Speech at the National Work Conference of Cybersecurity and Informatization

The Important Speech delivered by Xi Jinping at the National level Work Conference on Cybersecurity and Informatization on April 19, 2016 was published in People's Daily on April 26, 2016.

Xi Jinping said: Since the 18th Party Conference, our country’s Internet undertaking has developed rapidly, cybersecurity and informatization work is moving forward steadily, we are gaining clear progress and achievements, and at the same time, a fair few shortcomings and problems exist.

After listening to the speeches of the comrades concerned, he discussed the following six problems.

The first question is about promoting the development of our country’s cybersecurity and informatization undertaking, and let the Internet enrich the people even better.

Xi Jinping pointed out that the cybersecurity and informatization undertaking represents new productive forces and a new development direction, we must be one step ahead in practicing new development ideas Informatization is an important basis for national governance.

Xi Jinping stressed that, for the online information undertaking to develop, we must implement a development ideal with people at the centre.

We must adapt to the people’s expectations and requirements, accelerate the universalization of informatized services, reduce application costs, provide information services that the common people can use, can afford to use and can use well, and let hundreds of millions of people have an ever greater sense of gain in sharing the development fruits of the Internet.

For the implementation of the strong cyber country strategy, we must realistically implement these well, strive to promote the converged development of the Internet and the real economy. In comparison with cities, the construction of rural Internet infrastructure is our shortcoming. We must expand investment, accelerate the pace of rural Internet construction, and broaden the effective coverage of glass fibre networks and broadband networks in rural regions.

We must use informatization to move forward the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity, comprehensively plan the development of e-government, build uniform online service platforms, move forward the construction of new types of smart cities forward in a hierarchical and categorized manner, break through information barriers, build nationwide information resource sharing systems, and even better use informatized means to sense social circumstances, unblock communication channels and assist scientific policymaking.

The second question is about construction of a good online ecology, and giving rein to the role of the network in guiding public opinion and reflecting the popular will. Xi Jinping pointed out that if a society has no common ideals and no common goals, if it has no common value view, and is tumultuous every day, nothing will ever be accomplished. The work of concentrating a consensus is not easy, everyone must strive together.In order to realize our goals, online and offline must become concentric circles. Concentric circlesmeans to mobilize the people of all ethnicities in the entire country under the leadership of the Party, and mobilize the vigour on all sides, to jointly struggle to realize the Chinese Dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. All levels’ Party and government bodies and leading cadres must learn to march the mass line through the network, regularly go online to watch, try the water, have a chat, say a little something, understand what the masses think and want, collect good ideas and good suggestions, vigorously response to the concerns of netizens, and dispel their doubts. To be good at using the network to understand the popular will and do one’s work is a basic skill for leading cadres to do their work well under new circumstances. Xi Jinping pointed out that cyberspace is a common spiritual garden for hundreds of millions of people. Having a clear sky and crisp air, having a good ecology in cyberspace conforms to the people’s interests. He stressed that the Internet is not a land outside the law. We should resolutely stop and crack down on those behaviors that use the Internet to endanger national security, and firmly control the words and deeds that use the Internet to carry out illegal activities. Creating a good online public opinion environment does not only mean that there can be one voice or one tune, but it means that we cannot fiddle with right and wrong, confound black and white, spread rumours to create trouble, break the law and commit crime, we cannot exceed the boundaries of the Constitution and the laws. We should not only welcome Internet supervision, regardless of whether it is aimed at Party and government work or at an individual leading cadre, regardless of whether it is put gently and mildly or is a hurtful truth, but we must earnestly research and adopt it. We must with, an attitude of responsibility towards society and responsibility towards the people, lawfully strengthen governance in cyberspace, strengthen the construction of online content, strengthen online positive propaganda, foster a positive, healthy, upward and benevolent online culture, use the Socialist core value view and the excellent achievements of human civilization to nourish people’s hearts and nourish society, ensure that positive energy is plentiful, the main melody soars, and a cyberspace with a crisp wind and a correct air is created for the broad netizens and especially the young.

The third question is about gaining breakthroughs in core technology as quickly as possible. Xi Jinping pointed out that the internet core technology is the greatest “vital gate”, and the fact that core technology is controlled by others is our greatest hidden danger. In order to make breakthroughs in core technology, we must have determination, perseverance and focus. Having determination means that we must establish an ambition of fighting indomitably and storming strongholds in defiance of difficulties, unwaveringly implement the strategy of innovation driving development, direct ever more human power, material resources and financial input into core technology research and development, gather crack forces, and make strategic arrangements.

Having perseverance means that we must formulate core technology equipment strategy plans for the information area, formulate roadmaps, schedules and task sheets, clarify short-term, mid-term and long-term objectives, abide by the laws of technology, move forward by distinguishing phases, distinguishing categories and distinguishing stages, and insist that there shall be no slackening in the green hills. Having focus means that we must base ourselves on our national circumstances, face the vanguard of global science and technology, face up to the major needs of the country, face up to the main battlefield of the national economy, closely focus on climbing the strategic commanding heights, strengthen the deployment of tasks in major areas and crucial segments, make our orientation clear and make our focus clear.

Xi Jinping pointed out that the market exchange does not bring core technology, we can also not buy core technology with money, we must rely on our own research and our own development.

The fourth question is about correctly handling the relationship between security and development.

Xi Jinping pointed out that it is necessary to establish a correct view of cybersecurity, accelerate the construction of security protection systems for crucial information infrastructure, an all-weather, omnidirectional sensing cybersecurity posture, strengthen our defensive capability and deterrence capability concerning cybersecurity, and establish uniform and high-efficiency cybersecurity risk reporting mechanisms, intelligence sharing mechanisms, and deliberative handling mechanisms, we must correctly grasp the rules, trends and tendencies of the occurrence of cybersecurity risks.

The fifth question is about strengthening a sense of mission and a sense of responsibility among Internet enterprises, to jointly stimulate the sustained and healthy development of the Internet.

Firstly, we must persist in the combination of encouragement, support, standardization and development, secondly, we should persist in combining policy guidance and management according to the law, and thirdly, we should persist in the combination of economic effect and social effect.

The sixth question is about gathering heroic talents from under heaven and employing them, so as to provide powerful talent support for the development of the cybersecurity and informatization undertaking.

Xi Jinping pointed out that since antiquity ages, talent has been the root of a country’s wealth, and a matter of fundamental importance in rejuvenating a nation. Competition in cyberspace, in the final analysis, is a competition in talent. In building a strong cyber country, will be difficult to be successful without a line of excellent talent teams, without the creativity of talent bursting forth, or its vitality flowing.

We must establish talent evaluation mechanisms suited to the characteristics of cybersecurity and informatization, we must establish flexible talent incentive mechanisms, and we must explore mechanisms for the ownership of scientific research achievements and intellectual property rights, and income allocation, in the cybersecurity and informatization sphere, and formulate specialized policies for talent input, technological input as well as tax collection. We must break through institutional boundaries in terms of talent flows, and let talent be able to flow between government, enterprise and think tanks in a smooth and orderly manner.