China's meteoric Internet growth, already eye-catching in the
world, has an even greater development potential, and will continue
to promote a freer flow of information in China, major website
executives and experts attending a seminar in south China's
Hainan Province said recently.
China, the world's second largest Internet market after the
United States with 111 million Internet users, is expected to see
an annual jump of at least 15 percent in the number of netizens
before 2010.
"This means big business and enormous opportunities," said Wang
Yan, chief executive officer of sina.com, a top Chinese portal
listed on the New York Nasdaq stock exchange.
People hooked to the Internet now account for a mere 8.4 percent
of China's total population. Web-based business is still at its
ascent, said more than 70 executives and Internet researchers who
attended the annual meeting of the Internet Information Service
Commission of the Internet Society of China in Hainan on
Monday.
"Among the countries whose per-capita yearly GDP is less than
US$2,000, China has witnessed the fastest Internet sector growth,
and the boom is a manifestation of China's effective yet
market-friendly regulation," Wang said.
Up to 20 Chinese firms have been listed abroad, mainly in the
United States, with a gross market value exceeding US$10 billion,
and more are waiting to get on the bandwagon.
Wang said that this success partly testifies to the authorities'
guiding and overseeing the sector, and he believes there may exist
a misunderstanding among some foreigners who criticize China's
Internet system.
People in some foreign countries have recently questioned the
supervision of Internet content in China, accusing some
world-leading technological companies of helping to maintain the
so-called "Great Firewall" by filtering out some sensitive items.
Web executives and sector experts at the seminar retorted that
keeping out "illegal and harmful" information from the Internet is
a worldwide common practice.
"China's overseeing Internet content is in tandem with world
norms. Many big websites in the world have explicit written rules
on deleting or editing netizens' messages that they deem abusive,
defamatory, offensive, obscene, or in violation of a specific law,"
said Professor Ming Dahong, of the journalism research institute of
the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Participants of the seminar echoed Professor Ming's views. He
Hongzhen, corporate affairs manager of the Nasdaq-listed Chinese
top search engine baidu.com, said that it is all Chinese Internet
companies' responsibility to strive for a healthy, orderly, and
well-regulated Internet environment. He deemed that China's
Internet management mode of "government regulation hand in hand
with sector self-discipline" is effective and beneficial to the
long-term net growth in China.
It remains an arduous task for the Internet sites to keep a
somber mind in constantly ferreting out "illegal and harmful"
information, typically obscene and pornographic content that
poisons the young and vulnerable, particularly children. According
to a recent survey, young people under the age of 18 consist of 60
percent of China's total netizen population.
Since its launch in June 2004, the China Internet Illegal
Information Reporting Center has received more than 240,000 tips
from the public complaining of illicit or irregular
Internet-related content and acts. Of the total clues reported,
68.2 percent are porn related, and 8.2 percent concerns Web
gambling and fraudulence.
Chinese experts said that the reporting center is identical to
the functioning of the Internet Watch Foundation of the United
Kingdom. China will soon join a 17-member world Internet overseeing
federation, headquartered in Ireland, a source revealed.
Fang Xingdong, chairman and CEO of bokee.com, China's largest
blog website, said in an interview, that he foresees a volcanic
rise of blog writers in the coming years. Fang estimated that China
now has up to 12-15 million active bloggers, who are contributing
65,000 blogs an hour.
"Their writings are freewheeling, dynamic, and interactive with
millions reading and commenting. These people are making thousands
of varied statements on the Internet," Fang said. "It is really a
mistake to say there is no freedom of Internet speech in
China."
"As a matter of fact, the unprecedented rapid growth of Internet
has activated the democratic process of China's society, and made
the country better informed and connected with the world
community," said Huang Chengqing, secretary general of the Internet
Society of China.
(China Daily February 28, 2006)