China's digital economy seeing growth, CAST official says

The value of China's digital economy reached 45.5 trillion yuan ($6.32 trillion) last year, accounting for 39.8 percent of the nation's GDP, Zhang Yuzhuo, vice-president of the China Association for Science and Technology, said on Monday.

China has attached great importance to the integration of the digital and real economies, Zhang said during the opening ceremony of the 3rd World Digital Economy Forum in Chengdu, Sichuan province. For instance, that nation has established 153 State-level data centers for green and sustainable development.

It has also made efforts to expand international cooperation in the digital economy, including by signing memorandums of understanding with 16 countries on the Digital Silk Road, a technological dimension of the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

In addition, China has established bilateral cooperation with 24 countries on Silk Road E-Commerce, a new international platform for economic cooperation under the BRI.

"Through this forum, we hope to build more consensus, facilitate more pragmatic cooperation and jointly open a new chapter in the development of the global digital economy," Zhang said.