Respecting Digital Sovereignty – Creating an Intelligent Future Together | Article by the Chinese Ambassador to Turkmenistan
A new wave of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, driven by artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, and other technologies, is rapidly gaining momentum. Digital technologies are changing production methods and everyday life at unprecedented speed, profoundly impacting the international political, economic, and security landscapes.
At the same time, the risks associated with cyberattacks, data leaks, and algorithm misuse are becoming increasingly acute; critical infrastructure is facing new security threats; global production and supply chains for digital and intelligent technologies are subject to artificially created interference, and the digital divide continues to widen. How to ensure that technological progress benefits the people of all countries more fully is a question of the era that the international community must collectively address.
In July of this year, at the first meeting of the UN Permanent Mechanism on Global Cybersecurity, China presented the "China Position Paper on Global Governance of Cyberspace in the Digital and Intelligent Age" to the UN. Building on its previously advanced principle of sovereignty in cyberspace, China called for respect for digital sovereignty and joint promotion of inclusive development.
The document emphasizes that each country has the right, based on its national circumstances, to independently choose the development path of digital and intelligent technologies, including artificial intelligence, and to independently select relevant technologies, products, and services. No country should be pressured or coerced into choosing sides. This is another practical step by China to implement the Initiative on Global Governance and to promote the building of a community of shared future in cyberspace, as well as China's solution to the complex challenges of global governance in the digital and intelligent age.
The foundation of digital sovereignty is sovereign equality. Regardless of size, power, or wealth, all states have equal rights in cyberspace, must participate equally in the development of international rules, and equally benefit from digital and intellectual development. Developing countries should be not only users of digital products but also developers of the rules of the digital and intellectual era, creators of the digital future.
Digital sovereignty also implies responsibility for security. In the face of new risks posed by artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and other innovations, the international community must prioritize development and security equally, improving the principles and norms governing cross-border data flows so that artificial intelligence becomes a new shield of cybersecurity, not a new tool for unilateral hegemony.
Respecting digital sovereignty does not mean self-isolation and the creation of "digital islands" behind closed doors. On the contrary, international cooperation in the digital sphere gains a solid foundation only when the independent choices of each country are respected; only when the interests of security and development are reliably ensured, technology, and innovation flow more freely across borders.
China advocates for a fair, equitable, and non-discriminatory development environment, opposing broad interpretations of security, technological monopolies, and exclusive mechanisms. China advocates open, secure, and stable global production and supply chains in digital and intelligent technologies, and supports developing countries in bridging the digital and intelligent technology gap through capacity-building cooperation. This is the organic unity of digital sovereignty and open cooperation.
The wave of digital and intellectual transformation is moving forward irresistibly. No country should be forced to choose sides or follow others; no country should be left behind in the digitalization process.
China stands ready to join Turkmenistan and other members of the international community in upholding the principles of true multilateralism, respecting the digital sovereignty of all states, maintaining peace and security in cyberspace, promoting the benefits of digital and intellectual development for all, and jointly creating a more just and rational, open and inclusive, secure and stable, and dynamic cyberspace, so that digital technologies truly become a powerful force enhancing human well-being and promoting common development.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Turkmenistan Ji Shumin
