In Depth: The Role of China’s Newly Created National Data Bureau

China’s creation of a National Data Bureau to coordinate sharing and development of data resources is an effort to balance supervision with encouragement of the digital economy, industry experts said.

Accounting for 17% of GDP, the digital economy is at the center of China’s drive to create new national competitive advantages, State Councilor Xiao Jie said when presenting the plan to the National People’s Congress (NPC), the country’s top legislature. That makes it necessary to strengthen management, development and application of data, Xiao said.