Via Thomas Crampton, Duncan Clark, of telecoms consultancy BDA, has written an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal Asia on the recent regulatory woes of China's video sharing sites:

[In] a sign of the ebb and flow of Chinese Internet regulation, regulators evidently concluded they also had to include some successful video sites on the "approved" list. The inclusion of even a small number of venture-capital-backed video sites and established Internet portals is perhaps a nod to the innovation and entrepreneurial achievements of these companies -- and perhaps also a nod to the fact that their popularity would make it hard to shut down all of them. On July 9, Youku.com became the first top-tier site to receive a license from SARFT. A further batch of licenses is expected to be granted to other popular online video sites before long. The July 11 unblocking of 56.com marked another relaxation, although being offline for five weeks has certainly hurt the company.

Foreign investors are finding there are no guarantees in China, and politics can cut into the bottom line. As Youku's CEO Victor Koo commented recently, "Getting a license is still only a first step. An online video license is like a driver's license: Even after you have one, you still have to drive by the rules of the road." There is now no doubting that SARFT controls the traffic lights and the toll-gates on this road.

Nothing revelatory, but an interesting recap of recent events. Duncan also raises the unappetizing prospect of what the shape of the Chinese government's ideal video sharing sites might be. Suffice to say, not so much fun as you might want.