摘要：Lead: China's push for a shared future online is reshaping the global conversation on tech governance, putting digital inclusion,
By Yasiru Ranaraja
Lead: China's push for a shared future online is reshaping the global conversation on tech governance, putting digital inclusion, cooperation, and equity at the center of AI, broadband, and cyberspace transformation.
As the 2025 World Internet Conference Wuzhen Summit concluded in Zhejiang province, the international community marked a decade since China first proposed building a community with a shared future in cyberspace. Over the last decade, this vision has evolved from a policy statement into a global governance framework that shapes debates on cybersecurity, digital sovereignty and inclusive development.
China's vision as alternative model
As AI, data governance and 5G networks increasingly define prosperity and power in the modern era, China's approach presents an alternative model for organizing the digital world. Since President Xi Jinping first unveiled the concept of a community with a shared future in cyberspace in 2015, its core principles have been security, openness, cooperation and inclusiveness. The concept also stresses that cyberspace shouldn't be monopolized by a few powers or global tech companies, but shared equitably by all nations.
Since then, China has put the idea into practice through various means. One example is the Digital Silk Road — the digital component of the Belt and Road Initiative — which focuses not only on technology development, but also infrastructure, knowledge sharing and digital governance initiatives.
By the end of 2022, China had signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on building the Digital Silk Road with 17 countries, MoUs on e-commerce cooperation with 30 countries, and MoUs on closer investment cooperation in the digital economy with 18 countries and regions. Projects include cross-border fiber networks, e-commerce platforms, training programs and data centers across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
In Africa alone, Chinese firms and partnerships have helped connect hundreds of millions of Africans to broadband networks, with some estimates reaching close to 6 million households and more than 900 million people.
This approach further reflects China's view that digital connectivity is a public good, not a privilege to be controlled by a handful of global tech companies. Expanding digital infrastructure and enhancing inclusive participation allow developing nations to help construct a global internet framework, rather than remain passive users of systems built elsewhere.
Nations should be equal in cyberspace
For most of the last two decades, the internet was governed by Western institutions and private technology giants that followed a "multi-stakeholder" model based on corporate influence. China's approach, however, offers a multilateral vision in which states — not companies — are equals in creating digital rules under an international legal regime. This model allows individual states to formulate their own regulations within a shared international framework, emphasizing sovereignty, security and shared responsibility rather than market-driven control, and recognizing cyberspace as a common good for humanity, according to the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in 2023.
At the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), China's position aligns with that of developing countries in their pursuit of fair digital governance. According to ITU estimates, by 2023, 5.4 billion people, or about 67% of the global population, were connected to the internet. However, connectivity remains highly unequal, with less than 40% of people online in the least developed countries. China frames its digital cooperation programs explicitly in terms of this gap, arguing that global governance can only begin meaningfully with universal access.
The Global AI Governance Initiative proposed by China in 2023 calls for shared standards and mutual recognition systems to manage AI risks, echoing similar efforts by the OECD and the U.N. China is also growing its influence by driving international efforts to set standards and regulations for new technologies, including artificial intelligence. The policy frameworks China has put in place have contributed to shaping global debates and emphasize ethical development, transparency and human-centered innovation.
Cybersecurity and legal cooperation
As cyberspace becomes more essential, cybersecurity concerns are also becoming some of the most pressing global challenges. The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime reports that cybercrime now costs the global economy more than $6 trillion annually and has become one of the fastest-growing transnational threats. China has consistently argued that combating such threats requires international cooperation based on the rule of law and mutual trust.
Over the years, Beijing has taken an active part in the negotiation of the U.N. Cybercrime Convention, supporting the creation of global mechanisms for data sharing, evidence exchange and capacity-building in cyber forensics. These initiatives echo China's broader call for a "rules-based, multipolar cyberspace" that balances sovereignty with security cooperation. This approach regards cybersecurity not just as a technical challenge, but as a matter of international justice — a means for developing nations to protect their digital infrastructure, and for cyberspace to remain a zone of shared peace rather than conflict.
Bridging the digital divide
However, while digital transformation brings new opportunities, it simultaneously deepens inequalities. In 2023, the World Bank reported that more than 2.6 billion people worldwide still lack internet access, with the majority residing in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. As cyberspace expands and related technologies advance rapidly, consistent engagement among partner countries is essential in order to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace.
According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Africa still faces significant digital infrastructure gaps that raise trade‑costs and limit connectivity. Capacity‑building efforts like the Smart Africa Digital Academy have trained thousands of professionals in digital transformation and policy across the continent. Chinese telecommunications‑infrastructure firms have invested in and laid tens of thousands of kilometres of submarine fibre‑optic cables worldwide, including projects linking Asia, Africa and other parts of the world.
These initiatives also illustrate that digital inclusion is not only an economic imperative but also a stabilizing force for global governance. As key sectors like health care, finance and logistics go online, countries without secure, affordable access to the internet face exclusion from the next phase of globalization.
Strategic applications across sectors
The vision of a community with a shared future in cyberspace reaches far beyond diplomatic efforts. In global supply chains, interoperable digital systems enhance transparency and resilience.
Accumulated evidence from the reports by the World Economic Forum and various industry studies shows that digital integration can bring double-digit percentage improvements in value chains, commonly reported at 10-15% in pilot and company results.
In the maritime sector, which accounts for approximately 80% of global trade by volume, China is involved in developing shared cybersecurity and smart port standards under the Belt and Road Initiative. These advances are improving global shipping security. As a result, ports such as Shanghai, Hambantota, Piraeus and Gwadar now share digital frameworks for real-time cargo tracking and data exchange with reduced cyber risks. These applications demonstrate how China's vision is already transforming crucial sectors of the global economy and turning governance ideals into a practical reality.
Moreover, national security strategies that integrate AI tools in warfare and artillery increasingly reflect the need to balance technological openness with protection. By promoting multilateral cybersecurity norms and responsible AI governance, China positions itself as a bridge between innovation and regulation, arguing that digital development and security are mutually reinforcing.
Looking ahead
Now, on the 10th anniversary of the proposal of building a community with a shared future in cyberspace, the question is no longer whether cyberspace requires shared governance, but how it should be structured. The next decade will be defined by the integration of AI, the enforcement of the U.N. Cybercrime Convention, and the expansion of multilateral cooperation on data governance.
In the face of these changes, China's decade-long leadership and advocacy for a community with a shared future in cyberspace may offer a framework for moving forward. The goal is a digital world that is secure yet open, innovative yet ethical, and sovereign yet interconnected.
The global challenge will be turning these principles into enforceable systems, ensuring that every nation — from the world's largest economies to its smallest island states — can participate equally in shaping the rules of the digital age. Realizing this vision will depend on nations' willingness to bridge divides, embrace shared responsibilities, and view cyberspace not as a battlefield for rivalry, but as a commons for cooperation.
Yasiru Ranaraja is a commentator on current affairs, a researcher on maritime issues, and an expert on the development of the Belt and Road Initiative. He is the founding director of the BRISL, an international development organization in Sri Lanka.
来源：中国网一点号
