Boao Photo: VCG

There has been steady progress in Asia's digital economy despite economic headwinds, and China remains a fast-growing market. The country is calling for joint efforts by Asian countries to share the dividends of the digital economy's development, the Asia Digital Economy Report released on Thursday showed.

China is one of the countries in the world with the friendliest environment, strongest momentum and most extensive application for the development of the digital economy, Li Baodong, secretary-general of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA), said at a press conference for the release of the report.

According to the report, which was jointly released by the BFA and China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China's top-level strategic planning system for the digital economy is becoming increasingly robust, with official documents such as the release of Comprehensive Plan for Building a Digital China providing further clarity for the healthy growth of the digital economy.

"Asian countries should work together to share the dividends of the digital economy. It is necessary to strengthen network building and research cooperation and promote the interconnection of information infrastructures," said Li.

Analysts said that Asia is poised to continue leading digital innovation. Asian countries with more developed digital economies, such as China, Singapore and Japan, can and should help the rest of Asia upgrade its industrial digitalization and develop its digital industries by sharing their experience, technology and capital.

They stressed that the digital economy is leading the new direction of global economic development, becoming a key force in reorganizing global resources, reshaping the global economic structure and changing global competition patterns. 

According to the report, the scale of the digital economy in 14 Asian countries stood at $12.8 trillion in 2022, up 3.5 percent year-on-year and accounting for 38.5 percent of GDP.

China's digital economy ranked No. 1 in Asia in terms of scale in 2022, reaching $7.47 trillion, with Japan ranking second with $2.37 trillion and South Korea ranking third with $952.3 billion, according to the report.

Asia has become the world's primary producer of 5G patents and the setting of standards. For example, in 2022, Chinese enterprises' 5G standard essential patents accounted for 39.9 percent of the world's total, basically achieving 5G technology leadership, read the report.

Asia leads the world in industrial robot market development. China is the largest user of industrial robots in Asia, with installations reaching 290,300 units in 2022, up 5 percent year-on-year.

China's digital economy is in a leading position in Asia and the world, with a huge digital user base and advanced digital technology that provide favorable conditions for further development, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The advantage of China's digital economy lies in its vast application scenarios, massive amounts of data and well-developed digital economy platform enterprises, such as Alibaba, Tencent, JD.com and Baidu. In addition, China's digital infrastructure, including cloud services, networks and 5G, is very complete," said Wang.

While the Asian region as a whole leads the world in the digital economy, sharp digital divides can also be observed among economies and industries and between urban and rural areas. Therefore, Asian countries' cooperation in the digital economy remains challenged in many ways.

But still, efforts can be made in three major areas to strengthen regional cooperation: improving digital infrastructure, promoting industrial digitalization and boosting innovation in digital industries, Pan Helin, joint director of the Research Center for Digital Economics and Financial Innovation affiliated with Zhejiang University's International Business School, told the Global Times on Thursday.

"The BFA 2024 Annual Conference will focus on how to promote the development of the digital economy at the government and enterprise levels, including promoting the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, and further promoting the innovation of the digital economy," the BFA secretary-general noted.