China needs to ‘establish a unified national digital trade market’
China should strengthen international cooperation to take the lead in global digital trade, according to China’s former vice-minister of commerce, Wei Jianguo.
Speaking at the recent 2024 Global Digital Trade Conference in Wuhan, Wei said: “China’s share of digital trade is relatively low in the international market. In order to expand the market share, China must take the initiative to align with the high-level international economic and trade rules, especially the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA).”
He added: “We must introduce the provisions on liberalization of trade in digital products and services of countries and regions like Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea as soon as possible and accelerate institutional opening-up, with regards to rules, regulations, management and standards, to establish a unified national digital trade market.”
In addition, by opening-up China will not only activate the domestic consumer market but also enhance the quality of the development of the services industry, Wei said.
“We need to step up innovation and launch more public products for digital trade to the world to increase China’s presence in international digital trade,” he added. “Now is the best time for China to strengthen international cooperation in the digital economy.”
China needs to actively participate in the formulation of international rules and regulations and join the DEPA as soon as possible. Thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises in China, through the e-commerce platform, can have direct access to the international market, at the same time, China’s large-scale market attracts products from other regions to enter, he said.
In 2020, China’s digital trade was 4 trillion yuan ($552 billion), with a year-on-year growth of 9.3%, accounting for 38.6% of GDP. It is expected that the digital economy will reach 60 trillion yuan in 2025, accounting for more than 50% of GDP. Wei said that this shows that China’s digital trade has huge development potential, and will surely become the engine of global economic development in the next five years.
In the first half of this year, cross-border e-commerce hit 1.2 trillion yuan, with a year-on-year growth of 10.5%. It was 4.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of China’s foreign trade in the same period. From 1.06 trillion yuan in 2018 to 2.38 trillion yuan in 2023, China’s cross-border e-commerce imports and exports have increased by 1.2 times in five years, according to the General Administration of Customs.
“China’s digital trade will grow fast in the next five years, to not only drive the development of the entire Chinese digital economy but will also contribute to the fourth industrial revolution,” Wei concluded.
Making progress on sustainable development
China’s sustainable development index has shown steady improvement for seven consecutive years since the assessment began, with a cumulative increase of 46.8%, according to a report released during the COP29 climate conference.
The index was co-released by the China Centre for International Economic Exchanges and the Earth Institute of Columbia University.
The index evaluates five key areas: economic development, social well-being, resource and environmental management, consumption and emissions, and governance and protection. All five sub-indices under China’s sustainable development index have demonstrated upward trends, indicating progress across multiple dimensions of sustainability.
The findings suggest that China is establishing a pattern that effectively supports the green, low-carbon transition and high-quality development of its economy and society, said the CCIEE.
At the climate summit, talks between the UK and China resulted in the countries agreeing to cooperate on areas such as clean energy and climate change, addressing shared global challenges.
In a statement, China said: “[To] support both multilateral and bilateral cooperation, we propose that our expert climate change committees advance our interactions. Our committees have different mandates and institutional structures. Nevertheless, we can collaborate effectively to help us better advise our countries on how to decarbonise and affect a green transition in a way that supports jobs and the economy.”
Both countries could reach a broader and more practical consensus through the support from their respective committees, the statement said. It added: “In order to build a greener, more climate resilient and inclusive sustainable society, the UK and China should take full advantage of the successful experience of cooperation over the past decade and the strengths of the built cooperation framework, to further deepen the cooperation. Our countries could consider making a joint statement to promote the multilateral climate agenda.
“Workstreams could be set up and focus on the clean energy transition, co-governance of climate and nature, climate risk and resilience, green finance, working together with other countries to promote the transition in an equitable, just, orderly way, which promotes sustainable economic development.”
