General Secretary Xi Jinping has pointed out: “Digital technologies, with their new concepts, business models, and approaches, are comprehensively integrating into every domain and process of human economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological civilization development, bringing broad and profound impacts on people’s production and daily lives.” In recent years, the pace of innovation and iteration in digital technologies has markedly accelerated. While significantly boosting social productivity and optimizing resource allocation, these advances have also introduced new challenges that urgently call for governance of digital development and the cultivation of a healthy digital ecosystem. The Outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021–2025) includes a dedicated chapter titled “Accelerating Digital Development and Building a Digital China,” which clearly outlines measures to expedite the development of a digital economy, digital society, and digital government, and to foster a sound digital ecosystem. In line with General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important speeches and the deployment set forth in the 14th Five-Year Plan, the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission recently issued the “14th Five-Year” National Informatization Plan (hereinafter referred to as “the Plan”), calling for the establishment of a standardized and orderly governance system for digital development. This will help create an open, healthy, and secure digital ecosystem and accelerate the construction of Digital China.
Accurately Identifying the Targets of Digital Development Governance
In recent years, China has vigorously promoted the adoption of new technologies and applications such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence (AI), and blockchain. By adhering to innovation-driven empowerment, the country has unleashed new vitality in the digital economy and achieved positive progress in building a digital ecosystem. This has effectively facilitated the organic integration of various factors across production, distribution, circulation, and consumption, optimized and interconnected industrial, supply, and value chains, and laid a solid foundation for building a strong cyber nation and Digital China. At the same time, rapid digital advancement has also given rise to new problems and challenges, making it imperative to clarify governance targets and strengthen the governance of digital development.
Regulating the platform economy. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: “China’s platform economy is at a critical stage. We must take a long-term view while addressing immediate concerns, address weaknesses, strengthen vulnerable areas, foster an innovative environment, resolve prominent contradictions and issues, and promote the standardized, healthy, and sustainable development of the platform economy.” In recent years, the platform economy has played an increasingly significant role in China’s overall socioeconomic development. Its general trajectory has been positive and its contributions constructive. However, certain issues persist—for example, some platform enterprises operate in non-compliant ways and pose risks; the platform economy remains underdeveloped in certain areas and suffers from structural gaps; and internet platform monopolies are becoming more pronounced, which could undermine the industry’s long-term healthy development. Improving laws, regulations, and regulatory mechanisms—and guiding platform operators to comply with legal requirements—will better protect consumer rights and public interests and support the sustained, healthy growth of the digital economy.
Addressing risks and challenges posed by digital technologies. At the Cybersecurity and Informatization Work Symposium, General Secretary Xi Jinping remarked: “Throughout history, many technologies have been ‘double-edged swords’—capable of benefiting society and the people on one hand, yet potentially exploited by some to harm public and individual interests on the other.” Today, a new round of scientific and industrial revolution—led by information technologies such as 5G, AI, blockchain, and big data—is accelerating and has become a primary driver of socioeconomic development. While the widespread application of digital technologies continues to reshape how people live and interact, it also profoundly influences behaviors, thought patterns, values, and moral norms, introducing potential risks. For instance, personal data breaches threaten privacy; algorithmic recommendation systems intensify “filter bubbles”; and AI raises ethical and safety concerns. Responding to these challenges demands higher standards and more sophisticated models for internet service management.
Fostering a clean and clear cyberspace. General Secretary Xi Jinping stated: “Cyberspace is the shared spiritual home of hundreds of millions of people.” China has made notable progress in building a comprehensive internet governance system, advancing systematic, law-based, integrated, and root-cause-oriented governance in a coordinated manner. In particular, persistent efforts have been made to hold websites and platforms accountable for content moderation, establish industry self-regulation mechanisms, and carry out targeted campaigns such as “Qinglang” (Clear and Bright) and “Jingwang” (Clean Net) to address public concerns about online disorder. As a result, mainstream online discourse has grown stronger, and cyberspace continues to be purified. Maintaining a clean cyberspace is a long-term endeavor that requires continuous strengthening of content governance to ensure information remains appropriate and uplifting; ongoing development of behavioral norms aligned with socialist core values; and further refinement of institutional mechanisms, including enhanced oversight of the implementation of protective measures in relevant domains.
Strengthening cybersecurity safeguards. General Secretary Xi Jinping emphasized: “Cybersecurity is pivotal to national security—it is intricately linked to many other dimensions of security.” Since the 18th Party Congress, China has enhanced its cybersecurity capabilities and reinforced its national cybersecurity defenses. Yet, as digital transformation accelerates, so do evolving cyber threats. With the large-scale deployment of new technologies and applications, risks such as data breaches, online fraud, ransomware attacks, and software vulnerabilities have become increasingly prominent, presenting new challenges to cybersecurity. Without cybersecurity, there can be no national security, no stable socioeconomic operations, and no effective protection of the people’s fundamental interests. Safeguarding cybersecurity is therefore urgent and imperative.
Building a Targeted Governance Mechanism for Digital Development
Recognizing the diversity of governance targets across sectors and themes, the Plan advocates tailored and precise policy responses to develop a systematic governance framework for digital development.
Enhancing governance of internet platforms. The Ninth Meeting of the Central Committee for Financial and Economic Affairs stressed: “We must understand the inherent dynamics of platform economic development and establish a sound governance system for the platform economy.” As the platform economy has expanded rapidly, China has continuously strengthened relevant legal frameworks, reinforced platform accountability, encouraged technological innovation and service quality improvements, and intensified anti-monopoly oversight to promote healthy and orderly industry growth. The Plan underscores the need to strengthen the platform governance system, including “improving mechanisms for reporting and disclosing illegal content, guiding platforms to proactively disclose their self-inspection and handling of violations, and enabling timely early warnings and risk identification.” This provides a roadmap for platforms to preemptively identify and mitigate risks. The Plan also proposes to “encourage platform enterprises to allocate more resources toward technological innovation, enhance product and service quality, refine operational rules, and improve the platform business environment to foster healthy industry development”—aiming to bolster platforms’ innovation capacity, elevate public service standards, and further advance breakthroughs in core technologies, drive China’s digital economy, and better serve the people.
Strengthening governance through technical rules. General Secretary Xi Jinping stated: “We must comprehensively enhance our technical capabilities in internet governance, regulate data resource utilization, and guard against risks posed by emerging technologies like big data.” Today, technological innovation capability has become a decisive factor in global strategic competition. To ensure technology serves humanity (“tech for good”), it is essential to continuously build and refine a governance system based on technical rules. China has already issued regulations such as the Provisions on the Scope of Necessary Personal Information for Common Types of Mobile Internet Applications and the Administrative Provisions on Algorithmic Recommendation Services for Internet Information Services, strengthening norms around privacy protection and algorithmic transparency. In response to the evolving governance demands of ever-innovating digital technologies, the Plan emphasizes: “Establishing and improving review mechanisms and legal frameworks for digital technology applications, conducting algorithmic regulation, standard-setting, security assessments, and ethical reviews”; “leveraging the National Committee for Science and Technology Ethics to coordinate, standardize, and guide ethical governance”; and “enhancing public education on digital technology risks to raise societal awareness of risk prevention and responsibility.” These measures will define reasonable ethical boundaries for emerging technologies, reinforce the institutional foundation for technology to benefit humanity, and provide robust support for scientific and technological innovation.
Strengthening content governance in cyberspace. General Secretary Xi Jinping noted: “A clear, bright, and healthy cyberspace aligns with the people’s interests; a polluted and degraded cyberspace does not.” Online content governance is key to purifying cyberspace and a focal point in building a digital governance system. Chinese authorities have issued regulations such as the Administrative Measures for Internet Religious Information Services and the Interim Administrative Measures for Live-Streaming Marketing to improve content oversight. Going forward, the legal and regulatory framework for digital governance must be further refined. The Plan stresses: “Improving the legal system for real-name registration online and advancing the construction of a unified digital identity management system, including greater standardization and interoperability.” This will help unify online and offline identities and deepen the integration of cyberspace with physical society. The Plan also states: “Encouraging lawful participation by social actors in co-governance of online content, establishing closed-loop processes for public supervision, reporting, handling, feedback, and incentives to activate societal engagement.” This will harness the enthusiasm of hundreds of millions of netizens in co-building a better online home and contribute to a cleaner cyberspace.
Enhancing cybersecurity capabilities. General Secretary Xi Jinping observed: “The essence of cybersecurity lies in confrontation, and the essence of that confrontation is the contest of capabilities between offense and defense.” On one hand, China continues to develop advanced cybersecurity protection technologies and strengthen its overall cybersecurity architecture. On the other, it has actively built a legal and regulatory framework, enacting key laws and regulations such as the Data Security Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on the Protection of Critical Information Infrastructure, and the Cybersecurity Review Measures. To further bolster cybersecurity, the Plan proposes to “strengthen joint R&D of core cybersecurity technologies, conduct key research on advanced threat protection, situational awareness, and monitoring and early-warning systems, and establish a secure and controllable hardware-software cybersecurity defense system.” This will promote cross-sector collaboration in core technology breakthroughs, break down industry silos, and improve R&D efficiency. It also calls for “implementing a national project to enhance foundational cybersecurity capabilities” and “strengthening platform support for cybersecurity,” which will drive comprehensive advancement in China’s cybersecurity system and capabilities.
Adopting Multi-pronged Approaches to Enhance Digital Governance Capacity
Strengthening top-level design and ensuring policy implementation. Building a standardized and orderly digital governance system requires robust top-level planning, balancing development and regulation, and establishing a comprehensive, multi-layered, and three-dimensional regulatory framework. This framework should foster effective collaboration and positive interaction among government, enterprises, and individuals, better integrating an efficient market with an effective government. Given the breadth of digital development across numerous sectors, interdepartmental coordination is essential to integrate governance throughout the entire lifecycle—from R&D and production to sales and application—ensuring that development and governance advance in tandem. At the same time, existing policies must be effectively implemented to deliver tangible results.
Perfecting the legal framework to cultivate a healthy and orderly environment. The legal system must evolve alongside digital development. This includes refining laws and regulations governing new technology applications, promptly formulating supporting legislation in response to emerging issues, and promoting healthy industry growth. Industry-wide technical standards should be accelerated to facilitate the formation of cohesive industrial chains. A pre-deployment review mechanism for digital technologies should be established, requiring security and risk assessments before public release to proactively mitigate potential hazards. Ethical guidelines must also be strengthened—particularly for AI, autonomous driving, and other frontier technologies—through foundational research on technology ethics and the accelerated development of a scientifically grounded ethical governance system.
Enhancing technical safeguards to build a secure and efficient governance system. The continuous iteration of new technologies places higher demands on digital governance, necessitating a “govern technology with technology” approach. On one hand, greater exploration and application of governance technologies are needed to properly balance security and development, openness and autonomy, and regulation and service—thereby enhancing technical governance capacity. On the other, cybersecurity infrastructure and capabilities must be reinforced, leveraging cybersecurity technologies to support emerging fields and strengthening protections for sectors such as 5G, AI, and industrial internet. Additionally, mechanisms for cybersecurity monitoring, alerting, emergency response, and incident handling must be improved to build a technical governance system that prioritizes both security and development.
