As mentioned earlier on Danwei, the International Federation for Periodical Press (FIPP) just concluded its 36th World Magazine Conference in Beijing. At the conference, GAPP official Liu Binjie promised foreign periodicals that China will comply with its WTO accession terms by “going a step further” to open China’s periodical market and welcome foreigners to participate. Mr. Liu additionally promised that, with respect to lawful professional work, activities and joint-venture projects, foreign periodicals in China will receive the same legal protection and enjoy equal policy treatment as their Chinese counterparts.
GAPP’s statement is a more positive development than, say, the inverse, but more positive still would be the actual opening of China’s periodical market. Of course, genuine parity with Chinese periodicals might simply trap foreign periodicals in the regulatory maze that Chinese periodicals have to navigate. Despite Mr. Liu’s proclamation that China’s periodicals have already “merged into the wave of global periodical publication,” the world-wide trend is against GAPP-style content and market-access regulations and the attendant crackdowns.
The fact remains that, for foreign periodicals, between the potential of China’s market and any hope of realizing it is a serious gap.
- Sina.com (in Chinese): GAPP: in China, foreign periodicals enjoy equal policy treatment
- Earlier on Danwei: GAPP to clean up periodicals; Anti-Piracy Office shuts down a magazine