China and ASEAN countries make progress towards smart cities

The cooperation between China and ASEAN countries to build smart cities has begun solid development, according to a whitepaper released on Sunday by the China Academy of Telecommunication Research at the 2nd China-ASEAN Information Harbor Forum.

The China-ASEAN Informatization Development and Cooperation Whitepaper said China and ASEAN countries' requirement to build smart cities was increasing and that the two sides were committed to sharing resources and advanced technology to realize the complementary development of smart cities.

Building smart cities, which are the new carriers of modern information technology, is one of the methods to solve some of the problems experienced during city development, the whitepaper said.

With the gradual deepening of cooperation, both sides's companies are striving to broaden the areas of cooperation and communication.

Chinese technology giant Huawei Technologies Co Ltd actively participates in the trend of global construction of smart cities.

Zheng Zhibin, vice president of Huawei, said at the forum that the company's smart city strategy concentrated on innovation of information and communications technology (ICT) and the ICT infrastructure construction.

"We want more international partners and provide our capability and solutions to our customers in the global process of smart city construction," Zheng said.

Zheng said Huawei has already contributed a lot to build smart cities in some ASEAN countries. "Singapore carried out the plan to build smart nation in 2015. We help the country to set up wide-band framework which facilitates the whole plan," Zhang said.

Besides, Huawei assists Malaysia to develop digital education to increase the educational level of the country and realize equality of education. Huawei also provides services to the construction of digital palace in Brunei.

Xie Yi, vice president of China Academy of Telecommunication Research, said the collaboration space between China and ASEAN countries is huge in terms of smart city construction.

"China and ASEAN countries should make all efforts to boost openness to share capability and resources," Xie added.

Xie also said the two sides should make full use of the China-ASEAN Information Harbor, which is a communication platform with potential for wider cooperation.

The China-ASEAN Information Harbor was initiated last year and has grown quicklyinto an effective platform for information interconnection between China and ASEAN countries.