CHINA DEVELOPMENT GATEWAY: THE COST OF COMPROMISE

BY A MAINLAND SCHOLAR

This case study of a specific foreign-funded portal works on the international level, while Country Gateways civil society initiative examines how cultural apply the same principles at the country level. Country Gateways aim to facilitate and catalyze innovative and effective use of the and knowledge gaps and inadequate oversight Internet and other information communication technologies can cripple a project’s effectiveness. (ICT) in government, business, and society in order to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development.1

Click open the Web site chinagateway.com.cn and you will find The goal of the Development Gateway initiative, as nothing more than a boring official propaganda organ. In its expressed explicitly by all country gateways that received English version on June 2, 2003, for example, the highlighted grants from the World Bank, is to integrate ICT as a new tool news is about recent developments on the Three Gorges for better accomplishing development goals.While many ini- Project and the West-East Gas Project; in its Chinese version the tiatives target development or ICT separately,the Development headline news focuses on achievements in the national indus- Gateway is one of the few dedicated to linking the two. tries of telecommunications, automotive manufacturing and The China Country Gateway,like other country gateways, shipbuilding.All of the news materials have been selected from includes its own official mission statement in its business China’s official news agencies. plan.2 While the intention to “update development progress” This would not be surprising for a typical mainland and “share anti-poverty information” is mentioned in the first Chinese news portal, which like many other officially spon- paragraph, the remainder focuses on quite different goals: sored propaganda organs shows little regard for the tastes and 1. To promote international co-operation and mutual needs of its readership. But in fact this is the China Country understanding, Gateway,a country-level component of the World Bank’s 2. To introduce more foreign capital and technologies Development Gateway initiative ostensibly dedicated to pover- to China, ty relief and civil society empowerment. 3. To speed up IT development in China, Many readers may find it strange for an international 4. To open channels for “globalized” Chinese enterprises, development portal to praise the government’s huge dam 5. To contribute to integrating global markets at large, project without mentioning the displacement of 1.3 million 6. To contribute to sustainable economic development, of the very people it is designed to serve. In fact, China and Development Gateway (CnDG) is a prime example of how a 7. To boost the development of the IT industry and development project can depart from the original purpose e-commerce in China. and design of international experts due to disparities in cul- It should be noted that participation in the Development ture, society,economy,politics and the understanding of Gateway requires each country gateway to support develop- development itself. ment, including poverty reduction.Although each country gateway is also required to pursue a sound business planning The Mission of CnDG process, its overriding purpose is not to make a profit, but The official mission statement of the Country Gateways given rather to ensure that each local ICT development initiative by the World Bank’s developmentgateway.org reads: is self-sustainable, not only financially but in other respects as well. The Country Gateway mission is in line with that of the The list of “competitors” in CnDG’s business plan indicates Development Gateway as a whole:To help communities, organi- that CnDG was modeled on general commercial Web sites zations, and individuals build partnerships, share ideas, and existing in China at that time: 1) news portals such as Sina and work together to reduce poverty.The Development Gateway Sohu; 2) community portals, 3) Internet marketplaces, and 4) subscription and information portals. CnDG’s business plan, Daily ideas and concepts of Party documents and editorials in ideas andconceptsofParty documentsandeditorials mission statement islargely indistinguishable from themain Gateway for gateways. itscountry cial Web sites andthat intendedby theGlobalDevelopment significant difference between ofthesecommer- thepurpose seemstohave missedthe while costing$27,000todevelop, misunderstanding: areof development.There several possible reasons a for such pr to beamisunderstandingbetw compromiseextent shouldacountry itsown goals? required toabide by towhat World Bankrequirements? Ifso, be asafundingrecipient, extent? Orshouldacountry, towhat its goalstoaccommodate national policies?Ifso, try’s Shouldthe national priorities? World Bankcompromise tionship between a World Bankprogram andaspecific coun- shouldbetherela- questionsinthesameline:What further Development Gateway? The CnDGmissionstatement raises policy tobeintegrated initiative intoaninternational as such Isitappropriate for Party the 11thParty Congress in1978. have beenChina’s national policiessincethethirdsessionof oducers oftheCnDG Web siteover thefundamentalconcept 3) Sinceonly China’s agriculture universities are involved in Chinesegovernment canbeexpectedtoregard the 2)The 1) The CnDGteamdoesnotincludedevelopment profes- pr rmiscmeca oe thediscourseofCnDG’s fromApart itscommercialtone, The need to ask these questions arises from what appearsThe needtoaskthesequestionsarises Opennesstotheoutsideworld andeconomicreform . China. projectsseldom reportorhighlightinternational in China’s massmedia For example, aid. and international impr Communist Party hasnever encouraged peopleto China’s While happily aid, acceptinginternational “intellectuals, including mostChinesepeople, development studies, efficient propaganda venue thanconventional media. itprovides portal anInternet and amore modern world.As GatewayCountry asanew window onChinatotheoutside gr ofCnDGwillbeexplored (Thepartners in (ICPs). providers (ISPs)andinformation contentproviders f norisitadvised by professionals inrelevant sionals, administer emer lished undertheState Council’s information office to pr thestate-owned PublishingInternational Group (CIPG), ment from the World Banktoproduce CnDGisChina Inf involvedpartner inproducing CnDGisChinaInternet China’s image community.The intheinternational other 1949), (bef andwhat heaccomplished in China (1893-1990), renowned development Chineseinternational pioneer lif Web focus Chinesereporters onallwalks of site.While ields ,sc smnfcuig giutr,fnne fashion, finance, agriculture, asmanufacturing, such e, ea opa or or ter detailla o ainCne,agovernment agency newlymation Center, estab- . ganda monopol The cor ve consultants withinternational theirfamiliarity e 1949)andinotherdeveloping (after countries F 3 ew Chineseknow about James theworld- Yen, and hisnameisnotmentioned on theCnDG ” e organization receiving thegrantendow- ter). kno ging w very littleabout development. W y responsible for improving e b sites, een the inf W ormation service ormation orld Bankandthe People’s w information that appears inothermediawithoutaddingvalue. r andare news notlicensedtoreport or news agencies inChina, Content Providers (ICPs),Web as sitesare notcategorized tions fr CnDG isprevented by China’s regula- Internet site inChina, like any other InanyWeb case, enjoy afree press environment. whodoesnot about Chinathantheaverage Chinesecitizen, Foreigners already have access tomore informationtions. target thepeopleofChinarather thanmultinational corpora- users asfollows: meant toser — anditstarget clients arethe powerful“outside world,” groups include thefollowing: CnDG’s business planenvisages the Web site’s audienceto ofCnDG The Users elease inf a y shouldinclude: just theoppositeofaudienceadevelopment is portal – Chineseacademicr thisshouldincludetown- – Chinesegovernment bodies: theothermainusersofaChinadevelopmentIdeally, gate- fi st etgniedvlpetgas CnDGshould If itistomeetgenuine development goals, The BusinessPlanofCnDGconcludesitsassessment Consumers T andStudents Academic Researchers Pr Go NGOs/Community development DOMESTIC USERS Private investors sectorandinternational Governments Donors andNGOs INTERNATIONAL USERS Fr will ha others touseCnDG Web theirinterests site.Therefore andneeds pur since they for are theoneswhouseInternet business andprivate thetarget audienceforInitially, CnDGisyoung professionals, our om thissta ivate sector teers, includes possibly thebestsourceofpotentialvolun- usersand has thehighestconcentration ofInternet countyandcentralgovernment bodies. ship, approximate theactualmeaning. that more closely bothuseChinesecharacters contrast, The Taiwanese in andJapanese versions oftheword, rather thantoassistingthoseinneed. nomic growth” leads even professionals tomisread itasrelating to “eco- that easily or “boosting” connotation of “speeding up” bearsa Even for theChineseterm “development” beat.” there isno “development andculture, art legal issues, v poses; om pr er ists nments v rainA eut CnDG canonly duplicate aresult, ormation.As e tobemonitor some ofwhom may be engaged indevelop- v the o e . viding “exclusive” information.As Information information.As viding “exclusive” ilb h eryaotr’ad‘nlecr’of and y willbethe ‘influencers’ ‘early adopters’ tement itiscleartha esearc ed andca esadsuet:thissector hers andstudents: ter ed to t theCnDG’ 4 . s pr ior ity is

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ment studies. For the time being, the international This list shows that the major content suppliers of CnDG academic community can get more information are official news organs and government agencies. It is doubt- about China’s development issues from the Global ful that “Information publishing institutions of the govern- Development Gateway Web site. ment” would provide CnDG with exclusive “policy informa- – International donors: there are no Chinese Web sites tion” given that state ministry information centers are not designed to provide international donors with infor- allowed to reveal, disclose or release information on a preferen- mation about the country they are trying to help. tial basis to news facilitators. Secondly,as noted earlier, China’s Foreign governments, international investors, Chinese Internet regulations do not allow Web sites to release or cover private sector participants, tourists and individual consumers news materials, as they are not considered “journalism units.” are much less appropriate audiences for CnDG. That is why the management and regulation of Web sites is not handled by the General Administration of Publishing and Press The partners of CnDG but by the newly established State Council Office of Information. According to CnDG’s Business Plan, its partners include: Thirdly,so-called “policy information” of state ministries is now – Information publishing institutions of the government, widely available, and its importance has decreased accordingly. such as the information centers of the state ministries. Genuinely important policy information, on the other hand, is “They could provide policy information to CnDG, and not available even to “information centers in the state min- use CnDG as a speedy effective channel to publish policies istries.”An examination of the existing CnDG Web site shows no and regulations, and get feedbacks and suggestions.” “policy information” or any links to relevant sources.And in any – Central press and Internet media. China.org.cn is a member event a genuine development-oriented portal cannot and should of CnDG’s board and is in charge of CnDG’s operations and not rely on government-generated policy information. implementation. China International Publishing Group is a In a similar vein, central press content partners such as member of CnDG’s Advisory Committee, and China Daily China International Publishing Group and China Translators’ is a key partner of CnDG. “These institutions provide CnDG Association are not “journalism units” and have nothing to countrywide general information, and help CnDG in brand provide in terms of news or policy information. CnDG’s “key popularization.With the cooperation with CnDG, they will partner,” China Daily,is China’s only nationwide English gain an effective channel to communicate with the world. newspaper and appears to be responsible for a majority of It will also bring them the potential customer requirements CnDG’s English language content. But it is clear from both and comments, which will be used to justify their infor CnDG’s Web site and business plan that the content supplied mation structure and contents.” by China Daily is not specifically produced for a development – Provincial news offices and Internet media.Among these, portal. Rather, China Daily simply allows CnDG access to its beijingnews.com.cn and eastday.com are among China’s ordinary news materials. most powerful local media. “They provide CnDG local Local media organizations described as providing CnDG development related information and requirements and with local development related information are local govern- help CnDG in brand building. By doing so, they will ment/Party news Web sites such as Beijingnews.com.cn expand their social contacts and build their own brand at (Beijing municipal government owned) and eastday.com the same time.” (Shanghai municipal government owned), and their service to – Social groups and organizations, including the China CnDG is no different from that of China Daily. Welfare Fund, China Handicapped Association and State As for social groups and organizations such as the China Handicapped Sport Center.“They provide CnDG the Welfare Fund, China Handicapped Association and State information about charity and commonweal affairs. Handicapped Sport Center, they are simply government agen- CnDG will create a new channel for them to publish the cies, and CnDG does not even provide any write-ups or links charity needs and to communicate with international related to these organizations. charity groups, governments, enterprises and individuals What is clear from the partner list is that there are no that are interested in this sector.” development-related institutions or individuals involved as – Technical Support. Shanghai Universal Information partners or as members of CnDG’s board of directors or Technology Corporation Ltd., a private enterprise, is a advisory committee, nor is there any indication of involve- member of the board and provides marketing plans for ment by academics or local community organizations. CnDG.Aviation Sichuang Technology Co. Ltd., a high- In short, the following conclusions can be drawn from an tech stock company,provides CnDG’s information pub- examination of CnDG’s partners: lishing platform and system integration services. Beijing 1) CnDG’s content relies on official news providers while Huizong International Information Co. Ltd., a non-gov- ignoring more relevant providers of development ernmental information technology company,provides information such as China’s agricultural universities and CnDG’s search engine. “Through the cooperation with other related institutions, individuals with development CnDG, these companies will increase their brand values expertise, or domestic and international NGOs. and reputation in the industry.Their product will become 2) The choice of content is directly related to the perception more mature after being used, tested, modified and of the China Country Gateway as an official propaganda upgraded in CnDG.” vehicle rather than a virtual community where people can ed ministries that supposedlyed ministries publish policyinformation onthe Agr not even linkstotheofficial Web of sitesoftheMinistry there are Surprisingly, China National Greenhouse Association. thr withlinksto andtenmore on “Land Protection,” Conservancy” ar portal sponsoredportal by the World Bank. Gateway entrepreneur mightexpecttofind onaDevelopment resources ortointernational that atownship enterprises, tocentralorlocaladministrations oftownship ship enterprises, relatingenterprise toacademicmaterials totown- Web sites, township enterprises.We find nolinkstomajortownship for ormarketplaces Chinesetownship for Chinese enterprises noexamplesofbestpractices about township enterprises, of CnDG’s Englishversion inthe heading of section Agriculture “Township Enterprises” underthe For example, nerships are reflected initscontent. The narrow suggestedby interests CnDG’s andpurposes part- The contentofCnDG ticles under the heading of “Planning,” ten articles on tenarticles “Waterticles undertheheadingof “Planning,” ee other )CD’ atesaenrol iie,withallcore part- 3) CnDG’s are partners narrowly limited, Wha icultur partnerships toservetheinterests ofspecificpartnerships groups. is obvious that seniorofficials have for CnDG’s arranged It ners comingfrom thesamecentralgovernment bureau. inChina’sshare theirexperiences development arena. localnews report and advice, exchange express opinions, t the e ortheMinistr W T e o b sites: wnship Enter notncm 10EAgri-Food and Trade cncotton.com, y ofF 5 there statistics are nobasiccurrent prises sectiondoescontainisnine prises rsr,twoorestry, development-relat- mass mediaf the questionofwhetherCnDGactually didsigncontractswith pr r generates alarge quantityofmate- word “township enterprise” domestic of includingthat oftheMinistry WebAgriculture. sites, sectionhas recently added13actuallinkstorelevant Links” leastthe “Related are from majorofficialwhich media.At mostof CnDG’s Chineseversion similarly present 39items, of related laws andofficial speeches. rest are undated texts 20 from 2002andthree from 2001.The with Only two are ofthe39articles from thisyear, enterprises. community orprofessional publications focusing ontownship withnothingfrom more relevant andeasily accessible media, People’s ChinaNews Daily, Agency andothermajorofficial are Mostofthe39articles from Xinhuanews agency,materials. withoutany linkstorelevant section contains39articles, updated sincethe Web ayear sitewas andahalfago. launched have noneofthematerials been ismore, three links.What presented onCnDG’s English Web sitetotalsonly and 37articles CnDG Sotheentirety of Web“agriculture information” site. te onr aeas provides noinformation oneditorial gateways, other country of acountr the World Bankissatisfied withwhat theCnDG Web siteoffers. ial, ise Web Itraises sitesandhundreds ofrelated news articles. By way of contrast, a search inSina.comwiththekey asearch By way ofcontrast, sectionin The othersectionsunderthe “Agriculture” While information content is the most important productWhile information contentisthemostimportant The Chineseversion ofCnDG’s Township Enterprises including dozensofna y ga or thesuppl te w y nGsbsns ln unlike that of ay, CnDG’s business plan, y ofne tional andr ws ma ter egional to as andalsowhether ials, wnship enter-

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policy,editorial management or content architecture to 1) Explain, introduce, advocate, correct and promote a indicate the underlying framework of its content. However, clear concept of development apart from its own Web site comparisons with other Development Gateways are revealing. development and growth. Information should be provid- Unlike many other development gateways, CnDG’s infor- ed on internationally accepted concepts of development, mation is not interactive.There are no bulletin boards or chat development studies in contemporary China, and so on. rooms where users can post information or comments.While 2) Report to the Chinese audience on the Development the English version provides a forum for submitting opinions, Gateway initiative and provide background information the topics are predetermined and currently limited to on international activities, trends and organizations “Agriculture reform,”“Credit system and development” and related to development issues. For political reasons, “Post-WTO: Foreign trade and anti-dumping.” Most country information on international organizations, international gateways additionally offer several topics with content submit- initiatives and aid to developing countries has rarely been ted by outside individuals or institutions. It appears that the provided through China’s mass media in the past.With editors of these development gateway portals are responsible the Communist Party discouraging public awareness of for developing partners, editing their contributions, establish- China’s need for foreign aid, many Chinese still associate ing new topics and ensuring an open and inclusive system foreign missionaries, for example, with imperialism and dedicated to content quality,diversity and user interest. economic and cultural invasion rather than religious or The content of CnDG’s Chinese version consists largely humanitarian work.As a component of the Development of outdated news reports and official communiqués, all of Gateway,CnDG should make a point of eradicating popu- which are provided by Chinese news agencies. In the English lar misconceptions regarding foreign aid. version, all non-news materials are vague, simplistic and 3) Promote the concept of non-governmental organiza- largely irrelevant, giving the overall impression of a general tions.Although there are no genuinely independent brief introduction to China.The editorial policy is closed, and NGOs in China, in recent years the Chinese government relevant institutions and individuals are not encouraged to has begun to acknowledge some quasi-NGOs and toler- contribute to CnDG.The search engine is weak and limited to ate their increasingly important roles in all sectors of domestic published content. In short, it is difficult to envisage society.It is consistent with the mission of the who would find anything of interest on this Web site. Development Gateway and CnDG to advocate the concept CnDG’s business plan makes no mention of online of NGOs, encourage academic study of NGOs, and pave services such as e-learning, online transactions, government the way for the inevitable upsurge in Chinese NGOs. 6 e-procurement, virtual office, access to databases and libraries 4) Seek, engage, nurture and build partnerships. Since and hosting, all of which appear in almost all other country Chinese officials, intellectuals and entrepreneurs know gateways. Mongolia’s Development Gateway,for example, has little about development and NGOs, they are unlikely to a job opportunities column, and Pakistan’s outlines plans for know how they can participate in the Development innovative online services such as a consumer standard certifi- Gateway initiative. CnDG should encourage as many cation regime and an education accreditation service. organizations and individuals as possible to become Some country gateways provide additional off-line engaged in the Web site’s development. services that CnDG could consider. For example, Romania’s 5) Become familiar with other domestic development por- Development Gateway provides a service called “Managing tals and how they operate. CnDG should learn from suc- funds and grants from international institutions for ICT pro- cessful Web sites and establish links to them.A good grams.” Russia’s Development Gateway suggests publishing “A example is Chinadevelopmentbrief.org, a bilingual Web monthly popular magazine and a bimonthly informational site produced by a small, privately-funded Beijing-based and analytical bulletin on problems of e-Development.” organization staffed by Chinese and expatriates.This is In summary,the following can be said of CnDG’s content: actually the kind of development portal that the World – The information available is inadequate and suggests that Bank wants and China needs, although it gets no support the content team is unclear about what material is appro- from either the World Bank or the Chinese government. priate for a development portal. – CnDG lacks links, references and databases relating to rel- evant Web sites and printed materials. It operates in isola- 1. http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/137849/faq tion from the communities of NGOs, donors, academia 2. http://www.developmentgateway.org/download/138508/bp.doc and indigenous organizations. 3. http://www.iirr.org/html/citizen.htm – The information is not interactive, preventing CnDG from 4. Taiwan and Japan translate “development” as kaifa, while China translates exploiting the full potential of ICT. it as fazhan.The UNDP’s official Chinese name uses the Taiwanese term for development. – CnDG should consider offering the innovative online and 5. http://www.chinagate.com.cn/english/44.htm off-line services provided by other Development Gateways. 6. There has been at least one institution in China involved in studying domestic NGOs: the NGO Center at Tsinghua University,sponsored by What Can CnDG Do? the U.S.-based Asia Foundation The following are some suggestions of what CnDG should aim (http://www.ngorc.net.cn/index/indexnew.php). to accomplish as a development Web site.