12/1/99 -- 7:59 AM

Y2K troubles ahead for China, government's top troubleshooter

------------------------------------------------------------------------

BEIJING (AP) - Hospitals, businesses and parts of China's vast interior are unprepared for year-end computer problems, although banks, electric power and other vital sectors are basically ready, a senior government troubleshooter said today.

With a month to go before the new year, the assessment given by China's top coordinator for Year 2000 computer glitches was the frankest admission by the government that troubles are certain to arise even if they are scattered.

Government troubleshooters have been frustrated by China's size, uneven development, inefficient bureaucracy and lack of funds and awareness about the problems, said Zhang Qi, the Ministry of Information Industry official overseeing China's preparations.

``China is a big country with more than 30 provinces and over 1.2 billion people. So it's hard to get a complete picture in resolving Year 2000 problems, and there are areas we do not understand,'' Zhang said at a news conference with senior officials from the banking, aviation, electric power and telecommunications sectors.

Zhang's evaluation underscores the difficulties in predicting whether and where the computer problems, also known as Y2K, will crop up. It also matches the assessment of foreign monitoring firms who believe that China belatedly mobilized money and staffing, saving key sectors and major cities while sacrificing others.

The Y2K glitch is a product of older computer programs and processing chips in everything from automated bank tellers to hospital equipment that expressed years using only the last two digits. If not corrected, computers and machines could interpret 2000 as 1900 and crash or garble data in the new year.

Nuclear power and defense industries have been declared free of Y2K problems following inspections at 92 key installations by the government commission that oversees military research and production, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

``There will be no explosions, no leaks'' at nuclear plants or armaments factories, Xinhua quoted the commission as saying.

Eighteen crucial state industries and sectors administered or supervised directly by the state have made ``good progress'' in correcting and testing for Y2K problems and setting up contingency plans, Zhang said, adding: ``No big losses will occur.''

``All regions pay great attention to the power supply, gas supply, as well as transportation, with relatively good results,'' she said. ``However, the sectors such as business, commerce, trade, medicine and health care and public services lag far behind.''

Some regions and state enterprises and agencies have not even assessed the risks if their systems fail and thus have not drafted adequate emergency plans, Zhang said.

Bank runs occurred in out-of-the-way parts of southern Hunan and Guangxi provinces after local credit cooperatives closed for one of the three series of tests the central bank has run to check for Y2K problems, said Chen Jing, the People's Bank of China computer problem troubleshooter.

That event in part has caused the People's Bank to increase loans to commercial banks for the three months in which Y2K could pose problems - from year's end through the Feb. 29 leap year and into March, Chen said.

``The public can rest assured there will be an adequate supply of cash,'' Chen said.

Zhang has ordered more testing and patching up of contingency plans. She warned that systems experts needed to be on guard for computer viruses and hacker attacks. And she said the government will set up a task force on Dec. 10 that will work round-the-clock from Dec. 30 to Jan. 2 in case of emergencies.

===================================== End

Ray

-- Ray (ray@totacc.com), December 01, 1999

Answers

Thanks Ray, great international exposure article. Lets see, we just set a record trade deficit with China, which means we're importing more and more from China, which means, a major interruption in imports from that country which means a shortage in knick knacks and paddiwacks. I don't have a problem with that. What else could it mean?

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), December 01, 1999.

Have bank runs started in China as the article says? Why is nobody reporting on that?

-- Indian (indian@waiting.com), December 01, 1999.

By Decree:

 ``No big losses will occur.''
 ``There will be no explosions, no leaks''
 ``The public can rest assured there will be an adequate supply of cash''

Sounds a bit like the United States.

;-D

*Sigh*

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 01, 1999.