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China on Monday released 20 measures to build basic systems for data, aiming to give full play to China's massive data and rich application scenarios to strengthen the digital economy and boost high-quality economic development, while also stressing regulations to protect national security related to data transactions. 

Jointly released by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, the new measures, which expand market accesses for both domestic and foreign players and put in place transparent regulations, will further boost the country's rapidly growing data industry, while ensuring security, analysts noted.

As a new production factor, data is the basis of digitization, networking and intelligence, and the construction of basic systems for data is a matter of national development and security, read the official document containing the measures.   

According to the document, the country will build basic data systems in four aspects, including data property rights, circulation and transaction, revenue distribution and security governance, which is in accordance with the efforts made by the Central Economic Work Conference to support digital economy platforms.

The measures also called for the building of a mechanism for data security compliance and orderly cross-border circulation, which supports international exchanges and cooperation in data and calls for exploring safe and standardized cross-border data flow. 

Specifically, the document said that national security reviews should be conducted on data processing, data cross-border transmission, and foreign mergers and acquisitions that affect or may affect national security. It also said that China opposes hegemony and protectionism in the data industry and will effectively counter "long-arm jurisdiction" in the area.

The new measures will fully activate the value of data elements, empower the development of the real economy to further promote the construction of a new development pattern and share the country's achievements in the digital economy with the world, experts noted.

Wang Peng, a research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Monday that China's digital economy has a large scale and a large value, and it is very closely integrated with the real economy, generating a large number of data elements, indicating the huge future development potential of data elements, with more values to be explored.

Based on the Global Initiative on Data Security, the country will actively participate in the development of international rules and digital technology standards for data flow, data security and digital currency, according to the document.

For countries all over the world, especially in terms of data governance, data security, including transnational data trade systems and cooperation frameworks, have room for bold exploration in this area, Wang said.

It demonstrates the open attitude of China's digital industry when it comes to sharing the successful experience and achievements of China's digital economy, Wang added.

The document also encourages domestic and foreign enterprises and organizations to carry out business cooperation in cross-border data flows in accordance with the law and regulations, promoting the formation of a fair and competitive international market.

For typical application scenarios such as cross-border e-commerce, cross-border payment and supply chain management, the government will explore safe and standardized methods of cross-border data flows.

According to Wang, the digital economy or the internet itself is an open and shared platform. Under the premise of being safe, legal and controllable, China's relevant data transactions and digital economic data governance will also open up and share with friendly countries around the world, so that everyone can share prosperity.

"We believe that digital economy can be shared and built globally... but at the same time, it is necessary to establish an open and cooperative platform of equality, mutual benefit and mutual trust, instead of forming circles and competing with each other," Wang said.

Moreover, the document also vowed to build a standardized and efficient data trading venue, while improving data regulations to ensure data security.

The 20 measures are meant to establish protection from the institutional level, and also to reduce some potential data security risks and hidden dangers, such as data information leakage and various illegal data utilization, Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent tech analyst, told the Global Times on Monday.