HAIKOU, October 1. /TASS/. China's Hainan must take on a historic responsibility to explore the possibilities of a new digital globalization for the benefit of the world, stated the founder of the Chinese company Alibaba, co-chair of the UN high-level expert group on digital cooperation Jack Ma.
"Hainan is now at a new historical starting point," Jack Ma was quoted by the Hainan Daily at the Chinese "Green" Companies Conference organized by the Chinese Entrepreneurs' Club in Haikou. "The free trade port's construction here is not just a chance for the province's development, and, moreover, not only an opportunity for the economic development of the entire country; it is a historical responsibility that Hainan must take upon itself to open up a new digital globalization to the whole world."
The transformation of Hainan into a free trade port, which began this year, should be seen as a "choice of historic significance" for China, he said. Jack Ma noted that members of the China Entrepreneurship Club, which he chairs, came to Hainan to attend the conference to "support the free trade port's construction." Speaking about the prospects for Hainan, he stressed that "at this time, China needs to open up even more and integrate with the world."
"Yesterday's original traditional globalization of the industrial era is coming to an end, and a new, true digital age has just begun," the founder of Alibaba said at the conference. According to Jack Ma, "in the past, globalization was led by developed countries and big enterprises, but in the future it will be led by developing countries and small businesses; trade was previously the main driving force, but it will be technology in the future." He added that the past was characterized by the movement of people and goods, the future will be based on the flow of information and the provision of services.
Jack Ma noted that the globalization of a bygone era was caused by the consumption of 300 million people in the US. "The domestic demand of 1.4 billion people in China will be the impetus for the next round of real globalization and will boost the development of the global economy," he stressed.