Professor Wu Jiangxing, leader of the taskforce of High-Performance Broadband Information Network under Program 863, a state-funded high-technology development plan, said the project would serve as a pilot for a proposed national network.

The project would rely on local governments in the delta to pool resources for a next-generation, operational high-performance broadband information network that supports interactive multi-media and other services, he told a seminar on the project.

The delta region, which consists of Shanghai, and parts of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, is one of the most prosperous regions in China.

The region, which accounts for one percent of the country's landmass and six percent of the population, generates 22 percent of the country's gross domestic product and 25 percent of fiscal revenue.

The planned network would improve the competitiveness of the delta by creating a better environment for coordinated regional development, in order that the area will become more attractive to outside investors and improve efficiency in distributing resources, said Wu.

The region had started cooperating in areas of transportation, markets, ecology, information, finance and human resource for coordinated development.

The planned national broadband information network would be pioneering, innovative, open and demonstrative in nature, said Wu.

Featuring new products and new services, the network was being designed to promote the development of the national economy, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 14, 2003)