China's digital economy maintained rapidgrowth during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, with annual average growth ofmore than 16.6 percent, the People's Daily overseas edition reported.

According to the Ministry of Industry andInformation Technology, by the end of last year, the value-added of coreindustries of China's digital economy account for 7.8 percent of GDP, withobvious enhancement in quality and efficiency.

China has put more effort into promotingthe development of the digital economy in recent years, providing strongsupport for building a Digital China, said Yang Yuyan, director of theinformation technology development bureau of the ministry.

China has built the largest fiber-optic and4G networks in the world, with the number of 5G terminal connections surpassing200 million.

Software and information services,electronic information manufacturing and telecommunications service experiencedburgeoning development. Taking software as an example, last year the industryposted revenue of 8.16 trillion yuan, up 13.3 percent year-on-year.

The government sped up digitaltransformation and promoted the construction of industrial internet. Atpresent, China has established more than 80 influential industrial internetplatforms, with the number of industrial applications surpassing 350,000,providing strong support to enhance quality and efficiency while reducingcosts.

In terms of information consumption, thenation actively cultivated and popularized data-driven new business modes andpatterns. It is worth mentioning that online education, telecommuting andonline shopping played an important role during the fight against COVID-19.

Meanwhile, State-owned enterprises activelytook part in digital transformation and achieved positive progress, said Gou Ping,director of the bureau of technological innovation and social responsibilityunder the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission.

SOEs fully played a key role in newinfrastructure, such as 5G, big data centers and industrial internet, Gou said.More than 80 centrally controlled SOEs built group-level data centers andindustrial internet platforms. Commercial Aircraft Corp of China built thefirst fully connected 5G factory in China.

SOEs also deepened the integration ofdigital technology and production operation, making major strides in digitalinnovation, production operation intellectualization and industrial systemecologicalization, Gou added.

Next, the nation will speed up thedevelopment of digital industrialization and industrial digitization, improvethe digital governance system and promote digital services, said Sun Wei,director of the innovation and high-tech development bureau of the NationalDevelopment and Reform Commission.

China will promote rapid growth of digitaleconomy and strengthen innovation application of key digital technologies, Sunadded. The government will drive the reform of modes of production, living andgoverning via digital transformation to promote high-quality development.

China's six major commercial banks arestepping up digital wallet efforts to provide new impetus for the digitalrenminbi trials in the country.

The Shanghai branch of State-owned Bank ofChina has allowed customers to apply for digital wallets via its officialWeChat account. Upon approval, which normally takes three to five working daysafter receipt of the application, the user will receive a text message with thedownload links for the official digital yuan application.

Bank of China officials said the user willbe able to add other bank accounts to the official application. A personalquick response code is generated within the application for payments. Butdetails of transfer are yet to be confirmed.

Simple paperwork is needed at ChinaConstruction Bank's Shanghai branch. The applicant's job information is checkedagainst a white list. Once approved, the applicant will see the digital walletinterface automatically generated in his/her CCB application. The digitalwallet can be used like Alipay and WeChat Pay, said CCB officials.

As reported by Shanghai Securities News onTuesday, China's six major commercial banks, including Industrial andCommercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, Bank of Communications,Postal Savings Bank of China, BOC and CCB, have started to promote the use ofdigital yuan wallets. Tencent-backed WeBank and Alibaba-supported MyBank, bothof which are online-only private banks, are also getting ready to test thedigital wallet.

The application of e-CNY started last Aprilin Shenzhen, Guangdong province, Suzhou, Jiangsu province, Chengdu, Sichuanprovince and the Xiong'an New Area in Hebei province. Since then, theapplication scenarios have been significantly enriched. In early December, JDbecame the first online retailer in the country to accept digital yuanpayments. At the same time, the digital yuan wallet is connected to thebike-sharing service of Meituan, video site Bilibili and ride-hailing platformDidi Chuxing, all of which are part of Suzhou's continued trials of digitalwallet application.

Mu Changchun, head of the People's Bank ofChina's Digital Currency Research Institute, said that e-commerce platformsthat accept payments via e-CNY will not have access to users' personalinformation. E-CNY users can open an anonymous digital wallet by registering amobile phone number, and telecom operators should not disclose customerinformation to the central bank or any third-party institutions.

In other words, the e-CNY users' privacyprotection is at the highest level among all the existing payment tools,according to Mu.

To promote the use of digital wallets, thefirst pilot program of the e-CNY digital red packets was conducted inShenzhen's Luohu district in October last year. Since then, China's centralbank has distributed at least 150 million yuan ($23 million) worth of redpackets in Beijing, Suzhou, Chengdu, as well as Shenzhen's Futian and Longhuadistricts.

Cheng Shi, chief economist and managingdirector of ICBC International, wrote in a report released in early March thatthe development of e-CNY has started to "accelerate", with steadyprogress in the online and offline financial infrastructure development. Thee-CNY use has also been clearly stated in the regional government work plansreleased earlier this year.

China will further expand trials of e-CNY,the digital currency floated by the People's Bank of China, the central bank,and tighten regulations on privately-created cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoinand Stablecoin, according to officials and experts.

Bitcoin is a digital or virtual currencythat uses peer-to-peer technology to facilitate instant payments, whileStablecoin is a cryptocurrency where the value is tied to an outside asset,such as the dollar or gold.

China considers Bitcoin and Stablecoin ascryptoassets, which means they are not seen as real currencies, but only asinvestment assets. The nation is planning to improve the regulatory environmentfor these alternative investments, to ensure that speculative activity will notresult in serious financial risks, said PBOC Vice-Governor Li Bo.

"Before the launch of any regulatorymeasures, we will maintain what we are doing right now," Li said during asession discussion of the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2021.

Unlike for Bitcoin, the regulations forsome types of Stablecoin should be tighter, as they need to follow theregulations for payment tools issued by private sector banks or quasi-bankingfinancial institutions, said Li.

Zhou Xiaochuan, former governor of thecentral bank, said the financial sector should continue to serve the realeconomy.

"Whether it is a digital currency or adigital asset, it should closely integrate with and serve the realeconomy," Zhou said.

Zhou also said that digital currency couldbenefit the real economy and support a large number of payments.

Though financial regulators have expressedconcern about cryptocurrencies, they are promoting the launch of the centralbank digital currency. According to Li, authorities are planning to expandtrials of the digital yuan, or e-CNY, in more cities and for various scenarios.

"For example, in the pilot program of2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, the digital yuan will not only be offered todomestic users, but also for international users," said Li.

In addition, China is finding ways toexchange of various digital currencies issued by world's leading central banks,which is a complicated issue. "We are not in a hurry to find a solution.We are choosing different options to experiment with various technologies. Weare open-minded. The goal is to build a very solid domestic digital yuan and ahealthy ecosystem," Li added.

China is exploring ways to use its digitalyuan for cross-border transactions to meet market demand, the central banksaid.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) hasworked with the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) on the technical testing ofusing the digital yuan for cross-border payments on the Chinese mainland andHong Kong, said Wang Xin, an official with the PBOC, at a news conference.

For this purpose, the PBOC is alsocooperating with the HKMA and central banks of Thailand and the United ArabEmirates in a multilateral research project, Wang said.

China's digital yuan testing is makingsteady progress, with more test scenarios coming into use.

Several Chinese cities, including Beijing,Shenzhen and Suzhou, have piloted this digital currency since last year.