National information infrastructure in Pacific Asia

Abstract

Recently, many nations in Pacific Asia have begun to design and implement national information infrastructures. Examples are Singapore's IT2000 plan to transform the city-state into an intelligent island and Malaysia's Vision 2020 to create a 'Multimedia Super Corridor'. We examine the information infrastructure programs in twelve Asia Pacific nations. These are the newly developing 'Young Lions' (China, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam), the intermediate-stage 'Growing Tigers' (Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan), and the more advanced 'Mature Leopards' (Australia, Japan, and New Zealand). We also discuss APEC's recent initiative to establish an APII - an Asia Pacific Information Infrastructure. © 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.