The world is experiencing rapid changes unseen in a century. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken heavy losses on countries around the world. The only collective struggle may win the battle between humanity and the virus. In the face of evolving risks and challenges, humankind must augment solidarity and cooperation in cyberspace and uphold fairness and justice for the digital economy’s collective benefits.
During the second World Internet Conference held in 2015, Chinese President Xi Jinping put forward four principles and a five-point plan on the Internet’s global development and governance. He advocated respect for sovereignty in cyberspace and revealed the vision of building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, offering China’s wisdom and methodology to the Internet’s global development and supremacy. In 2019, the World Internet Conference’s Organizing Committee released the perception document entitled Jointly Shaping a Community with a Shared Future in Cyberspace, further explaining this vision. The current pandemic highlights a more significant distinction and urgency to building a community with a shared future in cyberspace. We call on all nations, global organizations, Internet companies, technical societies, social organizations, and individuals to take the attitude to global governance, which is based on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, uphold the philosophy of “achieving shared development, ensuring common security, realizing joint governance, and enjoying benefits together,” and work together to build cyberspace into a community where we can jointly advance development, safeguard security, participate in governance, and share the benefits. To this end, we would like to propose the following:
Achieving shared development
We should implement more proactive, inclusive, and synchronized policies that benefit all, speed up global information infrastructure building, promote advanced development of the digital economy, and improve public service capacity.
1. Improving Internet access and stimulating connectivity. We should further advance cooperation in communications structures such as optical cable backbone networks and international underwater cables. Based on respecting sovereignty in cyberspace and Internet policies of individual countries, we should explore adequate means of expanding Internet access and linking, and deliver development opportunities brought by the Internet to more developing countries and peoples.
2. Evolving information infrastructure construction. We need to work together to increase cooperation in information infrastructure construction, operation, and service capability. Funding should be given to the structure, application, and development of 5G, Internet of Things, and industrial Internet, to substitute new economic growth drivers and improve economic recovery and development.
3. Enhancing ICT-enabled public serviceability. We should boost experience sharing and cooperation in using digital technologies to respond to such public disasters as epidemics and natural disasters. Digital technologies should be leveraged to improve public service capability in culture and education, environmental protection, urban planning, community management, healthcare, etc.
4. Incorporating digital technologies with industrial development for economic revolution and upgrading. It is essential to integrate digital technologies with outdated industries by further applying digital, network, and intelligent technologies in industries, encouraging economic transformation and upgrading, and enabling the development, utilization, and sharing of data resources.
5. Nurturing an enabling business environment to sustain, stable, and secure global ICT industry and supply chains. We call on countries to arrange for an open, fair, and non-discriminatory business atmosphere and strengthen solidarity and cooperation in times of hardship to enhance the global market’s confidence. Good multilateral digital rules should be developed to promote mutual expectation and win-win cooperation, ensure openness, stability, and security of global ICT industry and supply chains, to encourage the healthy growth of the worldwide economy.
Ensuring common security
We campaign a cybersecurity vision that landscapes openness and cooperation and encourages Internet development while setting equal emphasis on cybersecurity to jointly support peace and security in cyberspace.
6. Strengthening strategic conjoint trust in cyberspace. Cooperation and negotiations at global, regional, multilateral, bilateral, and multi-party levels need to be encouraged to jointly maintain peace and stability in cyberspace and reinforce strategic trust among nations. We should oppose acts of attacks, deterrence, and blackmailing in cyberspace, stand against leading activities that destabilize other countries’ national security and public interests through the use of ICTs, and safeguard against arms race in cyberspace as well as attempts to politicize technical subjects, to create a peaceful atmosphere for development.
7. Stepping up the shield of information infrastructure. We should stride up cooperation in early-warning and prevention, information sharing and emergency response, and aggressively engage in experience exchanges to protect critical information infrastructure. We stand against harming the critical information infrastructure or stealing essential data from other countries through its use.
8. Improving personal information safe and data security management. It is imperative to legalize the practices of collecting, storing, using, processing, transmitting, providing, and disclosing personal information to safeguard personal information security. International exchanges and cooperation should be advanced in data security, personal information protection, and relevant rules and standards, and energies should be made to promote mutual recognition among countries on regulations and standards on personal information protection in line with the commitments of the UN Charter. Companies should not pre-install backdoors or malicious codes in their information technology equipment nor steal users’ data when providing products and services.
9. Strengthening the safeguard of minors in cyberspace. We should promote knowledge sharing on the legislation of minors protection in cyberspace, fight cybercrimes and cyberbullying targeted at children, protect their privacy on the Internet, and cultivate their digital literacy to help them develop vigorous Internet habits.
10. Increasing international cooperation on struggling cybercrimes and cyberterrorism. We should take engagements to crack down upon cybercrimes, especially their eco-system and chains, and other progress mechanism building on combating cybercrimes and cyberterrorism. We should support and take an active part in the negotiations on the global convention against cybercrimes under the United Nations’ outline. Effective coordination on legislations and practices of different countries should be made in a joint effort to tackle the threats of cybercrimes and cyberterrorism.
Realizing joint governance
We should stay dedicated to a multilateral and multi-party approach to cyberspace governance. Dialogues and consultation should be stridden up to foster a more just and impartial governance system in cyberspace.
11. Giving full play to the UN’s main-channel role in global authority in cyberspace. We should exert the UN Open-ended Working Group (OEWG) functions and the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) and support articulating codes, norms, and principles of responsible state conduct in cyberspace that are suitable to all parties under the UN framework.
12. Improving the international authority system that is shared and governed by all. We were backing the roles of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the World Internet Conference (WIC), the Mobile World Congress (MWC), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and other platforms and encourage the participation of governments, international organizations, Internet companies, technical communities, public organizations, and individual citizens in the global governance in cyberspace.
13. Participating in Internet infrastructure resource management on the same footing. The convenience and reliability of Internet infrastructure resources for each country should be guaranteed, and efforts should be made to promote joint management and rational distribution of Internet infrastructure resources for the international community.
14. Cultivating governance on new technologies and applications. We should use expression into laws, regulations, rules, and standards to guide the use of new technologies and applications such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and the next-generation communications network, and endorse international cooperation in technical standards and moral standards.
15. Promoting capacity building on cyberspace governance. We call on countries to establish multi-channel exchange platforms and launch assistance and training programs on global management in cyberspace under the UN and other multilateral frameworks to help developing countries improve their capacity of participating in global governance.
Enjoying benefits together
We should advocate Tech for Good with a people-centered approach, contracted the digital divide, and achieve collective prosperity.
16. Sharing the paybacks of e-commerce. Countries need to diminish barriers in market access and other fields for charming trade channels. Cross-border e-commerce needs to be further encouraged. Countries need to establish mechanisms for information sharing and mutual trust and recognition. Secure and reliable digital technologies should be encouraged to enable cross-border trade.
17. Generating more opportunities for MSMEs in the digital economy. Policy backing needs to be stepped up to assist MSMEs in exploiting new-generation information technologies for innovation in products, services, processes, and organizational and business modes to generate more jobs and help MSMEs join the global value chains.
18. Strengthening backing and support to the vulnerable groups and leaving no one behindhand. We inspire experience sharing on Internet-enabled targeted poverty eradication to promote international cooperation in poverty reduction. More products and services appropriate for the elderly, the disabled, women, and children should be developed, and more policies, procedures, and technical tools should be employed to improve the digital skills of the vulnerable groups for the advancement and improvement of digital literacy among the public.
19. Endorsing cyber cultural exchanges and mutual learning. The multiplicity of cyberculture should be respected. We advocate for tapping into adequate cultural resources to promote Internet-related exchanges and cooperation, and mutual knowledge. There is a need to establish inclusive, open, and diverse platforms and instruments for cyber cultural exchanges.
20. Contributing to the enactment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We request all countries to set great store by developing countries’ apprehensions, bridge the digital divide, and promote sustained, comprehensive, and sustainable economic growth and social development with ICTs as an enabler.
The Internet is a shared home for all humankind. The future of the human race in cyberspace has never been so closely interwoven. To conserve a peaceful, secure, open, cooperative, and orderly cyberspace is to build a better place than we all call home. Going accelerative, we stand ready to work with the global community to seize the opportunities and address the challenges to conjointly build a closer community with a shared future in cyberspace towards a brighter future for humankind.
