From October 20 to 22, the 6th World Internet Conference will be held at Wuzhen of Zhejiang, co-hosted by the National Internet Information Office and Zhejiang Provincial People’s Government. Unlike the event of previous years, the event this year will introduce a new part-- “Straight to Wuzhen” Global Internet Competition. According to the relevant principal of the hosting party of the event, “On the basis of sub-forums, the release event of leading scientific and technological achievements, the Light of Internet Expo, this key part has been introduced to form a new pattern of 1+3 of the WIC.”

From the popularization of network to “co-building a community of shared future for cyberspace” to “digital economy” and “cloud-based Zhejiang”, China has gradually deepened the theme of the event with a confident, pragmatic and realistic attitude in chairing the World Internet Conference and given suggestions on the world’s internet development every two years.

The two WIC of 2014 and 2015 were the first stage of establishment. China took the initiative to propose “Inter-connection, Sharing and Co-governance--Build a Community of Shared Future for Cyberspace” to make every country gradually aware of the interconnected network structure and prevent the expensive network framework from becoming a patent of some ideology.

The WIC of 2016 and 2017 were the second stage of exploration and development. The event further deepened the theme of interconnection, conducted in-depth discussions on frontier and hot topics such as internet economy, internet innovation, internet culture, internet governance and international internet cooperation and communicated and exchanged views on five aspects, namely digital economy, frontier technology, internet and society, cyberspace governance, exchange and cooperation.

The WIC of 2018 and 2019 were the third stage of blooming and fruiting. The event tried to highlight the functional positioning of the forum, release of leading scientific and technological achievements and expo and focused on exploring the topics such as artificial intelligence, 5G, big data, network security and digital Silk Road. Based on the first two stages, China has continued to ponder how to maintain and develop its fruit of internet development, so it has come up with two new themes, “developing digital economy to promote opening and sharing” and “intelligent interconnection, open cooperation”. The WIC this year will focus on new technologies such as artificial intelligence and internet of things and show the flourishing trend of internet development in Zhejiang and China.

With the upgrading of new technologies and new business, the “community of shared future for cyberspace” has remained an unchanged theme. Despite the differences of each country in national conditions, stages of internet development and faced challenges, they share the same wish to promote the digital economy, cope with network security challenges and strengthen the cyberspace governance. Each country should work together to pursue win-win results and take a path of mutual trust and co-governance, and infuse more vigor and energy into the cyberspace.

Executive Editor: Ziyi Wu

Translation: Ziyi Wu, Wenjin Chen