China to add 16 national e-commerce demonstration bases in 2023: ministry

BEIJING - China's Ministry of Commerce announced Saturday that 16 more e-commerce parks will be listed as national e-commerce demonstration bases this year.

Speaking at a national e-commerce conference, Chen Chunjiang, assistant minister of commerce, said that the digital economy has provided a strong impetus for Chinese modernization and highlighted the vital role of the e-commerce sector in the economy and the country's development.

The e-commerce sector boasts the largest development scale and the widest coverage in the digital economy, said Chen, adding that China's e-commerce sector has witnessed innovative development, with its scale enlarged and development quality improved.

Official data showed that China's digital economy exceeded 50 trillion yuan ($6.96 trillion) for the first time in 2022, accounting for 41.5 percent of GDP.

The e-commerce-related sectors in the country have created approximately 70 million jobs, and nationwide online retail sales have ranked first globally for ten consecutive years, the data showed.

China will give a full play to the guiding role of national e-commerce demonstration bases and cultivate e-commerce industry clusters and leading enterprises with international competitive edges to empower the development of the real economy, Chen said.