Chinese president calls on all countries to unite in fight against cybercrime

The President expressed these views while speaking at the opening session of the 2nd World Internet Conference being held here at Wuzhen-a historic and scenic town in northern Zhejiang province of China.

The president stressed: “We should respect other countries’ rights to peaceful involvement in global cyberspace governance, including their choices of internet development, regulation and public policies”.

Others, including press freedom group Reporters Without Borders and China censorship watchdog GreatFire.org, called for a boycott of China’s World Internet Conference, which attracted executives from Chinese and USA tech giants.

China needs to enact laws that govern the sector and tackle illegal activities that violate user privacy and intellectual property rights, Li said.

China’s growing worldwide influence was highlighted by the fact that many major technology companies – including Microsoft, LinkedIn and Facebook (which is blocked in China but has been seeking to improve its relations with the government) – sent representatives to the conference.

“This is an all-out assault on Internet freedoms”, she added.

He also said no country should dominate cyberspace, a nod to China’s argument that the U.S. has too much sway over how the internet is run.

While China has long censored and regulated its domestic Internet, in recent years it has advanced a concept of “cyber sovereignty” that seeks in part to upend the current system of online governance.

Yesterday, Mr Xi said cyberspace needs freedom and order, adding that “freedom is the goal for order, and order guarantees freedom”.

Internet issues have gained prominence under Mr Xi’s rule since late 2012, with him setting up and chairing a new task force previous year within the Communist Party on cyber security and informatisation issues. “The future of cyberspace should be in the hands of all countries”, he said.

“Under the guise of sovereignty and security, the Chinese authorities are trying to rewrite the rules of the Internet so censorship and surveillance become the norm everywhere”.

They were also concerned that organisers might repeat last year’s attempt to get participants to sign on to a declaration embodying China’s vision.

The World Internet Conference, with a goal of “building a cyberspace community of shared destiny”, has gathered together more than 2,000 participants, including state leaders, government officials, business leaders, Internet titans, and experts from more than 120 countries and regions.

While professing support for an exchange of ideas on the Internet, Xi also emphasised the need for order.

Wang Chunhui, the director of the Institute of China ICT Development and Strategy in the Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said China hopes to break the United States dominance in cyberspace and establish a new order that would respect Chinese core interests. The number of Internet users has already exceeded 700 million people in China only.