China to invest billions of euros in internet technology

China has announced that it will open a fund of 100 billion yuan, approximately 13.6 billion euros, to invest in internet technology. There are no specific plans as yet about what will happen with the money.

This is reported by Reuters news agency, based on reports from the Chinese state news agency Xinhua. The fund of 13.6 billion euros is intended to make China an important player in the world of information technology. It is not clear exactly how this should be done, because the Chinese government has not yet made any plans public. China probably wants to make a bigger contribution to the backbone of the internet.

The fund would already amount to 30 billion yuan, converted about 4.1 billion euros. That money has been raised by banks and companies, including major telecom providers such as China Mobile and China Unicom.

China has been working on improving its infrastructure for the internet for some time, and has invested billions in it. However, the country does not offer free access to the internet; a large firewall blocks access to websites that the Chinese government does not like.