International Cyberspace Governance

Abstract

Cyberspace is the product of the IT Revolution. Since 1990s, IT Revolution represented by the Internet has gone beyond national and regional borders and cultural differences and created the man-made space connecting all countries and regions, which is the global cyberspace. On the one hand, state and non-state actors have more and more interactions in the cyberspace to enjoy benefits and convenience. On the other hand, traditional politics, economy and social structures are faced with the totally new shock and challenge resulting from the cyberspace and practice proves that no individual actor can only rely on himself in tackling the shock and challenge. How to exercise effective governance over the global cyberspace and build peaceful, secure, open and cooperative cyberspace has become the key strategic issue facing all countries and all actors. (1) The antagonism between the “multiple stakeholders” model and “multilateralism” is the main thread running through the global cyberspace governance, but the two have begun to integrate with each other. China holds that the cyber sovereignty should be respected and consultation should be carried out about common issues, and the country advocates multilateral cyberspace governance involving different participants. (2) The international community has different opinions on global cyberspace governance principles, digital economy development and cyberspace militarization, but they all hold that complete governance rules should be made for cyberspace governance. (3) The global cyberspace governance mechanism keeps being improved. ITU, UN and ICANN play different roles in cyberspace governance and all countries participate in it through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms. (4) China is an active promoter of the reform of the global cyberspace governance system. The proposals on international cyberspace made by President Xi Jinping have won extensive acknowledgement in the international community. To build a community of shared future in cyberspace is becoming the common direction of responsible actors’ effort.