China 6G: The next technological frontier!

China is promoting the application of informatization during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), with 6G technology being a top priority, Chinese government officials and industry experts said on Friday, as the country pushes for the development of the digital economy to become a new economic driver, China Daily reported on March 20.

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"China will accelerate the research and development of 6G technology, the construction of large-scale 5G networks and the large-scale application of IPv6, aiming to make the internet bigger, faster and safer," Yang Xiaowei, deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, said at a press conference in Beijing.

"With further efforts to unleash the vitality of data and accelerate the construction of systems and standards to adapt to data flows, cross-border data transmission and data security protection, the digital economy will be able to truly play a key role across the country," Yang said.

The digital economy is a focus of the 14th Five-Year Plan. China's goal is to increase the proportion of core industry output value in the digital economy to 10% of GDP by 2025.

China has made great strides in developing its digital economy over the past five years, during which time the number of internet users in the country has surged from 688 million to 989 million, and internet penetration has risen from 50.3 percent to 70.4 percent, according to the Cyberspace Administration of China.

With the use and coverage of 5G, substantial growth in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and other fields, China's innovation capabilities continue to improve. From 2015 to 2020, China's ranking in the World Intellectual Property Organization's Global Innovation Index jumped from 29th to 14th.