Digital tech boom offers opportunities

China will cooperate with Shanghai Cooperation Organization countries in areas such as training digital technology talent and constructing digital infrastructure, to promote the establishment of an open, inclusive and shared global digital industry ecosystem, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said on Thursday.

Vice-Minister Xiong Jijun said that China's industrial and information technology sector has experienced rapid progress, creating new opportunities for countries worldwide, including SCO member states.

Xiong noted that China's digital technologies, represented by large artificial intelligence models, have developed rapidly. In the first five months of this year, the digital industry's revenue increased 9.3 percent year-on-year, a growth rate that was 3.4 percentage points higher than for the same period last year.

He made the remarks at the first media briefing of the SCO Summit 2025, which is to be held in Tianjin on Sunday and Monday.

Statistics from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed that in the first half of this year, the added industrial value of large-scale enterprises in China increased 6.4 percent year-on-year. Manufacturing's share of GDP reached 25.7 percent, and manufacturing investment grew 7.5 percent year-on-year.

Xu Chaofeng, director of the ministry's international cooperation department, said that China will strive for policy exchange, practical cooperation, industrial upgrades and the sharing of digital dividends in future digital and information cooperation among SCO countries.

He said that the ministry will encourage and support industry collaboration with SCO counterparts to accelerate construction of digital infrastructure. This will include advancing the development of 5G technology, gigabit optical networks, computing power infrastructure and terrestrial optical cable to enhance technological innovation capabilities.

The ministry will use big data and artificial intelligence technologies to promote the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, helping SCO countries to deeply integrate digital technology into the real economy, Xu added.

He also said that the ministry will support SCO countries in developing inclusive digital services such as telemedicine, online education and digital identity projects. The goal is to promote the widespread adoption of digital applications and allow high-quality cooperative achievements in digital technology to benefit the broader population of SCO countries.

Xiong, the vice-minister, said that digital talent in SCO countries has been trained to help accelerate digital transformation through exchanges and mutual learning. He added that the ministry has also built bridges for win-win cooperation in the digital field.

Since 2023, China has trained more than 830 digital technology professionals from SCO member states, according to Xiong.

"China will work with SCO countries … promoting the establishment of a new pattern of cooperative development in the organization's industrial and information and communication sectors," he said.