Criticism Of China’s Digital Economy, President Xi Jinping: Big But Not Strong, Fast But Not Superior
JAKARTA - Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for improved regulation and governance of China's digital economy, to guard against its 'unhealthy' development, as Beijing aims to increase the sector's contribution to the country's growth.
In an essay at the ruling Communist Party's publication Qiushi on Saturday, President Xi called for a focus on key areas including integrated circuits, displays, communications equipment and smart hardware.
China must "grow a number of enterprises with international competitiveness, and lead ecological enterprises with control over the industrial chain, to create a world-class digital industry cluster," President Xi said, citing Reuters Jan. 15.
"We have to see, compared to big and powerful countries in the global digital economy, China's digital economy is big but not strong, and fast but not superior."
In addition, President Xi also called for regulation and standardization to close regulatory loopholes, preventing "monopoly and disorderly expansion of capital" in the world's second-largest economy.
"In the course of rapid development, China's digital economy has also shown some unhealthy and irregular seeds and trends, which not only affects the healthy development of the digital economy, but also violates laws and regulations and threatens national economic and financial security, " he explained.
China should also improve its national security system, focusing on strengthening the early warning system, prevention and control of the digital economy to ensure the safety of key technologies, critical industries and facilities, strategic resources, and leading enterprises.
To note, President Xi's essay follows a plan released by China's Cabinet on Wednesday for the development of a digital economy, which aims to increase the sector's share of national GDP by encouraging technologies such as 6G and big data centers.
The plan also highlights challenges including a lack of innovation capacity in key areas and weak governance.