Yicai: 

The digital economy provides a new driving force for global economic development. A report issued at the 5th Digital China Summit showed that the scale of China's digital economy remained the second largest worldwide, totaling $7.1 trillion in 2021. Can you please tell us the achievements that were made in building a digital China? What will we do to seize the development opportunities of the digital economy? Thank you. 

Niu Yibing:

Thank you. Mr. Wang Song from the Informatization Development Bureau will answer your questions. 

Wang Song:

Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has systematically planned, coordinated, and promoted the construction of Digital China, achieving remarkable results. 

First, digital infrastructure has seen leapfrog development. Mobile communication technology has evolved from 3G and 4G to 5G. China's 4G base stations account for more than half of the world's total, and our 5G base stations have reached 1.854 million, with the number of 5G users exceeding 450 million. Fiber-optic networks were established in all prefecture-level cities. All administrative villages have access to broadband networks. China now ranks second in the world regarding computing power, and active IPv6 users reach nearly 700 million.

Second, the release of the value of data resources has accelerated. From 2017 to 2021, China's data output increased from 2.3 zettabytes (ZB) to 6.6ZB, ranking second worldwide. Moreover, the scale of the big data industry rose from 470 billion yuan to 1.3 trillion yuan, and the practical data sets of provincial public data sharing platforms reached nearly 250,000.

Third, the scale of China's digital economy leads the world. The scale of China's digital economy in 2021 was more than four times that of 2012, accounting for 39.8% of GDP. Furthermore, the revenues of the large electronic information manufacturing industry and software businesses were 1.7 times and 3.8 times that of 2012. Digital transformation accelerates in various fields, providing strong support for improving the quality and efficiency of the real economy.

Fourth, the efficiency of digital government services is significantly improved. China's e-government online service index jumped to ninth place in the world. It has become a standard practice for governments at various levels to provide services via mobile phone applications. Positive progress has been made in making government services accessible through a single portal and on an inter-provincial basis, and digital anti-epidemic measures have accelerated the exchange and sharing of data. The widespread use of health codes has reached an unprecedented level, and their security and stability have been greatly improved. Since the beginning of this year, the bearing capacity of health code systems across the country has increased sevenfold on average.

Fifth, the general use of digital services for public benefit has accelerated. The population of netizens in China has increased from 560 million to 1.032 billion, and internet usage has reached 73%. We have established the world's largest online education platform and a national unified medical insurance information platform, and telemedicine covers more than 90% of our counties and districts. The internet-empowered poverty alleviation efforts have helped win the battle against absolute poverty. The building of digital villages has been steadily advanced, so urban and rural residents could share the fruits of digital development. This is the status quo of the Digital China initiative.

Coming to your question on digital economy. The world is experiencing changes and a pandemic both unseen in a century. China's economic development is facing the triple pressures of shrinking demand, disrupted supply, and weakening expectations. New and higher requirements have been put forward to accelerate the digital economy's development. The digital economy involves many aspects. We will strengthen the systems thinking in promoting the Digital China initiative. We will speed up the breakthrough of core technologies in the information field, advance the construction of new infrastructure, consolidate the foundation for the development of the digital economy, and establish and improve the data resource system. Moreover, we will enhance the momentum of the digital economy, advance the digital transformation in industries through innovation, boost the development of digital initiatives in key fields, and lift the core competitiveness of China's digital economy. We will continuously improve the governance system for the digital economy, and ramp up cybersecurity and digital security barriers to promote the regulated and orderly development of the digital economy. We will take an active part in international cooperation on the digital economy and build a community with a shared future in the cyberspace domain to benefit the people of all countries. Thanks.

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