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Chinese megacity’s ex-mayor urges unfettered internet access and data flow in free-trade zones to compete with US
- Former Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan, known for his economic insights, calls for reforms to help China close ‘widening gap’ with US in digital economy
- ‘We are being edged out,’ says the outspoken former official at Bund Summit in Shanghai
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Frank Chenin Shanghai
China should make better use of its free-trade zones to allow unfettered internet access and data flow beyond its borders to close the widening gap with the United States in the digital economy and break the tech blockade, an outspoken former official has said.
Huang Qifan, former mayor of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, told the Bund Summit in Shanghai on Sunday that China could tap into the free-trade zones scattered across the country in an effort to catch up with tech rival US in the digital economy – a term that encompasses the tech industry as well as others that depend on digital technologies.
“We are being edged out as our tech giants have grown smaller in size and the US and Europe enact new digital economy rules on data flow, storage and privacy and move to contain us,” Huang said.
The candid former official, known for his insights on the economy and financial markets, is also a former deputy director of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress.
The combined market capitalisation of China’s top 10 digital firms stood at a mere 17 per cent of that of the top 10 American digital giants in 2022, down from 24 per cent in 2019.
Huang said China lagged behind in underlying technology, global market share and the international adoption of its rules on data management and privacy.
But Beijing is now betting on its digital economy – valued at 50 trillion yuan (US$6.8 trillion) last year, with annual growth outpacing overall GDP growth over the past decade – to boost the moribund economy.
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