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[Ataraxie]

March 29, 2000 at 0:48:19 PST

China Plans Internet Drive

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BEIJING (AP) -- China plans a campaign to bring industries, government offices and households online as part of a national strategy to make the Internet a more
powerful engine for economic growth.

Ministry of Information Industry Wu Jichuan told a conference in Beijing that his agency intends to "rejuvenate" the digital electronics sector and do more to promote
communications and software businesses, the official newspaper China Daily reported Wednesday.

With the information industry growing at an annual rate of 20 percent -- almost three times the 7 percent growth rate of the overall economy -- China needs to readjust
its economic structure to take advantage of that dynamism, it cited Wu as saying.

At the same time, China is struggling to set up a regulatory system and laws to govern the fast-growing industry. The number of Internet users in China has been
doubling every six months for the past two years, rising to 8.9 million people by the end of 1999.

Courts are handling a growing number of cases involving disputes over the Internet, such as copyright infringements and plagiarism of home pages, the newspaper said
in a separate report. In one typical case, six prominent authors sued a Web site for publishing their novels without authorization.

The report noted that Web-related cases were a "headache" for the courts because there are no concrete statutes on Internet use.

The push to bring the country online also has been hampered by a lack of financing and support for Internet-related companies, as well as the government`s own
ambivalence over the hard-to-control industry.

The government recently has tried to extend controls over Web sites, ordering Internet content providers, which have enjoyed far greater freedom than the
state-controlled conventional media, to obtain licenses.

At a time when major portals are looking overseas for the financing they have trouble raising back home, regulators are enforcing more strictly than before rules against
foreign investment in Internet firms.

Wu told the same conference that domestic Internet companies would be required to spin off all assets and operations related to content services in order to list
overseas, a ministry official said. The official declined to elaborate.

But the official newspaper China Securities News noted that Wu hinted that China might change those restrictions once it gains membership in the World Trade
Organization.

Wu did not specify how the policy would affect Internet companies incorporated abroad but with considerable assets and operations in China.

This week, two of China`s most popular Internet companies officially announced plans for selling shares on the Nasdaq stock market. Another, U.S.-registered
Sohu.com, filed documents for a Nasdaq listing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last month.

[woof]

Da werden sich alle freuen, die in PCCW investiert sind!

[Ataraxie]

ich glaube ins geheim sind die weichen schon gestellt. auch die regierung
weis, dass sie diese entwicklung nicht aufhalten oder kontrollieren kann.
um das gesicht zu wahren, versucht man halt trotzdem eine gewisse
stärke und macht zu zeigen, indem man auflagen ankündigt.

auf eine explosive entwicklung der it-branche in china
ataraxie

[Ataraxie]

Thursday, March 30, 2000

Beijing outlines Net listing rules

CHRISTINE CHAN and MARK O`NEILL in Beijing


Beijing has for the first time spelled out the basis for mainland Internet companies to seek overseas listings, while creating a new restriction banning content-related
assets from being included in the listing vehicles.
The restriction is valid only until Beijing joins the World Trade Organisation, implying a further policy relaxation may take place following the expected entry later this year.


Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan yesterday said the companies would be allowed to list abroad if they excluded their content services and assets, according
to the China Securities News.

Reactions from analysts were mixed. One Beijing-based analyst welcomed the news, saying the government had set out a temporary path for domestic Internet
companies to get around the sensitive content-related issue.

The issue of control over content has been a sensitive one amid uncertainty about which government organisations had the responsibility of regulating Internet content
providers. (ICPs). The Ministry of Information Industry has responsibility for Internet service providers.

The analyst said: "The message is: any companies that don`t have the ICP problems will be allowed to list overseas."

The clarification has come at a time when many mainland Internet companies have difficulty operating due to a lack of funds, the analyst said. Further delays in listings
could affect their continued running.

It also comes as popular Internet portals Sina.com and Netease have filed applications with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for Nasdaq listings
after gaining Beijing`s official sanction.

Their listing model is set to be followed by a string of fellow Internet companies, as long as they play by the rules.

Netease, according to a filing with the SEC, is planning to raise up to US$120 million through listing 7.5 million American Depository Shares.

Meanwhile, Netease yesterday named a new chief executive to replace the man who founded the firm.

King Lai, a Chinese-American who worked for eight years for Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising as chief of their Taiwan and then Greater China operations, has taken over
from William Ding Lei.

Mr Ding, who set up Netease in 1997, will become chief technical officer and remain chairman.

Brokers said Netease, like Sina.com, had set up a Cayman Islands firm as its listing vehicle, to get around the restrictions by Beijing on foreign ownership of Internet
sites.

"Proceeds from the listing will go to develop Netease in China and, after restrictions on foreign ownership have eased after China has joined the World Trade
Organisation, the mainland operations could be injected into the listed vehicle," one broker said.

The listing will make Mr Ding a multi-millionaire, since he owns 68 per cent of the company. News Corp owns 10 per cent.

Sina.com, which aims to raise up to US$72 million in its listing, will not have ownership relations with its mainland Internet content provider company, but will be able to
derive income from it through another company minority held by the listing vehicle.