China, ROK cyberspace cooperation urged

China and the Republic of Korea should cooperate more to safeguard cybersovereignty and cybersecurity, the head of the Chinese Internet information regulatory agency said in Seoul on Tuesday.

Lu Wei, minister of the State Internet Information Office, delivered a keynote speech at the second China-ROK Internet Roundtable, an annual event co-hosted by the office and the ROK Ministry of Future Creation and Science. China and the ROK should work together to build a new international order that can safeguard cybersovereignty and encompass Internet governance in UN multilateral frameworks, Lu said.

Jia Xiudong, a researcher on international affairs at the China Institute of International Studies, agreed.

"Cybersovereignty - a natural extension of state sovereignty into cyberspace - should also be respected and protected," he said.

"Given the dynamic development of China-ROK relations in the Internet era, it is essential for the two countries to improve their cooperation in cybersovereignty to protect their national interests."

Lu said Beijing wants to work more with Seoul in this field.

"China hopes to enhance cooperation with the ROK to push for resolutions on key issues in technology, equipment and mobile terminals," the minister said.

He also called on the two countries to strengthen cooperation in safeguarding cybersecurity, combating cybercrimes and protecting privacy.

Beijing and Seoul share broad common interests in Internet cooperation, and such cooperation is crucial to the development of the Internet, observers said.

Jia Qingguo, a professor of international affairs at Peking University, said cybersecurity issues bring new challenges to all countries.

The Internet user base in China has expanded tremendously in recent years. According to government figures, China now has 600 million Internet users, accounting for 44.1 percent of the Chinese population, and the number of users is still rising.

Users of social networks such as micro blogs exceed 300 million, while more than 200 million micro-blog posts are submitted or forwarded every day.

The Chinese mainland is currently home to nearly 3 million websites. Five Chinese websites - Baidu.com, QQ.com, Taobao.com, Sina.com.cn and Sohu.com - were listed among the top 20 most popular world websites in 2013 by Royal Pingdom, a Swedish company that focuses on Internet-related research.