CHINA DAILY

PA G E 1 0

ASIA WEEKLY

AUGUST 5 -11, 2011

ChinaComment
CHINADAILY
EDITORIAL

Small sigh of
relief
Over the past few months, the world has
watched with uneasiness and frustration
the political drama unfolding in Washington, capital of the worlds largest economy.
The erce partisan debate over raising
the debt ceiling was so ugly that it threatened to hold hostage not only the United
States own economic and social well-being
but also the global economy, by forcing the
US government to default on its payments
on a broad range of programs at home as
well as bondholders abroad.
But the world, especially the countries
that hold an enormous amount of US government bonds, can now heave a sigh of
relief, though for a limited period of time.
The US House of Representatives passed
a budget bill that will cut more than $2.1
trillion in government spending over the
next decade and raise the $14.29 trillionlimit of the federal debt by up to $2.4 trillion.
Under the agreement, a new joint congressional committee will be established
to come up with suggestions that may lead
to reforms in government spending and
changes in tax policies. All this may open
ways for the US government to reduce its
decit.
However, the bills passage will provide
little relief to the US economy, which is
plagued with a 9-percent unemployment
rate and a huge public debt.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
in its recent analysis of the US economy predicts: We dont expect a really fast recovery
going forward. Importantly, we dont expect
that the (US) economy will recuperate fully
to the previous output trend.
Anyone traveling in small and mediumsized cities in the US will come across
empty warehouses and boarded-up shops
and hear local people complain of how the
middle-aged cant hold onto their jobs and
the young nd it hard to start a career.
The central issue, as Joseph E. Stiglitze
and many other economists have repeatedly pointed out, is that the US has not started
to address the core problems that drove the
US and the world into nancial crisis and
economic downturn in the rst place.
As a result, the wealth divide between the
rich and poor is widening the wealthiest
Americans have again been successful in
preventing a tax increase.
Meanwhile, the US government has yet
to prove its effectiveness by stimulating
job creation and tightening its regulation
on nancial institutions. As it has no fresh
policies to boost the economy, there will
clearly be no quick x and more political
disruptions are expected as the country is
preparing for the forthcoming presidential
elections.
The global economy is interconnected,
which means other countries, especially
emerging economies, must maintain their
vigilance and come up with more measures
to cooperate with each other and bolster
each others economic growth.

HU ZHENGRONG and JI DEQIANG

Three into one benefits all

TRI-NETWORK INTEGRATION SHOULD FOCUS ON DEVELOPING NEW COUNTRYSIDE
ri-network integration,
i.e., the integration of
telecommunications networks,
cable TV networks and the
Internet, will play an important
role in the transformation of
Chinas society in the information era. The
government should bear this in mind during
the policymaking process.
In 1999, the State Council issued a circular
forbidding the cable and telecom sectors to
transgress into each others business areas.
However, since early last year, the State Council has been pushing forward tri-network
integration.
With the adjustment of government policies, the cable and telecom sectors have been
competing to claim more territories from
each other.
Meanwhile, the market for the traditional
broadcast operators has started shrinking, and
telecom operators have had to meet the huge
cost of providing 3G services. Consequently
the two sectors are seeking opportunities in
each others peripheral areas, such as Internet
services and the production of Internet Protocol television (IPTV) content.
But the internal friction between broadcast and telecom operators at home should
not be an obstacle to the globalization of the
Chinese information industry. So the key question is: how to adapt Chinas information-oriented economic development to the structural
changes of the economy.
The policies relating to the integration of the
three networks will not only inuence Chinas
economic development, but also its systematic
and social framework.
Therefore the transition into the information era is by no means as simple as just
upgrading networks, it is a complicated

Policymakers must determine

how to establish a sociopolitical information system
that can balance the interests
of diferent groups. The new
policy needs to be able to
bridge the information gap
between urban and rural
citizens and among diferent
social strata.
process that also has implications for Chinas
growth model.
With the spread of the Internet in China, the
country has become one of the most connected in the world with 485 million netizens. New
network policies are sure to be introduced,
as the integration of the three networks is an
essential step for China to take in its digitalization process.
But a big basket of supporting measures
concerning almost every aspect of the
countrys information endeavor must also
be carefully considered in advance, including
the construction of a national information network, the development of information technology, the cultivation of talent and the comprehensive provision of information resources.
The operators of new networks are primarily public service providers. That is to say, they
should not look at their own interests only, but
shoulder their responsibilities as public information service providers.
So policymakers must determine how to
establish a socio-political information system
that can balance the interests of different
groups. The new policy needs to be able to

bridge the information gap between urban

and rural citizens and among different social
strata and help create a better society based on
fairness and justice.
Tri-network integration should avoid any
tendency to favor the social elite. Instead it
should cater to the needs of the general public
and be a platform enabling them to participate in society.
Public service should be the core tenet for
the integration of the three networks. Otherwise, the merging of the different networks
will not help the needy majority and the transformation will be merely a cosmetic change
rather than a fundamental development of the
information industry.
Tri-network integration should act as an
important driving force to balance the social
and economic development in different parts
of China. The cable and telecom sectors have
already occupied the market in the economically developed coastal areas and rst-tier
cities, which has led to a widening information
gap between these areas and the vast underdeveloped inland areas of China.
To this end, poverty-stricken areas of the
countryside should be targeted for tri-network
integration. Cable and telecom network building
in the rural areas should be an important part of
the development of the new countryside.
Only when more people benet from
technology can the country be said to have
entered the information age.
Policymakers should bear this in mind
when drafting new guidelines for the spread
of new integrated services.
The authors are with the National Center
for Radio and Television Studies of
Communication University of China in
Beijing.

CA I P E N G H O N G

Common interests in South China Sea

he fact that maritime security in the
South China Sea was discussed as
one of the issues in the talks between
Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo
and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
in Shenzhen early last week, demonstrates
China and the United States are interested
in maintaining peace and stability in AsiaPacic, but it also reects the geopolitics in
the region.
China and the US may wish to ask hard
questions of one another, but some of them
simply reect their self-interests, such as Chinas concern that it will be unable to control
its islands and the United States concern that
it might be unable to maintain its role as the
leading power. But the two countries are keen
to avoid any conict in the South China Sea.
China has said it welcomes the USs presence in the region and the US has stated that
it will not take sides on sovereignty issues.
The US wants to have freedom of navigation
and China has never taken, and will not take,

any action to disrupt the passage of ships.

It is understandable that any country,
including the US, has a national interest in
the South China Sea, in the sense that the
vast expanse of ocean, except for territorial
waters and EEZ (exclusive economic zone)
areas, are maritime commons or high seas,
which permit free and unimpeded legal
commerce. In terms of international laws, in
particular the United Nations Convention on
the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), Chinese and
any other countries vessels are also legally
allowed to freely sail in the high seas outside
US territorial waters. In this respect, China
can also declare that it has a national interest
in the Caribbean areas in the USs backyard.
There should be no over-reaction to the
comments made by Clinton before the inaugural China-US talks that the US would abide
by the Mutual Defense Agreement to defend
the Philippines against aggressors. It seems
her remarks were merely diplomatic-speak.
Otherwise, she would not have mentioned

that not only did the US not intend to fan the

ames in the South China Sea, but also bluntly refuse to tell the Chinese that they have an
obligation not to fan the ames.
Despite some conicting perceptions, both
countries can still pursue various types of
cooperation in the South China Sea. The rst
is to widen cooperation for humanitarian and
disaster relief, both bilaterally and multilaterally.
The second is that they can consider conducting bilateral maritime and naval exercises to combat piracy, thus securing sea lanes
in the South China Sea.
The third is that they can collaborate in
persuading international oil companies to
explore oil and gas deposits through joint
venture developments.
The author is senior fellow at the Institute for
Asia-Pacific Studies and director of the APEC
Research Center, Shanghai Academy of Social
Sciences.