E-Commerce on the Up in China 20/07/00 AChinese e-commerce revenues are expected to top CNY800 million (US$96.7 million) in 2000 and will increase more than ten-fold to CNY10 billion (US$1.2 billion) over the next two years. These predictions come from the Ministry of Information Industry in China. However, the department believes that if e-commerce is really to succeed in China, then the thorny issues of authorisation, credit and delivery must be resolved. Moreover, only a small minority of China's 12 million Internet users own credit or debit cards. Reportedly, there are only 1000 Chinese companies running e-commerce sites, most of them retailers. The Chinese government is actively promoting the business to business sector and aims to help 1 million Chinese companies to establish a Web presence. The Chinese government recently launched an official online advertising pilot programme. Out of 15,000 websites, 27 have been chosen to take part in the programme. Many Chinese sites already accept advertising illegally but the government plans to introduce a national licensing system to standardise and control this sector.