Translator’s note: It is not a coincidence that Xi gives out this speech right after Zuckerberg’s testimony at the Congress. The speech also changed many people’s view on the market for the next few weeks. In my own opinion, it is very crucial for someone to make market judgment by reading the original text (rather than hearing from some interpretations).
Meanwhile, from an undisclosed source, Alipay and WeChat have been running a few projects trying to push out a cryptocurrency solution embedded in their current platforms under the guidance of the Central Bank. These projects are all competitive to each other and the leaders (Central Bank, Alipay and WeChat Pay) will determine which approach will be finally adopted as time goes by.
Keywords of the Speech (and my own interpretation) :
- Increase Investment (More capital is going in from corporates and institutional money)
- Lead the Standard Setting in the World (China is a big proponent now and want to be the very leader of Blockchain in the world)
- Strengthen the Talent Pool (More courses in universities and enterprise trainings are going to be provided; stronger talents are going into the field)
- Financing Loans for SMEs (Open Finance)
- Integration of Credit Information / Data (Personal data / credit information on chain to be associated with real world Identity — China could potentially deploy mass-scale on-chain identity network)
- “Blockchain+” (The government encourages large enterprise to incorporate blockchain technology into their product / production process so that people would start to interact with Blockchain in daily life)
- Strengthen Guidance & Industry Self-discipline and Explore Development of Laws (China will still be providing some regulation but it is nowhere going to be close with what the U.S. has — the fact that Xi mentioned about regulation and laws at the last part of the speech set the tone that the country largely encourages more experiments and exploration rather than enforcing strict regulation)
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, at the study emphasized that the integrated application of blockchain technology plays an important role in new technological innovation and industrial transformation. “We must take the blockchain as an important breakthrough for independent innovation of core technologies, evaluate the right approach to deploy our resources, increase investment, focus on a number of key core technologies, and accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation.”
Xi Jinping pointed out: “The application of blockchain technology has already extended to digital finance, Internet of Things, intelligent manufacturing, supply chain management, digital asset trading and other fields. At present, major countries in the world are accelerating the development of blockchain technology. China has a good foundation in the field of blockchain. It is necessary to accelerate the development of blockchain technology and industrial innovation, and actively promote the development of blockchain and social-economic integration.”
“It is necessary to strengthen basic research, enhance the original innovation ability, and strive to let China take the leading position in the emerging field of blockchain, occupy the commanding heights of innovation, and gain new industrial advantages. It is necessary to promote collaborative research, accelerate the breakthrough of core technologies, and provide safe and controllable technical support for the development of blockchain applications. It is necessary to lead the standard setting and right to speak in the world. It is necessary to speed up industrial development, give play to market advantages, and further open up the innovation chain, application chain and value chain. It is necessary to build an ecosystem of blockchain industry, accelerate the deep integration of blockchain with other frontier information technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, and Internet of Things, and promote integrated applications. It is necessary to strengthen the talent pool, build a variety of talent training platforms, and cultivate a group of leaders and innovation teams.”
“It is necessary to seize the opportunity of blockchain technology integration, function expansion and industry segmentation, and play the role of blockchain in promoting data sharing, optimizing business processes, reducing operating costs, improving synergy, and building a credit system. It is necessary to promote the deep integration of the blockchain and the real economy, and solve the problems of difficulty in financing loans for SMEs, difficulties in controlling the risks of banks, and difficulties in departmental supervision. It is necessary to use blockchain technology to explore digital economic model innovation, provide power for creating a convenient, efficient, fair and competitive, stable and transparent business environment, and provide services for promoting structural reforms on the supply-side and realizing the effective matching of supply and demand in various industries, in order to accelerate industrial evolution. Provide support for continuous transformation and promote high-quality economic development.”
“It is necessary to explore the application of ‘blockchain+’ in people’s daily life, and actively promote the application of blockchain technology in the fields of education, employment, pension, data-driven poverty alleviation, medical health, anti-counterfeiting, food safety, public welfare, social assistance, etc. The masses provide more intelligent, more convenient and better public services. It is necessary to promote the combination of the underlying technological services of blockchain and the construction of new smart cities, explore the application in the fields of information infrastructure, smart transportation, energy and power, and improve the level of intelligence of urban management. It is necessary to use blockchain technology to promote greater inter-connectivity among cities in terms of information, capital, talents, and credit information, and ensure the resource-production efficiency within the region. It is necessary to explore the use of the blockchain data sharing model to achieve the joint maintenance and utilization of government data across departments and regions, promote business synergy, strengthen the digital governmental service provision, and bring better government service experience to the people.”
“It is necessary to strengthen the guidance and regulation of blockchain technology, strengthen the research and analysis of blockchain security risks, closely track development trends, and actively explore laws. It is necessary to explore the establishment of a safety guarantee system that adapts to the blockchain technology mechanism, and guide and promote blockchain developers and platform operators to strengthen industry self-discipline and take safety responsibilities. It is necessary to implement the rule of law into the management of blockchain and promote the safe and orderly development of blockchain.”
“Relevant departments and their respective leaders should pay attention to the status quo and trend of blockchain technology development, improve the application and management of blockchain technology capabilities, and enable blockchain technology to build a stronger network of things, develop digital economy, and promote economic and social development.”
Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2019-10/25/c_1125153665.htm
Translated by Mable Jiang