[News Terms] China's 'National Data Bureau' Overseeing Digital Information Management

The "National Data Administration" is a Chinese national agency responsible for overseeing tasks such as promoting the development of the digital economy, implementing the national big data strategy, establishing fundamental data-related systems, and constructing data infrastructure. It can be regarded as the highest national authority in charge of policies related to the storage, utilization, management, and supervision of data resources.

As a vice-ministerial level agency performing independent duties, it centralizes the management and control of data that were previously scattered across the National Development and Reform Commission, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, placing these functions under the National Data Administration, which is a core organization under the State Council’s National Development and Reform Commission.

According to the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People's Daily, the National Data Administration held an inauguration ceremony and officially began its activities on the 25th, attended by Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and others. The National People's Congress (NPC) passed the proposal to establish the National Data Administration at its plenary session held in March at the Great Hall of the People.

The Chinese government expects that the launch of the National Data Administration will lead to ▲ an increase in growth rates driven by data and digital economy activation ▲ improved efficiency in data circulation and transactions ▲ enhanced competitiveness in artificial intelligence (AI). According to IDC, a global IT research firm, the current contribution of data activation to China’s economic growth rate is only in the low single digits of around 1% annually. The Chinese government anticipates that the National Data Administration will raise this to between 1.5% and 1.8%.

Furthermore, by connecting and integrating over 80 data exchanges established in Guiyang in 2015, Beijing in March 2021, Shanghai in November 2021, Shenzhen in November last year, and other locations, it is expected that the efficiency of data and the data economy will improve. Since AI competitiveness depends on the quantity and quality of big data, China’s population of approximately 1.4 to 1.5 billion?about five times that of the United States?and the characteristics of Chinese society, governed by the Communist Party which is less sensitive to personal data privacy, provide a much more advantageous position for building big data, thus raising expectations that AI competitiveness will also advance.

On the other hand, major foreign media view the establishment of the National Data Administration as a move to "strengthen national control." The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) predicted that it could investigate potential national security violations by companies within China. Bloomberg News observed that China will strengthen its control over information collected across the internet industry and the broader economy. Ultimately, it is expected that multinational companies operating in China will be subject to the management and supervision of the National Data Administration regarding the external leakage of data they produce. There are concerns that the National Data Administration will become the "Big Brother" in the digital information sector.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.