Xi's speech shows China's foresight in developing its online industry

Business executives attending the first Digital China Summit in Fuzhou are optimistic about China's growing role as a leading internet power, which is particularly driven by the government's open attitude and supporting policies.

Guo Wei, chairman of Digital China Holdings Ltd, one of the largest integrated information technology services providers in China, said President Xi Jinping's speech, at a weekend conference on the work of cybersecurity and informatization in Beijing, showed the government's awareness of the importance of cybersecurity and information security.

"The government is using economic, legal, technological and other means to manage the network and informatization. For the foreseeable future, the cyberspace environment will be improved and the industry development boosted."

Xi made the speech right before the first Digital China Summit kicked off on Sunday. That gathering, which will last to Tuesday, is part of China's larger efforts to further integrate the digital economy with the real economy.

Yao Jinbo, founder and CEO of 58.com, a major Chinese online marketplace operator, said that Xi's words on cybersecurity and informatization were "impressive", especially by emphasizing that efforts should be made to make sectors including agriculture more digitalized, smart, and internet-powered.

"As an internet company focused on people's livelihoods, we deeply agree that there is huge demand for informatization in rural areas. We have promoted digitalized projects to over 10,000 villages and towns in 31 provinces, regions and municipalities as of March this year," Yao said.

"We will continue to promote the digitalization of agriculture to help revitalize rural economy and achieve agricultural modernization," he added.

Another key message from the conference is to endeavor to make breakthroughs in core information technologies, said Chen Tao, the rotating president of iFlytek Co Ltd, a leading Chinese artificial intelligence company.

"I was impressed on promoting breakthroughs of core technologies in the field of information. I believe only by these means can we gain key momentum and be at the forefront in the global competition."

Xi's words were also seen as a signal to encourage companies to continue incorporating advanced technologies including big data, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented reality into the products, said Xiong Li, CEO of NetDragon Websoft Inc, China's leading online gaming and education developer.

"For a Fujian-based tech company, President Xi's speech is inspiring. We will leverage more technologies into the global education market and beef up our global presence to help improve the country's strength in cyberspace."