Each nation's cyber realm deserves respect

The Second World Internet Conference launched by China has come to an end on Friday. The three-day high-level Internet conference located in Wuzhen also caught the eyes of overseas residents.

Alan Woodward, Professor at University of Surrey in the UK expressed his opinion over President Xi's speech. "In his speech, Presideny Xi stated, ‘There will be no more talk of national security if cyber security cannot be maintained' I totally agree with that sentence. The key will be whether or not nation states and state sponsored actors put that principle into practice," Professor said.

He gave an example "Like international agreements on weapons of mass destruction, there will need to be top level agreements on respecting each nation's cyber realm and for there to be some form of verification. It is a two way street and it is going to be very much a case of 'do as you would be done by'."

The Internet is now so global and people driven that it tends to evolve in an almost biological way rather than the more expected engineering directions. When it was first commercialized in the 1990s, no one predicted how the Internet would look today.

China has witnessed a rapid development of its Internet industry over the past two decades. As of July 2015, the number of Internet users had reached 668 million, the most in the world, according to official figures. All cities and towns, and 93.5 percent of administrative villages in China now have access to the Internet.

The Second World Internet Conference, the most high-profile Internet related event in China, is taking place in the picturesque water town of Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, Dec 16 to 18.

The 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.

The guests at 10 forums will exchange views on a wide range of topics such as Internet culture communication, Internet innovation and development, digital economic cooperation, cyber security, Internet plus, cyberspace governance and the digital Silk Road.