Figures from Internal Materials Circulated by MPT. Figures from My
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Notes Figures from internal materials circulated by MPT. Figures from my interview with the Chief Consultant of the Economic and Technological Development Research Centre of MPT and con- firmed by several other officials in MPT. There were on average 60.95 telephone sets per 100 inhabitants in OECD countries in 1985 (Ypsilanti, 1988). Each province, autonomous region, and municipality has its own Posts and Telecommunications Administration to administer the MPT's policies locally. According to my interviews with officials in the MPT and the MMEI (in Beijing, April 1993). This state-supported scheme for technological innovation selects various technological projects considered to be of national importance. This is a continuation of earlier state initiatives. In China, the state has been running 'Five-Year Plans' since 1953, which, in respect of Science and Technology development, have included a series of national R&D programmes. The R&D project for PDSS technology was under 'the key project plan during the sixth five-year plan'. According to my interview with Prof. Liu Ximin, a specialist in telephone-exchange technology and leader of the R&D project of Chinese system DS-2000 development (interview in Shanghai, March 1993). Interview with China's leading switching experts, Xie Xiaoan and Liu Ximin, who were themselves involved in such overall search of the opportunity of technology transfer from outside China. Zhou was the director of the Shanghai Telecommunication Construc- tion Bureau in overall charge of the System-12 project, and the Chairman of the board of the Sino-Belgian joint venture, Shanghai Bell, at that time. Kerkhofs was the programme manager for the BTM-China contracts in 1985, and the general manager of Shanghai Bell in 1986. The city where LTEF is located. Interview with Xie Xiaoan (see note 8), and other interviews in Shanghai Bell. In 1949 the USA, Japan, and the NATO countries created COCOM to restrict the flow of strategic goods and know-how, concerned that technology transfer might strengthen the strategic and military potential of socialist countries. Industrial sectors such as electronics and tele- communications were of particular concern in this context. Information provided by the first Chinese general manager and the present general manager of Shanghai Bell on my interviews in February 1993. Interview with the deputy manager of the Operations Department, 6 November 1992. 201 202 Notes 16. Interview with the deputy director of the Engineering Department, 30 January 1993. 17. The development of switching system technology is characterised accord- ing to the circuit technology. The earliest is 'analogue line circuit' with a microprocessor controlling 60 lines; the next was 'evolution line circuit' with a microprocessor controlling 128 lines, and the newest one is 'new generation line circuit' with a microprocessor controlling the same number of lines as the previous one but with the number of modems reduced. 18. Interview with a deputy director of the Engineering Department, 30 January 1993. 19. Interview with Mr De Graeve, who was the fourth Belgian general manager. His predecessors were: Mr J. Loontiens, Mr M. Kerkhofs and Mr S. Abbeloos. 20. Figures were provided by a deputy manager of the Engineering Department, 30 January 1993. 21. According to the director of Productivity and Quality Management, 'He is a very experienced manager. Apart from building up a quality control system in Shanghai Bell, he also introduced his knowledge to other local companies and had a very good relationship with the Shanghai Quality Management Association' (Director of Productivity and Quality Management, 9 November 1992). 22. Most detailed material about production quality control was provided by the manager of the Department of Productivity and Quality Manage- ment in an interview, on 9 November 1992. 23. The first System-12 exchange in use anywhere in the world was in June 1986 in the Netherlands. It was only six months before the first Shanghai Bell-made System-12 was put into operation in China. 24. Those with such a degree of education could have better jobs than being a phone operator in these places. 25. According to my discussion with shop-floor engineers and workers in Shanghai Bell's workshop, 1 March 1993. 26. Ibid. 27. Interview with the vice-chief engineer in the Shanghai Telephone Administration, 10 February 1993. 28. Interview with a deputy manager of the Personnel Department, 3 November 1992. 29. Figures provided by a deputy manager of the Department of Operational Finance at PTIC. 30. According to The Law of the People's Republic of China on Joint Ventures Using Chinese and Foreign Investment, Article 7, 'a joint venture equipped with up-to-date technology by world standards may apply for a reduction of or exemption from income tax for the first two to three profit-making years'. This law was adopted on 1 July 1979 at the Second Session of the Fifth National People's Congress; promulgated on 8 July 1979 (Shanghai Municipal Foreign Trade and Economic Committee, 1985c). 31. Interview with the deputy manager of the Department of Operational Finance at PTIC. i Notes 203 32. Domestic enterprises did not have such rights (see more detailed description in Chapter 4). 33. Interview with the vice-chief engineer in the Shanghai Local Tele- communications Administration and confirmed in other interviews in Shanghai Bell. I did not see the internal circular. However, there is the State Council No. 56 dispatch in 1989 which indicated clearly, 'it is requested for all purchasing of foreign switching systems to use the ones which have already been selected by the government' (Telecommunica- tions Administration Bureau at Zhejiang Provincial Posts and Tele- communications Administration, 1992, p. 93). 34. Many of the young managers I interviewed in Shanghai Bell belonged to this batch of recruits, which was arranged by MPT. 35. About the CCG group, the deputy director of the Engineering Department provided most details at the interview, 30 January 1993. 36. Details of RASM from an interview with the deputy director of the Engineering Department, 30 January 1993. 37. This material was provided by the deputy manager in the Engineering Department at the interview on 30 January 1993. 38. Interview with the Belgian general manager of Shanghai Bell, 10 February 1993 and the Chinese general manager, 1 February 1993. 39. Which is technically more complicated than the exchanges used for telecommunications switching within the country. 40. Interview with the deputy manager of the Engineering Department. 41. Interview with the manager of Marketing Department, 28 February 1993. 42. According to the deputy manager of the Engineering Department, who was in charge of installation. 43. Interview with the manager of Personnel Planning and Education in the Personnel and Administration Department, 3 November 1992. 44. Interview, 31 January 1993. 45. Interview with the Chinese general manager, 1 February 1993. 46. Interview with the deputy manager of the Operation Department, 6 November 1992. 47. Housing in Shanghai was extremely scarce, as a popular saying vividly described: 'It is easier to find a wife than a flat.' 48. The manager of Personnel Planning and Education at the Personnel and Administration Department, Shanghai Bell, gave me the details about material incentives which Shanghai Bell provided to its staff. 49. The manager (associate professor) of the Training Centre provided the most detailed material. 50. The mayor Zhu Rongji is now the Premier of the state council. 51 Interview with the deputy director of the Shanghai Bell System-12 Project Conducting Group. 52. Interview with the head of the Domestication Division. 53. This was according to the deputy manager of the Engineering Department. 54. The head of the Domestication Division at Shanghai Bell provided detailed material in this section. 55. Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian province on the southeast coast of China. 204 Notes 56. In December 1980 the contract for importing the system F-150 between Fujitsu and the Post and Telecommunications Administration of Fujian province was formally signed. It was eventually put into operation in November 1982 (Gu, 1992). 57. A French switching system, also the first commercial digital local exchange system of Alcatel-Thomson. 58. By that time, digital computer programme-controlled exchanges devel- oped by CIT were small-size PABX and terminal (local) exchanges. Full-size PDSS meant that the new system would have a capacity of approximately 30000 subscriber lines and could be used as local or tandem (toll) switches. 59. This is according to my interview with Professor Wu, Director of CIT, in Zhengzhou, 26 April 1993. 60. The system DS series was a range of Chinese PDSS technologies. DS-2000 was the first successful PDSS developed by Chinese R&D teams and the latest version was DS-30 (see also section 1.3). 61. The MPT was originally established as a posts and telecommunications administration entity for the country. The MMEI was an industrial management ministry. However, under Mao's self-reliance philosophy, the MPT and MMEI both established their own industrial enterprises during the Cultural Revolution. As they both have their own telephone switch producers, this gave rise to confrontations between them. 62. This is according to my interview with a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Machine Building and Electronics Industry (now, Ministry of Electronics Industry). 63. Apart from the public telecommunications network, in China, there were several private networks run individually by the Ministry of Railways, the People's Liberation Army, the Ministry of Electronics Industry, etc. which have excess capacity. In early 1993, they planned to initiate a joint company, Lian Tong Corp. ('Unicom' in English), and to jointly establish a rival public telecommunications network, in order to challenge the MPT. This plan was still being debated when I was there in April 1993. 64.