries, MOF and NDRC, which oversee two different laws respectively: Government Procurement Law and the Bidding and Tendering Law. The 1361 Circular highlights the latter one, so MOF was left out of the game. With the support of a few USITO constituents, we have immediately translated the 1361 Circular to English. Members please click here to view the full text.

WAPI to Restart Application for International Standard

According to a 6/16/2009 Xinhua report, WAPI ( WLAN Authentication and Privacy Infrastructure ), China's homegrown wireless LAN standard, was reportedly approved at a ISO/IEJTC1/SC6 meeting to apply for ISO standard bysome ISO member states including U.S. and U.K. The report says that rapid development of WAPI in China was the key factor for China and U.S. to achieve the agreement this time, and "global mainstream equipment-makers, who used to held a wait-and-see attitude, began to roll out products applicable to WAPI standard in succession."

The China Broadband Wireless IP Standard Working Group, the Chinese ad hoc WAPI authority, confirmed the information to media and said it will soon handle "follow-up application arrangements". The Group once accused IEEE of committing "unethical and unjust activities trying to destroy WAPI" when its proposal was turned down by ISO three years ago.

USITO Notes: This story was ranked as the No.1 headline in most Chinese technology media this week, unfortunately exaggerated as "WAPI finally wins international support". It arouse much misunderstanding amongst the foreign industry representatives. USITO has roughly translated a typical media report, members please click here to view the brief translation.

The real story is that it was just a routine progress of WAPI in restarting application for ISO standards, a resolution by the international group encouraging it to submit the protocol, which has not happened yet, not to mention whether the international world will support it to be "international standard" or not.

Selected Chinese Media Reports

Regulations

Mobile Phone Users Real-name Registration Rules Drafted

In early June, the issue of real-name registration system for mobile phone users has drawn concern of the communication industry again. According to a Guangdong Communications Administration official, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has worked with the Ministry of Public Security and the State Council Information Office to enact rules on the real-name registration system, which have been submitted to the State Council for examination and approval. The former Ministry of Information Industry had worked out similar rules, and no advances have been made in this field. Chinese Text

Public Security Organs Crack Down Upon Telecom Frauds

Currently telecom crimes are spreading. To protect the lives and property of the people, the Ministry of Public Security launched a nationwide 4-month action against telecom frauds, starting from this month, urging local public security organs to concentrate on cracking a number of telecom fraud cases, unearthing a number of telecom fraud gangs, and destroying a number of crime venues. Chinese Text

Government Websites Urged to Open

The Ministry of Finance and the National Development and Reform Commission issued a circular on June 13, urging government agencies to accelerate the construction of E-government networks. According to the document, interconnection should be enabled between all the government agencies websites and the central government website in the beginning of 2010. Next year, the websites of all the government agencies will open to the public. Chinese Text

3G Mobile Communications

Potevio's TD-LTE Passes MIIT Test

Sources said that China Academy of Telecommunication Research is now conducting field tests for TD-LTE, and leading TD vendors including Datang, ZTE and Potevio are joining the tests. According to Potevio officials, Potevio has successfully developed large capacity, compact TD-LTE base station products, which have passed POC indoor tests. Potevio worked on TD-LTE development very early, and has been partnering with a number of universities, research institutes in this field. Chinese Text

China Unicom to Launch WCDMA in 284 Cities

WCDMA number allocation will be advanced to the end of this June in half of 229 cities covered by China Unicom ' s phase 2 WCDMA deployment plan. China Unicom concluded the public bidding procedures for WCDMA phase 2 at the end of April, and then started network deployment, which took only two months. China Unicom is planning to deliver WCDMA services in 284 cities by the end of this year. Chinese Text

ZTE Implements Global Largest NGHLR Commercial Network

Vietnam 's VinaPhone announced yesterday that it chose ZTE as its partner to work together on the project of the global largest NGHLR commercial network launched in Vietnam . VinaPhone directly under the largest full service carrier VNPT Group is the top mobile operator in Vietnam . The NGHLR system was established to satisfy the sharply increasing demands for mobile services as a result of economic growth and consequent explosion of users. Chinese Text

ZTE to Construct WiMAX Network in Saudi Arabia

ZTE signed a deal with the top WiMAX operator Etihad Atheeb Telecom in Riyadh . According to the contract, ZTE worked with Atheeb to deploy about 300 WiMAX base stations covering 5 major cities including Dammam and Khobar. Atheeb is the second largest fixed network operator in Saudi Arabia , concentrating on pushing forward the WiMAX network construction and services growth. A senior ZTE official described this partnership as another milestone in the application of ZTE WiMAX products. Chinese Text

 

Software

7th China Int'l Software & Information Service Fair Opens

The 7th China Int'l Software & Information Service Fair, sponsored by the Municipal Government of Dalian and China Association of Trade in Services, opened in Dalian on June 18. The fair is China's only state-level software expo. China International Software & Information Service Fair has been held six times, comprising three sections: exhibition, conferences & forums, and important activities, and involving six subjects covering international cooperation, indigenous innovation, industrial applications, etc. Chinese Text

China's Software Exports Grow 80% in 2008

Wang Chao, Assistant to Minister of Commerce, said on June 18 that China 's software export contracts totaled USD3.38b in 2008, a growth of 80.2% year on year. According to Wang, the stable growth in software exports and information service outsourcing market should be attributed to the solid infrastructures for software and information service industry, increasingly mature scientific research and education systems and preferential policies announced for software export and information outsourcing. Chinese Text

Kingsoft Joins Virus Information Alliance

Kingsoft announced on June 17 that it joined the Virus Information Alliance. Kingsoft is the first Chinese anti-virus software maker joining the alliance. Wang Xin, COO of Kingsoft Internet Security Company, said, Kingsoft' s anti-virus core technology has been staying ahead of the Internet information security sector and its accession to VIA demonstrates its commitment to openness and technology sharing. As a new member of the alliance, Kingsoft will share virus information with other 17 world-class anti-virus companies. Chinese Text

UOML Standard Submitted to ISO for Approval

On June 6, China 's proprietary UOML standard was submitted to ISO for examination and approval. This is the first international standard developed by China 's software industry. If the standard is accepted by ISO, China will gain more say in this field. Unstructured Operation Markup Language was drafted by the Document Database Technology Standardization Working Committee of China Electronics Standardization Association. In Oct. 2008, UOML was approved as the OASIS standard, marking a milestone in the history of China 's software industry. Chinese Text

Semiconductor

China Buys U.S. Patent License for Loongson Development

On June 17, U.S.-based MIPS, a leading provider of industry-standard processor architectures, announced that the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently obtained the licensing of its MIPS32 and MIPS64 architectures, for the development of Loongson CPU. Li Guojie, Director of the Institute and member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, confirmed the new, but refused to reveal details. An expert said that signing deals with MIPS is the only way to develop Loongson, but this might mark failure of the strategy of ˇ°Indigenous CPU Coreˇ± . Chinese Text

First Domestic CPU Makes Debut

A 4-square centimeters chip, containing about 4 million transistors, marks the end of the history of Chinese mainland's information industry having no proprietary ˇ°coreˇ±. Chinese Academy of Sciences announced that China has successfully developed its proprietary CPU Loongson 1 sample, which can be mass produced. Prior to that, China 's information industry has been using imported chips. Chinese Text

China, U.S. Reach Agreement on WAPI Issues

According to an official of WAPI Working Group, China and U.S. have reached an agreement to work on WAPI's international standard status. Chinese Text

USITO selected and translated the news summaries above. If you are interested in learning more details about the above Chinese language links, you are welcome to contact us (wenjie@usito.org) to sponsor the translation of that report.

You can also visit this link for the HTML version of this newsletter: http://www.chinatzone.com/weekly/weekly090403.htm

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