China's role crucial to fostering new growth

China has surprised the world with its impressive development of the internet sector and rapid emergence as a leader of the global digital economy, said foreign experts and business leaders, who emphasized the importance of international cooperation in the internet sector.

Luigi Gambardella, president of ChinaEU, a Brussels-based international association that promotes digital and internet cooperation, said China's netizens have outnumbered those in other countries for 11 years straight, reaching 829 million by the end of 2018.

"China's internet development has been an indisputable success. China's homegrown tech juggernauts, including 'BAT' or the top three firms, Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, are undisputed leaders. A fleet of startups, such as Didi, Bytedance and Pinduoduo, have joined China's internet ecosystem and provided Chinese users with a whole package of leading services," Gambardella said.