President calls for equality among nations in oversight of the global information industry

President Xi Jinping calls for increased international cooperation in cyberspace governance in a speech via video link at the opening ceremony of the third annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, on Wednesday. FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY

President Xi Jinping, who addressed a meeting of global internet experts on Wednesday, called for all countries to have independence in managing their own internet industry and equality among nations in participating in global information industry governance.

In a keynote speech via video at the opening of the third annual World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Xi said that China would like to work together with the international community to "ensure the common well-being of humanity, uphold cyberspace sovereignty and also promote more fair and equitable global internet governance".

The three-day internet conference in the ancient Zhejiang province township has attracted more than 1,600 attendees from 110 countries and regions.

Xi applauded the great progress that has come with the internet, and discussed its new challenges and opportunities. "The development of the internet has no national boundaries. To take advantage of, promote and govern it, we must call for closer international cooperation and joint efforts to build a community of a common future in cyberspace," he said.

"A gentleman puts basic principles first, which will illuminate the way forward," he quoted a Chinese proverb as saying.

Liu Yunshan, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, who attended the opening ceremony, said that China, a large internet country with more than 700 million netizens, is willing to strengthen policy coordination and cooperation with other countries.

To benefit all people of the world, "we should build a multilateral and transparent global internet governance system," Liu said.

Cooperation should be strengthened in coping with cyberspace security challenges, aiming to safeguard State security, public interest and citizens' legitimate rights, he said.

Del Christensen, chief of global business development for the Bay Area Council, a business-sponsored, public policy advocacy group based in San Francisco, said after listening to Xi that there should be "some standard that the world should abide by forge better cooperation and trade."

"The internet is not a lawless zone. Every other subject like finance, military and medicine all have rules. The internet should be no different," he added.

Contact the writers at [email protected]