Subject: CHINA IMP/EXP NEWS (CN940815)

From: [email-masked] (Cheng Wang)
Date: Thu, 18 Aug 94 11:26:16 CDT

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 #         A BIWEEKLY NEWSLETTER FROM THE CHINA-LINK CLUB             #
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		    AUGUEST 15  1994     (CN940815)

		      (TODAY'S CHINA MARKET)

        	China Imformation system and computer market

CONTENTS                                                          LINES
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EDITOR'S NOTES: .............................................. 20 lines

TODAY'S COMPUTERS IN CHINA .................................  127 lines

MEETINGS and CONFERENCES ..................................... 82 lines

NEW NATIONAL INFORMATION NETWORK BUILT IN CHINA .............. 51 lines

CHINA - COMPUTER MARKET OVERVIEW ............................  65 lines
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	           NEXT ISSUE: FRANCHISING IN CHINA
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EDITOR'S NOTES: .............................................. 20 lines

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SINO-US TRADING ALMANAC will be sold out soon. Currently only 10 sets
are available. Next edition (95-96 edition) will be published in 1996.

China Link Club appreciates those members who showed supports.

Last mail collection for AUG.10 deadline will be on AUGUEST 20, 1994 !
After the promotion, any order after AUG.20 will be $230/per 4 volumes.

You are granted a 10 days FREE examination period. If you find the book
 is not useful for you just return the books. 

For more detailed table of contents of <SINO-US TRADING ALMANAC> , send 
e-mail to

            [email-masked]  with subject: ALMANAC

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TODAY'S COMPUTERS IN CHINA .................................  127 lines

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China - University-Developed Desktop Conferencing 07/25/94
Newsbytes News Network   July 25, 1994   p. N/A

    BEIJING,  CHINA, 1994 JUL 25 (NB) -- The Department of Computer Science
and  Technology  of  Tsinghua University has developed a desktop multimedia
conference system.
     "Development  of  Multimedia  Conference  Systems" is a sub-project of
"Research  on  Distributed  Multimedia  Information  Processing and Support
Platform" which is funded by Chinese National Science Foundation.
     The conference system includes the following four sub-systems.
     -   Multimedia  conference  management.  The  responsibility  of  this
sub-system  is  to  perform  security  check on conference participants, to
recognize different data, and manage the conference.
     -  Electronic  Multimedia  Blackboard. Conference participants can use
the  board,  light  pen,  eraser,  and  pointer  to communicate in forms of
graphics, sound, and text.
     - Multimedia file creation subsystem. The subsystem uses the hypertext
and hypermedia models to create multimedia files.
     - Multimedia database. The database contains multimedia data of and/or
for the conference participants.
     The  hardware  requirements  for  this  conference  system  are IBM or
compatible  PCs with a CPU (central processing unit) of 80386 or higher, at
least  four megabytes (MB) RAM, VGA display, and a sound card working under
Windows  3.1  with  microphone  and speakers. The required work environment
includes DOS 3.0, Windows 3.1, and Novell 3.11 or higher.
     One  of  the project leaders, Professor Pin Young of the Department of
CST,  Tsinghua University, told Newsbytes that the system is an integration
of  many  techniques  including  audio  and  video signal processing, image
compression   and   decompression,   network   communication,   interactive
interface, and multimedia authoring.
     He  also  said  that  the  conference system reflects an international
trend  of  technology development in multimedia. He expects the application
of this kind of system to be quite broad.
     (Chih-Ho Yu and Ning Huang/19940725)

    ---------------- ***** ----------------- ***** ---------------

SOFTWARE GIANT PLAYS HARDBALL
  Is studying the huge (and underserved) China market
Asian Business   May 1994   p. 12
ISSN: 0254-3729

    Microsoft  is  studying the huge (and underserved) China market. It has
created  Chinese-language  versions of its most popular programs. Microsoft
chairman  Bill  Gates  traveled  to  Beijing  recently and urged government
ministers  to  adopt  his  systems  as the standard in China. Gates is also
looking  to  Japan.  He  recently announced an agreement to jointly develop
multimedia  services with Nippon Telegraph & Telephone (NTT) to be provided
over NTT's telephone network. Microsoft holds a 37% share of the US$7.3 bil
global market for computer software. Microsoft's annual sales have grown an
average  of  48%  in  each  of  the past four years. However, the company's
stellar growth now appears set for a cooling period. Analysts estimate that
sales  growth  in the fiscal year ended 6/30/94 will show a deceleration to
17%.

    ---------------- ***** ----------------- ***** ---------------
Computer Makers Advance In China
Electronic Buyers' News   June 6, 1994   p. 12
    By Jack Robertson

    SHANGHAI, CHINA - U.S. suppliers at a trade show here lauded the United
States'  decision  to  lift  controls  on  computers exported to China, but
expressed fear that their government will reimpose some controls as part of
a nuclear non-proliferation policy.
    China  hasn't  signed  the nonproliferation treaty, which could subject
the country to U.S. computer curbs.
    For  the  time  being, however, major U.S. computer vendors at the show
here  -  including  IBM, Unisys, AT&T, Tandem, AST Research, Cray Research,
and  Sun  Microsystems  -  are  delighted they can now ship systems most in
demand in China without any export-control hassle.
    'And  just  in time,' said Clem Lau, Far Eastern sales manager for Cray
Research  Superservers  Division,  headquartered  in Beijing. 'The People's
Bank  of  China  has  two  huge bids on the market - to set up a nationwide
networking  system,  and  separate  multiple  computer  complexes to handle
electronic fund transfers and check transactions.'
    At  least  three  U.S.  teams  are  vying against Japanese and possibly
European competitors on the bids.
    On  another  front,  AT&T Global Computer Systems Division has set up a
joint  manufacturing plant in Chin Dao to make point-of-sale terminals, and
is discussing an alliance to make its PCs in China.
    The  lifting  of  U.S.  export curbs virtually assures that all but the
highest -performance computer workstations can now be shipped to China.
    D.R.  Davis,  general  manager  of  the finance industry sector for IBM
China  Co.,  Beijing, said this has cleared the way for a large increase in
sales of IBM's RISC-based workstations as well as AS/400 computers.
    Cray's Lau agreed, claiming that, for the first time, his company isn't
facing  any  export-control snags in shipping its Superserver workstations,
using Texas Instruments' superscalar Sparc chips.
    Davis  and  Lau  both  said  that  China  is a top market for mainframe
computers.  'The rest of the world has installed mainframe networks and can
downsize,'  Davis said. 'But China, especially in the banking and financial
markets,  must  first  install  basic  mainframe  systems to meet vast data
requirements. First they must upsize before they can downsize.'
    Despite  the demand for mainframes, PCs have taken China by storm, both
as  stand-alone  processors and as servers. AST Research Inc. reportedly is
the  largest  PC  vendor in China, largely due to its early efforts to move
into  the  market. Compaq Computer Corp. is believed to be the next-largest
PC supplier, followed by a gaggle of U.S. rivals.
    The U.S. companies face strong competition from Chinese PC makers, such
as  Great  Wall  Computer  Co., Shanghai; The Stone Group, Beijing; Tianjin
Computers,  Tianjin;  and a flock of smaller suppliers. The Chinese rivals,
however,  have been more than willing to sign joint-venture deals with U.S.
PC  makers  to  assemble the computers in China, both for sale here and for
U.S. companies to export elsewhere.
    While  the  lifting  of most export controls has elated U.S. companies,
one area remains tightly restricted - that of workstations and servers with
encrypted  security  features. The Chinese marketing offices echo the pleas
of  their  U.S.  headquarters  in  urging  the  Clinton  administration and
Congress to relax the commercial encryption controls.
    Roy    Eckart,   international   business   development   manager   for
Racal-Datacom, Sunrise, Fla., said that nearly all of his company's foreign
competitors  can  openly  ship  to  China their network systems with widely
available  commercial encryption features. 'U.S. companies still have their
hands  tied  behind  their backs,' he said. 'It's a tremendous disadvantage
for us in the market here.'
    American  companies  called  the U.S. unilateral controls on commercial
encryption  'absurd.'  As Cray's Lau pointed out, the U.S. curbs only block
American companies from selling such systems to China. 'The Chinese get the
equipment anyway from our foreign competitors, who are more than willing to
sell the systems,' he said.

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MEETINGS and CONFERENCES ........................................ 82 lines

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Symposium on information market to be held at October 6 to 8

   Beijing, july 16 (CBJ) -- With the approval of the state
planning commission, a symposium on the information market and
international co-operation, and an exhibition will be held from
October 6 to 8.
   The event will be jointly sponsored by the China information
Society, the National Information Center and a certain united
nations organization.
   During the symposium officials from the state economic and
trade commission, the state science and technology commission, the
ministries of electronics, posts and telecommunications, and
finance and the people's bank, as well as well-known celebrities
from the manufacturing and academic communities will deliver
reports on china's development strategy and relevant policies for
the information industry.
   Officials from the united nations organization and other
foreign experts will also give reports on the world's latest
development trends, and the experiences and achievements in the
Information industry, and exhibit new products.
   The symposium will concentrate on computers, telecommunications
and Information services.
   Domestic and overseas businesses will also be given chances to
exhibit their products and technologies, and to hold trade talks.

    ---------------- ***** ----------------- ***** ---------------

CHINA  TO  HOST  FIRST  INTERNATIONAL  CONFERENCE  ON ELECTRONIC  COMMERCE;
 PARTICIPANTS FROM ASIA AND WORLDWIDE "TO HELP SET THE AGENDA" FOR PRC'S G
Edge   July 11, 1994   p. N/A
    
    The   Chinese   Information   Industry   Trade   Association   (CIITA),
representing  the  booming information technology community in the People's
Republic  of  China  (PRC),  will  hold  the PRC's first-ever international
conference focussed on electronic commerce.
    The  October  10-14,  1994,  conference  in Shanghai, "Asia-Pacific Rim
Conference  and  Exhibition  on  Electronic  Commerce '94 (APCEEC '94)," is
expected  to  further  the  momentum  of growth for the Chinese information
technology  marketplace.  Leading  exhibitors and speakers from Asia, North
America and Europe are slated to attend.
    "The  Chinese  market  is  the  world's  most  dynamic  and  robust for
information  technology  companies," says Ke Wang, executive vice president
of  CIITA.  "From  this  conference  will  grow the relationships that will
determine  who  will  be  our  most successful partners in the years ahead.
We're  asking  for  international  companies  to  help  set  the agenda for
growth."
    The  PRC's information technology market is projected to skyrocket from
less  than  $19 billion in 1993 to more than $48 billion by 1997, according
to  a  study  recently  released  by  Dataquest  Incorporated,  a San Jose,
Calif.-based global marketing research and consulting firm. (Figures are in
U.S. dollars.)
    Components   of  the  information  technology  marketplace  range  from
telecommunications to electronic document management to software.
    Among  the  international  keynote  speakers  booked for APCEEC are Ken
Allen,   president  of  the  Washington,  D.C.-based  Information  Industry
Association  (IIA),  an  industry association of information companies; and
Allen Paschal, president and co-founder of DataTimes, a leading provider of
business   information   services,   including  one  of  the  world's  most
comprehensive electronic networks.
    Concurrent  with  the APCEEC conference will be a meeting of the Global
Alliance  of  Information  Industry  Associations,  as  well as an Asia and
Pacific Rim Information Brokers Meeting.
    Separately,  CIITA  has  appointed  Buckman/Campbell & Co., a marketing
communications  agency  based in Pittsburgh, as its representative in North
America.
    Buckman/Campbell has the marketing rights for exhibit space at APCEEC.
    The  agency said that it is now making a major push to attract small to
midsized  U.S.  and  Canadian  firms  to  take  part  in group pavilions of
companies from both countries.
    Larger companies are urged to take one or more exhibit spaces.
    In  addition  to  CIITA, other APCEEC '94 sponsors include numerous PRC
governmental authorities, professional groups and others.
    U.S.  and  Canadian companies should call: 412/471-2908 or route E-mail
queries to Internet A/C 6723808(at)mcimail.com or to MCI Mail No. 672-3808.

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NEW NATIONAL INFORMATION NETWORK BUILT IN CHINA ................. 51 lines

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   Tianjin, july 16 (CBJ) -- The construction of a new national
economic information network is now progressing in China, in an
effort to boost the development of its information industry.
   The project is composed of three separate sub-networks of
economic information--on telecommunications, foreign trade/customs
and electronic credit cards.
   To date, 22 optical fiber trunk lines and 20 digital microwave
trunk lines have been completed, according to officials with the
telecommunications and information departments.
   The officials said that the first phase of a national
high-speed digital data network is expected to be in operation in
july.
   China's information industry, though in its infant stage, is
now in full swing, with information services starting to penetrate
into every aspect of social life.
   Since the mid-1980s, with the boom in computer manufacturing,
governments of all levels have invested billions of yuan to build
nearly one thousand information centers for the use of
governmental policy decision-making, which, together with the
statistics information networks, forms the mainstay of china's
information network system.
   The development of the market economy also has provided a
favorable climate for the country's information industry and there
have emerged various kinds of consulting and developmental
information service institutions throughout the country.
   A recent survey shows that china has over 40,000 consulting
organizations and 20,000 information service institutions with
millions of professionals and workers and staff members. 
   China has already made a breakthrough in chinese character
input systems, once considered the "bottleneck" of the country's
data processing. a dozen input modes for chinese language have
appeared with speeds faster than for other languages.
   In big cities such as beijing, shanghai, shenzhen and tianjin,
more than 20 types of telephone information service have been
provided, involving nearly 10,000 telephone calls daily.
   The information industry has also become a new attraction for
foreign business investment. one giant u.s. information firm has
built a joint venture in china and set up 23 offices throughout
the country to provide information services for domestic and world
users.
   Economists believe that with the fast development of the market
economy, information is becoming more and more important to
government organizations and enterprises. it will become a new
industry full of vitality.   

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CHINA - COMPUTER MARKET OVERVIEW ............................  65 lines

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04 APR 94

CHINESE COMPUTER MARKET CONTINUES EXPLOSIVE GROWTH, BUT FOREIGN
DOMINANCE CAUSES CONCERN

1.  an authoritative newspaper published by the ministry of electronics
industry recently expressed concern over heightened competition from
foreign computer firms. new measures taken by chinese trade authorities
to enter the general agreement on tariffs and trade (gatt) and to
reform macroeconomic policy puts chinese computer companies in a
compromising position, according to the newspaper.

2.  the english language china daily business weekly (27 march,
beijing) also reported that 450,000 personal computers were sold last
year, and that 100,000 of those were sold for personal use - a big jump
from 10 percent to 22 percent for "home" sales over 1992. the article
specified that 25 percent of all chinese pc sales were made by the u.s.
firms compaq and ast, and that foreign brands added together took 51
percent of the chinese market. another significant statistic from the
china daily report: 1,744 mainframes and minicompters were sold in
china in 1993, double the 1992 sales (comment:  computer workstation
and "power pc" sales were not addressed.  pentium and alpha-based pc's
have entered the market and are now available for sale in beijing, end
comment).

3.  although several u.s. computer executives welcome the news of lower
tariff rates, they hesitate to speculate about the exact extent of
decrease and the timing of its implementation.  furthermore, because
the chinese government is usually very meticulous in drafting specific
conditions for tariffs on separate products, it is uncertain just how
wide a scope these measures will cover (i.e. exactly which computer
products can qualify for lower tariffs). however, industry observers
suspect that the dramatic tariff decreases cited in the article will be
put into effect only when china has secured a position in the gatt, and
no sooner.

4.  an unofficial translation of the chinese language article follows.
it is part of a larger article on the computer industry in electronics
international (dated february 21, 1994, p.30). quote:  in order to gain
signatory status in gatt, china has taken the step of lowering customs
and tariff rates. the tariff on imported microcomputers under 32 bytes
has been reduced from 50 percent to 20-30 percent; and the tariff on
computer software has been reduced to 9 percent.  recently,
preparations have been made to further reduce the rate of computer
product tariffs to 10 percent; and value-added tax on imports will be
lowered from 16 percent to 5 percent. large quantities of foreign
computer goods will flood the chinese marketplace. this certainly will
have a major impact on china's computer industry. last year the
country's macroeconomic restructuring caused the computer industry to
receive less and less government support--resulting in great
deficiencies in the funds for production flow, new product development,
and technological reform. this puts the chinese computer industry in a
difficult predicament.  moreover, large numbers of well-known foreign
businesses have successively acted in the capacity of cooperatives and
joint-ventures to gain the upper hand in the chinese marketplace with
their high capability and low prices, further causing the competition
in the marketplace to reach ao highly intense level.  unquote (fcs:
mbrazil)  hallford

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