Blockchain Adoption: China’s National People’s Congress and Parliament to Review DLT Fund Proposal
by Omar Faridi
The National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference recently began conducting their annual sessions.
Both government bodies are considered the most powerful or influential political groups in the country. These meetings are commonly referred to as the “Two Sessions” or “lianghui” meetings by local residents. The first session of these meetings reportedly began on May 22, 2020.
The NPC is the leading legislative body in China. Around 3,000 representatives meet every year to propose their ideas and suggestions during these meetings. Beijing News reported on May 23 that Jieqing Tan, who’s serving as the deputy to the NPC, recommended establishing a separate fund to support blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT) sector growth and development.
If Tan’s proposal is accepted by the relevant authorities, then the blockchain-focused fund would be managed by the Chinese government.
The fund would support the ongoing development of several emerging blockchain or DLT initiatives. Tan said that if the fund is approved, then it would encourage more DLT-related innovation in China, a country that has become well-known for its involvement in the space after Xi Jinping called on the nation to adopt blockchain tech.
The adoption and integration of blockchain into China’s IT systems could potentially “modernize” the nation’s governance system, Tan argues.
Early blockchain adoption could also help China gain an upper hand when it comes to using the latest technologies to develop modern infrastructure, Tan claims. He noted that China might be in a better position to maintain its sovereignty and national security with the adoption of emerging innovations like blockchain or DLT.
Tan has recommended that Chinese officials should formulate a clear national blockchain industry development strategy.
He remarked:
“From the bottom technology standard, middle industry application development to the top-level system design, the national blockchain technology, industry and supervision three-dimensional strategic planning system should be well coordinated.”
The DLT sector has helped create new job opportunities in China and globally. But Tan acknowledged that there are still relatively few legitimate blockchain-focused businesses or products. He believes this may be due to scalability issues and the lack of qualified talent in the nascent sector.