Li on Bonds - Zero-Covid a Test of Political Quality - Song Tao Speaks to Boris Gryzlov - China's Horn of Africa Diplomacy - 86% of Special Bond Quota Issued - Aerospace Sector & Digital Economy
Here are the stories and pieces that I found noteworthy from the Wednesday, April 13, 2022, edition of the People’s Daily.
Page 1: There are many pieces on the front page today. At the top of the page, is a brief report about Xi’s speech at the Olympics commendation ceremony being published. Below this story is a piece about how Liaoning province has managed to maintain the momentum of spring farming despite its pandemic control policies. For instance, the piece informs that:
The Liaoning Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has issued a notice requiring all localities to ensure the passage of vehicles for the transportation of spring ploughing materials, the transportation of returning migrant workers, and those carrying agricultural machinery and tools for cross-regional operations. 辽宁省农业农村厅下发通知，要求各地保障运输春耕物资、运送返乡农民工的车辆以及跨区作业农机具通行.
In addition, steps such as faster administrative approvals, setting up a green channel for matters related to spring ploughing agricultural materials, creating stockpiles of chemical fertilisers and ensuring electricity and raw materials for enterprises have been taken to support farming. So far, around 5.827 million mu of farmland has been prepared by machine farming and 1.067 million mu of crops have been sown, the report informs. I am not sure how one should interpret these figures. Without context and comparison on a year-on-year basis, they are of little meaning.
On the top-left is an article essentially defending the policy of tax cuts and rebates for market entities. It informs that last year a total of 1.1 trillion yuan of new tax cuts and fee reductions were added nationwide; this year, the annual tax refunds and cuts will be about 2.5 trillion yuan, of which about 1.5 trillion yuan has been reserved for VAT rebates. The piece quotes Zhang Lianqi, vice president of China Taxation Society, describing this policy approach as akin to “fertilising the roots of a plant.”
The article also posits the logic of the policy through the following equation:
“Tax rebates are the ‘subtraction’ of government revenue in exchange for the ‘addition’ of enterprise benefits to ensure the ‘multiplication’ of market vitality.” 退税减税，是用政府收入的“减法”，换取企业效益的“加法”和市场活力的“乘法”.
Xi Jinping has been touring Hainan, but there have been no reports about his visit so far in PD. This is normal. Usually, his visits get covered in the paper as consolidated reports when the visit is over. Meanwhile, other PSC members are also out and about and these are being reported. So the next story is about Li Keqiang’s inspection tour of east China's Jiangxi Province (English report). This is a fairly detailed report about Li’s visit.
It informs that inspecting a water conservancy project, Li said that such “projects are beneficial to the people” and “not only benefit the present but also benefit future generations. It is necessary to speed up the issuance and use of special bonds, increase credit support, and improve the efficiency of project examination and approval.” He also talked about supporting such projects from the point of view of providing more employment opportunities for migrant workers.”
In his engagement with entrepreneurs, the report says that some enterprises talked about the challenges related to financing. Li called for greater financial support measures to relieve cash strains faced by enterprises. Reform should be deepened to invigorate market vitality and social creativity, and efforts should be made to promote mass entrepreneurship and innovation, and spawn new business models, he said. The next paragraph talks about him visiting a rice farm, where he talked about ensuring the supply and price of agricultural materials. He also said that if the price of agricultural materials remains high during autumn planting season, the government will take new measures to subsidise agricultural materials. 要继续抓好农资特别是紧缺特殊品种保供稳价，今年秋粮播种时如果农资价格仍较高，国家还会采取新的农资补贴措施。
The next paragraph talks about his visit to a Geely plant, where he talked about support for NEVs. The report also says that he engaged with representatives of small and medium enterprises, who reported being happy with the tax reductions and rebates but expressed concerns regarding obstructions in freight and logistics, which had meant that there was a stockpiling of inventory because they were unable to ship out products. The report says that Li called for efforts to accelerate tax rebates and ensure smooth domestic and international logistics to stabilise industrial and supply chains.
Next, there’s a report (English report) about Zhao Leji’s visit to Hunan province. The report says that Zhao, who is also the secretary of the CPC Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, “emphasised that the disciplinary inspection and supervision organs must deeply understand the decisive significance of the ‘Two Establishments’, strengthen the ‘four consciousnesses’, strengthen the ‘four self-confidences”, achieve the ‘two safeguards’, carry forward the spirit of thorough self-revolution, and conscientiously implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speech at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the key tasks assigned by the Plenary Session, and greet the 20th victory of the Party with practical actions…” 中共中央政治局常委、中央纪委书记赵乐际10日至12日到湖南调研。他强调，纪检监察机关要深刻领悟“两个确立”的决定性意义，增强“四个意识”、坚定“四个自信”、做到“两个维护”，发扬彻底的自我革命精神，认真贯彻落实习近平总书记在中央纪委六次全会上的重要讲话精神和全会部署的重点任务，以正风肃纪反腐的实际行动迎接党的二十大胜利召开.
The report offers some details about his visits to different places in Hunan. The messages that it gives out are about the need for cadres to maintain close ties with the people by improving their work style. Zhao visited a special exhibition in Shazhou village, Rucheng county in Chenzhou City. The exhibition featured the story of the half quilt. He called on cadres to “carry forward the spirit of ‘half quilt’.” During his visit to enterprises, he called for the discipline officials to ensure the effective implementation of policies related to tax reduction and rebate, financing support, and innovation incentives, while rectifying the four winds. Zhao also convened a symposium of secretaries of some provincial-level Party discipline inspection commissions, and called for integrated efforts to see that officials do not have the opportunity, desire or audacity to engage in corruption.
Next, there’s a report about Wang Yang meeting with Italian Senate Speaker Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati. Xinhua reports:
“Wang said China will join hands with Italy to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, tap cooperation potential, jointly build the Belt and Road, deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and promote the development of their comprehensive strategic partnership. He noted that the CPPCC is willing to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with the Italian Senate to push forward China-Italy and China-EU ties. Casellati said that the Italian side stands ready to work with China to deepen friendship, boost cooperation and actively support and promote the development of EU-China ties. The Italian Senate is ready to strengthen exchanges with the CPPCC to contribute to bilateral ties.”
Next, there’s a report about Han Zheng speaking at the national afforestation committee plenary conference. He spoke about the importance of studying and adhering to Xi Jinping thought on ecological civilisation. Xinhua reports:
“He stressed the importance of efforts to fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, fulfill the requirements for high-quality development and unswervingly follow the path of giving priority to ecological protection and pursuing green development. China will further balance land greening and farmland protection, as it has been working to ensure the nation’s farmland acreage remains above the redline of 1.8 billion mu (about 120 million hectares), he said. Han also called for efforts to protect ecological resources, fight illegal logging, wildlife trafficking and occupation of forests and grasslands, prevent forest and grassland fires, and guard against forest and grassland pests.”
Finally, a short piece on the page calling on Party members to be on the front-lines of epidemic prevention and control efforts. The piece says that Party members in Shanghai have responded to this call, but adds that:
“Epidemic prevention and control is not only a battlefield without smoke, but also an examination room to test the original aspiration of party members. Shanghai is at a critical stage of epidemic prevention and control. The more we face such moments,, the more it tests Party members’ spirit, political quality, and sense of responsibility, the more it requires that the majority of Party members strengthen the political consciousness of ‘I am a party member, I will go first’...” 疫情防控是没有硝烟的战场，也是检验党员初心使命的考场。当前，上海疫情防控处在关键时期。越是这样的时候，越能考验党员的党性修养、政治素质、责任担当，越需要广大党员增强“我是党员我先上”的政治自觉、拿出“舍我其谁”的英雄气概.
Page 2: The entire second page is focussed on the COVID-19 situation. First, there’s a report based on the press briefing by the joint prevention and control mechanism of the State Council. It informs that from March 1 to April 11, a total of 325,303 local infections were reported in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, affecting 30 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
In the report NHC’s Mi Feng calls for much more work to speed up nucleic acid testing. Lei Zhenglong is quoted as saying that the current policy approach has led to a situation in which at present there are no “new large-scale outbreaks.” The report adds:
“The epidemic situation in Hebei, Jiangsu, Anhui, Guangdong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Shandong and other provinces is generally under control. The overall epidemic situation in Jilin Province is on a downward trend, but it is still at a high level; the number of new infections in Changchun city has dropped every day, but the community transmission in the control area has not been completely blocked, and it is still necessary to continue to strengthen various prevention and control work in the control area. Shanghai has reported more than 10,000 new infections for 8 consecutive days. The epidemic is in a period of rapid growth. Community transmission has not been effectively contained, and it has spilled over to many provinces. It is expected that the number of new infections will remain high in the next few days.” 河北、江苏、安徽、广东、福建、浙江、山东等省疫情总体可控。吉林省疫情总体呈下降趋势，但仍在高位；长春市每天新增感染者人数下降，但管控区内社区传播没有完全阻断，仍需要继续加强管控区内各项防控工作。上海市连续8天报告新增感染者数超过1万例，疫情处于快速上升期，社区传播尚没有得到有效遏制，且外溢多省份，预计未来几日新增感染者人数仍将处于高位.
Xu Zhengbin, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission's Economic Operations Adjustment, says that a new working mechanism related to the supply of daily necessities has been launched. It will focus on strengthening the monitoring and dispatch of goods, establishing the daily living materials system in key areas hit by outbreaks, tracking the situation of government reserves and commercial stocks, market supply, price fluctuations, etc. Xu said that on the whole, “the supply of important commodities for people's livelihood in the whole country is abundant, prices are basically stable…”. He however, does concede that the prices of vegetables have gone up due to logistics and transportation issues and disruptions related to outbreaks, but adds that this should settle soon.
The next bit with comments from Li Danghui, deputy director of the Ministry of Commerce's Department of Market Operation and Consumption Promotion, are well reported by China Daily.
Li said more than 11 provincial-level regions have provided food supplies to Shanghai. As of Monday, more than 18,000 metric tons of vegetables, 850 tons of rice and flour, 500 tons of meat and eggs, as well as over 5,400 tons of donated food products had been delivered to the city, she added. However, antivirus control measures such as shutting highways and setting up roadblocks have threatened to disrupt logistics services. A number of truck drivers have found themselves stranded en route due to locked-down roads or failure to get special travel permits. In response, the State Council's Joint Prevention and Control Mechanism said in a circular released on Monday that local authorities are strictly forbidden from closing highways, port terminals, railways stations or airports without authorisation. It also prohibits recklessly restricting truck drivers and encourages local officials to set up more COVID-19 testing stations on highways, as well as granting drivers streamlined access and providing them with food and rest areas.
Also check out this Global Times report: “China doubles down on efforts to unclog transport and logistics arteries”
Next, there’s a report essentially calling on all segments of society to “unify their thoughts, build consensus, and implement various epidemic prevention and control measures in a practical manner” while adhering to the dynamic zero-COVID policy “without hesitation.” This piece has comments from Wu Huanyu, deputy director of the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who says that given the size of the elderly population in Shanghai, “lying flat” will “likely to cause severe illness and deaths among the elderly and other vulnerable groups.”
You can also check out the discussion on the zero-COVID, lying flat or being somewhere in between in this Global Times piece.
Also, do note this Bloomberg piece about the shifting zero-COVID strategy. It says:
“China hasn’t budged in its opposition to living with the virus even in the midst of the country’s worst outbreak, but its leaders are now pursuing an easier containment strategy in the uphill battle to tame the hyper-infectious coronavirus. Omicron’s extensive spread means returning to zero local cases is a tall order, even in cities that repeatedly test all residents, trace close contacts and confine everyone to their homes while the virus rages. Instead, officials have now decided that infections among close contacts already corralled into isolation facilities don’t pose a high risk. The new metric to watch is the number of cases found among people who aren’t yet in quarantine. It’s when that metric -- known as “zero infection in the society” in Chinese -- falls to zero that China considers an outbreak contained. The revamped goal means lockdown measures can start being eased once zero community spread has been achieved, even if there are still high numbers of infections detected every day among those in isolation facilities. That’s what happened in recent Chinese outbreaks in the tech hub Shenzhen and the northern province Jilin, where curbs were eased before daily case numbers tapered off.”
Page 3: First, there’s a one-line report about ILD chief Song Tao speaking to Boris Gryzlov, Chairman of the Supreme Council of United Russia, speaking about issues of common concern.
Next, there’s a report with comments from Moin ul Haque, Pakistan’s ambassador to China. This is useful to note, given the recent political changes in Pakistan. Haque doesn’t say anything particularly new here, but what’s noteworthy is that Islamabad wants to put out this message soon after political change in the country.
A lot of the piece is basically him praising the Chinese governance system and China’s developmental achievements and talking about how Pakistan is keen to learn from those achievements. He talks about BRI and CPEC. He praises China’s pandemic diplomacy and talks about close ties between the two sides “in the fight against COVID-19, climate change and terrorism” and how they have “jointly upheld and practiced multilateralism and promoted the building of a community with a shared future for mankind.”
Next, this exchange from the MoFA press conference from yesterday is published in the paper.
Global Times: A recent poll launched by huanqiu.com shows that close to 90 percent of the surveyed Chinese netizens believe that the US is not standing on the side of equity and justice on the Ukraine issue, but practicing hegemony and bullying instead. What is your comment?
Zhao Lijian: I have noted the poll, which reflects the voice for justice of the majority. The ins-and-outs of the unfolding Ukraine issue are crystal clear. The moves of the US-led NATO have escalated the tension between Russia and Ukraine to the breaking point. The US, instead of taking real actions to ease the situation, has been incessantly adding fuel to the flame, heightening the conflict, forcing other countries to pick sides and creating a chilling effect of “friend or foe”. What could this represent other than hegemony and bullying? The US has also been constantly spreading disinformation to smear China and distort China’s responsible position of facilitating peace talks. It harbors the agenda to shift the blame, instigate confrontation, profit from the situation and seek space to hold down China and Russia simultaneously. What could this be other than hegemony and bullying?
The Ukraine issue has revealed what the US would do in pursuit of hegemony and bullying. But the list of US’ practices of the same nature goes on. Holding on to the Cold War mentality, the US is obsessed with drawing ideological lines when forming closed and exclusive cliques and stoking opposition and confrontation. The real agenda is to prolong US’ hegemony and power politics. Under the go-to banner of democracy, freedom and human rights, the US instigates “color revolutions” that provoke regional disputes, and goes so far as to directly wage wars against other countries that aggravate tensions in the regional and global security situation. The scheme is to cash in on instability for huge economic interests and geopolitical advantage. Willfully wielding the baton of unilateral sanctions, the US also engages in economic coercion that severely undermines the stability of global industrial and supply chains. The move aims at suppressing and containing other countries. Following international law and international rules as it sees fit, the US applies the self-claimed “rules-based order” as the “rules of the gang” to defend power politics and hegemony.
Peace and development represents an overriding trend and gains the overwhelming support. The US’ bullying and hegemonic practices against the trend of the times have been met with stronger criticism and rejection in the international community. The US should face up to the public opinion of the world, including China, discard the Cold War and zero-sum mentality as well as the obsolete thinking of seeking its absolute security at the expense of others’ at an early date, and return to the path of upholding international equity and justice.
Next, there’s a Zhong Sheng commentary criticising Japan for its “selfish and irresponsible” attitude regarding the discharge of the Fukushima waste water.
Finally, there’s a piece by Xue Bing, who is the Special Envoy for Horn of Africa Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Xue writes that the proposed “Initiative of Peaceful Development in the Horn of Africa” is an example of the “creative practice of Xi Jinping Thought on Diplomacy.” Xue writes that the Horn of Africa has “abundant natural resources and great potential for development” and it is at the crossroads of “major maritime traffic routes connecting the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.” Despite this, geopolitical competition among major countries has basically led to conflicts resulting in sluggish economic development and adversely affecting people’s lives.
He says that the Chinese initiative is aimed at helping the Horn of Africa deal with the triple challenges of security, development and governance in order to achieve long-term stability, development and prosperity.
Xue adds that after his appointment in late February, he has since mid-March led a working group to the Horn of Africa to work on the implementation of the concept. “We visited seven countries in 16 days, and were warmly received by African friends wherever we went. Leaders of five countries, foreign ministers or foreign ministers' representatives of seven countries made special arrangements for the meetings and engaged in 18 press conferences and other kinds of interview activities. All parties unanimously appreciated and thanked China for putting forward the initiative, and expressed their readiness to fully participate in and promote the early implementation of the initiative, and supported the convening of the Horn of Africa Peace Conference as soon as possible to discuss a plan for peaceful development. Countries in the region believe that the Horn of Africa is not someone's backyard; rather, it is their homeland. The initiative put forward by China conforms to the trend of the times and will surely succeed. Officials from regional countries said that China's participation in regional peace and security affairs has unique advantages that are incomparable and conducive to the balance of regional partnerships. Upholding independence and excluding foreign interference is the only way to achieve lasting security and prosperity. China's proposal is timely and welcomed by the people in the region.” 2月底，我受命出任外交部非洲之角事务特使，并于3月中旬起率工作组赴非洲之角就落实构想开展工作。我们在16天里访问了7个国家，所到之处受到非洲朋友热情接待，5个国家的领导人、7个国家的外长或外长代表专程安排会见，出席记者会等各类采访活动18场。各方一致赞赏和感谢中方提出构想，表示已做好准备，愿全力参与、推动构想早日落实，支持尽早召开非洲之角和平会议，共商和平发展大计。地区国家认为，非洲之角不是谁的后院，而是地区国家的家园；中方提出的构想顺应时代潮流，必将取得成功。地区国家官员表示，中方参与地区和平安全事务具有无可比拟的独特优势，有助于地区伙伴关系的平衡。坚持独立自主、排除外来干涉是实现持久安全与繁荣的必由之路，中方提出构想恰逢其时，受到地区人民的欢迎.
He then says that “the positive feedback from countries in the region reflects the appeal of Xi Jinping’s diplomatic thought. All parties believe that China’s initiative reflects ‘affection’ and ‘righteousness’, which embody ‘Chinese wisdom’.” 地区国家的积极反馈，体现出习近平外交思想的感召力。各方认为，中方构想有“情”有“义”，更体现出“中国智慧”.
Affection refers to a sense of brotherhood; righteousness is about a sense of justice, non-interference and equality of states; and Chinese wisdom refers to a comprehensive approach to the challenges of security, development and governance. He says that the Chinese initiative is a “historic contribution to peace and development in the Horn of Africa. All parties look forward to China playing a bigger role in regional peace and security affairs.” 构想符合地区各国人民根本利益，是中方为非洲之角地区和平发展作出的历史性贡献，各方期待中方在地区和平安全事务中发挥更大作用。— It’s truly amazing how so little has happened but it’s already a historic contribution.
The next few paragraphs are interesting because Xue outlines China’s advantages in terms of the factors that have gone into placing it in a unique position to put forward this initiative in the region.
The first point essentially refers to China’s economic engagement, particularly through BRI, across Africa. He says that China’s friendship and trust is “rooted in the profound accumulation of pragmatic cooperation between China and Africa.”
The second point is that the “recognition of China’s development” by all parties in the region provides an “underlying reason for the appreciation of China’s vision.” He says that this is the “most intuitive and profound experience” from his visit to the region. He adds that countries in the region want engage in exchanges in governance experiences and wish to “learn from China’s successful experience in the fields of party building, legal system building, tackling poverty and tackling key problems, ecological protection, etc., and explore an effective path in line with their own national conditions to achieve national rejuvenation and economic and social development.” 各方对中国发展的高度认同是赞赏中方构想的深层原因。地区各国钦佩中国发展成就，期待同中国加强交流互鉴，探索属于自己的发展道路，这是我此访最直观也是最深切的体会。各国领导人不约而同地表示，希望结合落实构想，加强治国理政经验交流，借鉴中方在政党建设、法制建设、脱贫攻坚、生态环保等领域成功经验，探索一条符合本国国情的有效路径，实现国家振兴和经济社会发展. – Quick thought: I thought this was really interesting, because Xue is talking about the importance of the demonstration effect and also the need to engage in shaping governance practices in African countries.
He says that going forward, China will seek to hold the Horn of Africa Peace Conference and work to align development strategies and strengthen the exchange of governance experience.
Page 4: There was a briefing by Xu Hongcai, vice-minister of finance, on Tuesday. Xu said that China is accelerating the issuance of special purpose bonds at the local government level to further boost investment. Bloomberg’s report covers Xu’s comments well.
“China last month set this year’s quota for special local bond sales at 3.65 trillion yuan, including the 1.46 trillion yuan granted in December to “front load” stimulus. Most of the bonds are meant for infrastructure investment, with some also intended for other purposes like boosting banks’ capital. Xu said 86% of the quota handed down last year, or 1.25 trillion yuan, has been used. More than 852 billion yuan in funds raised through the sales have been passed over to entities undertaking relevant projects, he added. Local governments have reserved 71,000 projects that would be funded with the proceeds of special bonds, said Wang Xiaolong, head of the Ministry of Finance’s department of treasury. Construction has started on 75% of the projects funded by this year’s special notes already sold, he added.”
PD details that “Of the special bonds issued so far,
415.7 billion yuan has been issued to support municipal and industrial park infrastructure,
231.6 billion yuan for transportation infrastructure,
225.1 billion yuan for social programs,
2016.16 billion yuan for government-subsidised housing projects,
100.4 billion yuan for agriculture, forestry and water conservancy,
46.8 billion yuan for ecological and environmental protection, and
25.1 billion yuan for energy, urban and rural cold chains and other logistics infrastructure.” 已经发行的专项债券中，支持市政和产业园区基础设施4157亿元、交通基础设施2316亿元、社会事业2251亿元、保障性安居工程2016亿元、农林水利1004亿元、生态环保468亿元，能源、城乡冷链等物流基础设施251亿元...
Xu is then quoted as outlining conditions for the bonds. These are consideration of the region’s level of financial resources and debt risk; focusing funding to support major projects such as infrastructure and public services with specific benefits, as well as major national strategic projects; there will be a system of rewards and punishments, with regions that violate financial discipline and use funds slowly being penalised; finally, strictly implement the negative list, i.e., funds from special bonds are not to be used to support expenditures on government buildings, image, vanity and performance projects, and non-public welfare capital projects.
Song Qichao, an official at the budget department at the Ministry of Finance, said that the proceeds of special bonds that were part of last year’s quota should be spent before the end of September.
Page 9: The lead piece is by Shi Yaobin, director of the Budget Committee of NPCSC. He talks about the NPC’s supervision function of state-owned assets, including assets of enterprises, assets of financial enterprises, assets of administrative institutions and natural resources. He argues that the NPC’s oversight is an “important front for upholding and strengthening the Party's leadership over the management of state assets, an important platform for building consensus and offering suggestions, and an important channel for promoting reform and resolving conflicts.”
Page 10: There’s a piece by Yuan Jie, the Chairman and Party Secretary of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation. He begins by talking about Xi Jinping’s emphasis on the development of the digital economy and then later says that:
“aerospace enterprises, which are key to China’s aerospace sector and aerospace power development, deeply understand the decisive significance of the ‘Two Establishments’ consciously seek to achieve the ‘two safeguards’, resolutely implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions and the decision-making arrangements of the CPC Central Committee, persist in deepening the profound understanding and grasp of the great significance and internal laws of developing digital economy in practice, persist in vigorously developing digital economy in accelerating the construction of a powerful science and technology country and a powerful space country, and accelerate the realisation of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance in developing digital economy, so as to build a society in an all-round way.” 航天企业作为我国发展航天事业、建设航天强国的核心骨干力量，深刻领会“两个确立”的决定性意义，自觉做到“两个维护”，坚决贯彻落实习近平总书记重要指示精神和党中央决策部署，坚持在实践中不断加深对发展数字经济重大意义与内在规律的深刻认识和把握，坚持在加快建设科技强国、航天强国中大力发展数字经济，在发展数字经济中加快实现高水平科技自立自强，为全面建设社会主义现代化国家提供有力支撑.
He writes that “digital economy is the main economic form after agricultural economy and industrial economy. From a macro perspective, developing the digital economy is a strategic choice to grasp the new opportunities of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. The digital economy – with data resources as the key element, modern information network as the main carrier, integrated application of information and communication technology and total factor digital transformation as the important driving force – has become an important support for building a new development pattern and an important engine for building a modern economic system. Digital technology and the digital economy are the key areas of a new round of international competition, becoming a key force to restructure global factor resources, reshape the global economic structure and change the global competition pattern.” 数字经济是继农业经济、工业经济之后的主要经济形态。从宏观来看，发展数字经济是把握新一轮科技革命和产业变革新机遇的战略选择。数字经济以数据资源为关键要素，以现代信息网络为主要载体，以信息通信技术融合应用、全要素数字化转型为重要推动力，已成为构建新发展格局的重要支撑，成为构建现代化经济体系的重要引擎。数字技术、数字经济是新一轮国际竞争重点领域，成为重组全球要素资源、重塑全球经济结构、改变全球竞争格局的关键力量.
He adds that: “aerospace enterprises are an important component and support of the national strategic scientific and technological strength. Leading scientific and technological innovation and developing the digital economy are not only the essential requirements for enterprises to achieve high-quality development, but also intrinsic to the development of the aerospace industry and for building a powerful aerospace country. At present, Internet, big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, blockchain, quantum technology and other technologies are accelerating innovation, promoting the rapid development of the industrial economy towards a digital economy. Aerospace enterprises must strive to be the vanguard of building new advantages and new kinetic energy of the digital economy, and provide strong support for strengthening national digital infrastructure construction, improving digital economy governance system and cultivating new industries, new formats and new models.” 从微观来看，航天企业是国家战略科技力量的重要组成与重要支撑，引领科技创新、发展数字经济，既是企业实现高质量发展的本质要求，也是发展航天事业、建设航天强国的内在需要。当前，互联网、大数据、云计算、人工智能、区块链、量子科技等技术加速创新，推动工业经济向数字经济快速迈进。航天企业必须争当打造数字经济新优势新动能的先锋队、排头兵，为加强国家数字基础设施建设、完善数字经济治理体系、培育新产业新业态新模式提供强劲支撑.
In the next paragraph, he talks about “unleashing the potential of data,” which he says can have a “multiplier role in improving production efficiency.” He argues that the effective use of data resources can “improve the total factor productivity and empower the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries.”
He then outlines four key points:
First, it is necessary to give full play to the innovative advantages of aerospace enterprises, and concentrate efforts on tackling key digital core technologies. In this, he argues that aerospace companies have a rich history of innovation in key digital core technologies such as automatic control, simulation and software engineering. They should take it as “their mission and important responsibility” to accelerate the realisation of self-reliance and self-improvement in high-end science and technology, vigorously implement the strategy of innovation-driven development, and resolutely break through the ‘chokepoint’ problem of technologies being controlled by others. 航天企业在自动控制、仿真模拟、软件工程化等数字关键核心技术领域有深厚的创新积淀，要把加快实现高水平科技自立自强作为使命追求和重要职责，大力实施创新驱动发展战略，坚决突破受制于人的“卡脖子”难题.
He adds: “It is necessary to strengthen the basic research and development of digital technology, aim at strategic forward-looking areas, focus on the new generation information technology, and enhance the innovation capability in regard to key technologies.” 要强化数字技术基础研发，瞄准战略性前瞻性领域，聚焦新一代信息技术，增强关键技术创新能力. In addition, he talks about pushing the integration and application of digital technology and various fields and speeding up the engineering and industrialisation of innovative technologies, focussing on establishing a base for key technologies and industrial chains.
Second, he talks about using aerospace resources to boost new infrastructure. He says that over the years, aerospace companies have actively fostered digital industries such as industrial Internet, artificial intelligence, blockchain and cloud computing, contributing to the in-depth integration of next-generation information technology and equipment manufacturing. To accelerate the construction of the new infrastructure, aerospace enterprises should build a agile, efficient and reusable ‘aerospace cloud’ digital infrastructure, continuously improve the productization of the industrial Internet, cloud platforms and collaborative R&D platforms, enhance the technological innovation and supply capacity of key software, and comprehensively promote industrialization and large-scale application. 多年来，航天企业积极培育工业互联网、人工智能、区块链、云计算等数字产业，为推动新一代信息技术与装备制造业深度融合贡献航天力量。加快新型基础设施建设，航天企业要建设敏捷高效可复用的“航天云”数字化基础设施，不断提升工业互联网、云平台、协同研发平台等平台软件的产品化程度，提升关键软件技术创新和供给能力，全面推进产业化、规模化应用.
Third, he talks about promoting the digital transformation of aerospace enterprises. He wants to promote the leap-forward development of aerospace scientific research, production, operation and management systems.
Fourth, and finally, he argues that “without network security, there is no national security, and there will be no stable economic and social operation. Aerospace enterprises are at the forefront of the country in information technology application innovation. It is necessary to comprehensively strengthen the basic security management of networks, platforms, systems, data, etc., and enhance the technical capability of active defense; it is necessary to make overall plans for development and security, establish a network security concept of active defense, and continue to guide competitive domestic enterprises towards collaborative innovation in order to promote the research, development and application of information and communication technologies and products, and build a benchmark for information technology application innovation; establish an information security product and service guarantee system and expand the application of quantum communication industry with aerospace characteristics. With the support of cryptographic platforms and blockchain technology capability platform, focus on government affairs, people’s livelihood, and enterprise services to promote the industry-level application of blockchain, and effectively maintain the bottom line of network security.” 没有网络安全就没有国家安全，就没有经济社会稳定运行。航天企业在信息技术应用创新方面走在全国前列，要全面加强网络、平台、系统、数据等基础安全管理，增强主动防御技术能力；要统筹发展和安全，树立积极防御的网络安全观，持续牵引国内优势企业协同创新推动信创技术、产品的研发和应用，打造信息技术应用创新标杆；建立信息安全产品服务保障体系，拓展具有航天特色的量子通信行业应用。以密码平台和区块链技术能力平台为支撑，聚焦政务、民生、企业服务领域推进区块链行业级应用，切实守住网络安全底线.