Japan, China to team up in information technology

["Ulhas Joglekar" <joglekarulhas@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

The Times of India

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2001

Japan, China to team up in information technology

TOKYO: Japan and China will form an information technology alliance next
month to collaborate on next generation mobile phone and Internet services,
a newspaper reported Sunday.

Japan's Telecoms Minister Toranosuke Katayama will visit Beijing in the
middle of January to sign the deal with Wu Jichuan, China's minister of
information industry, the mass-circulation Mainichi Shimbun said.

Japan, whose telecoms giant NTT DoCoMo is at the vanguard of mobile phone
technology with its i-mode system, is keen to tap China's portable phone
market, potentially the largest in the world, the newspaper said.

Japanese infotech companies are also eager to gain a foothold in China ahead
of the expected influx of foreign competitors arising from Beijing's recent
accession to the World Trade Organization, the Mainichi said.

Japanese government officials were unavailable for comment on Sunday.

Katayama will be accompanied by private sector leaders, including the
chairman of NEC, the president of Fujitsu and the president of Nippon
Telephone and Telegraph Corp., NTT DoCoMo's parent company.
( AP )

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