Leaders of 40 top Chinese information industry companies and
scientists from 12 western provinces and autonomous regions vowed
to help narrow the digital gap between east and west China during a
recent meeting in Xi'an, capital of China's northwest
Shaanxi Province.
The convention was part of a program dubbed "narrowing the digital
gap -- west China move" aiming to bring more information
technologies and products to west China to boost its information
industry.
Public information forums, network education, computer-aided
agriculture, and digitization of manufacturing are the four major
fields being targeted under the move, sponsored by the Ministry of Science
and Technology.
According to the program, the digital gap between western China and
other parts of the country will be basically held from widening
further within the next ten years.
In
past decades, the west has suffered from slow economic growth, low
IT investment, and a severe shortage of information exchanges,
education and training, which gradually caused a digital gap
between it and the rest of China.
"The Science Ministry will pour 200 million yuan (US$24.2 million)
into the program and the 12 western provinces and autonomous
regions will input large sums of money as well for this purpose,"
said Li Wuqiang, vice director of the ministry's Department of High
and New Technology and Industrialization.
(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2003)