China has been exploring digitalisation on just about every front – from space to Artificial Intelligence to the metaverse. Knowing how much digital has helped boost its economy, the Asian country aims to achieve more in the future.
The State Council announced a plan to further promote the development of the digital economy during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period. China aims to raise the proportion of the added value of core digital economy industries in its GDP to 10 per cent in 2025, up from 7.8 per cent in 2020, according to the plan.
The plan states that by 2025, the digital transformation of the nation’s industries will reach a new level, digital public services will become more inclusive, and the digital economy governance system will noticeably improve.
This has been echoed by President Xi Jinping. China’s leader who is also the general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has called for the nation to grasp the trend and law of digital economic development and push forward sound development of the digital economy. He made the remarks while presiding over a study session of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee last year.
Xi stressed that developing a digital economy is a strategic choice for grasping fresh opportunities in the new round of the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, as it can help foster a new development paradigm, a modern economic system, and new national competitive strengths. He also called for efforts to strengthen and expand China’s digital economy through the promotion of in-depth integration of digital technologies with the real economy and for the use of such technologies to transform traditional industries and create new ones and types of business.
Long Haibo, a senior researcher at the Development Research Centre of the State Council, China’s Cabinet, said cutting-edge digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, 5G, Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT) are gaining momentum and speeding up digitalisation in a wide range of traditional industries such as manufacturing and agriculture.
Promoting the development of the digital economy is vitally significant in cultivating new driving forces, effectively bridging the digital divide among different regions and groups nationwide as well as fostering high-quality and innovation-driven development.
– Long Haibo, Senior Researcher, Development Research Centre of the State Council
He added that the nation attaches great importance to developing the digital economy. It has also made remarkable progress in improving digital infrastructure, stepped up efforts to foster new industries and new business models, and boosted the digitalisation of industries in recent years.
Noting that the development of the country’s digital economy is being fast-tracked, Long said more efforts should be made to achieve breakthroughs in key and core technologies, expand industrial applications of state-of-the-art technologies, and promote sustained and healthy development of the digital economy.
The country is one of the biggest adopters of QR Codes with over 90% of daily transactions made via smartphones and driverless vehicles that park themselves are starting to be enjoyed by the Chinese people. The country’s pursuit of sustainability in light of the global Net-Zero by 2025 goal has been made with the help of digital vouchers. China’s recent pivot to develop its Western front in terms of digitalisation shows the nation’s comittment to comprehensive and inclusive improvement to achieve its digital goals, as reported on OpenGov Asia.
