Editor's note: Andy Mok is a senior research fellow at the Center for China and Globalization. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Fourth United Nations World Data Forum in Hangzhou, capital of east China's Zhejiang Province, is a global event that brings together statistics experts, policymakers, practitioners, and stakeholders from various sectors and regions to exchange ideas, showcase innovations, and foster partnerships for better data in pursuit of sustainable development.

It is also a unique opportunity to look at China from a broader perspective through examining its approach to data governance, which is driven by its national digital strategy. This strategy aims to leverage data as a strategic resource and a factor of production for economic and social development, as well as for national security and global influence. 

China's approach to data governance is shaped by its political system, culture, and values, which emphasize state sovereignty, social stability, and collective interests over individual rights. This approach may seem alien or even threatening to some Western observers, who tend to favor a free market and a liberal democracy model for data governance. But I'm convinced that China's approach deserves more respect and understanding, especially in light of its achievements and challenges in using data for sustainable development.

The following two examples show how China's approach to data governance has helped it advance its sustainable development goals, especially in poverty eradication and green development.

First, poverty eradication. China has achieved the historic feat of eliminating absolute poverty by February 2021, lifting more than 800 million people out of poverty since its reform and opening-up in 1978. This is an unprecedented achievement in human history.

How did China do it? One of the key factors was data. China has developed a sophisticated system of collecting, verifying, analyzing, and using data on poverty at the national, provincial, county, village, and household levels. This system has enabled China to identify the poor, target the causes of poverty, allocate resources efficiently, monitor progress effectively, and evaluate outcomes rigorously. China has also used big data and digital technologies to innovate its poverty alleviation methods, such as e-commerce, mobile payments, online education, telemedicine, etc. 

Second, green development. China has made remarkable progress in improving its environmental quality, increasing its forest coverage, reducing its carbon intensity, and expanding its renewable energy capacity. China has also become a global leader in green finance and green technology.

Again, data has played a key role in making these achievements. China has established a comprehensive and multi-dimensional system of monitoring, reporting, and verifying data on environmental indicators at various levels. This system has enabled China to track its environmental performance, enforce its environmental regulations, incentivize its environmental actions, and disclose its environmental information. China has also used big data and digital technologies to innovate its green development solutions, such as smart grids, smart cities and smart transportation.

These two examples illustrate that China's approach to data governance is not only effective but also mature and judicious. It reflects China's recognition of the importance of data for achieving the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. It also reflects China's awareness of the challenges and opportunities that data poses for society, such as data quality, accessibility, privacy, security, ethics, and equity.

Nevertheless, China's approach to data governance is certainly not without its challenges. It has to deal with issues, such as legacy data silos, which hamper data sharing and integration among different sectors and regions; potential data misuse, which harms data quality and trust; data concentration, which creates data monopolies and inequalities; and data disputes, which arise from conflicting data interests and values. It also has to deal with the threat of hostile state actors with advanced cyber warfare capabilities, who may attempt to steal, sabotage, or manipulate China's data for their own strategic or malicious purposes.

These issues pose serious risks for China's data security, development, and cooperation. China needs to address these issues through effective laws, regulations, standards, and practices that balance its domestic and international obligations and respect the diversity of other data cultures and systems.

China also needs to strengthen its data defense and resilience, and enhance its data deterrence and response, to protect its data sovereignty and integrity. China also needs to cooperate with other countries and organizations to combat cyberattacks and cybercrime, and to promote a peaceful and stable cyberspace.

That is why the Data Forum in Hangzhou is so significant. It serves not only as a platform for dialogue and cooperation among different data stakeholders and data cultures but also as a catalyst for trust and mutual respect among different data systems and actors.

Trust is the glue that holds the data community together, and the bridge that connects the data world with the real world. Without trust, data becomes meaningless or even dangerous. With trust, data becomes powerful and beneficial. As Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit 2021, the region has sustained fast development because we have forged a "partnership based on mutual trust, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation." The same logic applies to data. If there is trust in data, there will be better data for sustainable development.

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