AI-Empowered Digital and Intelligent Transformation of China’s Foreign Trade: Practice and Reflections

Speaker

Jiang Yaoping, Doctor of Management Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology, Professor-level Senior Engineer, and recipient of the State Council’s Special Government Allowance. He has served in multiple key roles, including Deputy Director and Director of Nanning Telecommunications Bureau, Deputy Director and Director of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Posts and Telecommunications Administration, Director of the State Computer Network and Information Security Management Office, Director-General of the Policy and Regulation Department of the Ministry of Information Industry, Deputy Director of the Communication Science and Technology Committee, and Executive Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the first China Internet Association. In April 2004, he was appointed as a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In March 2008, he became a member of the Party Leadership Group and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce. In March 2012, he served as a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Lecture Content

Minister Jiang Yaoping will provide an in-depth interpretation of how artificial intelligence (AI), as a strategic technology driving scientific and industrial revolution, serves as a critical engine for the digital and intelligent transformation of China’s foreign trade. The lecture will outline the current development of China’s comprehensive AI capabilities and, through practical cases in goods trade, service trade, and digital trade, analyze AI’s specific contributions to promoting the transformation of old and new growth drivers, upgrading trade structures, and innovating trade models. This includes how AI, via technological innovation and industrial integration, drives qualitative leaps in China’s goods trade structure, fosters continuous innovation in service trade, and reshapes global trade rules through digital trade.

The lecture will also explore challenges in AI-empowered foreign trade, such as critical technologies, data security, and global governance rules, and share targeted recommendations on tackling key technological challenges, building digital systems, and participating in global rule-setting. Professor Sheng Li will comment on AI’s role in reshaping the global trade landscape and highlight China’s potential to lead the digital and intelligent transformation of trade and move toward becoming a trade power, leveraging its advantages in full industrial chains, data resources, and application scenarios.

Moderator

Sheng Li, Distinguished Professor at the School of Politics and Public Administration, Shandong University; Executive Dean of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Research Institute, Shandong University.

Time

14:00-16:00, Friday, August 29, 2025

Venue

Central Hall Conference Room, 5th Floor, South Building, Huagang Yuan

Organizers

School of Politics and Public Administration, Shandong University

Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Research Institute, Shandong University

Institute of Public Security, Shandong University

China-SCO Institute of Economy and Trade