Promoting Foreign Capital into China's Tele Market
Mr. Wu Jichuan, Minister of Information Industry pointed out in his speech at Si no-US high-level meeting on telecommunication that to materialize its strate gic development targets at the turn the century, China's information communicat ion industry is working on a series of important reforms including promoting for eign capital into China's telecommunication market in a steady and appropriate manner.
Mr. Wu said that China will continuously strengthen its international exchanges, create conditions for the marriage between China's information communication i ndustry and international information community and steadily promote internation al investors into China's telecommunication market. Not long ago, Shanghai Mun icipal Government signed an agreement with US based AT&T on joint operation of v alue added telecommunication businesses in Pudong area, which marks a new step t oward further opening of Chinese information communication industry to the outsi de world.
Mr. Wu added that along with the rapid development of information technology and in-floods of new techniques and business, Chinese information industry hav e mainta ined fast growth for several consecutive years and contributed greatly to the na tional economic growth. Recently, Chinese information communication industry is working on a series of important and profound reforms. First of all, by taking advantage of c urrent govern mental restructuring efforts, the nation has seen the separation of postal admin istration from telecommunication so as to make two sectors run on their own and c ompete for the market, which laid an important foundation for deepening the refo rm in the industry. Secondly, in the spirit of breaking up monopoly and advocat ing for co mpetition, efforts have been made in optimization of telecommunication industria l structures, establishing modern enterprise system and fair and orderly market competition.
Mr. Wu expressed that China will reform and restructure its telecommunication sy stem on a planned and progressive basis. China Telecom will be divided into fou r companies running for fixed network, mobile telecommunication, radio paging an d satellite telecommunication respectively. Together with China Unicom and othe r companies operating on value added telecommunication businesses, fair competit ion will be soon witnessed in the market.
Meanwhile, he revealed that Chinese Ministry of Information Industry is busy d rafting 揕aw of Telecommunication?and national legislative body has listed it a priority to be dealt with in near term. Before the formal publication of telec ommunication law, a socalled Regulations on Telecommunication Management will be dished out in the first half of this year so as to regulate the market.
China Encourages Foreign Investment in Infrastructures
Regarding some new problems encountered in foreign investment in China's infras tructure projects, Ms. Song Mi, Director General, Dept. of Development of Infras tructure Industry, Chinese State Planning Commission, expressed that foreign inv estment projects signed before are still valid for implementation. He took powe r plants as an example. A few years ago, China was seriously short of power sup ply. Attempting to ensure a relatively high return rate for the investment, Chi na promised to pay back both the principle and interest of the investment and de fine the lowest electricity tariff for many projects invested by foreign busines ses to promote foreign investment. Chinese Government is trust worthy and will n ot breach the agreements and contracts approved by the government in the legal f ramework. If the violation occurs, it should be corrected in a firm manner. Au thorities concerned shall rectify and regulate the enterprises who breach contra cts and violate the interest of foreign investors and supervise contract enforce ment according to law.
Concerning some new developments of power industry in the country, Chinese autho rities concerned require foreign investor to notice the fact that Chinese market is developing in changes and market risks shall be shared by both investors and collaborators. As a result, some policies shall undergo some corresponding cha nges. Apart from the continuous enforcement of signed contracts, no more new co ntracts promising fixed returns shall be signed. When planning their investment , foreign investors should take notice of the new policy and adopt corresp onding measures such as lowering the cost so as to continue their collaboration s with Chinese partners.
State Planning Commission, State Economic and Trade Commission and Ministry of F oreign Trade and Economic Cooperation have jointly published "Interim Regulatio ns on Guiding Foreign Investment" and "Guiding Catalog for Foreign Investment" in which Chinese policy and positions on foreign investment in China and pos sible investment orientations are elaborated. Along with continuous deepening of China's reform and opening, China's energy and transportation sector have witne ssed remarkable achievements in regularization, legitimization and international ization, which created an improved external environment for foreign investors. During a period of time in the future, China's infrastructure development in ene rgy and transportation sector will continue to see a steady growth. Against the negative impacts caused by Southeast Asian financial crisis on the world econom y, China's infrastructure development in the field of energy and transportation will doubtlessly provide a stable and vast market for long-term international in vestment.
Major Results of China's Studies of Nanometer Function Materials
With the continuous support of China National Natural Science Foundation and oth er organizations, Chinese scientists have achieved 7 major results in the field of nanometer function materials of important reaching. Five papers introducing these results have been published in UK based Nature, US based Science and other international scientific journals and attracted great attention of international S&T communities.
The said seven major results are:
Integration of extensive directional carbon tube array
It is completed by the team headed by Mr. Xie Sishen, Institute of Phys ics, CAS.
They developed the technique of making pure carbon nanometer tube with chemical vapor. The nanometer tubes made with the new technique are of basically identical caliber of 20 nanometers with a length of 100 microns and the array of nanometer tubes could reach 3mm×3mm. The technique could create the features of high arrays and 100-micron interval distance between carbon nanometer tubes. The said extensive directional carbon nanometer tube arrays are of important application perspectives in the field of transmitting negative polar displaying. The paper on the result was published in US based Science in 1996.
Super long nanometer carbon tube
This is also completed by the team headed by Mr. Xie Sishen. There are a number of techniques in the world manufacturing carbon nanometer tubes with th eir length only ranging from 1 to100 nanometers. On the basis of improved base, the team has successfully controlled the growth pattern of carbon nanometer tub es and shaped the growth pattern with catalyst concentrating on tube top and eve ntually produced directional carbon nanometer arrays with super length from 2 to 3 mm (1 to 2 times that of current carbon tubes)on a massive scale. The techni que has also made the natural opening at the tube bottom and direct acquisition of high yielding nanometer carbon tubes possible. The result was published in U K based Nature in August 1998. British Financial Times reported the developme nt under the title of "Stage for Longer Nanometer Carbon Tubes" on August 13.
The successful manufacturing of super long directional nanometer tubes have made testing physical properties of nanomter tubes with regular experimental means p ossible. The team is now in collaboration with others working on testing th e properties of these super long tubes such as dynamics, electronics, thermal co nductivity, thermoelectric potential and field transmission and has achieved sat isfactory results.
Gallium nitride nanometer bar
The results was achieved by the team chaired by Fan Shoushan, Tsinghua Universit y. The team has for the first time successfully made one dimensional semi-con ductor gallium nitride nanometer bar with a diameter of 3-40 nanometers and leng th reaching nanometer scale on the basis of carbon nanometer tubes. They also p roposed the concept of restricted reaction of carbon nanometer tubes.
Gallium nitride is the most promising material for making blue light laser gener ator. The proposed restricted reaction of carbon nanometer tube may also be ap plied in manufacturing nanometer tubes or bars made of other materials. US base d News on Chemistry and Engineering and some other international journals pub lished the results. The top ten major S&T breakthrough news selected by Science in 1997 included the said result. The result was also rated by 587 Chinese aca demicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering as o ne of 98' top ten S&T developments in China.
Silicon substrate based carbon nanometer tube arrays
This is the result worked out by Mr. Fan Shoushan in collaboration with P rof. Dai Hongjie, Stanford University. They have for the first time in the world realized the self-growth of carbon nanometer tubes on silicon substrate base, w hich makes massive production of carbon nanometer tube arrays with intercompatib le microelectronic techniques possible and promotes applied research on applicat ions of carbon nanometer tubes in the field of transmitting plane and nanometer components. The result has applied for patent right.
Quasi one dimensional nanometer fiber and nanometer cable
This is completed by the team headed by Mr. Zhang Lide, Hefei Institute of Solid Physics, CAS. With the application of a number of modern techniques such as
glue melting and condensing, thermal carbon reduction and external extension of nanometer drops, the team has for the first time in the world covered TaC nanome ter fiber with insulator SiO2 and turned out nanometer cable of Sic nanometer thread with SiO2 insulators. So far only a few research groups in the world ar e able to synthesize these materials. The paper on the result was delivered at the 4th International Conference on Nanometer held in 1998 and greeted with high praises by many foreign scientists.
Nanometer gallium nitride crystal through benzene heating
This is completed by the team chaired by Qian Yitai with China Science and Techn ology University. The compound formed between family III-V and family II-VI in elements periodic table are fine semiconducting materials. For example, gallium nitride is blue and green light illuminating materials of extensive application perspectives while indium phosphide being the ideal material for photoelectrici ty. However, it is impossible to mix nitrides and phosphates with water heating techniques for they would react against water. With the help of solvent heatin g technique, the team has for the first time made nanometer gallium nitride crys tal with a length of 30 nanometers at about 300℃. They also synthesize CrN, CO2P and Sb2S3 nanometer crystal through benzene heating. The paper was publi shed in Science in 1997.
Nanometer diamond making by means of catalytic heating
This is completed by the team chaired by Prof. Qian Yitai with Chinese Science and Technology University. They triggered the reaction between carbon tetrachlo ride and sodium under medium temperature (700°C) and turned out nanometer powd er for diamond making. The paper was published in Sciences in 1998 with high praise.An article titled "Rice straw turning gold-CCl4 turning diamond" was also publish in News on Chemistry and Engineering.
China's Research on Protecting Matixiang-A Kind of Rare Plants on the Brink of Extinction
Thanks to 8-year ceaseless and painstaking efforts of Mr. Li Sifeng, research fellow of Northwest Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences and chair of the research team, research project on geographic distribution and system and evolution ofMatixiang family sponsored by Shanxi Natural Science Foundation ha s achiev ed major results. Experts believe that the result has presented the most comple te and systematic in-depth study of the species of plant in the world, which is o f importance to protecting this rare species and resources of medical plants. It is of impo rtant value and guiding significance to addressing many issues facing biodiversi ty protection.
Matixiang which exists only in China is the unique species in the family and is a rare plant under China's protection. Applied with many approaches and techniques such as geobotany, bota nic taxology, c ytology and biodiversity theory, the research team has confirmed the fact that t he plant is distributed in the areas of lower and middle altitude from 800 m to 1600 m above sea level along middle reaches of the Yangtze River and worked out a de tailed geographic distribution chart. In the study of the plant's evolution, they discovered for the first time the number of monoploid chromosome of pa rent cell and soma and studied for the first time anatomical features of it s nutritious organ. These efforts have led to revealing the fundamental princip le of the c lose relationship between stability and variations of the plant's chromosomes.
According to the number of chromosomes, nuclei form, morphological characteristi cs and variation law, researchers pointed out that Matixiang is the earliest f orm of its family kin to Asarum sieboldii. Relatively complete and in-depth study of its evolution, family classification and distri bution is of important academic value. T he research has investigated for the first time its colony quantity, structures, biological properties and environmental characteristics in Qinba Mountain area, which provides scientific evidence for its protection and utilization.
Researchers also pointed out that both on-site and migration protection policie s shall be applied to the rare plant so as to create better condition for its rep roduction, restoration and development.
China's Largest Pulse Driven Motor
The first 6 pulse driven motors with a consecutive power of 1000 kw have passed verification and approval at Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Factory, which hallma rked the birth of China's pulse driven motor with the largest power. They will become the vigorous "Heart" of China's future high speed locomotives of 200 km /h or above.
The said pulse driven motor is the driving force for China's first high speed ( 200 km per hour) "bullet" locomotive. The design and development of the motor is applied with many advanced technologies and techniques such as C class insul ation resistant to temperature as high as 200℃ with its insulation capacity, un it weight and power ratio reaching internationally advanced level so as to meet the light duty requirement of high speed locomotives. The whole system is applie d with (CAD) computer assisted design technique with rational position and
accurate size for every components and linkage and fine commutation which ensure the safe high speed performance of the motor. A number of new and advanced tec hniques were also used in welding and assembling, which has made China's researc h and development of pulse driven motor in the world advanced rank.
