Photo shows Guo Wei, chairman of Digital China, attending a recent event in Singapore. (Provided by Digital China)
SINGAPORE, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Guo Wei, chairman of Digital China said in a recent interview with Xinhua that unlike the 1990s when development relied heavily on labor exports, today's Chinese enterprises have developed distinctive strengths in their respective business domains thanks to the country's economic and technological progress.
Under such circumstances, leveraging their unique features or competitive advantages to expand globally is becoming a rising trend, noted Guo.
Guo explained that, after considering external environments, cultural factors, and levels of market development, Digital China chose Southeast Asia as the first stop in its internationalization strategy. The company plans to bring its leading domestic technologies, solutions, and customer experiences overseas to meet international market demands and enhance global competitiveness.
Singapore is one of the most developed economies in Southeast Asia. Digital China plans to take Singaporean market as the center of investment and market research, build a technology research center, gradually engage with local clients and then expand into the wider Southeast Asian region and eventually the world, said Guo.
-- China's strength in the AI wave
When talking about the current artificial intelligence (AI) boom, Guo believes that China is at the forefront of foundational AI research worldwide.
"In terms of technological competitiveness and the capabilities we have mastered, we hold a generational edge over many regions, including Southeast Asia and others around the world," he said, emphasizing another unique advantage of China -- its highly complete industrial chains.
"All data originates from industry. Without industry, there is no data for applications. When large language models (LLMs) are integrated into real-world application scenarios, China's advantage becomes particularly evident," said Guo.
Apart from these, Guo also highlighted another leading edge of China, its innovation in business models.
"While it took credit cards six to seven decades to achieve global adoption, in China, even before credit cards were fully popularized, mobile payments swept across the country in just seven years."
"Innovative models like mobile payments and virtual currencies, when combined with our technology, give us a major edge in global deployment. Many countries and regions lack these technologies and applications. We can help them build and develop these capabilities, which is our competitive advantage," he added.
Speaking specifically about Southeast Asia, Guo said that Digital China is currently focused on helping local businesses build digital infrastructure.
-- Confident in the future
Looking ahead, Guo expressed strong confidence in the company's overseas strategy.
"Countries like Thailand and Malaysia have already become top destinations for Chinese companies going global. For example, Great Wall Motors, BYD, and many other Chinese automakers have set up manufacturing bases in Thailand. All of them need to build digital infrastructure and that's a huge opportunity for us."
"There are also many multinational corporations in need of advanced technical support for digital banking, virtual banking, and other cutting-edge digital areas. Often, local IT vendors or solution providers can't meet such sophisticated needs. But we've accumulated rich experience in China and are well positioned to meet those requirements," Guo said.
(Contributed by Liu Chuntao, and edited by Duan Jing with Xinhua Silk Road, duanjing@xinhua.org)
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