Innovative power

China's technological advances have catapulted the nation to the forefront of the global tech race, boosting its transformation into a superpower in the field and fostering deeper connectivity among nations. Luo Weiteng reports.

Sophisticated stealth jet fighters flying overhead, drones and other technological gadgets boasting civilian and military capabilities were among the highlights of the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition held in Zhuhai in November, offering a visual and audio feast.

The centerpiece of the world's biggest aerobatics show and display of China's technological might attracted 1,022 companies from 47 countries and regions, as well as nearly 600,000 visitors, including those engaged in the Belt and Road Initiative. Behind the dazzling scene lies the nation's awe-inspiring transformation into a technological superpower within decades - the fastest sustained expansion by a major world economy in history.

Such a technological advance can be seen through the lens of a series of national initiatives, especially the broad-ranging Digital Silk Road (DSR) initiative and technology transfer policy. Unveiled in 2015 and promoted as a stand-alone initiative at the second Belt and Road Forum in 2019, the umbrella project has promoted China's digital aspirations worldwide.

With the DSR's 10th anniversary around the corner, its achievements both in "hard and soft connectivity" have come under the spotlight.

In the past decade, more than 3,000 cooperative projects have got underway in BRI partner countries and regions, with 70 percent focused on "hard connectivity" in infrastructure, according to Li Yan, professor of Digital Transformation in the Department of Information Systems, Decision Science and Statistics at ESSEC Business School Asia-Pacific.

She says this embraces a vast array of tech projects, including a comprehensive terrestrial fiber optic cable network linking Russia with neighboring countries to Europe, and the 15,000-kilometer PEACE (Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe) subsea communication cable, spearheaded by China Mobile.

China's growing digital presence set up the world's largest 5G and gigabit broadband networks, with nearly 1.9 million 5G base stations covering 3.3 billion people, including BRI residents, says Li.

The BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, with which 137 countries signed cooperation pacts in 2020, serves more than one billion users in over 100 countries as an alternative to the American Global Positioning System, Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System and Europe's Galileo, Li notes.

The other part of the unfolding story involves "soft connectivity", where China has given the initiative relevance by signing e-commerce memorandums of understanding with more than 30 countries and digital economy investment cooperation agreements with over 18 countries and regions, as official data show.

Capitalizing on the way a new breed of homegrown e-commerce giants is making technological norms and standards on the global stage, the DSR has given the ancient trade route a digital makeup via "Silk Road E-commerce" with a soft touch. The meteoric rise of these cross-border e-commerce platforms has added a meaningful footnote to a structural shift in global trade flows.

Citing the "Access to Satellite TV for 10,000 African Villages" project, Li stresses the pursuit of addressing the inequalities of a digital divide that makes "the DSR a powerful enabler of public benefit projects in education, healthcare, agriculture, and social services" in addition to commercial achievements. The project has been implemented across 21 African nations, delivering satellite digital TV signals to 9,512 villages and connecting millions of Africans to global information. Further examples can be found across the developing world - from Central Asia to the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.