China’s ‘two sessions’ 2024: ‘blind investments’ in digital economy could be harmful, delegate says
- Lu Ming, director of Shanghai Institute for National Economy, says local governments have shown a lack of ‘awareness’ in their economic planning
- Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference delegate says authorities should make use of existing industrial foundations and local resources
Local governments should focus on finding a competitive edge in specific sectors of the digital economy, instead of “blindly” jumping in, as China aims to find new growth points to counter pressure from the United States, according to a proposal from an economic adviser.
“There are mid-size cities that have listed everything down as their main focus in economic development: artificial intelligence, cloud computing, big data, hi-tech software, IT service, 5G, Internet of Things and integrated circuit,” said Lu, who is a delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) - Beijing’s top advisory body - which just kicked off its annual meetings on Monday.
“This wide-ranging and cover-it-all approach reflects that many local governments have not considered their relative competitiveness when doing their economic planning, and it lacks the awareness for building a digital economy ecosystem,” he told the Shanghai-based The Paper ahead of the start of the “two sessions”.
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Chinese AI-generated cartoon series broadcast on state television
He said such a trend is harmful to the economy because there would be “blind investments, waste of resources and overlaps of projects”, and that central and provincial governments should come up with coordination and supervision mechanisms.
Lu’s comments came as local governments published their budget and development plans ahead of the two sessions, which refers to the annual meetings of the CPPCC and China’s legislature, the National People’s Congress.
