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November 18, 2002, 10:00 - 12:00 |
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Conference Room 801, 8th floor, Headquarters, MPHPT |
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| (1)Members (alphabetical order; titles omitted
from names) |
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ASAI Hiroshi, FUJITA Satoshi (substitute attendant:
YAMAZAKI), GOTO Shigeki, IMAI Keiichi, ISHII Hideo, KATO Toshiyuki,
KISHI Hirokazu, KONISHI Kazunori, LIM Kian Soon (substitute
attendant: NISHI), LIU Dong (substitute attendant: LU), MATSUMOTO
Toshifumi, MIKURIYA Toshio, OKI Toshie, Yong-Jin PARK, SAGA
Kenji, SHIBASAKI Yoshitaka (substitute attendant: HARADA),
SHIOMI Tadashi, TAKAHASHI Toru, TAKAHASHI Toshinori, TANAKA
Toshiki, YASUMOTO Yoshio (substitute attendant: KITAMOTO)
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| (2)MPHPT |
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Vice-Minister TSUKIO Yoshio; MORI, Director-General
of the International Affairs Department; TAJIRI, Senior Advisor
for International Public Relations of the International Policy
Division; ASAMI, Director of the International Cooperation
Division; MIYASHITA, Senior Advisor of the International Cooperation
Division; MIHARA, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation
Division
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| (1)Opening |
| (2)On the Points of Report (draft) |
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Mr. TAJIRI, Senior Advisor for International
Public Relations of the International Policy Division, made
an explanation on the Reference Material 5-1 "Points
of Report." |
| (3)On the report (draft) |
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Mr. TAJIRI made an explanation on the Reference
Material 5-2 "Report (draft) [members only]." |
| (4)On additional comments from Members |
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Members made explanations in line with the Reference
Material 5-3 "Additional comments from Members [members
only]." |
| (5)Opinion exchange |
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The e-ASEAN Framework Agreement says that one of
its goals is construction of the Asia Regional Internet
eXchange (ARIX). The current situation surrounding ARIX
becomes complicated. APOC maintains statistics on routing
through monitoring of the Asia Pacific Network Information
Centre (APNIC)'s routers. APOC keeps track of Asian
IXs. APOC also constructed Nepali IXs with a budget
of a Singaporean organization consisting of UNDP and
Canadian funds. At present, there is a project to interconnect
international IXs, and it is expected its center will
be built in Asia. As regards international tie-ups,
for instance, there is an idea that a Singaporean IX
will transit to the Japan Internet eXchange (JPIX) via
virtual local area networks (VLANs). If such attempts
would be realized at a commercial level, developing
countries/economies can be provided IXs at lower cost. |
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Focused discussions on IXs are being made at the
Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational
Technologies (APRICOT), held annually. Almost all Internet-related
organizations in Asia will attend the next APRICOT to
be held in Taipei in February 2003. At APRICOT, deliberations
have been made for years on how to deal with IXs, it
is about time to deliberate upon concrete measures. |
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With regard to support measures for ARIX, deliberations
shall be made on desirable functions of an initiative
for interaction of international IXs. Synergy shall
be pursued between Japan's initiative and its support
measures. To this end, an interactive structure shall
be required under which private-sector activities and
government support measures complement each other. |
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At the preparatory conference for WSIS to be held
in January 2003, the Asia Broadband Program will be
implemented at the final stage. This report is well
organized at a glance, however, concrete measures are
not found. The implementation status of this Report
after January 2003 is ambiguous. I think an in-depth
survey on the Asia Network Incubation Center (ANIC)
shall be carried out, and if ANIC meets the purposes
of this Study Group, ANIC shall be utilized as an entrusted
corporation for implementing the Asia Broadband Program. |
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Two phases are needed. At the first phase, meaning
this Study Group, concrete proposals are formulated
and contained in this Report. |
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This Report is, in a sense, an exhaustive enumeration,
covering a range of matters, from business to R&D,
from disinterested things to things with direct interest
in business. Taking a look at entire Asia, things differ
from country/economy to country/economy. It is vital
to implement measures in a comprehensive manner, paying
due respect to such differences. For instance, with
a bird's-eye view, it is essential to implement measures,
considering what is the best target to invest a national
budget. In the international arena, a promotion mechanism
is needed to input public fund into right places without
hindering various players. In that sense, existing organizations
and frameworks, such as ANIC, shall be fully utilized.
Leaderships are needed. |
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With respect to networks for R&D, support from
governments will be significant. Backbone networks between
Japan, China and Korea shall be enhanced. Because many
island states are in the Asia-Pacific region, in parallel
with satellite links, submarine cables play a key role.
As regards the implementation scheme, it is important
to organically link NPOs and governments. By the way,
terms of "local language" and "native
language" are found in this Report, are they different
from each other? |
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Upon construction of broadband networks, where private
companies enter into foreign markets, there are many
hurdles. For example, local incumbent carriers' information
on their local loops is never offered. Where foreign
private carriers cannot provide users with services,
such hurdles hinder foreign private carriers from constructing
broadband networks in other Asian countries/economies.
In line with China's accession to WTO, the Ministry
of Information Industry (MII) is trying to open the
Chinese telecommunications market. In reality, however,
MII's rulemaking process is chauvinistic and becomes
a barrier against rate reductions. As for IXs, there
are two patterns, namely 1:N and 1:1. In Japan with
the most open market, 1:1 hearings are allowed. On the
contrary, in cases in most Asian countries/economies,
only 1:N hearings are allowed. If one country/economy
interconnect an IX with another IX at their discretion,
routes of other countries/economies would transit via
unintended countries/economies. I think we must pay
careful attention to such details but dangerous situations.
I am concerned about that diffusion of content filters
in China would hinder widespread use of broadband networks. |
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With regard to networks among Japan, China and Korea,
at the Asia Pacific Broadband Summit and the Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) to
be held in Shanghai, Japan, China and Korea will agree
to establish an alliance. On November 25, 2002, the
Internet Conference of China will be held. MPHPT held
the Japan-China-Korea ICT Ministerial meeting, also
opinion exchanges of Japan, China and Korea are in progress
at the private-sector level. It is critical for Japan,
China and Korea to take international leaderships around
the world. |
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As for exchanges on human resource development/discovery,
I would like to appreciate that this Report contains
APNIC, etc. with priority. The Asia Pacific Networking
Group (APNG) is discovering next-generation people,
and holding the Asia Pacific Next Generation Camp (APNG
Camp). In Japan, JPNIC set up the Next Generation Task
Force with the purpose of exchanging opinions with the
younger generation for developing the Internet in a
sound manner. At APRICOT to be held in Taiwan in 2003,
the 3rd APNG Camp will be convened. The preparatory
work for the Camp is being carried out. Please support
Japan's |
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It would be better to point out that this Report
shall describe that infrastructures are to be prepared
so as to meet foreseen sharp increase in traffic among
Japan, China and Korea, considering the vital importance
of the traffic. |
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With respect to "character codes" in this
Report, the assertive description, saying "it lacks
the participation of interested parties from Asian countries/economies
who use the language in the development at the Unicode
Consortium of character codes for the respective languages.",
would lead to misunderstanding. Weak expressions, such
as "there are some cases where the participation
of interested parties is insufficient." In addition,
the phrase, "Participation of the interested parties
in the consortium must be considered.", would be
better if changed to "Participation of the interested
parties in the consortium is encouraged." |
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As for the implementation scheme, it is vital to consider
how and what to do henceforth in a concrete manner.
There are many options, for instance, to hold a forum
with Japan as a core member, or to administer subcommittees
in a well-organized manner under global organizations.
In order to enable subcommittees to work well and to
reduce excessive burdens on a secretariat, it is essential
to develop well-considered methods. |
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Where is this Program positioned in Japan's national
strategy? I hardly understand the reason why Japan presented
public comments to Asian countries/economies. If presenting
public comments, Japan may take another adequate option,
for example, to appeal by submitting reports at more
stable and firmer opportunities. |
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As for the implementation scheme, it would be better
to assert the scheme shall make the most of international
frameworks such as AIC and ANIC, and the alliance of
the Internet-related organizations of Japan, China and
Korea. |
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With regard to the domestic implementation scheme,
headquarters are needed. For instance, portal sites,
etc. are helpful. It is vital to collect information
on global trends. A center of broadband-related information
is required to integrate information at both the private
and public sectors. |
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| (6)On goals of the "Asia Broadband
Program" |
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Mr. TAJIRI offered an explanation on the Reference
Material 5-4 "On goals of the 'Asia Broadband Program'
(materials for deliberations) [members only]." |
| (7)Opinion exchange |
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In addition to the tripolar idea, some suggest that
the pentapolar scheme will be realized. When foreseeing
the end of this decade, is it enough to analyze the
coming world on the assumption of Japan, U.S. and Europe
"trilateral" idea. When looking into NICs
around the world, NICs in Central and South America
became independent, while NICs in Africa are striving
to be independent. I think that the idea of pentapolar
scheme will work better. |
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How to deal with the so-called "Stan" countries,
namely, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and so on. When comes
to the Asian region, such countries shall be considered. |
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With respect to goals, upon setting forth goals,
each country/economy shall be allowed to present their
own data for numerical targets. It is recommended that
each country/economy without numerical data be allowed
to contribute to this endeavor through various ways,
including dispatch of human resources. |
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The Russian sphere has a potential to become independent,
in this case, the hexapolar structure would surface. |
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In case of the tripolar, because Asia is behind the
rest of the three, Asia can wave a big banner and trumpet
our goals for catching up the world by 2010. When the
pentapolar, Asia as positioned in the middle cannot
have any kind of flags. It is appropriate that the tripolar
is to be adopted so as to maintain comprehensive goals. |
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With respect to goals, the bigger the better. Each
item shall have numerical targets. Infrastructures differ
from country/economy to country/economy. Thus, an expression
of "to be accelerated" or alike is acceptable.
It is preferable that one policy has one numerical target. |
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It seems to me that "Goals" are isolated
from each other. Some ideas for linking each goal are
needed. |
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A mechanism shall be developed under which business
entities make the most of potentials to establish profitable
business models for fostering human resources. How about
a mechanism through which synergy is expected, for instance,
support for strengthening backbones in Asia and for
fostering human resources. Upon construction of infrastructures
in Asia under the leaderships of governments of Japan,
China and Korea, the three are to support local human
resource development projects or new application development
projects without imposing cost and regulations. Through
such support, engineers or technicians will be highly
motivated, resulting in creation of new businesses. |
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Some businesses which entered Asian countries/economies
are successful; however, many Japanese companies are
still in bad performances. The most important thing
is what can this Program do for Japanese companies,
what kind of contribution to Japanese companies can
Japanese companies expect. If there is something good
for them, local subsidiaries of Japanese companies in
Asia can support this Program. If an infrastructure
is constructed with a considerable amount of money,
we must make the most of the infrastructure for various
purposes. |
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| (8)Schedule from now on |
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Mr. TAJIRI offered an explanation on the Reference
Material 5-4 "On goals of the 'Asia Broadband Program'
(materials for deliberations) [members only]." |
| (9)Closing |
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