[photopress:softwarechina.jpg,full,alignright]The idea of China selling software and services overseas in large quantities is not one that occurs automatically. Yet China has already done very well ($3.6 billion is not a small achievement) and plans to boost its software exports to US$10 billion by 2010.
A document jointly issued by the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) and seven other central authorities, posted on SAT’s website, said the government’s goal is to foster a group of globally competitive software firms with their own brands and intellectual property rights.
Software firms will receive preferential treatment in regard to taxation, borrowing and foreign exchange controls. If China is facing increasing friction with major trading partners over goods then it can move into services. The plan is to move services from, sayd, $160 billion in 2005 to $400 billion in 2010. Key to that strategy is the software industry.
According to figures from the Ministry of Commerce, China exported US$3.6 billion worth of software and related services in 2005, a rise of 28 percent year on year.
Source: Xinhua