E-Government in China, Present and Future. Preface

Transcription

1 Paper for the International Seminar E-administration for the benefit of citizens Paris, January 21 st and 22 nd 22 Xiong Chengyu, Ph. D. Professor & Director Center for New Media Studies Tsinghua University Beijing, 184 P. R. China E-Government in China, Present and Future Preface As we known, China is big country with a large population; the creation of e- Government is naturally important, even critical to the development of China. An e- government project called government online project had begun in China four years ago, and now we have all the provinces and all the state bureaus online. A number of e-government services are already on the Internet. Beside the government online project, we also have corporation online project and family online project as well. Citizens are encouraged to access e-government services as their convenience. Whenever you link to the you may find all the online bureaus ready to serve. Internet Today in China China has connected to the world in April, From then on, the internet has developed quickly in every aspects of the society. Now, the internet is becoming the indispensable thing in daily life. According to the CNNIC-- China Internet Network Information Center s report in January 15 th, 22, there are 12,54, computers connect to the internet, the number of people to the net is 33,7,, which count 2.6% of the population. The international bandwidth is M. The number of registered domain names under CN is , govs takes 4.6% of them, 5,864. The chart below shows the rapid growth of internet connected computers number and people surfing on the net.

2 ÉÏÍø¼ÆËã»úÊý ÍòÌ ÉÏÍø¼ÆËã»úÊý ÍòÌ œõ ªß ÕÚ»À œõ ªß ÕÚ»À

3 øì³ ð M øì³ ð M Œ šý Ú Þ ˆº «Èøˆ GOV œº² For these figures, we may see that the construction of information technology has take a large progress, that information and network technology has stepped into the ordinary life of everyone. It has significantly improved the people s living quality and the power of the nation. Practicing the E-Government The information technology is developing very fast in China. As shown in the first section, the total amount of people that use internet frequently has raised so quickly, the internet has become a new method to gain information and to communicate. Although only 2.6% of Chinese have the ability to access the internet

4 and even less can take some political activities through the net; it may seem that if we construct the e-government, it could cause the unfairness because of the digital gap phenomenon. But, as the matter of fact, if we promote the e-government progress, more officials can be free out the daily paper works and will spend more time on some valuable works. Actually, the Chinese government is now doing so. In May 18 th, 1998, the world Telecom Day, only 145 gov.cn domain names in China. At that time, the government realized that she must utilize the network resource to build a efficient workflow over the net. 2 month later, China Telecom brings forward a proposal of constructing a e-government. January 1999, government online project has officially started. Several month after then, in the 31 st world Telecom Day, that is to say, only 1 year after, the gov.cn domain names has increased to 147 sites; 72 governmental department has their own www websites. Today, according to the CNNIC annual report, the number of gov.cn domain names has grown up to The government online project includes 8 topics as below: 1. online electronic information exchange 2. online government procurement bidding 3. online welfare payment 4. electronic delivery 5. information centre 6. electronic document manage and publish 7. electronic tax 8. digital ID All these topics will act as main components to combine into a Chinese e-government. The Internet Legislation in China The first internet ordinance China have carried on is <Ordinance on Protecting Computer Information System Security>, and from then on, several other laws or ordinances have been made. In December 28th, 2, senior legislators endorsed a resolution on maintaining security of computer networks, checking on online irregularities and helping boost the fledging information industry in China. It was passed at the final meeting of the 19th session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee. This law is at the national level. The Internet Content Regulation is also passed in mid 2; it requires Internet content providers to keep 6-day records of user activities online for necessary inspections by related government administrations, including user's log-on time, Internet account, web address and other information. During 2, the legislation has been counted to tens of. In the law of preventing the youth from criminal, our nation passed the regulation that no one or association will be able to use telecommunication or computer network to deliver information that will be harm to youth. Before 2, the internet legislation only carried out by few bureaus such like the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Information Industry; but now more ministries have involved into the legislation progress, such like the ministry of education, ministry of culture, state administration

5 for industry and commerce, etc. These legislation activity and management has significantly prompted the healthy development of internet. Under the instruct of information industry department, the internet association has come into existence. 1. In the CONTRACT LAW OF China which has been adopted and promulgated by the Second Session of the Ninth National People's Congress March 15, 1999, several clauses are related to the e-commerce; such like: 1) Chapter Two Formation of Contracts Article 11 Definition of Writing A writing means a memorandum of contract, letter or electronic message (including telegram, telex, facsimile, electronic data exchange and electronic mail), etc. which is capable of expressing its contents in a tangible form. 2) Article 16 Effectiveness of Offer, Offer through Electronic Message An offer becomes effective when it reaches the offeree when a contract is concluded by the exchange of electronic messages, if the recipient of an electronic message has designated a specific system to receive it, the time when the electronic message enters into such specific system is deemed its time of arrival; if no specific system has been designated, the time when the electronic message first enters into any of the recipient's systems is deemed its time of arrival. 2. Resolution on Maintaining Security of Computer Networks, this regulation makes it a criminal offence to enter networks concerned with national affairs, defense and advanced technology, to create and spread computer viruses and to interrupt computer networks or communication services. 3. The Telecom Regulation, totaling seven chapters and 81 items, allows both foreign and non-government investors to invest in Internet and telecom businesses. But only telecom-oriented investors can participate in basic telecom service under the condition of at least a 51 per cent share control by the government. Although the regulations of telecom and Internet content management still need to be modified, industry experts hail the publishing as a milestone in the IT industry which had never embraced a national law or law-effective regulation in the past half century. 4. The law that preventing juvenile committing crimes passed at the final meeting of the 1th session of the Ninth National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, June, In article 53, it adds the by means of telecommunication and internet to deliver unsuitable material to juvenile. 5. Resolution on Internet Information Service September 2 th, Resolution on the management of BBS, passed by the Ministry of Information Industry, October, 8 th, The Temporal Regulation on Website Publishing the News, passed by the Ministry of Information Industry, October, 8 th, 2.

6 Further Legislation Consideration 1. The development of e-government has a firm relationship with the internet and information technology. A law is necessary to regulate the internet principle; and such a law will significantly reduce the confliction between departments of government. 2. In the legislation progress, we should give enough consideration on the information and network security. 3. We must clearly identify the right and obligation. There is no law or regulation that focuses on the ICP and ISP in China today. 4. Make a law for the e-commerce. The e-commerce is struggling in China these days. One reason is that the regulation on e-commerce is not complete. We will fulfill the laws to make the internet commerce secure. The E-Government Tomorrow As the government online project going on, we must take some important point into consideration: First of all, not like constructing an e-commerce project, the e-government must have a special organization to manage the progress. Because the government must be responsible to what information it have put on the net and to its sequent. So, as we boost the progress, we must have a firm control over the whole thing. Second, we must break the information monopoly and consummate the regulations and laws on internet information. Lack of information will cause chaos but information abuse will have the same result as well. Third, establish a security identify centre, assure the information to deliver safely and correctly. Not only the e-government will publish the public information, but also will exchange the internal information through the net. So, the security centre must be responsible to protect the secret information. Fourth, the real government must change its workflow to fit the e-government s requirement. Our officials must know how to deal with the daily affair on net. This requires some kind of technical training and management training as well. Fifth, make clear objects that why we should construct the e-government. The first step is to give an extra method for the people to learn information from the government, and the next step is to serve the people. Sixth, the government should popularize the computer and internet technology. For, if only few people can access the net, the e-government would lost its meaning and could not reach its original object. In China, 1% of the population is illiteracy, so how to popularize the technology and make the internet easy to use is the premier problem resolve.