Cyberspace needs community with a shared future, not hegemony

Experts and officials called on Tuesday for the international community to jointly address challenges in cyberspace and abandon cyber hegemony in order to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

They made the remarks at a seminar held by the international organization World Internet Conference in Beijing. The seminar focused on advancing the construction of a community with a shared future in cyberspace to a new stage.

Zhuang Rongwen, director of the Cyberspace Administration of China and chairman of the World Internet Conference, said that a community with a shared future in cyberspace advocates for the internet to better serve humanity, respects cyber sovereignty, opposes cyber hegemony, and addresses the challenges people face in cyberspace.

He emphasized that the governance of international cyberspace should adhere to multilateral and multi-stakeholder participation, with decisions made through consultation among all parties.

The current global internet governance system has many unreasonable aspects, Zhuang said.

"Looking ahead, we should respect cyber sovereignty, practice true multilateralism, formulate norms for cyberspace governance, improve the global internet governance system, and promote the order of cyberspace toward a fairer and more reasonable direction," the official said.

Colin Mackerras, a fellow of the Academy of the Humanities of Australia, expressed his appreciation for the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind, as well as the three initiatives proposed by China: the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative.

He said that all these global initiatives advocate for global sharing rather than mutual competition.

The expert criticized the United States for attempting to prevent the development of any other country in order to maintain its global dominance, which has resulted in fierce competition and suppression of other countries, especially China.

He pointed out that this approach to dealing with the world is highly undesirable.

Mackerras stressed that cooperation in managing cyberspace will bring about cybersecurity and stability.