A New Chapter of Flowing Painting in the Struggling Boat

At present, human society is accelerating towards the era of digital civilization. With the deepening development of digitization, networking, and intelligence, the connotation and extension of national security are becoming richer, the spatial and temporal domain is broader, and internal and external factors are more complex. The integration and mutual influence between cybersecurity, political security, economic security, cultural security, social security, military security, and other fields have become one of the most complex, realistic, and severe non-traditional security issues facing China. Its fundamental, strategic, and global position in the national security system is even more prominent. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China made a major deployment to accelerate the construction of a strong cyber country and a digital China, opening a new journey for China's information technology development. As China moves on the fast lane of the information age, how to build a strong cybersecurity barrier and provide solid security guarantees for the construction of a strong cyber nation and a digital China has become a major issue that concerns the overall situation.

On August 23, 2023, the 15th meeting of BRICS leaders was held at the Sando Conference Center in Johannesburg.Photo by Li Xueren, journalist from Xinhua News Agency

Seize the new opportunities of information technology transformation and comprehensively deploy and promote network security work

The tide of the times is vast and mighty; The governance of a great country has countless opportunities. How to respond to the new proposition of cybersecurity and lead new development in accelerating the construction of a digital China and stride towards becoming a strong cyber nation?

Observing the overall trend of the times, a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is in the ascendant. Informatization and digitization are redrawing the world power map, and each major technological change brings new challenges to national security. Cybersecurity has become an important field in the game of great powers.

Looking at the global situation, with the current trend of digitalization, networking, and intelligence development, network security threats and risks are becoming increasingly prominent. The network security situation is becoming increasingly severe, complex, and ever-changing, with unprecedented global and penetrating characteristics, as well as unprecedented concealment and dynamism, posing serious challenges to national security and social development.

Be prepared and not worry, it is the common way of the country.

Before the stormy waves, when the sea flows across, one can see even more the stability of steering and the power of navigation.

This is a significant breakthrough in the traditional concept of national security, deepening and expanding our party's theoretical perspective and practical field on national security issues, marking a new height in our party's understanding of national security issues.

How to handle the relationship between security and development well, ensuring development with safety and promoting security with development, achieving coordination and progress together, is not only related to the growth of "hard power", but also tests the upgrading of "soft power" in national governance.

"Security is the prerequisite for development, and development is the guarantee of security. Security and development should be promoted simultaneously." On April 19, 2016, a symposium on network security and information technology was held in Beijing.

A month later, during an investigation and research at a cybersecurity company in Heilongjiang Province, the General Secretary warned, "Maintaining national cybersecurity requires overall design, strengthening cooperation, and finding a good path through mutual learning, exchange, joint research, and mutual benefit."

This is a profound statement that stands at the forefront of the times and closely follows the pulse of the times.

At present, the digital wave is surging forward, the international power balance is deeply adjusted, the international environment is becoming increasingly complex, and instability and uncertainty are significantly increasing. Since 2015, over 170 countries and regions around the world have regarded digital security as an important strategic direction, and international competition around digital technology, data elements, industrial ecology, security standards, etc. has become increasingly fierce.

Build the momentum of long-term security and grow the cause of governance.

Currently, digital transformation in various industries is accelerating, and digital security risks are evolving and upgrading, continuously extending and penetrating into multiple fields. How to strengthen digital security capabilities is directly related to the process of building a digital China.

In 2023, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Overall Layout Plan for the Construction of Digital China", which listed "building a reliable and controllable digital security barrier" as one of the "two key capabilities" to strengthen digital China, and made a systematic deployment, pointing out the practical path for China's digital security work.

Those who embrace the greatness of the country and focus on the major affairs of the country. In the hearts of leaders, the word "people" carries the heaviest weight.

In recent years, China's "Internet plus" has continued to develop in depth, industrial digital transformation has accelerated, digital industrialization has accelerated, and intelligent applications have been deeply embedded in all aspects of economic and social development. While creating a new pattern of economic and social life, data abuse, data leakage, telecommunications network fraud and other issues that infringe on the interests of the people have emerged. It is urgent to safeguard and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the people in cyberspace.

Zizi's footsteps, burning eyes, and insightful words.

Coordinated development and security, continuously strengthening the network security guarantee system and capacity building

"Being safe without forgetting danger, and governing without forgetting chaos" has been the intellectual wisdom of the Chinese people for thousands of years. Entering the information age, the CPC people who are good at drawing wisdom and strength from history have always been full of a sense of hardship, have a deep understanding of the complex and severe situation facing national security, correctly grasp major national security issues, safeguard the new development pattern with a new security pattern, and strive to create a new situation for national security work.

In recent years, critical information infrastructure in fields such as energy and transportation has been repeatedly attacked by cyber attacks, and cybersecurity incidents that have shocked the world have emerged one after another. From the opening of the first national level destructive cyber war in the "Earthquake Network" operation, to the global extortion attack by the "Eternal Blue", and then to the cyberspace confrontation that broke out in the 2022 Ukraine crisis... Accurately understanding and effectively responding to network security risks in the new situation and effectively ensuring network security are major issues that we must answer well.

New era, new situation, new answer sheet.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China's cybersecurity protection system has been continuously improved, the technological level and competitiveness of the cybersecurity industry have been continuously enhanced, the construction of the cybersecurity talent training system has been accelerated, and cybersecurity propaganda and education have entered the homes of ordinary people. Through joint efforts and management in all aspects, China's cybersecurity work has achieved remarkable results, continuously safeguarding the high-quality development of the country's economy.

——Continuous improvement of network security laws, regulations, and standard systems

The rule of law is the fundamental principle of governing a country and the cornerstone of the information civilization era. The evolution of Chinese civilization over thousands of years has gone through vicissitudes and ups and downs, repeatedly interpreting the profound principle that "the rule of law leads to national governance, and the relaxation of laws leads to national chaos.".

"The rapid development of new technologies and applications, such as digital economy, Internet finance, artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, has given birth to a series of new business forms and new models, but there are still time gaps and gaps in relevant legal systems." "Cybercrime has become one of the important risks that endanger China's national political security, network security, social security, economic security, etc."

The times are advancing, practice is developing, and the legal system must keep up with the times and be improved.

On June 1, 2017, the Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China was officially implemented, which is the first fundamental, framework, and comprehensive law in the field of cybersecurity in China. It makes clear provisions on network operation security, protection of critical information infrastructure, network information security, and network security supervision system, becoming an important milestone in the construction of the rule of law in China's cyberspace, marking a solid step in the process of legalizing cyberspace in China.

Subsequently, in response to the new situation and challenges in the field of network security, a series of laws and regulations such as the Data Security Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on the Security Protection of Key Information Infrastructure, and the Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China were successively promulgated. Policy documents such as the Cloud Computing Service Security Assessment Measures and the Network Security Review Measures were successively introduced, and the "four beams and eight pillars" of the network security policy and regulatory system were gradually constructed to ensure that network security work always operates on the track of rule of law.

Building a strong network security barrier is not only a technical issue, but also a governance test.

As an important driving force for a new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation, the development and application expansion of artificial intelligence technology are pressing the "fast forward" button. Recently, generative artificial intelligence such as ChatGPT has emerged on a large scale, providing unlimited imaginative space for the future development of the artificial intelligence industry, while also impacting national sovereignty, ideology, social relations, and profoundly affecting national security.

Since 2023, the Central Political Bureau has repeatedly mentioned artificial intelligence in its meetings. On April 28th, the Central Political Bureau held a meeting and pointed out that "we should attach importance to the development of general artificial intelligence, create an innovative ecosystem, and pay attention to risk prevention"; On July 24th, the Central Political Bureau held a meeting to once again emphasize "promoting the development of artificial intelligence security"······

From the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating Scene Innovation and Promoting High level Application of Artificial Intelligence to Promote High quality Economic Development, which provides policy guidance and institutional arrangements for comprehensively improving the quality and level of artificial intelligence development, to the Interim Measures for the Management of Generative Artificial Intelligence Services, which sets "bottom lines" and "red lines" for the development and application of artificial intelligence, on the one hand, it encourages innovative development, and on the other hand, it implements inclusive, prudent, and classified supervision. China is accelerating the formulation and promulgation of a series of relevant policies and regulations to promote the safe development of artificial intelligence.

Standards are the fruits of human civilization progress. From the ancient Chinese practice of "cars on the same track and books on the same text" to modern industrial scale production, it is a vivid practice of standardization.

In recent years, China has issued Several Opinions on Strengthening National Network Security Standardization, especially accelerating the development of network security standards in industrial Internet, Internet of Vehicles, Internet of Things, generative artificial intelligence and other fields, and promoting the systematic breakthrough of network security standards from "single to multiple". As of August 2023, China has issued over 370 national standards for cybersecurity.

——Significant improvement in security protection capabilities of critical information infrastructure

Key information infrastructure is of paramount importance to cybersecurity, serving as the lifeline to national security and an important strategic resource for the country.

In recent years, advanced persistent threat attacks have targeted critical information infrastructure and critical information systems, and the situation of vulnerability security threats is not optimistic. According to statistics, in the first quarter of 2023, industries such as education, healthcare, and finance were most affected by data breaches, with the highest proportion of single data breaches occurring between 100000 and 1 million, accounting for nearly half of the total.

The Cybersecurity Law of the People's Republic of China establishes a special chapter on the operation security of critical information infrastructure; The Regulations on the Security Protection of Key Information Infrastructure have been officially implemented, establishing a comprehensive responsibility system for the security protection of key information infrastructure, with the national network information department, public security department, key information infrastructure protection department, and key information infrastructure operators as the main body; The "Requirements for Security Protection of Key Information Infrastructure in Information Security Technology" has become the first national standard for security protection of key information infrastructure in China······

Strengthen network security inspections for important information infrastructure in fields such as water conservancy, electricity, oil and gas, transportation, communication, and finance; Organize a cybersecurity review of the procurement of network products and services by key information infrastructure operators, effectively preventing national security risks that may arise from procurement activities, data processing activities, and overseas listings; Organize security assessments on cloud platforms that provide services to party and government agencies and critical information infrastructure, strengthen security management of cloud computing services, prevent security risks in cloud computing services, and move forward to prevent potential risks.

In recent years, China has continuously strengthened the security guarantee of key information infrastructure supply chain, accelerated the standardization of key information infrastructure security, and further improved the security guarantee capacity of key information infrastructure.

——The foundation of network security work is constantly being strengthened

Targeting the continuous improvement of China's cybersecurity capabilities, we have made exciting breakthroughs and implemented practical measures to stimulate potential, with precise positioning, clear goals, and far-reaching layout.

Establish a sound national cybersecurity emergency system. Network security emergency work is the last line of defense for network security. Establishing a sound network security emergency work mechanism and enhancing emergency response and disposal capabilities are crucial for safeguarding national security. In 2017, the National Cybersecurity Emergency Plan was issued and implemented to promote the improvement of cybersecurity emergency plans in industries such as finance, energy, communication, and transportation, enhance the ability to respond to cybersecurity incidents, prevent and reduce losses and hazards caused by cybersecurity incidents, protect public interests, and maintain national security, public safety, and social order.

"As of December 2022, 65.9% of Internet users said that they had not encountered network security problems in the past six months, 3.9 percentage points higher than December 2021." The 51st Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet shows that China's network security governance has achieved remarkable results.

The scale of the cybersecurity industry is constantly expanding. In Beijing, the National Cybersecurity Industrial Park focuses on promoting the agglomeration and development of the cybersecurity industry, as well as breakthroughs in core cybersecurity technologies; Changsha, Hunan Province is focusing on the development of the cybersecurity industry, with leading enterprises rapidly growing and leading enterprises constantly emerging. Innovative small and medium-sized enterprises are growing rapidly; The first cross provincial and national level cybersecurity industrial park in China has landed in Chengdu Chongqing, creating a highland for leading the innovative development of the western cybersecurity industry······

"We must firmly support the growth and strengthening of internet information enterprises, strengthen regulatory guidance, and promote their healthy and orderly development."

Network security situational awareness is an important foundation for "moving forward and preventing problems before they occur". China is actively innovating in the field of situational awareness, giving rise to a large number of new products and services, and a group of leading enterprises, promoting the transformation of network security from passive defense to active defense. According to statistics, the scale of China's cybersecurity industry reached nearly 63.3 billion yuan in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%.

The vitality of cybersecurity talents is surging. The competition in cyberspace ultimately boils down to talent competition. To improve the level of network security, it is necessary to have a high-level team of network security talents.

In recent years, China has innovated its mechanism for cultivating cybersecurity talents, issued the "Opinions on Strengthening the Construction and Training of Cybersecurity Disciplines", established a first level discipline for cybersecurity, implemented a demonstration project for the construction of first-class cybersecurity colleges, and continuously strengthened the team of cybersecurity talents. At present, more than 60 universities across the country have established separate cybersecurity colleges, and more than 200 universities have established cybersecurity related majors.

Deepening publicity and education on network security. Holding a cybersecurity publicity week to enhance public awareness and skills in cybersecurity is an important aspect of cybersecurity work. Since the National Cybersecurity Awareness Week was held, various regions and departments have taken multiple measures and solidly promoted the concept of cybersecurity, popularized cybersecurity knowledge, and promoted cybersecurity skills in a form that is popular among the people. They have widely carried out activities such as cybersecurity entering communities, rural areas, enterprises, government agencies, campuses, military camps, and households, effectively promoting the improvement of cybersecurity awareness and protection skills throughout society, and forming a good atmosphere for jointly maintaining cybersecurity nationwide. During the National Cybersecurity Promotion Week in 2022, the cumulative reading volume of related topics reached 3.86 billion times, with over 500 million video views on major short video platforms.

On September 5, 2022, the opening ceremony of the National Cybersecurity Awareness Week and the Cybersecurity Technology Summit Forum were held in Hefei, Anhui Province.

One by one, strong measures have been taken to internalize and externalize the concept of "cybersecurity for the people, cybersecurity depends on the people", becoming a conscious action of the vast number of netizens to jointly build a network security defense line.

——The level of data security management and personal information protection continues to improve

The 2018 Cambridge Analysis incident shocked both China and abroad, with nearly 87 million users having their personal information illegally used to influence political elections, endangering national political security; A famous chain hotel has illegally sold data packets of over 130 million guests, with a total of 500 million leaked data. As the "oil of the information age", data has become a fundamental strategic resource for the country. While promoting high-quality economic development, it has also brought about problems such as data leakage and online fraud. Data security has become a major issue related to national security and economic and social development, bringing a series of risks and challenges to national security and social governance.

Mobile payments, mobile car hailing, online food delivery, and facial recognition entering residential areas... Nowadays, people have left a large number of "digital footprints" in their daily lives. Whether these "digital footprints" will be tracked, collected, or even abused is related to the happiness and security of the people.

Focusing on the needs and expectations of the masses, the Central Cyberspace Office, together with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments, printed and distributed documents to clearly define the range of personal information necessary for the collection and use of 39 common types of mobile Internet applications; The public security organs have organized multiple "net cleaning" special operations to crack down on illegal and criminal activities that infringe on citizens' personal information in accordance with the law; The judicial authorities issued relevant judicial interpretations on handling criminal cases such as telecommunications network fraud... This is a strong proof that "the Internet is not a place outside the law", a clear portrayal of creating a safe and clear cyberspace in accordance with the law, and a responsibility to "adhere to the people as the center".

Building a trustworthy and controllable digital security system, providing solid guarantees for the construction of a strong cyber nation and a digital China

At present, the world has entered a new period of turbulence and change, and is undergoing major adjustment, differentiation and reorganization. There are more uncertain, unstable and unpredictable factors, and the global Internet governance system has undergone profound changes. A secure, stable, and prosperous cyberspace is increasingly of great significance for the peace and development of a country and even the world.

For a period of time, some countries have continuously generalized the concept of "national security", using their monopoly advantages to politicize technological issues in pursuit of their so-called "absolute security". They have disrupted the global emerging technology industry ecosystem by abusing export control measures, developing key technology lists, and strengthening scrutiny of emerging technologies.

Only by following the trend of history can we keep pace with the times. History and reality have repeatedly shown that actions that violate the laws of the times and harm the common interests of the world are a reversal of history and will inevitably be abandoned by history.

"There is no double standard in the field of information, and all countries have the right to maintain their own information security. One country's security cannot be compromised by other countries' security, some countries' security cannot be compromised by others' security, let alone sacrificing other countries' security to seek their so-called absolute security."

From signing the G20 Hangzhou Summit's G20 Digital Economy Development and Cooperation Initiative, to releasing the Cyberspace International Cooperation Strategy, and then launching the Global Data Security Initiative, China