The Plan specifies that Digital China construction will be organized according to the ‘2522’ Global Framework, namely, strengthen the ‘Two Foundations’ of Digital Infrastructure and the Data Resource System; promote the Deep Fusion of digital technologies with the economy, politics, culture, society and ecological civilization across the ‘Five Sphere Integrated Plan;’ strengthen the ‘Two Capabilities’ of the Digital Technology Innovation System and Digital Security Barrier; and optimize Digitalized Development in the ‘Two Environments,’ Domestic and International.

《规划》明确，数字中国建设按照‘2522’的整体框架进行布局，即夯实数字基础设施和数据资源体系‘两大基础’，推进数字技术与经济、政治、文化、社会、生态文明建设‘五位一体’深度融合，强化数字技术创新体系和数字安全屏障‘两大能力’，优化数字化发展国内国际‘两个环境’。

“Central Committee and State Council Issue ‘Plan for the Global Layout of Digital China Construction’” (中共中央 国务院印发《数字中国建设整体布局规划》, Xinhua, February 27, 2023.

Milestone Summary

What happened: On February 27, 2023, the Central Committee and State Council announced the Plan for the Global Layout of Digital China Construction, establishing the 2522 Framework and explicitly incorporating domestic and international environments into Digital China’s top-level design.

Why it matters: The plan marked a consequential shift from a predominantly domestic modernization strategy toward a more explicitly global strategic orientation.

Strategic function: The new framework integrates infrastructure, data resources, national modernization, innovation, security, and domestic and international digitalized development within a unified strategic design.

Systemic significance: The 2522 Framework provides a common architecture for coordinating Digital China’s major components, including the Five-Sphere Integrated Plan and the Two Environments.

Long-term signal: Beijing intends to strengthen China’s digital capabilities while expanding its participation in international digital cooperation, governance, and rulemaking.

February 27, 2023: Digital China Goes Global

The Central Government formally elevated Digital China to a global strategy on February 27, 2023, with the release of the Plan for the Global Layout of Digital China Construction (数字中国建设整体布局规划). The new plan marked an important evolution in Digital China’s strategic design, explicitly incorporating the international environment alongside the domestic environment.

Contemporary Party commentary described the evolving strategy using the formulation Global Strategy for Digital China Construction in the New Era (新时代数字中国建设的整体战略). I interpret this development as Digital China’s elevation into a globally oriented national strategy, rather than a formal renaming of the strategy itself.

Core Evolution

The plan clarified that Digital China would now be implemented under a “2522” global framework, explicitly coordinating the domestic and international environments:

Two Foundations | 两大基础

  • Digital Infrastructure (数字基础设施)
  • Data Resource System (数据资源体系)

Five Sphere Integrated Plan | 五位一体

  • Economy, Politics, Culture, Society, and Ecological Civilization (经济、政治、文化、社会、生态文明建设)

Two Capabilities | 两大能力

  • Digital Technology Innovation System (数字技术创新体系)
  • Digital Security Barrier (数字安全屏障)

Two Environments 数字化发展国内国际两个环境

  • Domestic Environment for Digitalized Development
  • International Environment for Digitalized Development

Why This Was a Turning Point

This was not a cosmetic update. The plan fundamentally altered Digital China’s strategic geometry.

Before February 2023, Digital China’s emphasis was overwhelmingly domestic. International elements existed, but they were secondary. The new plan formally aligned the two, creating a single global framework. My analytical shorthand for this evolution is simple:

Digital China (domestic focus) + Digital China (international focus) = Digital China (global strategy)

The plan also gave greater prominence to Digital China’s international dimensions, including open and mutually beneficial digital cooperation, participation in multilateral governance frameworks, and international rulemaking on cross-border data flows. These priorities provided an authoritative foundation for presenting Digital China’s international ambitions more prominently to foreign audiences.

Analytical Bottom Line

The February 27, 2023 plan crystallized nearly a decade of evolving Party thinking on Digital China. It formalized a more explicitly global strategic design for a longstanding national digital modernization project, bringing domestic transformation and international digitalized development into a common framework. The result was an important step toward a globally oriented system-building strategy, aimed at strengthening China’s competitive position through the coordinated development of digital institutions, markets, rules, and technologies.

If there is a single policy document that marks the moment Digital China “went global” in its formal strategic design, this is it.

Sources & References

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