China is to spend one trillion yuan (US$120 billion) over the next
five years to spur its information industry, according to a meeting
of Ministry of Information Industry (MII) held in Beijing on
Saturday.
In
a breakdown, 500 billion yuan (US$60.24 billion) will go for
telecommunications, 50 billion yuan (US$6.02 billion) for post
service, and 400 billion yuan (US$48.19 billion) for electronic
information technology, according to the meeting.
China's information industry is to develop steadily, with its value
added accounting for seven percent of the nation's gross domestic
product by the year 2005, said sources from the ministry.
Through 2005, the information industry will become a major pillar
industry of the country.
The Chinese government will make great efforts to push forward and
give priority to the application of information technology as a way
of boosting economic and social development, said Lu Xinkui,
vice-minister of MII.
Lu
also noted that such a huge investment could not be financed by
just government allocations, bank loans and money from
enterprises.
He
said money would need to be raised from domestic and international
capital markets, and called for transforming investment mechanism
the sector to allow the entry of private and foreign funds.
Lu
said that government will provide more channels for the investment
and especially encourage direct investment from home and
abroad.
(Xinhua News
Agency 09/30/2001)