China’s Xi Jinping Urges Cyber Sovereignty at World Internet Conference

Summary: At the Second Annual World Internet Conference Dec. 16, China's Xi Jinping urges cyber sovereignty as essential to global internet village development.

Internet Penetration Rates in East Asian and Chinese Regions 1995-2012: Hanteng, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s keynote address on opening day, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, of the three-day Second Annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, eastern China, urges cyber sovereignty as essential to the state-to-state development of the global internet village.

“We should respect the right of individual countries to independently choose their own path of cyber development and model of cyber regulation and participate in international cyberspace governance on an equal footing,” Xi explains. “No country should pursue cyber hegemony, interfere in other countries' internal affairs, or engage in, connive at, or support cyber activities that undermine other countries' national security.”

Cyber sovereignty exemplifies the principle of sovereign equality, affirmed in the Charter of the United Nations as an essential equalizer in international relations. Cyberspace represents one of the many forms of country-to-country interactions requiring respect for each country’s right to customize developmental paths and regulatory models.

As the leader of the country with the world’s greatest number of internet users, Xi expresses concerns about cyber governance and security. Cyber governance currently lacks realistic rules. To be effective, cyber governance needs input from the many, not the few.

"Efforts should be made to advance complementarity of strength and common development of all countries in cyber space so that more countries and people will ride on the fast train of the information age and share the benefits of Internet development," Xi observes.

Cyber attacks, surveillance and terrorism threaten the security of cyberspace and require global cooperation to control the challenges which they present to cyber security. “All countries should work together to contain the abuse of information technology, oppose cyber surveillance and cyber attacks, and reject arms race in cyberspace,” Xi urges.

Cyber security and orderly development are intricately linked. Xi explains: "Security and development are like the two wings of a bird or the two wheels of a bicycle. Security ensures development, and development is what security is aimed at."

China’s internet aims for success in cyberspace and continues to welcome open-door participation across the globe. “As long as they abide by China's laws, we warmly welcome enterprises and business starters from all countries to invest and do business in China," Xi states. "We're ready to step up cooperation with all countries."

The theme of the Second World Internet Conference is “An Interconnected World Shared and Governed by All: Building a Community of Common Future in Cyberspace” recognizes the global village of interconnected communities created by the internet. China’s designation of cyberspace as a shared meeting-ground for global internet users reflects the country’s status as the world’s highest number of internet users as well as the country’s concomitant interest in encouraging continued internet growth, within China as well as globally, through effective regulations. China aims for expansion of internet access to every village by 2020.

In affirming the conference's theme of the internet as a community with a common future, Xi draws on China's ancient wisdom: "As an old Chinese saying goes, when there is mutual care, the world will be in peace. When there is mutual hatred, the world will be in chaos."

Chinese President Xi Jinping gives Second Annual World Internet Conference's (WIC) keynote address Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015: People's Daily, China @PDChina, via Twitter Dec. 16, 2015

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Internet Penetration Rates in East Asian and Chinese Regions 1995-2012: Hanteng, CC BY SA 3.0 Unported, via Wikimedia Commons @ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:P1994-2011.gif

Chinese President Xi Jinping gives Second Annual World Internet Conference's (WIC) keynote address Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015: People's Daily,China @PDChina, via Twitter Dec. 15, 2015, @ https://twitter.com/PDChina/status/676965286424219649

For further information:

CCTV News. "President Xi Jinping delivers a keynote speech at 2015 World Internet Conference." YouTube. Dec. 15, 2015.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNR3MV9C2-Q

Griffiths, James. "Chinese President Xi Jinping: Hands off our Internet." CNN > World > Asia. Dec. 16, 2015.
Available @ http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/15/asia/wuzhen-china-internet-xi-jinping/index.html

"Highlights of Xi's Internet speech." People’s Daily Online. Dec. 16, 2015.
Available @ http://en.people.cn/n/2015/1216/c90000-8991526.html

"Live report: Press conference of the 2nd World Internet Conference." China Daily > World > flash. Updated Dec. 9, 2015.
Available @ http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2015wic/2015-12/09/content_22670751.htm

People's Daily,China @PDChina. "'China to expand internet coverage to every administrative village by 2020,' President #XiJinping said at #WIC2015." Twitter. Dec. 15, 2015.
Available @ https://twitter.com/PDChina/status/676965286424219649