June 27, 2021
Digital economy seems so close to us. But what is exactly counted by this magical word?
Prof. Dr. Tang Zhimin, the director of CASPIM, compares the definition and performance
of digital economy in China and ASEAN in an interview with People’s Daily:
The digital economy accounts for 38.6% of China’s GDP in 2020, reaching ¥39,200
billion（$5,680 billion). As revealed by the latest “Classification of Digital Economy and Its
Core Industries” 《数字经济及其核⼼心产业统计分类（2021）》of National Bureau of
Statistics of China, digital economy in the country covers firstly “digital industrialization”.
It contains all economic activities based on completely on digital technology and input of
data: provision of digital technology, digital products & services, digital infrastructure &
solutions. They contribute about 20% of China’s digital economy. The other 80% comes
from “industrial digitization”: incremental value added in traditional industries due to
adoptions of digital technology and use of data resources.
The official documents of ASEAN on the other hand, defines digital economy as
transactions on Internet. A recent research by Google and Bain shares the same thought.
This report gathers the data of 6 ASEAN countries (Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, the
Philippines, Malaysia and Vietnam) in 7 domains (e-commerce, transportation & food
delivery, online tourism, online media, online finance, online health and online education).
It indicates that digital economy in ASRAN grew at 5% in 2020, with a GMV (Gross
Merchandise Value) of $105 billion, equivalent to 3% of the GDP in the 6 countries. The
figure may reach $309 billion by 2025. Besides the stimulation of Covid-19 on both
demand and supply of online transitions, digital economy in ASEAN is further propelled
by its relatively young population, growing middle-class as well as capital inflow in online
platforms and infrastructure of logistic and payment.
2020 is also the year of Digital Cooperation between ASEAN and China. The success
cases of digital cooperation in the past may include the 5G network of Huawei, the smart
logistics of JD, the electronic wallet of Union Pay, Alipay of Ant Technology, even the
major Chinese share holders behind Lazada (Ali), Shopee (Tencent), and Grab (Didi).
Future promising areas for cooperation include AI, big data, smart city and robotics.