Local govts to speed up modernization of industries for top-class development

Local governments in China will intensify efforts to promote the development of the digital economy and accelerate digital transformation and upgrade of industries, to implement the country's plan for in-depth integration of the digital and real economies, experts said.

The digital economy, they said, is expected to drive China's economic growth in the coming years, fostering innovation-driven high-quality development.

Zhejiang province is speeding up steps to promote the in-depth integration of internet, big data and artificial intelligence with the real economy, boost the digital transformation of manufacturing, agriculture and services sectors, and foster new growth drivers, according to a document released by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic regulator, on Thursday.

The document details the first batch of typical examples concerning the building of a demonstration zone for achieving common prosperity through high-quality development in Zhejiang.

It said the proportion of the province's added value of the digital economy in its GDP, and its overall digitalization level, ranked first in the country in 2022. Last year, the added value of the digital economy-related core industries in Zhejiang reached 897.7 billion yuan ($131 billion), accounting for 11.6 percent of its GDP.

Shanghai has mapped out its plan to promote digital transformation and build an international digital city with global influence. It will improve the output of its core industries in the digital economy to 18 percent of the city's GDP in the coming five years from 15 percent last year.

The city will step up efforts in the construction of digital industrial clusters in the fields of integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, aiming to become a world-leading metropolis with digital infrastructure and a forerunner of the digital economy.

More efforts will be made to build "new infrastructure" such as a national-level big data exchange, a number of data centers and computing power platforms, and push forward the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, according to the municipal government of Shanghai.

National capital Beijing is taking measures to boost the application of digital technologies in various industries. The city's digital economy has continued to expand over the past five years, and the added value of the digital economy accounted for around 42 percent of the city's GDP in 2022.

South China's Guangdong province is pressing ahead with building national computing hubs and data center clusters.

Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School, said the digital economy has become an important driver of high-quality development this year.

Pan spoke highly of local governments' heightened efforts to develop the digital economy, which will boost the country's economic recovery, propel technological innovation and speed up enterprises' digital and intelligent upgrades.

The scale of China's digital economy reached 45.5 trillion yuan in 2021, ranking second in the world, and accounted for 39.8 percent of the country's GDP, according to a white paper released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

"Facilitating the growth of the digital economy is of vital importance to cultivate new driving forces, effectively address unbalanced development in society and achieve common prosperity," said Long Haibo, a senior researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Innovative digital technologies like big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence are finding a wide range of applications across various industries and integrating with the real economy, he said.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, has rolled out a plan to further promote development of the digital economy during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period. China aims to raise the proportion of the added value of core digital economy industries in its GDP to 10 percent in 2025, up from 7.8 percent in 2020, said the plan.

From：ChinaDaily

Local govts to speed up modernization of industries for top-class development

Local governments in China will intensify efforts to promote the development of the digital economy and accelerate digital transformation and upgrade of industries, to implement the country's plan for in-depth integration of the digital and real economies, experts said.

The digital economy, they said, is expected to drive China's economic growth in the coming years, fostering innovation-driven high-quality development.

Zhejiang province is speeding up steps to promote the in-depth integration of internet, big data and artificial intelligence with the real economy, boost the digital transformation of manufacturing, agriculture and services sectors, and foster new growth drivers, according to a document released by the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic regulator, on Thursday.

The document details the first batch of typical examples concerning the building of a demonstration zone for achieving common prosperity through high-quality development in Zhejiang.

It said the proportion of the province's added value of the digital economy in its GDP, and its overall digitalization level, ranked first in the country in 2022. Last year, the added value of the digital economy-related core industries in Zhejiang reached 897.7 billion yuan ($131 billion), accounting for 11.6 percent of its GDP.

Shanghai has mapped out its plan to promote digital transformation and build an international digital city with global influence. It will improve the output of its core industries in the digital economy to 18 percent of the city's GDP in the coming five years from 15 percent last year.

The city will step up efforts in the construction of digital industrial clusters in the fields of integrated circuits and artificial intelligence, aiming to become a world-leading metropolis with digital infrastructure and a forerunner of the digital economy.

More efforts will be made to build "new infrastructure" such as a national-level big data exchange, a number of data centers and computing power platforms, and push forward the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises, according to the municipal government of Shanghai.

National capital Beijing is taking measures to boost the application of digital technologies in various industries. The city's digital economy has continued to expand over the past five years, and the added value of the digital economy accounted for around 42 percent of the city's GDP in 2022.

South China's Guangdong province is pressing ahead with building national computing hubs and data center clusters.

Pan Helin, co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at Zhejiang University's International Business School, said the digital economy has become an important driver of high-quality development this year.

Pan spoke highly of local governments' heightened efforts to develop the digital economy, which will boost the country's economic recovery, propel technological innovation and speed up enterprises' digital and intelligent upgrades.

The scale of China's digital economy reached 45.5 trillion yuan in 2021, ranking second in the world, and accounted for 39.8 percent of the country's GDP, according to a white paper released by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

"Facilitating the growth of the digital economy is of vital importance to cultivate new driving forces, effectively address unbalanced development in society and achieve common prosperity," said Long Haibo, a senior researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council.

Innovative digital technologies like big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence are finding a wide range of applications across various industries and integrating with the real economy, he said.

The State Council, China's Cabinet, has rolled out a plan to further promote development of the digital economy during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period. China aims to raise the proportion of the added value of core digital economy industries in its GDP to 10 percent in 2025, up from 7.8 percent in 2020, said the plan.

From: ChinaDaily

China has vowed to vigorously promote the integrated growth of oil and gas exploration and development with new energy, while actively expanding the scale of green electricity utilization by oil and gas enterprises.

By 2025, cumulative crude oil production will increase by more than 2 million metric tons through enhanced oil recovery methods, according to an action plan to accelerate integrated development of oil and gas exploration and development with new energy resources, released by the National Energy Administration recently.

The enhanced oil recovery methods include air injection, carbon dioxide injection and electric heating assistance for heavy oil thermal recovery — and all these methods will be supported by low-cost green power, it said.

Enhanced oil recovery, also known as tertiary recovery, is the third stage used to extract oil from an oil reserve. While more costly and expensive compared with the primary and secondary recovery stages, it can extract more of a reserve's oil compared with primary and secondary recoveries.

The administration also aims to further accelerate the development and utilization of geothermal, wind and solar energy resources related to oil and gas fields, while actively promoting an environmentally friendly, energy-saving, emission-reducing and multi-energy integrated oil and gas production system and striving to build "low-carbon" and "zero-carbon "oil and gas fields, it said.

An analyst said China's mature oil-producing regions have gradually entered the late stage of development, facing difficulties such as insufficient replacement of oil and gas resources, difficulties in maintaining stable production and high production costs.

It is necessary to strengthen the development and utilization of new energy and promote the transformation and development of traditional oil and gas production into comprehensive energy development and utilization and a new materials manufacturing base, said Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute.

According to the administration, China's economy has been growing steadily, with energy demand expected to continue increasing. It is therefore necessary to ensure sufficient oil and gas supplies while accelerating the industry's green and low-carbon transformation at the same time.

Efficient development and utilization of new energy will help meet demand from increased power demand for the electrification of oil and gas fields, it said.

From：ChinaDaily

The Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that if TikTok's parent company ByteDance is forced to sell its stake in the popular video-sharing app, the Chinese government will decide whether or not to grant its approval solely based on Chinese laws and regulations.

Ministry spokeswoman Shu Jue­ting said at a news conference that China is aware of media reports that the United States government is demanding ByteDance to sell its stake in TikTok or face a possible ban.

"Selling the stake or splitting TikTok from the Chinese parent company involves technology export and must follow Chinese laws and regulations to proceed for administrative approval. The Chinese government will make a decision in accordance with the law," she said.

"If the news reports turn out to be true, the US decision would be based on TikTok's foreign ownership, rather than its products and services, which will severely damage confidence of foreign investors in the US, including those from China," Shu said, adding that China strongly opposes the reported move.

Citing so-called national security concerns, the administration of US President Joe Biden reportedly asked ByteDance to sell TikTok, which is an overseas version of Douyin in China, or face a nationwide ban in the US.

Late last month, the White House required all US federal agencies to remove TikTok from their phones and systems within 30 days, while Canada announced it is banning TikTok from all government-issued mobile devices.

Meanwhile, Shu said the US should remove additional tariffs on Chinese goods, relax controls on exports to China and lift trade restrictions on Chinese companies as soon as possible, to create favorable conditions for bilateral trade cooperation and reduce the US' trade deficit with China. She added that China has never deliberately pursued a trade surplus with the US.

The tariffs were originally imposed by former US president Donald Trump. "A typical unilateral and trade protection measure, the US Section 301 tariffs disrupt normal bilateral trade between China and the US, damage global industrial and supply chain stability and deeply harm American importers and consumers," Shu said.

The US' trade deficit with China is determined by multiple factors including the economic structures of the two countries, the international division of labor and US controls on exports to China, she said. The US' overall trade deficit has been expanding in recent years, while the growth rate of the US' trade deficit with China is significantly lower.

US importers carried almost the entire burden of the additional tariffs placed on Chinese goods, raising costs for US companies, according to a recent report by the independent US International Trade Commission. The report found an almost one-to-one increase in the price of US imports following the imposition of the tariffs.

Shu stressed that US-China economic and trade cooperation is mutually beneficial, as Chinese enterprises import a large number of agricultural products, automobiles, high-tech products, energy and petrochemicals from the US. China's exports to the US have benefited the country's consumers, strengthened the competitive advantages of downstream enterprises and lowered inflation.

She also said China looks forward to having constructive discussions with Brazil on deepening economic and trade cooperation. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is scheduled to visit China from Sunday to Friday.

Bilateral trade between the countries reached $171.49 billion in 2022, data from the ministry showed.

China has been Brazil's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years, while the South American country is the largest exporter of soybeans, chicken and sugar imports to China.

China is also an important source of foreign direct investment for Brazil. Bilateral investment cooperation has been steadily advancing, covering a wide range of fields such as manufacturing, energy and mining, agriculture and infrastructure.

From: ChinaDaily

China unveiled its first self-developed high-level flight simulator platform in Beijing on Thursday, the flight simulator platform is expected to provide pilot training support for aircraft models such as the C919, the country's homegrown single-aisle passenger jet that is foreseen to be put into commercial use soon.

The flight simulator platform, developed by Beijing Moreget Innovation Technology Inc, a company that was founded in 2006, has become the first self-developed flight simulator platform that has passed the Level D certification, the highest standard, by the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

The flight simulator platform, which weighs 14 metric tons, achieved mass production status last year. It has netted multiple orders from the Aviation Industry Corp of China, a State-owned aircraft manufacturer.

"The launch of the product has broken the monopoly of foreign-developed high-level flight simulators platforms in the China market. It is expected to help significantly improve the localization level of flight simulators platforms in the country," said Liu Feng, deputy general manager of Beijing Moreget Innovation Technology.

"Before, we were fully dependent on imports of such kind of flight simulators platforms, and those developed by the United States and the Netherlands accounted for a major market share in China," Liu said.

From：ChinaDaily