China’s role in the digital era recognized by both the East and the West

China Economic Net

Beijing: Should the future of the digital economy lie in the East or the West?

Facing such a question, Markus Staeblein, Senior Vice President of NXP Semiconductors, gave an answer without hesitation, “Only when the East and the West work together could we create a better digital economy tomorrow, during which China will definitely play a pivotal role.”

Addressing at the 4th Global Digital Economy Conference 2024 (CDEC) held in Beijing on July 2, the Senior VP indicated a blueprint for intelligent and digital development in logistics and supply chain.

“More than 2 billion tons of waste is generated in logistics worldwide each year, and one-third of food is wasted in the entire chain from agricultural products to dining tables, so the high efficiency and sustainability brought by digitalization are imminent. China’s e-commerce development speed has attracted global attention, at the same time the total carbon emissions of e-commerce companies nationwide exceed 50 million tons. So, what has China done? China’s National Development and Reform Commission has begun to attach great importance to this field and has proposed a series of plans such as the Green E-commerce Action Guide. NXP, as a leader in global semiconductor industry that has been deeply cooperating with China for decades, is also working together to accelerate the transformation of smart logistics.”

The UAE, which became China’s strategic partner in digital economy through the Digital Belt and Road Initiative early on, has launched a deeper cooperation plan with China in the digital field.

“In the UAE, the contribution of the digital economy to GDP is expected to double by 2023, while also having a significant impact on our non-oil GDP. Dubai is positioning itself to become one of the global hubs for Internet 3.0 technologies, including the Metaverse and blockchain. As we all know, China has both the world’s leading e-commerce industry and the strongest manufacturing industry, so it is not only the world’s largest digital economy, but also the world’s number one manufacturing power. At present, China and the UAE are in a comprehensive strategic partnership. We can fully leverage our complementary advantages and carry out all-round cooperation in many fields, such as e-commerce, transportation, public health, finance,” Hamdan Zakaria Doleh, Chairman of China Innovation Centre in UAE, appealed.

“Nowadays, the Belt and Road Initiative has become an indispensable carrier for logistics cooperation between China and the Middle East. More and more Chinese digital companies are also deploying digital infrastructure, data centers, and the like, in the Middle East. In terms of mobile payments, 5G networks and artificial intelligence, Huawei and many other leading Chinese companies are vigorously deploying in the Middle East market. In such a booming era, we are willing to play the role of a catalyst to fully promote digital cooperation between our two countries, better serve Chinese companies to ‘go global’, and let UAE companies ‘come in.’

It is worth mentioning that the Global Digital Economy White Paper (2024) released on the same day shows that in 2023, the total digital economy of five countries including the United States, China, Germany, Japan and South Korea has exceeded USD 33 trillion, an increase of more than 8% year-on-year. At the same time, as of the end of May this year, China has built a total of 3.837 million 5G base stations, accounting for more than 60% of the total number of 5G base stations in the globe.