The world’s second-largest economy, China, is poised for breakthroughs in cyberspace, says the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Beijing wants to be in the forefront of the booming digital economy.
“China will endeavor to basically build itself into a strong cyber power by 2035 to join the world's top rank in cyberspace," said the minister Miao Wei.
Among its new projects, China is planning to build a 13.8 billion yuan ($2.1 billion) artificial intelligence (AI) development park in the Mentougou district of Beijing, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday. Spanning a total of 54.87 hectares, the park will be home to around 400 businesses focused on high-speed data, cloud computing, biometrics and so-called deep learning – an advanced learning technique of AI.
Beijing also plans to advance the development of information technology and spread internet applications in the coming years. It will start a series of strategic projects and accelerate upgrading the internet. The average speed of 4G technology in China has increased 30 percent in 2017.
The minister said that deeper integration between the internet, big data, AI and manufacturing should be encouraged. He has promised to strengthen regulations to better protect private information and online data.
The spread of high-tech, such as big data and AI, is reviving traditional industries, said Miao Wei.
Statistics from the World Internet Developing Report show there were almost four billion internet users around the world as of June 2017, China accounted for over 750 million users.
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