Beijing urges greater cyberspace cooperation

China called for cooperation with Southeast Asian countries in sharing Internet-related information to fight cyberterrorism.

The Internet should not become a breeding ground for terrorism, said Lu Wei, director of the Cyberspace Administration of China, in a speech on Friday at the China-ASEAN Cyberspace Forum in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

"Online development without security will make the Internet more harmful," he said. "We should keep it from becoming a platform for crimes and attacks, or the tool for organizing terrorism."

Qi Xiangdong, president of Qihoo 360, an online security service provider, said China and ASEAN countries are already armed with several agreements to crack down on online crimes and terror attacks.

At the forum, Lu proposed building an information hub to facilitate exchanges and cooperation between China and ASEAN countries, Qi said.

With this hub, terrorism-related information can be detected soon and handled in a timely manner, Qi said.

Qin Xiongning, from China Telecom's Guangxi division, said current diplomatic channels that countries use to exchange information related to online terrorism and drug trafficking are too slow.

Anti-terrorism cooperation between China and ASEAN members has grown increasingly important.

Overseas media reported that Indonesian police arrested seven armed people on Monday, including four Chinese. According to South China Morning Post, the four were from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and allegedly attempted to join a terrorist group in Indonesia.

The Chinese government has not confirmed the identities of the four who were arrested.

caoyin@chinadaily.com.cn