Xinhua News Agency: The US, together with partners including the EU, the UK, Australia and Japan, jointly launched the so-called Declaration for the Future of the Internet the other day. The US was reportedly mulling the launch of an Alliance for the Future of the Internet at the Summit for Democracy last year, but the plan was postponed following push-back from various parties. Now the latest attempt of the US will be followed with relevant activities. Do you have any comment?

Zhao Lijian: Be it the Alliance for the Future of the Internet or the Declaration for the Future of the Internet, they both reveal that the nature of the Internet policies of the US and some other countries is all about drawing ideological lines, instigating division and confrontation, undermining international rules and trying to impose one’s own standards on others. The Declaration is the latest example of dividing the Internet and provoking confrontation in cyberspace.

The Declaration underscores the reliance on a global and interoperable Internet. However, the US has abandoned multilateral platforms such as the UN and is keen to form various exclusive cliques instead, in an attempt to draw ideological lines and undermine the global rules of Internet governance by touting its unilaterally-defined principles. 

The Declaration opposes abusing digital technologies for unlawful surveillance and claims that the access to personal data should be based in law and conducted in accordance with international human rights law. However, the US has conducted mass, systemic and indiscriminate information and data theft across the globe by abusing the Internet over the years. This seriously intrudes on Internet users’ privacy and violates the principles of international human rights. Even leaders of some countries endorsing the Declaration are targeted. 

The Declaration stresses that countries should refrain from using the Internet to undermine elections, including through covert information manipulation campaigns. However, the US has been spreading disinformation to willfully interfere in other countries’ internal affairs and even overthrowing governments over the years. 

The Declaration states that businesses of all sizes can innovate, compete, and thrive on their merits in a fair and competitive ecosystem. However, some countries, the US in particular, cite national security as an excuse without providing any evidence to hobble and coerce companies of other countries and promote their own immature systems. 

The Declaration claims that governments should not impede access to global Internet. However, the US is the first in the world to declare cyberspace as a new operational domain and pursue “Forward Deployment” of cyber military forces around relevant countries, endangering the security of their critical infrastructure. Not long ago, a former senior US official openly called for cyber attacks on other countries. 

The Declaration purports to support the work of the UN and other multilateral platforms. However, the contents in the Declaration are at odds with UN rules. The stress on the “non-technical factors” in the supply chain reveals the Declaration’s ideology-driven approach on issues of cyber security. 

With the above citations from the Declaration, I want to emphasize that no matter how it is packaged, the US move is actually an old agenda taking on a new form. By launching a resemblance of the Clean Network program that has long lost support, the US is trying to create an exclusive bloc in the name of democracy . 

Cyberspace is the shared space of activities for all. The future of cyberspace should be in the hands of all countries. Countries should step up dialogue and cooperation and work together to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace. We call on relevant countries to return to the international community to work out an inclusive process based on extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, return to the UN and other multilateral platforms to discuss and establish international rules on the Internet and digital governance that reflect all parties’ will and respect all parties’ interests, set up a multilateral, democratic and transparent global Internet governance system, and build a cyber and digital space featuring peace, security, openness, cooperation, and order.