People's Daily:
This year marks the 20th anniversary of digital Fujian development. Could you brief us on its major achievements as well as specific measures for the next step? Thank you.
Zhao Long:
Thanks for your question. Deputy Director Yang Xiaowei has just expounded on the development of digital China from a national perspective. The same developments apply to Fujian Province. Since General Secretary Xi Jinping put forward the important strategic plan for digital Fujian development in 2000, the Fujian Party committee and provincial government have attached great importance to it ever since. As we strengthen top-level planning and enhance the integration of resources, the digital Fujian development has made remarkable achievements, injecting strong impetus into the high-quality development of Fujian province.
Here is a figure that I think illustrates this point. In 2019, the total digital economy of Fujian province reached 1.73 trillion yuan, accounting for 40 percent of the provincial GDP, with the growth rate ranking second nationwide. Meanwhile, the digital government service index of Fujian province topped the national ranking. I'd like to elaborate on those in four separate aspects:
First, the provincial information infrastructure construction registered leapfrog growth. At present, all of the province's prefecture-level cities have reached the standard of an optical-network city while urban and rural areas have realized full 4G network coverage, especially that all villages within the province are equipped with fiber-optic networks. Additionally, the Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) covers the whole province and commercial use of 5G network has been speeding up. The province's internet penetration rate ranks fourth in the country. The e-government service network has covered five administrative levels of Fujian, including the provincial, city, county, town, and village levels.
Second, the province's digital government service has improved. Fujian has developed a network for government approvals that spans the entire province, with 97 percent of government approvals and services now available online. Over 90 percent of government services require no physical presence of the applicants, or need one visit at most. Improved functions of the province's all-in-one mobile service platform, the MZT App, have allowed public access to handy services basically anytime online. The wide use of electronic certificates enables the public to access services using their ID numbers and allows enterprises to handle business through their legal person codes.
Third, the province's digital economy has grown rapidly. At present, the province is home to 13 registered electronic information manufacturing enterprises with an output value of over 10 billion yuan, as well as seven of the top 100 internet enterprises in China. The province's online retail sales volume ranks sixth in China. Also, the province is top in the number of enterprises that have reached the national implementing standards for the integration of information and industrialization. A number of 100-billion-yuan digital industry clusters are growing fast. Over the past two summits in particular, the province has registered a total of 462 signed digital economy projects with a total investment of 382.6 billion yuan, of which 130 projects have been completed and 295 others are underway. The digital economy has brought about an increasingly cumulative, amplifying, and multiplying effect on high-quality development.
Fourth, a smart society has brought added convenience to the public and enterprises. The internet has been widely applied to social services in the province. In particular, the province accelerates the sharing of high-quality educational resources between urban and rural areas via a network. It has introduced equipment for sharing educational resources to all the middle and primary schools in the region, offering a strong guarantee for students' continued studies during class suspension due to the epidemic. Remote medical services cover the province's tertiary public hospitals and 83 percent of its community medical institutions, which has effectively alleviated public concern over difficulties in receiving medical treatment. Social security cards are widely used by the province's urban and rural residents, having realized medical treatment and settlement with one card. The payment by a smart transportation card enables the interconnection between cities and prefectures throughout the province. The construction of a smart society gives people an increased sense of gain, happiness, and security.
Next, we will earnestly implement General Secretary Xi Jinping's important thought on cyberspace development and the spirit of his congratulatory letter to the first Digital China Summit, deepening the digital Fujian development in the new era. We will make additional efforts in the following four areas:
First, we will accelerate the construction of the national pilot zone for developing digital economy innovatively. Since Fujian has been listed among the national pilot zones, we will further implement plans for the digital economy to take the lead as well as initiatives regarding cloud services, big data application and intelligent transformation so as to further integrate the digital economy with the real economy.
Second, we will speed up the construction of new infrastructure. The province has just set out a three-year new infrastructure initiative, in which we plan to implement a number of new infrastructure projects, including new network, new technology, new computing power, new security, new integration, and new platform.
Third, we will speed up the development of digital government capacity. We will promote enhanced government services online, so as to make services for businesses and the public as convenient as online shopping.
Fourth, we will accelerate data development in the province. We are working on the effective integration of government data, social public data, and business data. We will further accelerate the development of a data factor market and clarify data property rights and data value to promote data trading and maintain data security, as well as to further release data resource dividends. We will strive to build Fujian into a national digital economy development highland and a model and demonstrative zone for digital China development, injecting new impetus into the promotion of high-quality development across the board.
Thank you.
