Digital economy leaves imprint despite turbulence

China's digital economy has emerged as a bright spot for both the industry as well as people's livelihoods, at a time when an economic slowdown and impeded globalization have stunted growth worldwide.

The world has become more digitalized than ever, experts said, be it working from home, remote schooling or industrial transformation. However, the digital divide between leading economies and emerging markets has widened further, they said.

So, how does one narrow the gap to promote common prosperity around the globe?

China, the experts said, offers a glimpse by placing the development of a digital economy at the top of the agenda and launching various measures to bridge the digital divide.

In December, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Data Administration jointly launched an implementation plan to facilitate common prosperity by developing a better and greater digital economy.

According to the plan, more efforts will be made to drive the in-depth integration of digital technologies and the real economy, as well as solve the problem of unbalanced and inadequate development through digital means.

To achieve the goal, accelerated steps will be made to drive coordinated regional development through digital economy, advance digital development in rural areas, enhance the digital competence of the public for better employment, and facilitate the inclusive supply of social services through digital means, according to the plan.

High-speed development

China's digital economy has accelerated over the past few years.

According to the Asia Digital Economy Report launched by the Boao Forum for Asia and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, a government think tank, its pace has been "far ahead" of other Asian economies.

Last year, the market scale of China's digital economy hit $7.47 trillion, topping other major Asian economies. Japan followed with $2.37 trillion, while South Korea ranked third at $952.3 billion, the report said.

Li Baodong, secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia, said: "With digital economy, emerging economies in Asia grew at a faster pace, demonstrating strong economic resilience and development potential. To some extent, digital economy has effectively promoted the sustained recovery of the global economy."

The report found that the digital economies of 14 Asian economies expanded 3.5 percent year-on-year in nominal terms last year, which was 3.3 percentage points higher than the nominal GDP growth rate over the same period.

Helen Han, founder and chief executive officer of IMT Management Tech Consultancy, said: "China aims to have an 'olive-shaped' society with the bulk of GDP growth benefiting more groups; therefore, common prosperity becomes a very important goal. Investments in modernizing rural agriculture, eco-cultural tourism and the digitalization of infrastructure will further boost the rural township economy."

Han said that entrepreneurship, cultural development and vitalization, beautiful villages, green mountains and emerald waters will further boost the quality of rural vitalization in China, and a bigger middle-income group will emerge from the efforts.

Meanwhile, China is accelerating digitization in all sectors and every economic aspect, particularly smart manufacturing and artificial intelligence in manufacturing, embracing the internet of things, AI, blockchain, cloud, data and 5G.

"New technologies and digital economy are also boosting agriculture and county-level economic development by improving output, reducing costs and commanding higher prices based on brand value as well as improving overall management efficiency," Han said.

China is arguably making the world's biggest push to reduce the digital divide between rural and urban households. Chinese telecommunications carriers are pouring more resources into ensuring that a greater number of the population can access fast, affordable mobile communication and broadband network services.

Xiong Yulan, 34, from Yunnan province, said one of her enduring childhood memories is that of fierce explosions from the use of gunpowder that once served as a communication means to summon villagers for rallies.

In the early 1990s, gunpowder was the most efficient way to send messages in Xiong's hometown, Dulongjiang town in Gongshan county, Yunnan province, since no phones were available in that area, which is near the Derung River.

It was not until years ago that Xiong and other residents started to see changes in the availability of 5G services as China Mobile, the nation's largest mobile telecom operator, set up a 5G station in the distant township.

Xiong said she was thrilled when she tried 5G mobile services and some frontier 5G-enabled technology gadgets.

Using a pair of 5G-enabled virtual reality glasses, she was happy to see Kunming, Yunnan's provincial capital, about 900 kilometers away, in real time.