THREE years into the pandemic, when it is imperative for the world to reboot the sluggish economy, China has made headway in digitizing the economy to dynamic growth. China’s digital economic activities have grown exponentially in the past years and have gradually become one of the dominant forces in the national economy. In 2020, China’s digital economy maintained a high growth rate of 9.7% to 39.2 trillion yuan (US$6.16 trillion), reaching upwards of an estimated 38.6% of the national GDP. As part of the digital information infrastructure, the number of 5G base stations in the country totaled 1.43 million as of early March. The number of 5G users topped 500 million. These figures mirrored the country’s constant efforts in promoting economic digitalization. China has made the development of the digital economy a national strategy since 2012, and released detailed roadmaps and incentives to shore up the sector. This year’s government work report also included support for the digital sector, calling for strengthening overall planning for the Digital China initiative, building more digital information infrastructure, developing an integrated national system of big data centers step by step, and applying 5G technology on a larger scale. China has also been active in seeking cooperation with the international community to promote digital trade and governance. Last November, China had filed an application to join the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, a new type of trade partnership agreement signed by Chile, New Zealand and Singapore seeking to bolster digital trade by regulating the digital economy, including digital inclusion, data flows and protection and artificial intelligence.(Xinhua) | 