Wuzhen summit speaks for the developing nations

A visitor tries out a virtual trying-on service at the Light of the Internet Expo in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, Dec 17, 2015.[Photo by Zhu Xingxin/China Daily]

How important Internet is becoming for China and the world can be gauged from the 2015 World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang.

China, which is home to five of the top 10 world Internet companies, has the largest Internet market in the world with 700 million users connected online.

With economy shifting from manufacturing to service and innovation, the wider use of Internet gives a growing number of people the tools to reap the benefits of the revolution unleashed by the Internet. The shift also makes democratization of this tool possible, putting China ahead of other countries.

One of the things associated with the easy access to Internet is the capacity to interact and share through social network sites and China, with its own domestic companies such as Sina Weibo, Youku, provides an interesting alternative to Western companies.

The Wuzhen Summit will discuss common issues such as Internet security and the regulations of the cyber spectrum that need updating from time to time.

Cybersecurity is important because this allow people and companies to do business online without problems, and also because it allows fighting online crime and terrorism.

The cyber spectrum must be regulated in a democratic way to avoid the domination, as has been up to now, of one country as the US.

In this sense China can play a role in amending the regulations and help balance the interests of developed and developing nations. This would be not only the fair thing to do but, as the majority of people now live in the developing world and their number will keep increasing, will give these countries a bigger stake in the development of the Internet.

Carlos Aquino Rodriguez is professor at San Marcos National University in Peru and director of its Institute of Economics Research. He is a specialist in the research of the economic development of East Asia.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and don't represent views of China Daily website.