Ministry of Information Industry of the People's Republic of China

(April 19, 1999)

The Chinese government gives high importance to the computer Y2K problem emerging at the turn of the century. Under the leadership of the State Council, government bodies at all levels have done a huge amount of painstaking work in organizing and mobilizing national efforts in solving this problem.

On August 18, 1998, the General Office of the State Council issued to the whole nation a " Circular on Solving the Computer Y2K Problem". On August 26, the Ministry of Information Industry held a national video and teleconference and mapped out strategic plans to solve the problem.

In conjunction with the departments concerned of the State Council, the MII has done a conscientious job in organization, coordination, publicity, guidance, supervision and examination, setting up a Y2K Working Group and a national level Y2K Expert Group to promptly study the common technical issues, put forward solutions and concrete measures and formulate test standard and specifications. To provide better guidance through publicity and increase information sharing, a book series entitled " Guidelines on Computer Y2K Problem" and work bulletins have been issued. Training materials developed have been used by training courses. A special web site has been established on the Internet for the timely exchange of information. With the funds raised through vigorous efforts, three product test and validation centers have been set up to validate Y2K compliance of computer hardware, software and embedded chips. Meanwhile, efforts have been stepped up to formulate Y2K associated state action plans and emergency plans. And extensive international exchanges and cooperation have been conducted to enable the international community to correctly and fully understand the efforts made and the results achieved in addressing the Y2K problem by the governments at all levels in China.

As the year of 2000 is drawing near, the Y2K has become a burning issue which brooks no delay. Showing great concern, the leading members of the State Council have inquired about the work progress and made a number of important instructions which have given a strong impetus to the work. To further accelerate the work, our Ministry organized the Y2K Working Group, Expert Group and comrades from the departments and commissions concerned to check on the progress made by the State Economic and Trade commission and other 17 key sectors and industries specified in the Circular in solving the Y2K problem in late December of 1998. On February 2 this year, our Ministry called another nationwide video and teleconference on the instruction of the leaders concerned of the State Council to reiterate the requirements to be met in seeking a solution to this problem. In its second circular issued on March 17, 1999, the General Office of the State Council transmitted the MII's report on the "Progress and Views regarding the Resolution of the Y2K Problem", setting more explicit requirements for the future work.

At present, Y2K is a problem still confronting all our sectors. Although the 18 key departments and sectors specified by the State Council have made considerable headway in solving the problem, the development is not balanced. The banking, securities, telecom, civil aviation, petro-chemical and other sectors crucial to the national economy and people's daily life have made obvious progress and by and large completed system modification, having either reached the test and acceptance stage or started risk evaluation and emergency plan formulation. In general, the following are the problems we face today: the understanding of the Y2K resolution is to be increased; the leadership and management over this work should be enhanced urgently; inter-departmental cooperation and coordination is not adequate; there is a huge gap in the fund required; hidden perils exist due to the lack of concrete measures to tackle the Y2K problem in the embedded application systems; inexperience hampers risk evaluation, system test and inter-departmental interconnection test; and there is a lack of understanding of and preparation for the legal disputes that may arise from Y2K problem. The key areas of our future work include: continue to improve understanding and leadership in an effort to do well in tackling the difficult problems; formulate good emergency plans based on improved risk analysis; raise funds from multiple sources to ensure adequate financing; step up information feedback and supervisory work; increase inter-departmental cooperation and coordination; and further improve technical support and service provisioning.

Y2K problem is a global one demanding extensive international exchanges and cooperation among various countries. China's Ministry of Information Industry and the US Department of Commerce jointly held Sino-US International Seminar on Y2K Problem on March 31 this year and achieved a great success. In the meantime, we also carried out extensive exchanges with Britain, Canada, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and other countries in the joint efforts to seek a solution to the Y2K problem.

The Meeting of the High-level Officials convened by APEC in Wellington, New Zealand in November 1998 voiced the call for strengthening national and regional exchanges and cooperation to promote the solution of the Y2K problem and expressed the hope that all the member countries should hold "Computer Y2K Week" within 12 days from April 19 to 30. China will actively answer the call and hopes to promote the solution to this problem through this event. The Ministry of Information Industry will collaborate with relevant ministries and local governments in organizing the various aspects of the "Week". During this "Week", we will organize the mass media such as newspapers, broadcasting and TV stations to cover the event and conduct extensive special publicity activities related to Computer Y2K problems on Internet, introducing the work carried out and the progress achieved by various departments, industries and localities in solving this issue. We will arrange for special interviews, invite experts to compose and publish special articles on various media to exchange their methods and experience on this problem and organize knowledge contest on Y2K problem. The Ministry of Information Industry will hold International Symposiums on Y2K in Shenzhen on April 22 and in Beijing on May 6, respectively. The Ministry will set up five teams in cooperation with 18 other majors sectors and departments under the State Council to cross-check the progress made towards solving this issue, to identify problems, to exchange experience and to develop partnerships to this end. Recently, the Y2K Working Group of the Ministry has issued a notification, inviting the competent bodies under various ministries and provincial and municipal governments to organize relevant publicity activities and seminars during Y2K Week in light of their actual conditions in order for this event to be as effective as possible and to attract greater attention from the general public. We warmly welcome the friends from various social sectors to take an active part in the whole range of activities of the Y2K Week.

In conclusion, we will make every possible effort to solve the Y2K problem so as to achieve a smooth and uneventful cross-over for our country into the next century.