China urges cooperation to boost global digital trade

Heightened efforts are needed to strengthen international cooperation in digital trade to advance the innovation and application of digital technologies that have injected new momentum into China's economic growth and bolstered the development of the world economy, officials and experts said.

Wang Dongming, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, said that China is willing to work with other countries to align with high-standard international economic and trade rules, expand high-level opening-up and continue to promote trade and investment facilitation.

He made the remarks at the opening of the Fourth Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, on Thursday.

Highlighting that technological innovation is a key driver of digital trade development, Wang said that more efforts should be made to accelerate breakthroughs in key and core technologies, strengthen innovation in digital application scenarios and models, and promote the in-depth adoption of artificial intelligence in digital trade.

He noted that China is willing to work with all countries to jointly establish a global digital trade governance framework and improve legal and policy systems that facilitate the development of digital trade for a stable, transparent and predictable business environment.

The expo, which runs through Monday, has attracted more than 1,800 exhibitors, with international exhibitors accounting for 21 percent of the total. About 11,000 buyers have registered, an increase of 64 percent compared to last year.

Sheng Qiuping, vice-minister of commerce, said amid a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, digital trade, which deeply integrates digital technologies with international trade, is demonstrating strong resilience and vitality.

"The ministry will deepen reform and opening-up, ease market access in sectors such as telecommunications, internet and culture in an orderly manner, and facilitate foreign investment related to digital trade," Sheng said.

He stressed the need to accelerate the establishment of national digital trade demonstration zones and pilot zones for Silk Road e-commerce cooperation, nurture world-class leading enterprises in digital trade and support them to expand their footprint in international markets, while strengthening bilateral, multilateral and regional cooperation.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that China's imports and exports of digitally delivered services trade reached 1.5 trillion yuan ($210.6 billion) in the first half of the year, while cross-border e-commerce imports and exports reached 1.3 trillion yuan, a record.

Wang Hao, Party secretary of Zhejiang, said the province has accelerated steps to promote the integration of AI with digital trade and boosted innovation of new business models like livestreaming and cross-border e-commerce. He added that the province's digital economy comprised over 50 percent of its GDP in 2024.

Ali Murtopo Simbolon, deputy minister of the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs of Indonesia, said his country hopes to develop digital economic zones that can serve as hubs for innovation and investment to elevate its collaboration with China and promote smart city partnerships to improve urban governance.

"We have always believed that technological advancements can bring greater stability to the world, and such progress is the result of global cocreation and collaboration," said Wang Xingxing, founder and CEO of Unitree Robotics. Humanoid robots are increasingly penetrating people's daily lives and intelligent robot technology is the key to the development of new quality productive forces, he added.