Beijing urged to spearhead development of metaverse amid growing interest

The metaverse has emerged as an unlikely topic at the “two sessions”, China’s largest annual gathering of lawmakers and top political consultants, after state media spent months warning of risks associated with hype around the concept.

A number of delegates have published their proposals on metaverse for the gatherings of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), sharing their views on how China should embrace and regulate it. This signalled an increasing interest in the concept of a shared, immersive virtual space that some consider to be the next evolution of the internet.

The metaverse did not get a mention from either Premier Li Keqiang or the NPC’s government work report on Saturday. But the proposals from delegates reflect a broader interest across the technology sector. Many businesses have rushed to capitalise on the concept, with the number of related trademark applications doubling to 16,000 in the first two months of the year.

After recent government warnings, delegates were sure to emphasise the state’s central role in their proposals.

Liu Wei, a CPPCC delegate and president of Guangzhou-based artificial intelligence services company PCI Technology Group, said the central government should lead the development of and applications for the metaverse.

“The government should lead the creation of the ‘Chinese metaverse’ digital economy, which can result in a new social relationship platform that merges both the virtual and physical worlds,” he said.

Kong Falong, an NPC delegate and party official from the Rural Credit Cooperatives of Jiangxi province, said Beijing should set up a national metaverse research and development centre that focused on relevant technologies, including integrated circuits and the blockchain.

He also called for establishing industry standards so that boundaries could be set, adding that the development of applications for areas such as agriculture, smart cities and culture and tourism should be accompanied by forward-looking legal research that covered the ethical use of such technologies.

CPPCC delegate Liang Wei, a representative of the Zhi Gong minority party, said the metaverse should be developed under the principle of a “single, centrally governed internet”.

The metaverse presented systemic risks involving data security, legal governance, the overhyping of blockchain, social ethics and technology, Liang said.