Cyber Policy in China by Austin Greg

Author:Austin, Greg
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-06-02T16:00:00+00:00

China's intent on transformation is very high by international standards. The 2013 WEF NRI ranks China 22nd (out of 142 countries and territories) for the importance of ICT to the government's vision of the future, well ahead of other major industrial economies, including the United States at 44th (WEF and INSEAD 2013). No G8 country was ahead of China in this measure. (The same year, China was ranked much lower, at 58th, in terms of the overall NRI discussed in chapter 1.) There have been few areas of human social activity in China untouched by the informatization goal: it has affected government, business, technology, industry, education, trade, financial services, health services, professional services, diplomacy and military affairs. Each of these sectors has played a role in bottom-up and horizontal processes as well as being subject to the opportunities provided by top-down, government-led policy settings. At a popularizing level, typical of a Chinese Communist campaign, competitions exist at many levels: the top fifty informatized cities, launched in 2010 by the China Communications Industry Association; the One Hundred Outstanding Leaders award for the promotion of China's informatization, inaugurated by the China Information Industry Association; and cyber warfare competitions in PLA universities. There has definitely been a spirit of mobilization around the goal of informatization in all of its aspects.

The main test of transformation through informatization will, however, be the quality of information resources that are translated into information services. China 2030, a joint report with the World Bank, reflects the Chinese government's vision for a ‘modern, harmonious, and creative high-income society’ (World Bank and DRC 2012). It identified the quality of information resources as an important area of reform: ‘Improved information and greater fiscal transparency at all levels of government would bring many benefits. These include greater efficiency, reduced corruption, and improved creditworthiness.’ The report saw lack of adequate information about the job market as one of the reasons why tens of millions of farm families are ‘trapped…in low-paying, low-productivity work’. It also reported ‘informational friction’ and lack of appropriate rules on information disclosure as serious obstacles to investment. It observed that China's fiscal relations between the central government and the provinces were not well documented, and that when they were audited the main objective of the auditors was to detect malfeasance rather than to analyse the effectiveness of the spending (through a performance audit).

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