Flow My Thoughts, The IT Professor Said

New Wall Of China

http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1397,1551702,00.asp

Short article covering new initiatives in Communist China to develop IT standards which differ from those prevailing in the rest of the world. Because mainland China is such a large market, and is also such a large producer of IT equipment, the force of such standards is significant. Currently, most of the IT production structure in China is owned by foreign companies, implemeting low-cost production of foreign technology designs. By mandating different standards in a large and growing market, and licencing these to select Chinese companies, who then become mandatory partners for any foreign firm in this area, China hopes to keep more profits in the country.

Since this goes against the long-term trends to open, non-proprietary standards, it represents a considerable challenge to the 'accepted way of doing things', which challenges have tended to fail in the past. The question here, perhaps, is the degree to which Chinese economic expansion continues, because the more it does so, the stronger China's bargaining position with the rest of the world.