China Sets Five-Year Targets to Boost Digital Economy

The plan emphasizes fair competition, curbing monopoly, data privacy protection, preventing the disorderly expansion of capital, and improving regulation to “safeguard the security bottom line.” Photo: VCG

China has released a five-year plan for developing digital economy with specific targets and tasks, aiming to boost the contribution of core digital economy industries to 10% of GDP by 2025.

The plan (link in Chinese) was released Wednesday by the State Council, China’s cabinet. It defines the digital economy as a form of economic activity in which the key factor of production is data resources, the main carrier is the modern information network, and the principal driving force is the integration of information and communication technology as well as the digital transformation of all factors of production.