With the rapid advancement of global technological development and industrial revolution, the digitalization process of various countries has shifted from the strategic design stage to the specific field application stage. Digital trade has gradually become the main form of trade between countries and an important force leading economic and social development and influencing the international competitive landscape. Faced with a new round of international competition, Beijing firmly grasps the strategic positioning of the capital city, focuses on building a free trade demonstration zone and high-quality development of digital trade, and establishes a global digital benchmark city. This is an important measure to promote economic growth and a strategic necessity for building international competitiveness in the digital age.
Overview of the Development Background of Beijing Free Trade Zone and Digital Trade
（1） The Connotation and Characteristics of Digital Trade
1. Connotation of digital trade
Digital trade refers to a new form of trade in which digital technology plays an important role in the trade process, using data resources as key production factors, modern information networks as important carriers, and the effective use of information and communication technology to promote efficiency improvement and structural optimization in a series of foreign trade activities. The difference from traditional trade lies in the digitization of its trade methods and the digitization of its trading partners. Firstly, the digitization of trade methods mainly refers to the comprehensive digital transformation of trade processes and trade industry chains, that is, the widespread application of modern digital technology in the fields of service trade and goods, and the development of new formats such as smart logistics, cross-border e-commerce, and online exhibitions. Secondly, the digitization of trading partners refers to products or services that exist in the form of data becoming the main subject matter of trade, roughly including the following three categories: first, information and communication technology services trade (ICT), including information services, telecommunications services, license distribution, software replication, etc; Second, ICT enabled related service trade, including industrial Internet, digital finance, digital education and digital medical care; Thirdly, cross-border flow of data elements often holds significant commercial value.
2. Characteristics of Digital Trade
Different from traditional forms of trade, the emergence of digital trade is based on the rapid development of the digital economy and has the following typical characteristics.
Firstly, the development of digital trade relies on secure and orderly cross-border data flow. Since the post financial crisis era, cross-border data flow has also entered a period of rapid growth. Cross border data flow can provide important support channels for information transmission between different economies worldwide, promote efficient collaboration between industrial chains and value chains, reduce logistics costs, and promote development more efficiently. Based on this, cross-border data flow can help promote the development of digital trade, especially digital service trade. Only with a secure, orderly, and trustworthy international system for cross-border data flow can restrictions on cross-border data flow be reduced more efficiently, thereby ensuring the orderly development of digital trade.
Secondly, data trade is heavily supported by digital platforms and platform service systems. According to the United Nations' Digital Economy Report, from 2010 to 2022, a large number of emerging digital platforms have gradually emerged globally, and the emergence of these digital platforms has also driven the rapid development of digital trade. For example, digital platforms such as Alibaba, Tencent, Apple, Facebook, and Google have rapidly expanded their businesses to different countries around the world in order to gain more customer traffic and data resources, and can better leverage the important supporting role of data platforms in building data ecosystems. In addition, the continuous improvement of the data platform service system has further promoted the division of labor in digital services, enabling different technology, information, software and other suppliers from various economies to continuously integrate into the platform's division of labor system, collaborate and promote each other, and help promote the orderly development of global digital trade.
Thirdly, digital trade is continuously developing towards cross industry global digital ecology. With the continuous improvement of the service capabilities of the Internet, information communication, financial services, logistics services and other service industries worldwide, as well as the demand for refined division of labor and outsourcing services arising from the digital transformation of agriculture and manufacturing, the rapid development of cross industry digital ecology has been promoted, and gradually extended to the international market from the domestic market. Firstly, a digital ecosystem of "production services+financial services+business models" has gradually formed, integrating productive services with other service industries to jointly promote the development of digital trade; Secondly, we have accelerated the construction of a digital industrial chain consisting of "production+research and development+supply chain", utilizing data channels to connect upstream and downstream enterprises in the industrial chain. Based on the data supply chain, we have promoted the coordinated development of the industrial chain and thus accelerated the development of digital trade.
（2） Positioning of Digital Trade Development in Beijing Free Trade Zone
Against the backdrop of rapid global digitalization, digital trade has gradually become an important trade mode that affects the international competitive landscape. In the face of a new round of international competition, on September 4, 2020, General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at the Global Service Trade Summit of the China International Fair for Trade in Services, proposing: "In order to better play Beijing's leading role in the opening up of China's service industry, we will support Beijing in building a comprehensive demonstration zone for expanding the opening up of the national service industry, increase efforts in leading and testing, explore more replicable and promotable experiences; establish a free trade pilot zone with technological innovation, service industry opening up, and digital economy as the main features, build a high-level open platform for coordinated development of the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region, and drive the formation of a new pattern of higher-level reform and opening up." On September 21, 2020, the State Council issued the "Overall Plan for the China (Beijing) Free Trade Pilot Zone, Among them, it is explicitly proposed to build the Beijing Free Trade Zone into a "globally influential center for scientific and technological innovation, a pilot zone for expanding the opening up of the service industry, a digital economy experimental zone, and a high-level platform for coordinated development of the Beijing Tianjin Hebei region." In this strategic positioning, it is proposed to establish the Beijing Free Trade Zone as a globally influential digital economy experimental zone.
Based on the above important strategic positioning, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce issued the "Implementation Plan for Building a Digital Trade Pilot Zone in Beijing" on September 21, 2020, which clearly stated the development goals of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone: to accelerate pilot demonstration and policy innovation through the construction of a digital trade pilot zone, to achieve high-level opening up in the digital field in Beijing, while vigorously attracting high-end industries related to the digital field to land, gathering leading enterprises and outstanding talents in the digital field, and building Beijing into a globally influential digital economy and digital trade pilot zone. In terms of specific indicators, by 2025, the total import and export scale of digital trade in Beijing is expected to reach 150 billion US dollars, accounting for 25% of the city's total import and export volume. Among them, digital service trade should account for 75% of Beijing's total service trade; In addition, Beijing also needs to focus on cultivating and developing a group of leading digital trade enterprises with global digital technology influence, digital resource allocation power, and digital rule discourse power; And it is necessary to basically establish a digital trade development system that can be in line with international high standard economic and trade rules, and ultimately build the Beijing Free Trade Zone into a digital trade demonstration zone with domestic demonstration role and global radiation effect.
（3） Key tasks for the development of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone
The development strategy of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone is one of the major development strategies in China in the new era. According to the "Implementation Plan for Building a Digital Trade Pilot Zone in Beijing" issued by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce on September 21, 2020, the key tasks for high-quality development of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone mainly include the following five aspects.
Firstly, create a trinity of digital economy and trade openness. Based on the unique location advantages, industrial foundation, and future planning of Beijing, with three digital trade development zones as the core, we aim to achieve high-quality development of digital trade in Beijing. Firstly, with Zhongguancun Software Park National Digital Service Export Base as the core, establish a "Digital Trade Port" and accelerate the construction of emerging digital economy industry clusters, vigorously promoting the industrialization of digital trade. Secondly, with Chaoyang Jinzhan International Cooperation Service Zone as the main focus, establish a digital economy and international trade exchange functional zone, and broaden the pattern of digital trade openness. Finally, based on the Daxing Airport area of the Free Trade Zone, we will build a comprehensive digital trade service platform to provide good support for the development of digital trade in Beijing.
Secondly, establish a development path for the secure and orderly flow of cross-border data. Firstly, an attempt will be made to establish a pilot program for cross-border data flow within the experimental zone, with Zhongguancun Software Park, Chaoyang Jinzhan International Cooperation Service Zone, and Daxing Airport area of the Free Trade Zone as the core areas. Specific plans will be formulated for the development of cross-border data flow to promote the pilot work of cross-border data flow. Secondly, promote the gradual opening up of cross-border data flow in stages. Intensify efforts to promote data flow between major domestic pilot enterprises and specific foreign enterprises within the digital trade pilot zone, and allow some key foreign enterprises to further develop digital related businesses in China, in order to promote greater two-way openness of global economies in the digital field. Finally, establish and improve relevant rules for cross-border data flow and expand the scope of international cooperation. With the construction of China's free trade zone and the "the Belt and Road" initiative as an important support, gradually expand cross-border data flow with other economies in the global region.
Thirdly, innovate policies related to key areas of digital trade. Firstly, actively innovate policies related to cross-border data flow. Establish an international cross-border mutual recognition system for digital certificates and electronic signatures, gradually build an "external network" environment, and achieve qualification mutual recognition, market mutual recognition, and orderly opening in the field of digital services; In addition, establish a specific cross-border data classification system and clarify key guarantee mechanisms such as risk control and security protection for cross-border data flow. Secondly, formulate and improve policies in other digital related fields, gradually relax the qualifications for foreign investment access in value-added telecommunications services and other related fields; Relax the scope and conditions for technology transfer that enjoy tax incentives, actively explore and support new tax policies for technology transfer; Establish a pilot system for integrating domestic and foreign currency bank accounts, effectively improving the freedom of cross-border capital flow. Finally, based on the experience of the "Service Trade Fair" platform, valuable policy experience will be accumulated. Taking the "Service Trade Fair" as an important platform, we will do a good job in the data trading zone, establish a relatively complete data trading platform, actively explore and improve the data circulation mechanism as soon as possible, and form data trading policy experience that can be promoted and replicated.
Fourth, establish an open, innovative, inclusive, and inclusive digital economy and digital trade business environment. Firstly, we need to continue to increase support for key aspects of digital development, especially for digital trade enterprises and the digital economy industry; At the same time, actively support key digital enterprises to establish development funds in related fields, and guide them to increase investment in research and development, overseas mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, and other aspects. Secondly, establish a sound digital talent support system and fully utilize various talent introduction policies to attract outstanding digital talents from home and abroad; At the same time, we will improve the international talent service system and accelerate the construction of an international talent community. In addition to vigorously introducing talents, we also need to vigorously improve intellectual property protection and securitization financing systems, and explore intellectual property related systems in the digital field. Finally, continuously improve and innovate digital technology infrastructure services. Promote the application of blockchain technology in the field of digital trade, enhance the empowering and supporting role of modern new information technologies such as blockchain, Internet of Things, and big data in areas such as life services, financial services, municipal management, and transportation services, and based on this, improve the credibility of trade transaction entities and content.
Fifth, establish a collaborative and open mechanism for the construction of experimental zones. Firstly, it is necessary to strengthen the construction and improvement of the collaborative mechanism among various major functional departments in Beijing, and clarify the specific division of labor among each department in the construction of the digital trade pilot zone. Secondly, actively strengthen communication and cooperation with major national departments such as the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and the Cyberspace Administration of China, to achieve orderly division of labor and coordinated progress. Finally, we will increase talent support and accelerate the construction of top domestic think tanks, while gradually forming a forward-looking, scientific, and operable plan for the construction of the digital trade pilot zone to ensure the smooth and orderly development of the work.
Advantages of high-quality development of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone
As the capital city of China, Beijing has unique development advantages in politics, economy, culture, system and other aspects, fully playing the important leading role of the capital city. In the current development process of the digital age, Beijing is based on the important functional positioning of the "four centers", utilizing its unique resource endowment to promote high-quality development of digital trade while building a free trade demonstration zone, actively integrating into the overall construction of Digital China, and promoting a new leap in China's digitalization process.
（1） Strong economic growth momentum provides space for the development of digital trade
Throughout 2022, Beijing's economic growth momentum is strong, which can effectively support the high-quality development of digital trade in the free trade zone. According to data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the gross domestic product (GDP) of the entire city of Beijing exceeded 3 trillion yuan in 2018 and exceeded 4 trillion yuan (4161.09 billion yuan) in 2022. The growth momentum of the city's regional gross domestic product is rapid, taking 5 years to grow from 2 trillion yuan (2013) to 3 trillion yuan, while it only took 3 years to grow from 3 trillion yuan to 4 trillion yuan (see Figure 1). In addition, the per capita GDP of Beijing exceeded 120000 yuan in 2017 and reached 190000 yuan in 2022, continuously ranking first among all provinces in China; The general public budget revenue of Beijing in 2016 has exceeded 500 billion yuan, and in 2022 it will approach 600 billion yuan, significantly improving the efficiency of the city's economic development. Meanwhile, in terms of foreign economy, the total import and export volume of Beijing in 2022 was 3644.55 billion yuan, an increase of 19.7% over the previous year. Among them, imports amounted to 3055.55 billion yuan, an increase of 25.7%; Exports amounted to 589.0 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.8%; The actual utilization of foreign direct investment for the whole year was 17.41 billion US dollars, an increase of 12.7% compared to the previous year on a comparable basis. Among them, the scientific research and technology services industry reached 6.98 billion US dollars, accounting for 40.1%, an increase of 18.0%; The information transmission, software, and information technology services industry amounted to 3.94 billion US dollars, accounting for 22.7% and growing by 1.0%; The leasing and business services industry reached 3.69 billion US dollars, accounting for 21.2%, an increase of 1.1 times. The total amount of outward direct investment for the year was 6.93 billion US dollars, an increase of 5.3% over the previous year. The completed revenue of foreign contracted projects was 5.32 billion US dollars, an increase of 44.5%. 36000 laborers of various types were dispatched for foreign labor cooperation, with a total actual income of 500 million US dollars.
Figure 1 Gross Domestic Product of Beijing from 2018 to 2022
（2） Complete policy system layout, leading the direction of digital trade development
Since 2019, relevant policies on the deep integration of digital trade and traditional trade, digital economy and real economy in China have been successively introduced. On November 19, 2019, the "Guiding Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Promoting High quality Development of Trade" was issued, officially proposing to accelerate the development process of digital trade in China. Since then, the development of digital trade in China has been officially put on the agenda. In 2020, Beijing successively issued multiple policies to lead the development direction of digital trade in the free trade zone, including the "Action Plan for Promoting Innovative Development of Digital Economy in Beijing (2020-2022)", "Implementation Plan for Building a Digital Trade Pilot Zone in Beijing", and "Implementation Plan for Establishing the Beijing International Big Data Exchange", which proposed to build Beijing into a globally influential leading zone for digital economy and digital trade; The overall plan for the China (Beijing) Pilot Free Trade Zone, issued by the State Council on September 21, 2020, also explicitly proposed to establish the Beijing Free Trade Zone as a digital economy pilot zone. Subsequently, on October 14, 2021, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce issued the "Several Measures for Promoting the High Quality Development of Digital Trade in Beijing", proposing detailed measures for the high-quality development of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone. In December 2022, the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress issued the "Beijing Digital Economy Promotion Regulations", which also proposed to continue promoting the high-quality development of digital trade, exploring the relaxation of new forms of digital economy access, the construction of digital ports, international information industries, and digital trade ports; Support the development of cross-border trade, cross-border logistics and cross-border payment, promote international mutual recognition of digital certificates and electronic signatures, build a dedicated channel for international Internet data, a dedicated channel for international data information, and an application support platform based on blockchain and other advanced technologies, and promote the facilitation of digital trade delivery and settlement (see Figure 2).
The introduction of the above series of important policies has clarified the development direction of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone and stimulated the future development potential of digital trade in the Free Trade Zone; On the other hand, taking the Beijing Free Trade Zone as a benchmark, it has promoted the high-quality development of digital trade as the main carrier of an outward oriented digital economy, continuously extending and expanding new boundaries of digital trade. Vigorously promoting and advancing the high-quality development of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone will not only have a huge impact on the construction of Beijing's digital economy and the development process of digital trade, but also be related to the innovation of the national digital economy and the development process of digital trade.
图2 北京自贸区数字贸易相关政策时间轴
Figure 2 Timeline of Digital Trade Related Policies in Beijing Free Trade Zone
（3） Breakthrough in digital intelligence technology innovation, source support for the development of digital trade
The development of digital trade is highly dependent on the rapid promotion and application of a series of new digital intelligence technologies, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain, Internet, big data, etc. Based on the construction goal of the "Four Centers", Beijing has built a science and technology innovation center, actively promoted the construction of the digital intelligence industry, and assisted in promoting the high-quality development of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone from the source of technology. It effectively promotes the efficient coordination and circulation of business flow, information flow, logistics, and capital flow of digital trade in the Free Trade Zone, and promotes the high-quality development of digital trade in the Free Trade Zone, mainly reflected in the following four aspects.
Firstly, artificial intelligence models are leading the country. Developing the world's strongest visual foundation open-source model EVA, achieving optimal performance at the 1 billion parameter level; Zhiyuan Research Institute has taken the lead in building and releasing the ultra large scale intelligent model "Wudao 2.0", setting records for "China's first" and "the world's largest", and developing towards multilingual and multimodal capabilities. It has open sourced the most powerful visual basic model EVA with a parameter level of 1 billion and the international first multimodal large model AltDiffusion supporting 9 languages; Release the world's most accurate simulated C. elegans model, "Tianbao 1.0," achieving multidimensional breakthroughs. Secondly, there is a new breakthrough in blockchain technology. Beijing Microchip Research Institute has taken the lead in developing the first independently controllable blockchain software and hardware technology system, "Chang'an Chain," as well as the world's first modular and assemblable blockchain open source technology architecture. It has also pioneered a 96 core blockchain chip architecture based on the RISC-V open source instruction set worldwide. At the same time, it has successfully developed the world's largest blockchain open source storage engine, "Hong," providing PB level storage support for Chang'an Chain applications. Third, the Internet and other technologies have yielded fruitful results. Beijing Moore Thread Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. launched the first generation of MUSA architecture GPU, enabling the next generation Internet with meta computing. At the same time, Beijing has advanced 6G technology, completed the verification platform for 6G new air interface common technology, and accelerated the integration of its front-end board with high-speed visible light and sensing front-end, achieving 8Gbps real-time data transmission and 100 meter distance sensing functions respectively; We have successfully built industry-leading 6G prototype platforms, centimeter millimeter terahertz multi band channel measurement platforms, as well as AI based joint source channel coding transmission platforms and computing power network platforms. Fourthly, big data technology is advancing rapidly. The Beijing Institute of Quantum Information Science has released the world's first domestically produced next-generation quantum computing cloud platform, "Quafu". The platform is leading in the number of quantum bits and chips on a single chip in China, achieving global entanglement of 18 quantum bits and reaching the international advanced level. In addition, the "Tiangong" quantum direct communication prototype jointly developed by Beijing Institute of Quantum Information Science and Tsinghua University has achieved a world record breaking 100 kilometer quantum direct communication (see Table 1).
表1 2022年北京市新型技术创新情况
| 表1 2022年北京市新型技术创新情况 | |
|---|---|
| 新型技术类型 | 项目 |
| 人工智能 | 视觉基础开源模型EVA |
| 大规模智能模型“悟道2.0” | |
| 多模态大模型AltDiffusion | |
| 仿真秀丽线虫模型“天宝1.0” | |
| 区块链 | 自主可控区块链软硬件技术体系“长安链” |
| 全球支持量级最大的区块链开源存储引擎“泓” | |
| 互联网 | 第一代MUSA架构GPU |
| 6G新型空口共性技术验证平台 | |
| 6G原型样机平台 | |
| 信道测量平台 | |
| 基于AI的联合信源信道编码传输平台 | |
| 基于AI的算力网络平台 | |
| 大数据 | 新一代量子计算云平台“Quafu” |
| 量子直接通信样机“天工” | |
| 资料来源：《北京数字经济发展报告（2022）》。 | |
Excel下载Table 1 New Technology Innovation in Beijing in 2022
（4） Accelerating the promotion of the digital economy and empowering the development process of digital trade
In the era of accelerating global digitalization, the development of China's digital economy is gradually penetrating into a larger and deeper scope. The digital economy has become an important driving force for the development of digital trade, and the high-quality development of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone is also based on the background of the rapid and orderly development of the digital economy.
In 2022, there was a new breakthrough in the development of the digital economy in Beijing. According to data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, the added value of the city's digital economy reached 1.7 trillion yuan (see Figure 3), accounting for 41.6% of GDP, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from the previous year, indicating that the contribution of the digital economy to China's economic development has been further enhanced. At the same time, the digital economy industry structure in Beijing is constantly adjusting and optimizing, and the digital transformation of industries is also accelerating. Among them, the added value of the core industries of the digital economy was 995.83 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.5%, accounting for 23.9% of the city's GDP, an increase of 1.3 percentage points year-on-year; There are a total of 8307 core digital economy enterprises above designated size in the city, achieving a total operating income of 4.6 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%; The core industry revenue of the digital economy is 4.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.8% compared to 2021. In addition, innovative entities in the digital core field have gradually formed clusters. The total operating revenue of Beijing's top 100 digital economy enterprises in 2022, such as JD.com and Xiaomi, reached 1.92 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 14.7%. This shows that the development momentum of Beijing's digital economy in 2022 is strong.
Figure 3: Value added of Beijing's digital economy from 2018 to 2022
Implementation Path for Promoting High Quality Development of Digital Trade through the Construction of Three Beijing Free Trade Zones
（1） Improve the construction of digital infrastructure
To achieve the high-quality development goals and tasks of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone, Beijing is accelerating the improvement of digital infrastructure construction. Firstly, in terms of infrastructure investment, according to data from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics, Beijing's infrastructure investment increased by 5.2% year-on-year in 2022. Fixed assets investment increased by 3.6% year on year, and investment in high-tech industries increased by 35.3% year on year, exceeding the expectations at the beginning of the year. A total of 585 urban key projects were promoted to start throughout the year. Secondly, in terms of infrastructure construction, Beijing has added 24000 5G base stations, and a total of 1.296 million users have been connected to the gigabit fixed network. The number of 5G base stations per 10000 people, the computing power scale index, the number of satellite Internet cluster enterprises, and the number of commercial satellites all lead the country. At the same time, in 2022, Beijing fully launched the construction of Smart City 2.0. The digital city base of "Internet, Map, Cloud, Code, Sensing, Library, and Computing" and the big data platform "Seven Connections and One Leveling" have been basically completed, and "Jingtong", "Jingban", and "Jingzhi" have been established as the unified service entrance for smart cities, providing 525 services; The registered users of "Beijing Office" have achieved full coverage of 67 municipal departments and "16+1" districts; Jingzhi has integrated 1471 urban operation monitoring indicators and completed the construction of EUHT private network within 60 square kilometers of the core area of the Economic Development Zone. It has also opened 323 autonomous driving test roads, totaling 1143.78 kilometers. In addition, Beijing has also built the National Industrial Internet Big Data Center and the top node command and operation center. The number of top nodes accessing secondary nodes and active signs ranks first in the country (see Table 2).
表2 2022年北京市数字基础设施建设情况
| 表2 2022年北京市数字基础设施建设情况 | |
|---|---|
| 数字基础设施项目 | 数量 |
| 市区重点工程 | 585项 |
| 5G基站 | 2.4万个 |
| 智慧城市2.0 | 1项 |
| “京通”提供服务 | 525项 |
| “京办”注册用户 | 全区域覆盖 |
| “京智”接入指标 | 1471项 |
| EUHT专网建设 | 1项 |
| 自动驾驶测试道路 | 1143.78公里 |
| 国家工业互联网大数据中心 | 1个 |
| 顶级节点指挥运营中心 | 1个 |
| 资料来源：北京市统计局统计数据。 | |
Excel下载Table 2: Construction of Digital Infrastructure in Beijing in 2022
（2） Create a digital characteristic development field
As one of the "four major central" cities in China, Beijing covers a relatively wide urban area and is divided into 16 districts. Based on the characteristics of each jurisdiction and in combination with the construction plan of the free trade zone and the demand for digital development, Beijing has tailored the characteristic areas of digital trade (see Table 3), greatly promoting the high-quality development process of digital trade.
By the end of 2022, Beijing has basically formed a "1+2+5+N" digital development regional structure. Among them, "1" is the leading digital economy scale in Haidian District, with a focus on enhancing the development capacity of the digital economy. "2" represents the two emerging engine areas of Chaoyang District and Economic Development Zone. Chaoyang District focuses on developing the data trading service industry and promoting the development of digital trade; The Economic Development Zone actively promotes the development of the intelligent connected vehicle industry and has successfully built clusters of information and integrated circuit industries. The "5" refers to the active construction of digital demonstration zones in Dongcheng District, Xicheng District, Shijingshan District, Fengtai District, and Changping District, with a focus on digital culture, digital finance, virtual reality, digital assets, and intelligent manufacturing. In addition, "N" represents the accelerated shaping of characteristic advantageous brands in Shunyi District, Daxing District, Fangshan District, Tongzhou District, Huairou District, Pinggu District, Yanqing District, Mentougou District, Miyun District, etc., and the focus on developing emerging characteristic industries such as intelligent networking, digital trade, digital healthcare, and digital tourism. From this, it can be seen that in order to promote the digitalization process and continuously optimize regional resources, especially in the development of digital trade, Beijing has set up several characteristic areas and introduced specific construction measures to integrate the advantages of the areas with the characteristics of digital trade development, further promoting the high-quality development of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone and striving to build the Beijing Digital Trade Port into an internationally leading "digital special zone".
表3 北京数字贸易特色领域
| 表3 北京数字贸易特色领域 | |
|---|---|
| 区域 | 内容 |
| 海淀区 | 建设数字贸易示范区，编制《海淀区关于打造数字贸易示范区实施方案》；字节、快手等数字贸易重点企业在美国、日本、新加坡等50余个国家和地区开展国际合作；创新数字经济制度，中关村新一轮先行先试改革中的又一配套政策向全国推广 |
| 朝阳区 | 国际大数据交易所落地朝阳，在全国首推“可用不可见，可控可计量”新型数据交易范式；建成基于自主知识产权的数据交易平台IDeX；成立全国首个数据交易联盟，签署首个数据托管服务协议，建设引领全国数据要素市场发展的“北京样板” |
| 大兴区 | 打造国际贸易数字化示范区，开展国际自贸协定规则对接先行先试，搭建京津冀首个跨境数据合规服务平台；着力发展数字医疗、智慧物流、跨境电商等数字服务，在跨境金融服务、电子认证、在线消费者权益维护等领域，参与构建引领全球的跨境电商规则体系 |
| 资料来源：北京市人民政府网站、北京市商务局网站。 | |
Excel下载Table 3 Beijing Digital Trade Characteristic Fields
（3） Optimizing the digital trade business environment
The sustainable development of digital trade requires a favorable business environment to encourage technological innovation and business model innovation, while effectively guiding and regulating corporate behavior to form a healthy market competition. In today's era of digital development, new formats and models are constantly emerging, and the uncertainty of interactive relationships between various business entities is increasing. Various business models are also constantly showing new characteristics and trends, and new situations and problems are emerging. This highlights the importance of optimizing the digital trade business environment. In order to promote the high-quality development of digital trade, Beijing has continuously optimized the business environment while building a free trade zone, achieving breakthroughs in various aspects.
Firstly, increase financial support. A good business environment requires sufficient financial support to promote the high-quality development of digital trade. The Beijing Free Trade Zone enhances its external attractiveness and attracts a large amount of important investment by continuously tapping into its development potential. At the same time, we actively promote the establishment of development funds for key digital leading enterprises. The China Mobile Digital Economy Fund has been officially established in 2022, with a total subscribed capital of 10 billion yuan and completed its first investment. In addition, we will continue to increase investment in key areas such as research and development design, overseas mergers and acquisitions, and intellectual property. Secondly, introduce digital professionals. Talents are an important reason for attracting enterprises to settle in the Beijing Free Trade Zone, as well as an important factor in optimizing the business environment. To meet the demand for talent, Beijing allows the Free Trade Zone to exercise its administrative power to introduce graduates, while optimizing the application and approval procedures for work permits and residences for foreign nationals. In addition, Beijing will take the lead in building a high-level artificial intelligence talent highland, scientifically plan the introduction and cultivation mechanism of high-end top talents and artificial intelligence composite talents, and further promote the innovation and entrepreneurship of overseas top talents in Beijing; At the same time, establish a comprehensive service system for international talent throughout the entire process. Thirdly, support the development of digital core enterprises. In recent years, there have been an average of 10000 newly established enterprises in the core industries of Beijing's digital economy, with over 8300 core enterprises above designated size, accounting for about 1/5 of the city's total number of enterprises above designated size. In addition, selection criteria for benchmark enterprises in the digital economy have been established to accelerate the cultivation of four types of digital economy benchmark enterprises: technological innovation, digital empowerment, platform service, and scenario application. This will promote the integration of the innovation chain, value chain, and supply chain of benchmark enterprises, and fully leverage their exemplary power.
（4） Constructing and cultivating a market for data elements
At present, the global digitalization process has shifted from the strategic design stage to the specific field development stage, and the development of the data element market is a key link in realizing the digitalization process. Therefore, in order to continue promoting the high-quality development of digital trade in the free trade zone, Beijing actively cultivates the data element market, promotes the full release of the value of data elements, and achieves breakthroughs in multiple aspects.
Firstly, in terms of data openness, we will increase the openness of public and social data elements. Beijing has unconditionally opened 1.348 billion pieces of data and conditionally opened 5.838 billion pieces of data, promoting the first public data authorization operation model in China to be implemented in Beijing; In addition, the world's first real-world scenario based vehicle road collaborative autonomous driving dataset has been released, and data download and usage services are provided to users within China. Secondly, in terms of data registration, the country's first data asset registration center has been established, the first data asset evaluation report has been released, and the country's first multi million level data asset evaluation pledge financing loan has been implemented. Thirdly, in terms of data trading, the Beijing International Big Data Exchange has gradually improved and established a trading platform based on independent intellectual property rights. A total of 1364 data products have been listed, with 329 participating entities and 773 million transaction calls; At the same time, we will develop standard contract guidelines for data trading and gradually establish a market operation system for data asset evaluation, transaction matching, registration and settlement, dispute arbitration, etc; The construction of a cross-border data service center and the Beijing data hosting service platform developed and constructed by Beishu Institute have also been officially put into use, becoming the first data hosting service platform in China that can support cross-border circulation scenarios of enterprise data (see Table 4).
表4 2022年北京市数据要素市场培育情况
| 表4 2022年北京市数据要素市场培育情况 | |
|---|---|
| 培育环节 | 具体项目 |
| 数据开放 | 公共数据开放 |
| 社会数据开放 | |
| 车路协同自动驾驶数据集下载使用服务 | |
| 数据登记 | 数据资产登记中心 |
| 数据资产评估报告 | |
| 千万级数据资产评估质押融资贷款 | |
| 数据交易 | 北京国际大数据交易所 |
| 数据跨境服务中心 | |
| 北京数据托管服务平台 | |
| 资料来源：《北京数字经济发展报告（2022）》。 | |
Excel下载Table 4 Cultivation of Data Element Market in Beijing in 2022
（5） Orderly promotion of cross-border data flow
At present, the digitalization process of various countries has shifted from the strategic design stage to the specific field development stage. Cross border data flow can provide important support channels for information transmission between different economies worldwide, promote efficient coordination between industrial chains and value chains, and reduce logistics costs. Cross border data flow can promote digital trade exchanges among countries and contribute to the comprehensive promotion of the digital economy, becoming an important foundation for the global digitalization process. To promote the development of digital trade in the free trade zone, Beijing is accelerating exploration and practice, and promoting cross-border data flow from various aspects.
After the implementation of the "Measures for Security Assessment of Data Export" in September 2022, five trial enterprises in Beijing were officially accepted by the Cyberspace Administration of China as the first batch of cases nationwide, and at the same time, they carried out pilot projects for cross-border data security management based on the construction of the "two zones". At present, the research project jointly conducted by Beijing Friendship Hospital affiliated with Capital Medical University and Amsterdam University Medical Center in the Netherlands has become the first data compliance outbound case in China. The project of Air China Limited, as the second case in the country, has also been successfully approved. It has accumulated experience and opened up a path for Beijing to further guide and support more enterprises and institutions to solve the problem of data compliance outbound demand, and is of great significance for promoting the orderly and secure cross-border flow of data in Beijing. In addition, Beishu Institute plays an important hub role in cross-border data circulation. The Beijing data hosting service platform developed by Beishu Institute has been officially put into use, becoming the first data hosting service platform in China that can support enterprise data cross-border circulation scenarios, helping enterprises with data cross-border circulation needs solve data hosting problems. At the same time, Beijing continues to promote innovative development of cross-border e-commerce, using foreign trade funds to support the construction of cross-border e-commerce platforms, industrial parks, overseas warehouses and other projects that meet the conditions of enterprises, and encouraging cross-border e-commerce entities to continue expanding their business scale.
（6） Building an International Digital Exchange Platform
In the context of the current global digital development process, the exchange and communication of digital trade and digital economy development experience among countries can effectively promote the global digital process. To promote the high-quality development of digital trade in the free trade zone, Beijing actively builds an international digital exchange platform and explores new channels for the development of digital trade.
Since 2022, Beijing has successfully hosted the China International Fair for Trade in Services, including one of the series of summit forums - the "Digital Trade Development Trends and Frontiers Summit Forum". The forum is themed "Digital Empowerment of High Quality Trade Development", combined with the international and domestic economic development environment, implementing the new development concept of cross-border integration, seizing new opportunities for industrial upgrading, analyzing future trends, gathering industry perspectives, deepening international cooperation, and actively promoting the construction of a new global cooperation pattern for digital trade around topics such as digital trade technology, industry, development, and cooperation. The successful holding of the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) and the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) has provided a platform for exchanging experiences in the development of digital trade in Beijing, and has also opened up ideas for the future direction of digital trade development in Beijing, which is conducive to the high-quality promotion of the development process of digital trade in Beijing. In addition, Beijing also held the Global Digital Economy Conference at a high level, with the theme of "Embarking on Digital Civilization - New Elements, New Rules, and New Patterns". The conference comprehensively focused on global digital economy governance rules, fully played the leading and exemplary role of Beijing's digital economy, and released the "Beijing Digital Economy Development Report (2021-2022) - Building a Global Digital Economy Benchmark City". The international influence of Beijing's digital development has been greatly enhanced, and valuable experience has also been gained for Beijing's digital development. In addition to the above important meetings, Beijing also held several digital forums and competitions, such as Beijing Digital Evaluation Internet Innovation Forum, Beijing Tianjin Hebei Insurance Collaborative Forum, and Digital Economy Industry Challenge, which greatly improved Beijing's influence in digital development.
Four prospects and suggestions
（1） Outlook
Since 2022, the construction process of Beijing Free Trade Zone has continued to advance, and significant breakthroughs have been made in the development of digital trade, greatly promoting China's digital development process. Based on the current development of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone, firstly, in the short term, the Free Trade Zone will strive to achieve a digital trade import and export scale of 150 billion US dollars in Beijing by 2025, accounting for 25% of the city's total import and export volume. Among them, digital service trade accounts for 75% of the city's service trade. Secondly, in the long run, the Beijing Free Trade Zone should focus on cultivating and developing a group of key digital trade enterprises with global digital technology influence, digital resource allocation power, and digital rule discourse power; At the same time, the basic construction will become a digital trade development system that can be connected with contemporary international high standard economic and trade rules, and efforts will be made to build the Beijing Free Trade Zone into a high-quality digital trade demonstration zone with domestic demonstration role and global radiation effect.
In the past year, the development momentum of digital trade in Beijing has been good, achieving a series of important results, but its further development still faces several problems. Firstly, in terms of digital trade governance, Beijing has not yet formed a complete system of rules. The current global competition for digital development is fierce, and developed countries are concerned about trade rules, tax jurisdiction, etc. in digital trade, while China focuses on digital trade facilitation, information security, and other aspects. The legislation on digital trade in Beijing lags behind practice, especially in the areas of digital market order, personal information protection, and intellectual property protection, where laws and regulations are not yet sound enough, and the governance rules system for digital trade is not yet perfect. Secondly, in terms of the construction of the digital trade industry, the degree of clustering in Beijing's digital trade industry is relatively low, and a complete digital industry cluster and a perfect digital ecosystem have not yet been formed. The construction of industrial clusters needs to be improved. Thirdly, in terms of the internationalization of digital trade, Beijing still faces regional barriers, mainly reflected in localized data storage, market access mechanisms for digital service trade, restrictions on cross-border data free flow, and digital enterprise investment. Therefore, in the future development process of digital trade, it is still necessary to improve the above shortcomings to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of Beijing's digital trade.
（2） Suggestion
1. Actively explore the path of digital governance and become a builder of digital trade rules
The digital economy has become an important force in the current global economic development, and digital trade rules have gradually become an important part of the reconstruction of international trade rules. Although the development momentum of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone is good at present, a complete system has not yet been formed in terms of rule making. In order to promote greater breakthroughs in the development of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone, relevant departments should actively utilize the policy dividends of the "two zones" construction in Beijing, actively explore rules and systems, continuously optimize the comprehensive plan for the construction of digital trade demonstration zones, and promote high-quality development of digital trade in the Free Trade Zone. Firstly, efforts should be made to build a data asset operation and management platform, promote trade data sharing, interoperability, and development and utilization, while exploring the implementation of cross-border data security risk assessment system, data protection capability certification system, and data flow backup review system. Secondly, actively building a system of data governance rules, researching data authorization, openness, circulation, pricing and other systems, and aligning with international data governance rules. Finally, we will expand openness and cooperation in the digital field by establishing global trade digitalization demonstration zones, digital customs, international big data exchanges, and other scenarios to build a two-way open development system. We will make breakthrough progress in foreign digital trade, cross-border data flow, and the formulation of basic common standards in the digital field, and play a leading role in standard formulation and model provision on a global scale.
2. Establish a comprehensive digital ecosystem and form a digital trade industry cluster
The high-quality development of digital trade in Beijing Free Trade Zone relies on the cluster development of the digital trade industry. A good industrial cluster can add more competitiveness to enterprises in the process of digital trade development, thereby helping digital trade to develop faster and better. To promote and improve the construction of digital trade industry clusters, firstly, the government should implement the establishment and improvement of digital bonded zones. Enterprises entering the bonded zone can form industrial clusters based on their specific digital trade business models and enjoy relevant preferential treatment under bonded policies. Secondly, the government should continuously increase its financial support for the digital development of enterprises. Based on the needs of digital trade construction and development, it should comprehensively carry out the introduction of relevant project funds. By increasing financial support, it can not only help the cluster development of digital trade industry in free trade zones, but also provide financial guarantees for enterprises to carry out digital trade business. Finally, in order to promote the development of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone, the government should also comprehensively build a sound digital ecosystem based on the development process of digital trade, and create a good digital ecosystem. At the same time, we need to accelerate the upgrading of traditional trade, closely integrate the digital economy with the real economy, and continuously strengthen the linkage and cooperation between various industries, in order to establish an intelligent and interconnected digital ecosystem and promote the high-quality development of digital trade in the Beijing Free Trade Zone.
3. Fully utilize the policy dividends of RCEP and break down international barriers to digital trade
Global trade is moving towards the digital age, and digital technology and international trade are deeply integrated. Digital trade, as a new form of international trade, is developing rapidly. As a modern, comprehensive, high-quality, and mutually beneficial regional free trade agreement, RCEP is committed to providing a favorable business environment for the globalization of digital trade, as well as more open access conditions for the development of global digital trade. It will release new open spaces in the field of trade. Therefore, Beijing should fully grasp the benefits of RCEP policies, break through international barriers, and promote the sustainable development of digital trade in the free trade zone. Firstly, accelerating the establishment of a digital trade demonstration zone will enable the development of digital trade to take the lead and be tested. This will help support the functional upgrading of Beijing's economic development, enhance its international trade status, enrich the connotation of Beijing's free trade zone construction, and improve the level of digital trade development. Secondly, accelerate the integration of high-level digital trade rules such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA), utilize the relatively unified digital trade rules of RCEP in the region, promote the formation of new digital models and formats, and drive the development of digital trade in Beijing. Finally, utilizing RCEP to further promote Beijing's high-level opening-up to the outside world and break down international barriers; At the same time, fully stimulate the potential of Beijing in import and export, enhance the level of cooperation between Beijing and other RCEP member countries, optimize the industrial and supply chain layout of digital enterprises in the region, and promote Beijing's better integration into the Asia Pacific digital economy development ecosystem.