On 25 October, 2023, the National Data Bureau was officially inaugurated. This governmental agency will be responsible for coordinating and promoting the establishment of data infrastructure, overseeing the planning and development of the “Digital China” plan, the digital economy, and the digital society.

The National Data Bureau, which operates under the management of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), has incorporated certain responsibilities previously held by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and the NDRC itself, including:

  • Responsibilities previously managed by CAC: including formulating plans for advancing the “Digital China” plan, coordinating the advancement of informatization of public services and social governance, promoting smart city development, coordinating the development and utilization of vital national information resources, and facilitating cross-industry and cross-departmental interconnection of information resources.
  • Responsibilities previously overseen by the NDRC: including coordinating the development of digital economy, implementing China’s big data strategy, promoting the development of fundamental systems of data elements, and advancing the deployment and construction of digital infrastructure.

Liu Liehong, the Director-General of the National Data Bureau, served as CAC’s Deputy Director-General in July 2018, and later as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in June 2020. In his role at MIIT, he supervised several departments, including information and communication development, information and communication management, and network security management. In August 2021, Liu Liehong assumed the position of Chairman and Party Secretary of telecom giant China Unicom.

China is the first country to classify data as a factor of production – yet it is still in the early stages of implementing such productivity in practice. Challenges exist in areas such as asset status, ownership rights, data circulation, pricing, profit distribution, security, and privacy. Many companies have expressed concerns about issues like the difficulty of sharing and trading data, the lack of established pricing and profit-sharing mechanisms, the siphonic effect and monopolistic behavior of data platforms, and the disorderly distribution of benefits. Overcoming these obstacles will depend on the work of the National Data Bureau in the future.