China's Internet population could overtake the US as the world's largest within two years, but foreign dotcoms may have to wait much longer to profit from it, analysts said yesterday.
While usage will pick up as computers get cheaper and the Internet becomes more attractive, local culture and habits constitute formidable barriers to entry for overseas businesses, they said.
"I believe China will overtake the United States in less than two years," said Huang Hui (黃暉), the director of the Center of Internet Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.
"The growth of Internet users in China is much higher than in the United States," he said.
The number of US users of the Internet currently hovers at around 210 million, an increase of little more than two percent from a year earlier, according to industry estimates and US government data.
China, on the other hand, saw its Internet population soar 23.4 percent last year to hit 137 million, according to the most recent figures from the government-controlled China Internet Network Information Center.
"The growth now is gaining much momentum. We're expecting even faster growth in 2007 and 2008," Wang Enhai (王恩海), director of the center's information services department, told the state-run China Daily newspaper.
Wang, too, expressed confidence that it would take no more than two years for China, already the world's second-largest Internet market in terms of people connected to cyberspace, to take over the global top spot.
"An increasing number of people are now getting hooked to the Web as PCs and Internet access are becoming affordable and Internet-based offerings diversified," he said.
The newspaper said China's 461 million mobile phone users would increasingly adopt new technologies enabling them to access the Internet on the move.
The new statistics from the center implied that more than one in 10 Chinese had become an Internet user.
"The online population now makes up 10.5 percent of the total population," the center said in a statement on its Web site. "In Beijing, it now exceeds 30 percent of the total population for the first time ever."
With user penetration hitting 10 percent, the Internet will create a "vast array of opportunities" for business, the China Daily said.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
REGIONAL STABILITY: Taipei thanked the Biden administration for authorizing its 16th sale of military goods and services to uphold Taiwan’s defense and safety The US Department of State has approved the sale of US$228 million of military goods and services to Taiwan, the US Department of Defense said on Monday. The state department “made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale” to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US for “return, repair and reshipment of spare parts and related equipment,” the defense department’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a news release. Taiwan had requested the purchase of items and services which include the “return, repair and reshipment of classified and unclassified spare parts for aircraft and related equipment; US Government
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from
RSS