Foreign and Chinese attendees interact via an AI translation screen at the third Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province on September 26, 2024. (Yin Yeping/GT)
China released new guidelines on Thursday for reform and innovation in digital trade, aiming to create fresh momentum for the digital sector, boost its contribution to overall trade, and expand opening-up to encourage foreign investment.
By 2029, the scale of digitally deliverable services trade is expected to have grown steadily. It is set to surpass 45 percent of China’s total services trade, with improved infrastructure, institutional frameworks, and significantly enhanced openness in the digital sector, aligning more closely with high-standard international trade rules. By 2035, this proportion is projected to exceed 50 percent, according to the guidelines released by China’s State Council and the General Office of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee.
The guidelines focus on four main areas: supporting the growth of digital trade sectors and businesses, advancing institutional openness in digital trade, enhancing the governance system, and reinforcing organizational support.
The guidelines emphasize the active development of digital product trade, strengthening innovation in digital applications and business models, and improving the quality of digital content production. They also focus on expanding cross-border digital delivery channels and enhancing international competitiveness.
The guidelines encourage e-commerce platforms, operators, service providers, and other stakeholders to grow and strengthen their businesses, while accelerating brand development. They also call for the construction of cross-border e-commerce pilot zones and offer support for “cross-border e-commerce plus industrial hubs.” Additionally, the guidelines push for the integration of digital trade with both domestic and foreign trade.
The guidelines call for improving the pre-access national treatment and negative list management model, promoting the orderly opening-up of sectors like telecommunications, internet, and culture, and encouraging foreign investment in the digital sector. They also aim to dismantle market entry barriers and enhance the ease of operation for foreign-invested enterprises in digital trade.
The guidelines emphasize the need to promote and regulate cross-border data flow, improve data export security management, and establish a systematic process for data security assessment. They aim to create an efficient, secure, and convenient mechanism for data flow across borders, ensuring the protection of important data and personal information.
The guidelines also mention that China will actively participate in shaping international digital trade rules and deepen international cooperation in digital trade.