Top executives from Alibaba and JD.com pledge support for integration of digital and real economies at World Internet Conference
- Daniel Zhang cited 20th Party Congress report, which says country will ‘adhere to the focus of economic development in the real economy’
- JD.com is an enterprise that ‘originated from the real economy and will go back to the real economy’, says JD CEO
Top executives from e-commerce giants Alibaba Group Holding and JD.com have pledged support for the integration of China’s digital and real economies, after President Xi Jinping emphasised the importance of this goal at the 20th Party Congress.
“The integrated development of the digital economy and the real economy will surely become a strong driving force for national economic growth and social progress,” said Daniel Zhang Yong, chairman and chief executive of Alibaba, at the World Internet Conference (WIC) in Wuzhen, in eastern Zhejiang province, on Wednesday.
Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.
Zhang cited the 20th Party Congress report, which states that the country will “adhere to the focus of economic development in the real economy” and “strengthen the development of the digital economy”. “The real economy is infrastructure for a country to modernise, while the digital economy is the most active and penetrating economy globally,” said Zhang.
JD.com is an enterprise that “originated from the real economy and will go back to the real economy”, said company CEO Xu Lei at the forum in Wuzhen. “As a new type of real enterprise, we have real economy enterprise in our DNA and digital technology capabilities. We deeply understand the needs and pain points of the real economy … and play an important role in the new development pattern.”