Quotable

"This relatively new and frictionless method of conducting business on the digital platform can enable more businesses and entrepreneurs to participate in global trade and reap the benefits of globalization,"

Gao Hongbing, Alibaba's vice-president

"Free trade zones reflect China's policy of opening-up, and the benefits will mainly lie in the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. ... People will have access to cheaper foreign products after the establishment of (the Zhejiang Free Trade Zone). And it is foreseeable that more foreign banks will establish themselves in the FTZ, enabling people to manage their money in diversified ways."

Huang Xianhai, vice-dean of the School of Economics at Zhejiang University

"Big data is the new factor of production and a strategic resource of the country. The application of big data will boost the development of related technologies and industries."

Yang Shanlin, director of the National Engineering Laboratory for Big Data Distribution and Exchange Technologies

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/05/2017 page24)