Manufacturers embrace the digital economy

Sound development

President Xi Jinping, also 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 in October.

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 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.

The digital economy is also a key field of the Global Development Initiative proposed by Xi when he addressed the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly via video link in September.

Long Haibo, a senior researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, China's Cabinet, said cutting-edge digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, 5G, big data and the internet of things are gaining momentum and speeding up digitalization in a wide range of traditional industries such as manufacturing and agriculture.

"Promoting 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 said.

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 digitalization of industries in recent years.

Noting that 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, to expand industrial applications of state-of-the-art technologies, and to promote sustained and healthy development of the digital economy.

In January, the State Council announced a plan to further promote 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 percent in 2025, up from 7.8 percent 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.