BEIJING, September 26 (TMTPOST)— The development of digital technologies is supposed to benefit society instead of empowering individual enterprises, Jing Xiandong, the CEO of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba’s fintech arm Ant Group said at the 2021 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit. Jing added that digital transformation should not come at the expense of data security and privacy. Ant Group vows to be in compliance with relevant laws and regulations in China and work  to achieve technological breakthroughs in protecting user privacy.

Source: Ant Financial

Jing pointed out that there are four key aspects to a digital future: serving small and medium-sized businesses in going digital; providing technological solutions for small and medium-sized financial institutions in a digital upgrade; finding more efficient and reliable technological solutions in the digital coordination between industries and value creation; serving the country’s strategy that focuses on the both domestic and international economy to counter the challenges brought by cross-border services.

Jing emphasized that only individuals and small and medium-sized companies are able to go digital can we truly achieve digitalization. The very spirit about digitalization is about sharing and being open, he said. The central government has recently announced a series of policy guidelines and mandates about the development of the Internet, without the core focus being constructing an open and shared digital ecosystem. Jing believes that the recent announcements from the central government are crucial and timely, which also reminds the industry to not be disturbed by market competition.

Jing also shared Ant Group’s experience in bridging social gaps generated by digital development. For example, Ant Group’s mobile payment platform Alipay has been providing tutoring services on using digital technologies for the elderly in residential communities, Jing introduced. Alipay had organized over 3000 such charity activities in more than 30 cities across China.

“The initiative has been very popular. We actually feel ashamed that we had not been able to do similar initiatives earlier. We will continue with the charity work and enter more cities next year. This is the social responsibility and obligation that we should fulfill,” Jing said, stating that Ant Group will help build a digital China with an open mind.