China wants to make a domestic version of GitHub, the open-source software development platform. The Chinese government is turning to an old and almost forgotten platform that was named Gitee. In a recent report from the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information, they said that they want to turn Gitee into an independent, open-source code hosting platform to be utilized for China.
Open Source China will partner with a consortium, to make this a reality.
Currently, Gitee hosts more than ten million open-source repositories, supporting more than five million developers. In comparison, Microsoft’s GitHub has more than 100 million repositories and more than 30 million developers contributing to it.
China has to go domestic for most needs
However, the Chinese have no choice but to retaliate, in the ongoing trade war with the United States. Currently, the Trump government is pushing hard against China, forcing them to rely more and more on domestic resources.
With the bans and other sanctions put in place by the US government, the Chinese companies are forced to use less and less western technology.
Huawei, the mobile device and network giant, has been at the center of this conflict, giving them a first-hand look at the effects the trade war is having on the Chinese industry.
Tip: To stop China’s world domination, Huawei has to die
A war that may or may not end
Wang Chenglu, a Huawei executive, says that if China does not have an open-source community to rely on in code maintenance and management, they could become very vulnerable to factors that they have no control over.
The US is fast approaching its election date, and it would seem that a different government would be more lenient and less combative. If that happens, the trade war can be quickly resolved. TikTok, owned by Chinese media giant Bytedance, has also been forced into a tough position.
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