China Announces Plans for National Digital IDs

An article in the South China Morning Post ¹ reports that Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has revealed that the country is planning to launch a digital national ID card before the end of the year.

The Premier made the announcement during a briefing at the National People’s Congress and indicated that the new cards would make it easier for citizens to access services across provincial borders.

Li noted that there are currently more than 100 million citizens who live outside of the province where their ID was issued. Some of those people have relocated for work or school, while others are elderly residents who have moved in with their children.

The problem is that all of those residents still need to return to their home province to access certain services, which is both time consuming and inconvenient for a variety of reasons.