No waiting, no watching, no slacking.
不等待，不观望，不懈怠。
Xi Jinping’s “advice” to cadre, officials, scientists, engineers, and business leaders attending the inaugural Digital China Summit on April 22, 2018. His “advice” is displayed prominently on the big board at the event.
When Xi Jinping’s Digital China concept was elevated to a national strategy in 2017, Communist Party cadre and government officials were educated on three points: (1) Only a “statesman and strategist” with the “foresight, forward thinking, and long-term planning” of an individual like Xi Jinping could have developed a plan so “visionary;” (2) His most remarkable achievement as a master theoretician was the development of a new Marxist theorem “combining” informatization and modernization as a predictive path for China to “win the future,” and (3) It was only with “guts and courage” that then Governor Xi Jinping was able to drive informatization in Fujian province, and no less is expected now from all cadre and officials to drive Digital China. “No waiting, no watching, no slacking.”
These points were just part of a lengthy public education and domestic propaganda campaign that began in late 2017. Connecting the Digital China concept directly to Xi Jinping empowers it. But it is still unclear to me why such a lengthy, high-profile propaganda campaign was necessary to make that point. Most campaigns of this nature are shorter and less intense. Although Digital China was not elevated to a national strategy until Xi’s second term as general secretary which at least suggests some resistance to the idea, Xi had been personally elevating the concept of Digital China since his first public mention of it in his keynote address to the Second World Internet Conference at Wuzhen in December 2015, over two years earlier. So was there internal resistance to Xi’s vision? We just don’t know. I can say at this point that I do not see the same evidence of wide leadership unanimity that was apparent in the decision to elevate Cyber Great Power to a national strategy several years earlier. It’s an important point that touches on the foundation of Digital China politically. If you are interested in China’s digital intent and future, this is key.
For now, let’s take our first look at how this all appeared as a domestic propaganda narrative inside China back in 2018.
“Digital Fujian is the Ideological Origin of Digital China” was published on Page One of Guangming Daily on April 23, 2018, one of the one party’s top-level theoretical journals. According to the paper itself, “Founded on June 16, 1949, Guangming Daily is an ideological and cultural newspaper supervised by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China with intellectuals as its main readers.” The article itself was attributed to “a commentator from this newspaper” (本报评论员), marking it as semi-authoritative and representing the views of the party’s most senior leadership.
In short, if you are a member of the Communist Party, and a page one editorial like this appears, you will be reading it as a group shortly in your local party committee. It is now policy. If there was resistance, it is gone, or at least it’s been silenced.
The date of the article’s publication is also important. It marks the start of a major domestic propaganda campaign to educate party cadre and PRC citizens on Digital China, which had been elevated just months earlier as a national strategy following the 19th Party Congress in October 2017. The day before this article was published, the Cyberspace Administration of China published its first Digital China Construction Development Report. The report, in turn, was designed to mark Xi Jinping’s authoritative statement on Digital China in a congratulatory letter to the inaugural Digital China Summit in Fuzhou, Fujian the same day. The reason Fujian province was chosen as the location for the summit is obvious.
For background, Xi’s message was designed to clarify the relationship between Cyber Great Power and Digital China, and begin to explain the concept of Smart Society. Cyber Great Power was already well understood by party cadre, now over four years old, and Xi used his “important thought” on Cyber Great Power Strategy to introduce the cascading relationship between the three strategic plans for the first time in public since his political report to the 19th Party Congress.
Also note the heavy emphasis in the article on Governor Xi Jinping’s “guts and courage” to take charge and drive informatization personally in his province. No doubt local leaders understood the message in the article and the expectations Xi had for each of them. In short, “No waiting, no watching, no slacking.”
A lightly edited DeepL full translation of the article follows. I’ve highlighted those portions that still stand in the party narrative on Digital China. You will also note repeating language from speeches given by Xi Jinping prior to the first Digital China Summit, most notably, “without informatization there is no modernization.” This is excerpted from his speech to the first meeting of the new Central Leading Group for Cybersecurity and Informatization in February 2014. The theoretical significance of the phrase would not be clearly captured by party commentators until years later as Digital China’s underlying Marxist theorem evolved and solidified.
Digital Fujian is the Ideological Origin of Digital China
数字福建是数字中国的思想源头
Writer: Commentator from this Newspaper; Guangming Daily; April 23, 2018; Page One
作者：本报评论员《光明日报》（ 2018年04月23日 01版）
The first Digital China Construction Summit was grandly opened in Fuzhou on 22nd. General Secretary Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory letter stressing the importance of cultivating new momentum with information technology, using new momentum to promote new development, and creating new brilliance with new development. Eighteen years ago, Comrade Xi Jinping, then governor of Fujian Province, with the foresight, forward thinking, and long-term planning of a statesman and strategist, deployed Build Digital Fujian, which started the process of large-scale promotion of informatized construction in Fujian, and thus kicked off the prelude to Build Digital China.
首届数字中国建设峰会22日在福州隆重开幕。习近平总书记发来贺信强调，以信息化培育新动能，用新动能推动新发展，以新发展创造新辉煌。18年前，时任福建省省长的习近平同志，以政治家、战略家的远见卓识、超前思维和长远谋划，作出了建设数字福建的部署，开启了福建大规模推进信息化建设的进程，也由此拉开了建设数字中国的序幕。
At the Digital China Construction Summit, a large amount of data and examples show the vibrant practice of Digital Fujian. For 18 years, Fujian has experienced continuous innovation and development and continuous improvement in application levels. This has covered all aspects of public administrative services, production and life of the masses, and urban management, changing the way people work and live. After 18 years of exploration and practice, Digital Fujian is fruitful, with outstanding achievements in e-government, digital economy, social experiences, and smart society.
在数字中国建设峰会上，大量数据和实例，展现了数字福建的生动实践。18年来，数字福建不断创新发展，应用水平不断提升，覆盖了公共行政服务、群众生产生活、城市管理等方方面面，改变着人们的工作和生活方式。18年的探索和实践，数字福建硕果累累，在电子政务、数字经济、社会体验、智慧社会等方面都取得了突出成绩。
Digital Fujian is the ideological source and practical starting point of General Secretary Xi Jinping on the construction Digital China. In 2000, he pointed out that Build Digital Fujian was of great significance, and that to implement the strategy of developing the province through science and education, it was necessary to seize the high points of science and technology, and Build Digital Fujian is one of the most important high grounds in science and technology. When he was the governor of the province, in his analysis of the provincial situation, he pointed out that the shortcomings of Fujian’s informatization was rural areas, and to get rid of poverty we must adopt “communications first”. In 2001, Fujian begin the construction of telephones in villages and was the first province in China to offer universal telecommunication services after the government divestiture of telecommunications enterprises in 2000.
数字福建是习近平总书记关于数字中国建设的思想源头和实践起点。他在2000年时就指出，建设数字福建意义重大，实施科教兴省战略，必须抢占科技制高点，建设数字福建，就是最重要的科技制高点之一。在担任省长时，他在分析省情时指出，福建信息化的短板在农村，摆脱贫困必须“通信先行”。2001年，福建启动村村通电话建设，是2000年电信政企剥离后全国最早启动电信普遍服务工作的省份。
From Digital Fujian to Digital China, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s strategic thinking on building an informatized China has been consistent, in one continuous line, and highly connected to thought and theory. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping has executed a visionary strategic plan to build a Cyber Great Power and Digital China, driving historic change and gaining an historic achievement in the promotion of our country’s informatized development. In the past five years, the top-level design of informatization has been continuously improved, and the ” Outline of the National Informatization Development Strategy” and “13th Five-Year Plan for National Informatization” have been issued successively. The overall coordination of national e-government work has become more powerful, and core technology innovations and breakthroughs have continued to accelerate. With the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy, the emergence of new technologies, new formats, and new models, and the comprehensive advancement of “Internet Plus”, the people have a greater sense of gain in sharing the fruits of informatized development. In recent years, General Secretary Xi Jinping has repeatedly emphasized the importance of Build Digital China and outlined the construction of a Digital China. At the recently held National Cybersecurity and Informatization Work Conference, General Secretary Xi Jinping stood at the height of human historical development and the overall situation of the party and country and scientifically analyzed the opportunities and challenges brought to us by the informatization revolution. For the present and future period, an important strategic plan has been made for cybersecurity and informatization work.
从数字福建到数字中国，习近平总书记建设信息化中国的战略思想一以贯之，一脉相承，在思想上、理念上高度关联。党的十八大以来，以习近平同志为核心的党中央高度重视网络安全和信息化工作，高瞻远瞩，作出建设网络强国、数字中国的战略部署，推动我国信息化发展发生了历史性变革，取得了历史性成就。五年来，信息化顶层设计持续完善，《国家信息化发展战略纲要》《“十三五”国家信息化规划》等相继出台，国家电子政务工作统筹协调更加有力，核心技术创新和突破不断加快，数字经济与实体经济深度融合，新技术新业态新模式不断涌现，“互联网+”全面推进，人民群众在共享信息化发展成果上有了更多获得感。近年来，习近平总书记多次强调建设数字中国的重要性，擘画数字中国建设。在近日召开的全国网络安全和信息化工作会议上，习近平总书记站在人类历史发展和党和国家全局高度，科学分析了信息化变革给我们带来的机遇和挑战，对当前和今后一个时期网信工作作出重要战略部署。
After 18 years of exploration, Digital Fujian has accumulated many valuable and successful experiences. Looking back at the development of Fujian’s 18-year informatized construction and development, adhering to a top-level design for guidance and overall planning is the red line for Digital Fujian construction from beginning to end.
18年的探索，数字福建积累了很多宝贵的成功经验，回望福建18年信息化建设发展之路，坚持顶层设计引领和统筹，是数字福建建设贯穿始终的红线。
When digitalization was still an unfamiliar concept to most people, Comrade Xi Jinping, then governor of Fujian Province, made a comprehensive plan with a strategic vision, and scientifically laid out the road to informatized development, clearly proposing “digitization, networkization, visualization, and intelligentization”construction goals. At the beginning of 2001, under his personal planning, Fujian Province conducted forward-looking planning and deployment such as integrated construction of a province-wide government services information network, the integration and shared use of information resources, and actively explored the coordinated and shared construction of e-government projects.
当数字化对大多数人来说还是陌生概念的时候，时任福建省省长习近平同志以战略眼光，全面谋划，科学布局信息化发展之路，明确提出“数字化、网络化、可视化、智能化”的建设目标。2001年年初，在他的亲自谋划下，福建省作出统一建设全省政务信息网、开展信息资源整合与开发利用等具有前瞻性的规划部署，积极探索电子政务项目统建共享的建设模式。
站在今天的时间节点，对于大数据、云计算、人工智能等新兴科技之于国家、之于地区发展的重要性，已然形成社会普遍共识，并已成为各地布局竞争的热点。而倒推18年，建设互联共享的数字福建，则需要极大的胆识和勇气。面对管理上条块分割、技术上信息分散的状况，数字福建提出，将全省各部门、各行业、各领域的信息通过数字化和计算机处理，最大程度地集成和利用各类信息源，快速、完整、便捷地提供各种信息服务，实现国民经济和社会信息化。为此，时任省长的习近平同志亲自担任数字福建建设领导小组组长，扎扎实实，按时按步骤稳步推进，使得福建省信息化水平一直保持在全国前列。数字福建建设成效显著，信息化综合指数、互联网普及率、两化融合水平、数字经济总量均居全国前茅。
Standing here today, there is a general societal consensus on the importance of emerging technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence to the country and to regional development and they have already become a competitive hotspot in various regions. Going back 18 years, building an interconnected and shared Digital Fujian required guts and great courage. Facing fragmented management and dispersed technical information, Digital Fujian proposed to digitize and computer process the information of all departments, industries, and fields across the province. To the greatest extent, various sources of information would be integrated and utilized to provide various information services quickly, completely and conveniently, and realize the informatization of the national economy and society. For this reason, Comrade Xi Jinping, who was the governor at the time, personally took charge of the leading small group on Digital Fujian construction The group achieved solid, on-time, and steady step-by-step progress so that the level of information technology in Fujian Province has been maintained at the forefront of the country. The construction of Digital Fujian has achieved remarkable results. The comprehensive informatization index, the Internet penetration rate, the level of integration in informatization and modernization, and the overall size of the digital economy all rank among the top in the country.
站在今天的时间节点，对于大数据、云计算、人工智能等新兴科技之于国家、之于地区发展的重要性，已然形成社会普遍共识，并已成为各地布局竞争的热点。而倒推18年，建设互联共享的数字福建，则需要极大的胆识和勇气。面对管理上条块分割、技术上信息分散的状况，数字福建提出，将全省各部门、各行业、各领域的信息通过数字化和计算机处理，最大程度地集成和利用各类信息源，快速、完整、便捷地提供各种信息服务，实现国民经济和社会信息化。为此，时任省长的习近平同志亲自担任数字福建建设领导小组组长，扎扎实实，按时按步骤稳步推进，使得福建省信息化水平一直保持在全国前列。数字福建建设成效显著，信息化综合指数、互联网普及率、两化融合水平、数字经济总量均居全国前茅。
Without informatization, there is no modernization. In today’s world, innovation in information technology changes with each passing day. Digitization, networkization, intelligentization are developing in depth, and they are playing an increasingly important role in promoting economic and social development, promoting the modernization of the national governance system and governance capabilities, and meeting the people’s growing needs for a better life . All countries in the world regard the promotion of economic digitalization as an important driving force for innovation and development. In the magnificent and complex context of the times, the Party Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core has accurately grasped the general trend of the times, and regards the implementation of Cyber Great Power and Build Digital China as a major strategies for national development. This has great significance and a far-reaching influence.
没有信息化，就没有现代化。当今世界，信息技术创新日新月异，数字化、网络化、智能化深入发展，在推动经济社会发展、促进国家治理体系和治理能力现代化、满足人民日益增长的美好生活需要方面发挥着越来越重要的作用。世界各国都把推进经济数字化作为实现创新发展的重要动能。在波澜壮阔而又复杂多变的时代语境中，以习近平同志为核心的党中央准确把握时代大势，把实施网络强国、加快建设数字中国当成举国发展的重大战略，意义巨大，影响深远。
Over the past 18 years, General Secretary Xi Jinping’s practice in Fujian has made a good start, set a good tone, and arranged a good layout for Fujian’s informatized construction. This successful experience not only provided the “shoulders of a giant” for Fujian’s development, but also provided a strategic plan to construct Digital China as well as strategic thinking for scientific planning. The plentiful fruits of Digital Fujian have provided a model for “Digital China.” The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made a strategic plan for constructing a Cyber Great Power, a Digital China, and a Smart Society. We must seize this historic opportunity, ride the waves, and use this summit as a new sail for informatized construction in the new era. We should use informatization to cultivate new momentum, use new momentum to promote new development, and insert the soaring wings of informatization for the Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation.
